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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said India's capacity to absorb external shocks is strong at a time when the world economy is undergoing a structural transformation. She said the task before nations is not only to manage uncertainty but to confront trade, financial and energy imbalances. "Geopolitical conflicts are intensifying. Sanctions, tariffs, and decoupling strategies are reshaping global supply chains... For India, these dynamics highlight both vulnerability and resilience. Our capacity to absorb shocks is strong, while our economic leverage is evolving. "Our choices will determine whether resilience becomes a foundation for leadership or merely a buffer against uncertainty," Sitharaman said at Kautilya Economic Conclave 2025 here. Addressing the session on 'Seeking Prosperity in Turbulent Times', Sitharaman said wars and strategic rivalries are redrawing the boundaries of cooperation and conflict. "Alliances that once appeared solid are being tested, and new .
Global economy is entering a period of weak growth and systemic disruption, the World Economic Forum said in its latest Chief Economists' Outlook on Tuesday. Noting that India has emerged as the fastest-growing major economy and is projected to grow by 6.5 per cent in 2025 by IMF, the report said the country's manufacturing ambitions face headwinds from newly announced US tariffs of 50 per cent on exports, a development that weighs heavily on the regional outlook for entire South Asia. According to the survey, 72 per cent of chief economists expect global economy to weaken in 2026 amid intensifying trade disruption, rising policy uncertainty and accelerating technological change. The findings pointed to the emergence of a new economic environment shaped by persistent disruption and growing fragmentation. Emerging markets are anticipated to be the main engines of growth, with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South Asia and East Asia and Pacific seen as bright spots. One in
Climate-related health risks can cost the global economy at least USD 1.5 trillion (over Rs 131 lakh crore) in lost productivity in the next 25 years due to rising illness and labour shortages across key sectors, a new study showed on Thursday. The World Economic Forum report, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, assessed climate-driven health impacts in four of the most affected economic sectors: food and agriculture; the built environment; health and healthcare; and insurance. The USD 1.5 trillion estimate reflects losses in only the first three sectors, under a mid-range scenario, suggesting the burden on the global economy could be far higher, it said. The study encourages companies to act now to protect workforce health, build operational resilience and safeguard productivity before the costs of climate adaptation become unmanageable. The findings highlighted that adapting to extreme heat, infectious diseases and other health risks accelerating due to clima
President Donald Trump is getting his way with the world economy. Trading partners from the European Union to Japan to Vietnam appear to be acceding to the president's demands to accept higher costs in the form of high tariffs for the privilege of selling their wares to the United States. For Trump, the agreements driven by a mix of threats and cajoling, are a fulfillment of a decades-long belief in protectionism and a massive gamble that it will pay off politically and economically with American consumers. On Sunday, the United States and the 27-member state European Union announced that they had reached a trade framework agreement: The EU agreed to accept 15 per cent US tariffs on most its goods, easing fears of a catastrophic trans-Atlantic trade war. There were also commitments by the EU to buy USD 750 billion in US energy products and make USD 600 billion in new investments through 2028, according to the White House. We just signed a very big trade deal, the biggest of them .