At the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, held from 12 to 18 October 2026, policymakers faced slower global growth projected at 3.1 percent in 2026 and rising inflation amid geopolitical, cyber and financial shocks. The discussion shifted emphasis from economic size toward resilience, connectivity and adaptability, including G20 targets for faster, cheaper cross-border payments by the end of 2027 and greater use of local-currency transactions. Indonesia's QRIS payment system, with 69.32 million users and links to several Asian countries, was cited as a practical example of payment interoperability. The article concludes that future economic power will depend less on scale than on maintaining multiple payment and trade routes, building trust, and absorbing disruptions without collapsing.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on eurasiareview.com ↗
Keywords
IMFGDP growthpaymentsIndonesia
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
DXY
• NeutralRelevance: low
| Market | Currencies |
|---|---|
| Close on 10/19/2026 | 101.98 |
| Change that session | +0.20% |
XAU/USD
▲ Likely positiveRelevance: low
| Market | Gold |
|---|---|
| Close on 10/19/2026 | 4,140.75 |
| Change that session | -0.60% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Why The Global South Is Quietly Rewiring Its Monetary Defenses - OpEd
Bank Indonesia Governor Destry Damayanti told the Bangkok meetings (October 12–18) that trading in local currencies reduces reliance on third currencies and limits exposure to global exchange-rate swings. According to the article, Indonesia's Local Currency Transaction volume reached $8.45 billion in early 2026, up 163% year-on-year, with about 16,000 users monthly and QRIS interoperability enabling direct regional settlement. The author argues such payment "plumbing" can cut the frequency of imported shocks more effectively than reserves alone, though thin liquidity, limited awareness among small exporters, and data and cyber risks remain constraints.
- Indonesia economy strong on paper , but people struggling
Two years into Prabowo Subianto's presidency, Indonesia's GDP grew 5.11% in 2025 and 5.45% in the first half of this year, above the 5% pace seen since 2013, despite a challenging external environment. EIU and CORE economists argue that growth has not translated into stronger household incomes or formal jobs, as upper-class consumption and state-led investment have propped up GDP while private capital spending has nearly stagnated. Bank Indonesia's consumer confidence survey has been declining since early this year, mainly due to weaker sentiment on employment. The 8% growth target has been toned down, while the Indonesia Stock Exchange Composite index has plunged over 40% in 2026 after MSCI warnings about market transparency, and the rupiah has breached 18,000 per US dollar. Permata Bank's chief economist warned that these developments pose “serious threats” to investor confidence.
- FBM KLCI falls nearly 1 % despite better - than - expected GDP growth
Bursa Malaysia closed sharply lower on Friday, with the FBM KLCI shedding 15.94 points, or 0.98%, to 1,607.76, even though Malaysia’s third-quarter growth of 5.3% beat market expectations. The statistics department said growth moderated from 6% in the previous quarter, based on advance estimates. Top losers included Nestle, which fell RM1.18 to RM89.32, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong, down RM1.10 to RM20, while KLCC rose 94 sen to RM9.22. Foreign investors and local institutions were net sellers on Thursday, while retail investors were net buyers. Indonesia’s index plunged 11% after MSCI signalled a possible downgrade from emerging-market status.
- Economic Watch : China economy sustains growth as innovation , openness gain ground
China's National Bureau of Statistics reported GDP growth of 4.6% year on year in the first three quarters, with third-quarter growth of 4.5%, up from 4.3% in the second quarter. The economy added 5.7 trillion yuan (about $851.9 billion) in output from January to September, the largest same-period increase in five years, while September industrial output rose 5.5% and retail sales grew 1.1%. Observers attribute the momentum to modern services, the digital economy and high-end manufacturing, which together contributed over 40% of expansion in the first half, and point to integrated circuit exports up 99.1% and electric vehicle exports up 72.3% in the period. IMF Fiscal Affairs Director Rodrigo Valdes said China is less vulnerable than countries with comparable debt levels, citing liquid assets, low interest rates and a high savings rate.
- Average G7 10 - Year Bond Yield Rises More Than One Percentage Point
The IMF warns that rising bond yields in major economies could strain government budgets worldwide and add to debt pressures, even as it expects global growth to pick up in 2027. Its analysis found that the G7 average 10-year government bond yield rose by more than one percentage point from February to September 2026, driven by an oil-price shock, inflation, AI-related investment demand and fiscal pressures. The IMF projects global growth of 3.1% in 2026 and 3.4% in 2027, and expects worldwide public debt to exceed global output by 2030. Low-income countries already spend over 15% of fiscal revenue on interest payments. Separately, the EBRD said the G7 committed €260 million toward repairs to Chornobyl's New Safe Confinement, which it estimates will cost at least €500 million.
- Global Economy Struggles to Achieve Balance in Divided Times
At IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, economic officials from Argentina, Greece, Nigeria and Thailand agreed that all economies should put their fiscal houses in order, as the IMF projects 3.1% global growth in 2026. The IMF upgraded AI-driven economies while downgrading many fuel-importing and war-affected nations, and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that dependence on AI investment creates vulnerability to disappointment cycles. Georgieva named China's low domestic consumption and heavy exports, along with U.S. low savings and high debt and deficits, as the biggest sources of global imbalance. Argentina cut spending by 30% to eliminate a fiscal deficit of 5% of GDP and brought inflation down to approximately 30% from 211% in 2023, while Nigeria's central bank raised rates by 800 basis points in 2024, bringing inflation down about 20 percentage points to about 15%.
Related markets
Latest news
- Tesla is trading more like SpaceX than a car company
Tesla (TSLA) has recently moved much more in step with SpaceX (SPCX): over the past 20 sessions, their correlation is 0.64, versus 0.15 in SpaceX's first 20 sessions after its June IPO. By contrast, Tesla's correlation with GM and Ford is negative, at -0.10 and -0.14. Since Elon Musk first hinted at a combination of the two companies, Tesla has risen about 4% through Tuesday, while GM and Ford have each fallen more than 11%. After removing Nasdaq 100 moves, the leftover correlation between Tesla and SpaceX is 0.32, which the article links to merger trading; SpaceX is valued at about $2.25 trillion versus about $1.52 trillion for Tesla. Options are pricing a 5.4% move after Tesla's third-quarter report, while Tesla's actual median post-earnings move since 2023 has been closer to 10% in either direction.
- The Same Banks Writing the Rules for AI Agents Are the Ones Locking Them Out
The article argues that major banks are pursuing two contradictory paths: building open standards that let AI agents access accounts while locking those agents out in practice. Bank of America and Wells Fargo appear both on the roster for the Personal Agent Protocol (Poppy), announced by Sierra and Meta, and on the list of firms restricting third-party AI access. The protocol proposes permission levels from fully blocked to full access, but payments remain outside its core specification. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Schwab and Wells Fargo moved to restrict third-party agents, citing concerns about rogue agents, the need for human approval of money movements, and unclear liability. The article describes this private self-regulation as filling a gap left by missing legislation.
- Treasury Secretary Bessent likens GENIUS Act to Lincoln-era banking reform
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared the GENIUS Act on stablecoins to the banking reforms under President Abraham Lincoln, calling it a “watershed moment” for American finance in an X post welcoming the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) final rule. He cited the National Currency Act of 1863, and the OCC said its rule would support private-sector innovation, competition and American leadership in digital assets. The rules on stablecoin reserves, redemptions and related services take effect on January 18, 2027. From that date, companies issuing payment stablecoins in the US will generally need regulatory approval, covering national banks, federal savings associations, federal branches of foreign banks, nonbank companies and certain foreign issuers.
- Model Moats: The Vanishing Weight and the Price of the Watt
Anthropic has committed nearly $90 billion to secure compute infrastructure through Nscale, including $44.6 billion disclosed in a September SEC filing and a second deal of about $45 billion in advanced negotiations, as reported by Bloomberg; both target the Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia. The article argues that model weights are becoming a commodity and the race has shifted to who controls power. In the same week, DeepSeek open-sourced DeepInfer and llm-d 1.0 reached general availability; IBM, citing vendor-reported figures, claims self-hosting on llm-d cuts costs 5-10x versus commercial APIs. In China, ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered over 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 chips worth roughly $35 billion, but according to unverified social media reports, the fill rate is only 5-10%.
- A rare phenomenon just appeared on the Vietnamese stock market
Foreign investors net bought VND 190 billion on HoSE on 21/10, their second net-buying session since Vietnam was upgraded to FTSE Russell's secondary emerging market status effective 21/9, ending 20 consecutive sessions of net selling; the article notes the amount is small relative to earlier selling and a reversal cannot yet be confirmed. BSC estimates about VND 33,000 billion (USD 1.27 billion) of upgrade-related inflows next year, following a roadmap of USD 141 million in September 2026, USD 282 million in March 2027 and about USD 494 million each in June and September 2027. BSC also expects selling pressure from active funds to ease after four consecutive years of net selling, and interbank liquidity to improve as the deposit-credit gap narrowed from VND 2.8 quadrillion to VND 2.7 quadrillion in August, the first decline in 11 quarters.
- A bank stock drew buying from more than 50 funds, with Q3 profit forecast to surge
Bank stocks made up 8 of the 10 most net-bought stocks by funds in September, with net buying of about VND 1,034 billion, mainly in VPB, MBB and ACB, marking the second consecutive month of net buying. MBB drew about 52 funds, the most participants, while VPB saw net buying of 28.7 million shares from 20 funds. FiinGroup attributed much of the flow to ETF portfolio rebalancing rather than individual decisions by open-ended funds. SSI Research forecasts Q3 2026 pre-tax profit for the banks it analyzed at VND 10,000 billion, up 38% year on year but down 5% quarter on quarter, with pressure from NIM and bad debt. Meanwhile, equity funds fell an average of 6% in Q3, and investment funds saw net outflows of about VND 8,600 billion.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.