Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Mar 14 2023

China’s government has created a national data bureau to meet “the requirements of the digital China strategy,” the state-controlled Global Times (GT) newspaper reported last week after the move was approved by the National People's Congress.

The 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) will buy natural gas collectively in an attempt to negotiate lower prices from suppliers by signing long-term agreements for bulk purchases.

In a speech last week, Ignazio Visco, governor of Italy’s central bank, criticized several of his European counterparts who have insisted the European Central Bank (ECB) continue to raise interest rates to tamp down inflation.

For the first time in almost a year, the Royal Bank of Canada did not raise its key interest rate at this month’s meeting of its policy committee.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is going to speed up the reduction in its bond holdings this summer, analysts expect, at the same time that national governments short of cash will be issuing new bonds to raise money, the Financial Times reported.

Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees. To illustrate the employment trends and the socioeconomic implications, each week we will list job losses.