World Economy

Midpoint of Trump's tariff hiatus to reveal increasingly unsettled world

Chinese consumer and industry data on Monday will be followed by purchasing manager indexes on Thursday from around the world

WEF courts Christine Lagarde as next leader after founder's abrupt exit

As the board deals with the fallout, it still sees Lagarde as the top candidate and has held internal discussions on the matter since Schwab's resignation last month

Global economy already the feeling drag from Donald Trump's tariffs

Big-name multinationals right down to niche e-commerce players last week cut sales targets, warned of job cuts and reviewed their business plans, while major economies revised down growth prospects

WEF founder Klaus Schwab to step down as chair of board of trustees

He did not give a timeline for his departure from the organisation, but the WEF said in a statement to the FT that the process should be completed by January 2027

Greenland votes on March 11 amid calls for independence, Trump's interest

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede criticised Trump's remarks, stating the island deserves respect and will prioritise relations with nations that acknowledge its sovereignty

Five years on, economic impact of Covid-19 still reshaping markets

Though the immediate shock has passed, Covid-19's legacy continues to reshape global economies and markets

Blow hot or blow cold? Trusted indicators give conflicting signals

How could we find our way out of this gloom to a happier scenario?

What is MAGAnomics? The economics behind Trump's 'America First'

A reckoning is in order, not just with Trumpism but with the assumptions that made it possible in the first place

US producer inflation trends higher; labour market remains stable

December rise in the PPI revised up to 0.5% from 0.2%

Echoes of the 1980s: Inflation, wars, and slowing growth resurface globally

The decade was also marked by the so-called "Star Wars". This was an American effort to bankrupt the USSR by pretending to develop space-based weapons

Healthier women, stronger economies: WEF's case for investing in women

Making a strong case for investing in women's health worldwide, the World Economic Forum on Tuesday said its new research shows that closing the women's health gap could unlock USD 400 billion in global GDP annually by 2040. The Forum also launched here at its annual meeting a new Women's Health Impact Tracking platform, a publicly accessible tool designed to monitor and bridge the health gaps faced by millions of women worldwide. The new report, Blueprint to Close the Women's Health Gap: How to Improve Lives and Economies for All, was published in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI). It highlighted that women live 25 per cent more of their lives in poor health compared to men and showed how targeted action around nine key health conditions could reduce the global disease burden by 27 million disability-adjusted life years and add the equivalent of 2.5 healthy days per woman per year. The nine conditions are divided into lifespan conditions, related to a total ..

Germany's economy shrinks for second consecutive year in 2024 amid election

The German economy, Europe's biggest, shrank for the second consecutive year in 2024, according to preliminary official figures released Wednesday weeks before an election in which the economy is the top issue. The Federal Statistical Office said that gross domestic product contracted by 0.2 per cent last year following a decline in 2023. The German economy has been battered by external shocks and homegrown problems, including red tape and a shortage of skilled labour, and politicians have been at odds over how to fix it. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government collapsed in November when Scholz fired his finance minister in a dispute over how to revitalise the economy. That paved the way for an early election on February 23. Contenders to lead the next government have made contrasting proposals on how to inject new vigour into the economy.

India's economic revolution of 1991: Manmohan Singh's lasting legacy

India's financial sector, dominated by public sector banks in 1991, had been long repressed by rigid controls on interest rate

New year looks dull for emerging markets due to Trump's tariffs, trade wars

While a handful of frontier markets such as Pakistan, Kenya and Sri Lanka posted turnarounds this year, no major emerging market outperformed the US stock market in 2024

Canada records bigger-than-expected trade deficit of $657.6 mn in Oct

Exports rose after three straight months of declines despite eight of the 11 export product sections being down

IMF chief warns of global risk of slow growth, urges China to push reforms

The world economy, buffeted by conflict and growing geopolitical rivalries, is in danger of getting stuck in a slow-growth, high-debt rut, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday. She also urged Chinese leaders to take more decisive action to jump-start their country's sluggish economy or risk seeing economic growth plummet. These are anxious times,' the fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, told reporters during the fall meetings of the IMF and its sister agency, the World Bank. The IMF forecasts that the global economy will expand this year at what Georgieva called an anemic' 3.2 per cent. Global trade is lackluster at a time of conflict and growing geopolitical tension including frosty relations the world's two largest economies, the United States and China. Trade is no more a powerful engine of growth,' she said. "We live in a more fragmented global economy.' At the same time, many countries are struggling with debts they took on to combat the

African debt crisis may have severe implications for world economy

The continent's foreign debt reached more than $1.1 trillion at the end of last year. More than two dozen countries have excessive debt or are at high risk of it

US weekly jobless claims jump amid seasonal volatility, loose labour market

A loosening labour market and ebbing inflation position the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September, with financial markets anticipating additional cuts in November and December

Fed officials at last meeting saw price pressures in decline, minutes show

Data released on June 12 showed the CPI had not risen at all in May on a month-to-month basis

You Need to Calm Down: Why the Taylor Swift economy may not be real

It is hoped Swift, along with Olympics Games in France and Euro 2024 soccer championship in Germany will provide a shot in the arm for continent that has skirted recession for most of the past 2 years