The German economy shrank unexpectedly in the first three months of this year, marking the second quarter of contraction which is one definition of recession. Data released Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office shows Germany’s gross domestic product, or GDP, declined by 0.3% in the period from January to March. …
Read More »Lebanon spiraling into financial chaos
Lebanon is on the verge of complete chaos following the pound’s dramatic fall against the US dollar with disgruntled citizens taking to the streets, blocking highways, burning, and attacking public utilities to protest the deteriorating economic conditions. This coincided with the breakdown of public services that has left the country …
Read More »World economy back at pre-pandemic level: Data firm
The global economy has surpassed its pre-pandemic peak, data survey firm IHS Markit said Monday, as the recovery accelerates thanks to vaccination and the end of pandemic-related restrictions.
Read More »New Zealand’s Ardern delivers welfare boost in annual budget as economy rebounds
New Zealand on Thursday lifted welfare benefit rates and promised billions of dollars more towards addressing rising inequality in its annual budget, as it predicted smaller deficits and faster economic recovery from COVID-19. The budget for the 2021 fiscal year allocated funds towards housing, healthcare, education, and infrastructure, while also …
Read More »Iraq GDP per capita in 2020 dropped 30% to touch 4 thousand dollars
Iraq’s Ministry of Planning revealed, on Wednesday, that in 2020, the GDP per capita in Iraq has trended to nearly five million dinars. “According to the report of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Iraq GDP per capita was projected to 4.950 million dinars (about 4.2 thousand dollars) in 2020, …
Read More »Japan’s record economic plunge wipes out Abe era gains
Japan was hit by its biggest economic slump on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic emptied shopping malls and crushed demand for cars and other exports, bolstering the case for bolder policy action to prevent a deeper recession. The third straight quarter of declines knocked the size …
Read More »Turkish annual July inflation dips below 12%, lira firms
Turkey’s consumer price inflation fell to a lower-than-expected 11.76% year-on-year in July, official data showed on Tuesday, reversing two months of rising inflation as the economy continued to emerge from lockdown. The figures boosted the lira TRYTOM=D3, which firmed to 6.9270 against the dollar. The currency weakened last week to …
Read More »Record 12.1% collapse in second quarter eurozone GDP
The European economy was hit by its sharpest recorded contraction in the second quarter, with GDP down 12.1 percent in the eurozone and 11.9 percent across the EU. The official Eurostat agency said that, with much of the economy paralyzed by coronavirus lockdowns, the fall was “by far” the largest …
Read More »US jobless claims rise for second week, GDP falls by record 33 percent
More than 1.43 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, according to new weekly data from the Department of Labor. It’s the second-straight week that the number has risen. The extent of the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic was further revealed on Thursday, …
Read More »China’s economy roars back to growth after record coronavirus contraction
China has become the first major economy to show signs of recovery and avoid recession amid the coronavirus pandemic, with its gross domestic product (GDP) rising 3.2 percent in the second quarter. The positive economic growth, reported by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday, came after a sharp …
Read More »Coronavirus to leave a legacy of unprecedented global debt
Enormous doses of stimulus spending are offering relief from coronavirus damage but their lifelong legacy of debt could seed future crises by hobbling economic growth and worsening poverty, especially in developing countries. Central banks and governments worldwide have unleashed at least $15 trillion of stimulus via bond-buying and budget spending …
Read More »African Americans underserved by US banks: study
Many African Americans have difficulty accumulating savings in part because they lack access to mainstream financial services like banking, a new study on the contributing factors to the U.S. racial wealth gap by McKinsey & Co found on Tuesday. Many minorities in the United States depend on more expensive financial …
Read More »US downs 2018 GDP growth to 3%, below Trump’s target.
The US government says the economy grew more slowly in 2018 than it previously estimated, downgrading its estimate from 3% to 2.5%. US President Donald Trump had frequently boasted of the 3% growth figure as evidence that his policies invigorated the economy. The US Commerce Department lowered its estimate of …
Read More »Ukraine is one of the poorest nations in Europe: World Bank
Ukraine is rated as one of the poorest countries in Europe and Central Asia when it comes to GDP per capita, according to the country’s key creditor, the World Bank. The agency placed the nation on the same level as Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia, saying that it would take Ukraine …
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