CENTRAL BANKS FEAR INFLATION DEFINES A NEW LONG-TERM REALITY Central bankers fear that the recent, prolonged global rise in prices has sunk roots into the global economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. To counter price pressures brought by chronic shortages of labor, materials, and cheap energy, the banks may need to raise interest rates significantly...
CHINA SOLIDIFYING ITS POSITION AS MANUFACTURER TO THE WORLD Despite corporations’ new determination to bring supply chains geographically closer to their factories, China is likely to continue to dominate global manufacturing, The Wall Street Journal reported. China’s share of global factory output edged up from 13 percent in 2019 to 15 percent post-COVID and probably...
During the current peak season for shipping holiday gift items from Asian factories to the West, the cost of sailing a shipping container continues to fall, The Wall Street Journal reported. There are two reasons. Retailers ordered early to ensure deliveries and inflation has shrunk consumer demand. As a result, the cost to send a...
Turkey’s inflation rate clocked in at 80.2 percent in August, rising from 79.6 percent in July to reach its highest level since 1998, according to the government’s Turkish Statistical Institute. However, a consumer price index kept by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce in the country’s largest city showed an annual growth rate of almost 100...
Last week, the Bank of Canada boosted its key interest rate by another three-quarters of a point, lifting it to 3.25 percent, the first time the rate has topped 3 percent since 2008 during the Great Recession. The latest hike was the fifth in as many meetings of the bank’s rate-setting committee and followed a...
The Bank of Japan’s intransigence in maintaining rock-bottom interest rates while other nations raise theirs sank the yen last week to its lowest value against the dollar in 24 years, reaching ¥144 to the dollar. The yen has given up about 20 percent of its value so far this year, languishing at ¥142.76 on 12...
India’s GDP will expand by 7.4 percent this year, the country’s government predicts, approaching triple the pace of the 2.9 percent global growth the World Bank now projects. The reason: India’s economy is driven by domestic demand consumption, not exports. However, exports are still important, especially now that the rupee’s value has declined and made...
Germany now generates about a third of its electricity from coal, among the dirtiest fossil fuels, as natural gas supplies from Russia have disappeared and gas prices have skyrocketed as much as sevenfold in the past year. Last year, coal provided 27 percent of the country’s electricity. Gas prices have tripled since late February alone...
In an internal report prepared for the Russian government and obtained by Bloomberg, analysts warn that the impact of the Ukraine war and Western sanctions will spread through the economy, leading to a longer, deeper recession than there is already and gradually hobbling sectors that now underpin the nation’s economy. The report presents three scenarios....
The pound sterling sank to its lowest value against the dollar since 1985 as markets brace for a borrowing spree by new prime minister Liz Truss to fund a rescue plan for homes and businesses crushed by soaring energy costs. The pound fell as low as $1.14 to the buck on 7 September, but has...