The newly-elected managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, spoke at the Global Women’s Forum 2016 regarding the global economy, especially in the wake of the China economic slowdown. Despite the prolonged slowdown, the IMF foresee that China’s lower growth was deliberate and healthy.
The east African nation Ethiopia is poised to grow at 8.1 percent in 2016 from 8.7 percent growth in 2015. This makes Ethiopia a fastest growing nation in the world. The government spending on infrastructure projects is mainly driving the economy growth.
South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has announced increasing key interest rates by fifty basis points to 6.75% on Thursday. It has also slashed down growth forecast to 0.9%. SARB has increased the interest rates for the second time with an interval of weeks. However, the rate hike will influence the Banks’ expenses and banking industry may witness job cutting as cost minimization effort.
The decreasing of China’s economic growth to the lowest rate in the last of 25 years has influenced the world’s economy. It made the International Monetary Fund slashed its global growth forecast for the third time in less than a year.
China grew 6.9 percent in 2015 indicating the slowest growth rate in 25 years. The growth rate was 6.8 for the fourth quarter of 2015. The world's second largest country recorded 7.3 percent growth rate in 2014. Investors are cautious about the impact of slowdown in China's economy. IMF forecasts China's economy growth rate at 6.3 percent in 2016 and six percent in 2017. Chinese government has set a target of seven percent growth for 2016.
Argentina is struggling from soaring inflation, which is hovering at 21 percent. The inflation rate is expected to reach 25 percent in 2016. The government is targeting to bring it down to five percent by 2019. The soaring prices are forcing consumers to pay everything in installments.
The Colombian Central Bank is heading towards a hike in interest rate. The Colombian government is keen on checking inflation rise and control the current account deficit.
The Russian economy slipped 4.1 percent during the third quarter as against the drop of 4.6 percent in the second quarter. The consecutive third quarter of contraction signals recessionary situation in the Russian economy.
The ongoing recession in Greek economy after long-lasting uncertainty is projected to end in 2016 and may witness real growth in 2017, according to European Commission (EC). The unsuccessful conclusion of second adjustment program of bailout package continued and worsened the economic recession in the ailing Greece economy further weakened the recovery prospects in the first half of 2015.
The indications are strong such that mighty Middle East (ME) region also may not sustain cheaper oil prices for long. If oil price continues to hover at $50 per barrel, the majority of Gulf nations will run out of cash in the next five years, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF). There's no exception to Saudi Arabia, the leader of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), Oman and Bahrain. The oil price drop is expected to pull $350bn out of the ME region this year alone. The current account deficit of Saudi Arabia may touch 20 percent of its GDP this year.
There's good news in a form of startups for China, which is reeling under the pressure of the slowdown in the economy. Giving much breath to China, over 10,000 startup firms are to take off every day. The majority are small enterprises.
The Panda bond market in China is expected to surpass $50-billion mark in next five years. International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning to sell bonds in Yuan-denominated from this year onwards.
Venezuelan telecom sector is reeling under pressure as it lacks additional funds availability, the physical currency of dollars. The cash-strapped telecom companies are unable to strengthen their networks. The soaring inflation doesn't allow them to raise a tariff.
With an objective of boosting economic growth, Serbia has slashed interest rate for a consecutive second month. The inflation rate is below the government's target and GDP growth rate was also eased in 2014. The decision of Serbia, the biggest former Yugoslav republic, to slash interest rate for a consecutive second month surprised everyone as it unexpected one both the times.
Gas becomes less expensive because the bottom has fallen out on oil prices. Crude is responsible for almost half the cost of a gallon of gas, as reported by CNN Money. Since June, prices have been plummeting and according to AAA, the regular gasoline's average price is now at $2.40 per gallon or more than a dollar less than it was a year ago. The plunge has been widespread and average prices are still above $3 in only four states namely: California, Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii wherein the last two states have everything that is often more expensive.
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