IMF CUTS OUTLOOK FOR CHINA’S ECONOMY The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts China’s economy will grow by 4.8 percent this year, not the 5.7 percent it had foreseen previously, the agency said in its annual outlook report. China’s 8.1-percent growth last year depended too heavily on exports and government investment while consumer spending sagged, the...
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
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SPOTLIGHT: THE METAVERSE
MAJOR RETAILERS GETTING READY TO SET UP SHOP IN THE METAVERSE Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Urban Outfitters, and Walmart are among the retailers who have filed trademark applications in recent weeks that detail their plans to set up shop in the metaverse, the virtual world where people’s digital identities can work, attend concerts...
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SPOTLIGHT: INFLATION
INFLATION IN U.K. REACHES 30-YEAR HIGH Consumer prices in Britain increased 5.4 percent in December, compared to a year earlier, the fastest annual rise since March 1992, the National Office of Statistics reported. November’s rate was 5.1 percent. The latest rise was driven by increases across a range of goods and services. Analysts expect the...
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LATIN AMERICA CURRENCY CRASH. WHAT’S NEXT?
Economists have expressed concern over the devaluation of currencies in Latin America during a year where global commodity prices have increased, which could be evidence of deep-seated problems in these countries. “It’s very bad news,” Ernesto Revilla, chief Latin America economist at Citi, told the Financial Times. “This shows the region is coming out of the pandemic...
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INVESTORS IN EUROPE GRAB HOMES, WAREHOUSES
Investors in Europe’s real estate poured a record €359 billion into the market in 2021, forsaking office buildings and storefronts for warehouses and homes. Of those funds, €102.6 billion was sunk into multi-family housing, 42 percent more than in 2020. Multi-family housing is now close to office property as Europe’s biggest real estate asset category....
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JAPAN RAISES INFLATION FORECAST, YEN’S VALUE FALLS
For Japan’s fiscal year starting this April, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has raised its inflation expectation from 0.9 percent to 1.1 percent. Also, for the first time since 2014, the bank altered its view of inflationary risk from “skewed to the downside” to “generally balanced.” Japan’s wholesale prices rose at 8 to 9 percent...
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RUSSIA’S STOCK MARKET, RUBLE FALL ON FEARS OF UKRAINE INVASION
Russian stocks saw their worst price slide in almost two years, falling 13 percent over the four sessions ending 19 January as fears grew that Russia will invade Ukraine and suffer economic consequences from a united western alliance. The dollar-denominated RTS index plunged 7.3 percent to its lowest level since late 2020 and shares of...
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CHINA’S CENTRAL BANK CUTS KEY INTEREST RATE
In December, China experienced the slowest year-on-year growth in 18 months, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. In response, on 19 January, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut its one-year prime loan rate from 3.8 percent to 3.7 and trimmed its five-year prime rate—which is used to price mortgages—from 4.65 percent to 4.6, the...
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LAGARDE DISMISSES CALLS FOR HIGHER INTEREST RATES
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), once again rejected calls for the bank to raise its base interest rate from its current -0.50 percent, where it has remained since 2014. (See “ECB: More Monetary Methadone,” 27 Apr 2021 and “ECB Pledges to Keep Rates Lower Longer,” 27 Jul 2021, among other articles.)...
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IMF HEAD GLOOMY ON GLOBAL ECONOMY
The world’s economy will continue to grow this year but faces an “obstacle course” of “renewal of COVID infections, much more persistent than anticipated inflation, and record high debt levels,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told the World Economic Forum on 21 January. “The pressure on prices comes from food prices...