Page 10 - Global Economy

Global economy weighed down by war, uncertainty & instability: WTO chief

The head of the World Trade Organisation warned on Monday that war, uncertainty and instability are weighing down the global economy and urged the bloc to embrace reform as elections across nearly half the world's population could bring new challenges. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sought to offer some praise for her organisation as it held its binneial meeting in the United Arab Emirates, even as it faces pressure from the United States and other nations. But she was blunt about the risks ahead, as higher prices for food, energy and other essentials sting people's pockets, fuelling political frustration. People everywhere are feeling anxious about the future and this will be felt at the ballot box this year, she said. None are perhaps more critical for the WTO than the US presidential election on November 5. Running again is former President Donald Trump, who threatened to withdraw the US from the WTO and repeatedly levied tariffs taxes on imported goods on perceived

Private capital yet to embrace energy transition, says CEA Nageswaran

While urging multilateral development banks to act on the recommendations of the independent expert group under India's Group of Twenty (G20) presidency to mobilise private capital, the CEA added

The Nato conundrum

A possible Trump presidency is bad news

German economy in 'troubled waters', govt cuts its growth forecast

The German government said Europe's largest economy was in troubled waters and slashed its growth forecast for this year as it struggles with a lack of skilled labour, excessive bureaucracy, high interest rates and lagging investment in new projects while a relatively modest set of tax breaks for business remains blocked in the legislature. The growth forecast was lowered to 0.2% from the previous forecast from last fall of 1.3%. That would follow a shrinking of the economy by 0.3% for all of last year. Germany is recovering more slowly than we hoped from the shock of Russia cutting off most supplies of natural gas after its invasion of Ukraine, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said as he presented the government's annual economic report. The economy is in troubled waters. The loss of Russian gas in Germany led to a spike in energy costs that hammered energy intensive industries and contributed to high consumer inflation that eroded purchasing power and made consumers more reluctant t

Canada's rate of inflation slows, boosts bets on early interest rate cut

The January inflation figure "will certainly raise the odds on an April rate cut," said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay

'US-India alliance for women's economic empowerment being revitalised'

An alliance between the US and India that seeks to facilitate women's economic participation in India by catalysing commitments from private sector, civil society and government leaders in both countries is being revitalised, a senior US diplomat said on Tuesday. The US-India Alliance for Women's Economic Empowerment will work across the board to harness the resources of the private sector and NGOs to foster commitments for women's retention, and stem employment and entrepreneurship, Deputy Chief of Mission in India Patricia A Lacina said. She was delivering the keynote address at the WEConnect International Empowering Inclusion-Advancing Value Chains Summit 2024. "...we are revitalising the US-India Alliance for Women's Economic Empowerment. A public-private partnership to enhance mentorship," she said. Last year, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), the US Department of State, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the George Washington University .

Rate cut bets not unreasonable but economy is picking up: BoE's Bailey

"The market is essentially embodying in the curve that we will reduce interest rates during the course of this year," Bailey told lawmakers on the Treasury Select Committee

Goldman Sachs pushes BoE interest rate-cut forecast to June from May

Despite data showing signs of cooling in inflation, the central bank remains cautious in its approach due to persistent wage increases and a tight labor market

China's Premier Li Qiang urges 'forceful' action to boost confidence

Chinese leaders are hunting for ways to jump-start the economy, which faces headwinds from a property slump, weak business confidence and persistent deflationary pressures

8 sub-committees reviewing free trade agreement between India, Asean

Eight sub-committees have been constituted under the India-Asean free trade agreement joint committee for undertaking negotiations on different areas related to the review of the pact, an official statement said on Monday. India hosted the third meeting of the committee for undertaking the review here from February 16-19. The AITIGA (Asean-India trade in goods agreement) was signed in 2009. In September 2022, both sides tasked the AITIGA Joint Committee to undertake the review to make the agreement more trade facilitative and mutually beneficial. "A total of eight sub-committees have been constituted under the AITIGA Joint Committee for undertaking negotiations on different policy areas related to the agreement," the commerce ministry said. The first two meetings of the joint committee were held in May and August last year. In the meeting, the ministry said, the sub-committees reported the progress and outcome of their discussions related to market access, rules of origin and ...

Ship attacked in Gulf of Aden at risk of sinking, say Yemen's Houthis

The Iran-aligned Houthis have made repeated drone and missile strikes since November in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, drawing US and British bombing against them

China asks Pakistan's political parties to work together to form govt

Beijing is also bankrolling Pakistan, which is in the throes of an economic crisis, to maintain the balance of payments with periodic loans to maintain the requisite forex reserves

Goldman raises global equities to 'overweight' on economic growth prospects

"We expect growth to become a more important driver of risk appetite and equity/bond correlations should be more negative this year," Goldman said in a note dated Feb 16

TN fiscal deficit at 3.44% in FY25, growth anticipated: State finance secy

Tamil Nadu's fiscal deficit in the Budget Estimates for 2024-25 stood at 3.44 per cent of the GSDP despite a decline in the State's Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) due to two successive natural calamities in December 2023 resulting in additional expenditure, State Principal Secretary-Finance T Udhayachandran said on Monday. The SOTR suffered a revenue loss due to cyclone Michaung and unprecedented rains in the southern districts. The state government had to spend more on flood relief, provide immediate relief measures besides initiate long-term relief measures, he said. "This budget has been prepared under this financial stress...Nevertheless, Tamil Nadu's economy is robust. We expect a 15 per cent growth in our SOTR through the Commercial Taxes Department," Udhayachandran told reporters here. The Registration department did not see the expected growth last year but next year the government hoped that it would fetch more revenue to the state, he added. Briefing the media on the Budget ...

'Thai economy shrinks, adds to rate cut case amid central bank, PM feud'

From a year earlier, GDP grew 1.7%, faster than revised 1.4% growth in the third quarter but slower than a forecast 2.5% expansion

Chinese minister says trying to cut country out of trade would be mistake

China's foreign minister told a gathering of international security policy officials Saturday that trying to shut China out of trade in the name of avoiding dependency would be a historic mistake. Wang Yi spoke at the Munich Security Conference. Host Germany wants to avoid over-reliance on trade with an increasingly assertive China and diversify its supply of key goods in an approach it calls de-risking. That's in line with the approach of other industrial powers in the Group of Seven, which has stressed that it doesn't seek to harm China or thwart its development. Beijing has criticized the strategy. Today ... more people have come to realize that the absence of cooperation is the biggest risk, Wang said through an interpreter. Those who attempt to shut China out in the name of de-risking will make a historical mistake. The world economy is like a big ocean that cannot be cut into isolated lakes, he added. The trend toward economic globalisation cannot be reversed. We need to wor

Russian central bank holds interest rate at 16% after months of tightening

Russia's domestic demand was still outstripping production capacity, the bank said, with labour shortages still the key constraint on expanding the output of goods and services

German economy to shrink by 0.5% in 2024 on weak domestic demand: Report

A DIHK poll of more than 27,000 companies showed that of those surveyed, 35% expect business to deteriorate in the next 12 months with only 14% expecting an improvement

India set to boost its economic, geopolitical role: Nobel Laureate Spence

India is poised to boost its economic and geopolitical role in the coming decades, helped by an evolving demographic dividend, rapidly expanding digital economy and GDP growth rates that top the world's major economies, Nobel Laureate Michael Spence has said. Spence further said India's leap on the technology front will be a key catalyst for the economic expansion of the nation, currently the world's fifth biggest economy and its pivotal position in international affairs. "As somebody who has spent the last 25 years thinking about growth in one form or another in virtually every corner of the world, let me just say that the major economy with the highest potential growth rate is India," he told ET NOW. The eminent economist noted that India has successfully developed, by far, the best digital economy and financial architecture in the world. "It is a transformational architecture," he said. Spence said the relatively open global economic system that has been in place for over 70 ye

Falling US Fed rate cut bets keep gold below $2,000 level, palladium up 7%

Spot gold was down 0.2% to $1,988.08 per ounce as of 9:53 a.m. EST (1453 GMT) - its lowest price since Dec. 13. Bullion fell about 1.4% on Tuesday