Thanks to the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine and resulting Western sanctions, at least half of the 19 countries sharing the euro currency will enter a recession, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said in a 27 October Euronews interview.
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.
A looming shortage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide and a reduction in output by OPEC+ have thrust the world into "the first truly global energy crisis", Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a 25 October speech during the Singapore International Energy Week.
As we have reported, the value of mergers and acquisitions that companies announced during the first nine months of this year is down 34 percent during the same period in 2021, according to data service Refinitiv.
The chances of a U.S. recession within 12 months has risen from 50 percent last month to 60 percent now, according to 42 economists responding in early October to Bloomberg’s monthly outlook survey.
With inflation in Turkey galloping at 83 percent in September, the country’s central bank cut its key interest rate from 12 percent to 10.5, adhering to Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s insistence that low interest rates reduce inflation.
Germany’s manufacturers jacked prices for their products 45.8 percent in September, year over year, continuing the string of increases made in recent months.
Japan’s consumer prices, excluding those for fresh food, grew last month by 3 percent, year over year, the most at any time since 1991, aside from a blip in 2014 when sales taxes rose, Bloomberg reported.
Inflation in Britain reached 10.1 percent in September, rising from 9.9 percent the month before, as food prices jumped 14.1 percent, their fastest spurt since 1982, and negated the impact of fuels’ falling costs, the Financial Times reported.
The global copper inventory has fallen to 4.9 days’ consumption and will end this year at only 2.7 days, Kostas Bintas, co-head of metals and minerals at Trafigura, a major commodities trading firm, told the Financial Times Mining Summit last week.