VENTURE CAPITAL POST

UK's performance in the third quarter further slowed down. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in July-September quarter was at 0.6 percent lower than 0.7 percent in the previous quarter.

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.

China's economy grows at its slowest pace in more than six years in the third quarter. Gross domestic product between July and September expanded 6.9% from a year ago, its weakest since the first quarter of 2009. While that is better than the forecasted 6.7% growth, it is lower than the 7% recorded in the first two quarters.

The world's second largest economy witnessed its lowest growth rate in the last two decades. China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate dipped below seven percent during the third quarter for the first time after the financial crisis. A record of 6.9 percent, below the Chinese government's target of seven percent and slightly better than the forecasted 6.8 percent. This is translating into more pressure on the Chinese government to lower interest rates and some measures to strengthen the growth rate.

The labor market in Brazil, one of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations, is fast worsening owing to intensifying recession in the domestic economy. The unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent from the record low of 4.3 percent at the end of 2014. Many industrial estates in Brazil are running down signaling next big crisis for the economy.

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.

Alexis Tsipras-led Greece government has proposed stringent measures in the budget for 2016 year. The draft budget for 2016 indicated a series of tough measures to restore normalcy in the ailing Greece economy.

After five years of negotiations, 12 Pacific nations are about to conclude on a free trade agreement (FTA) as these countries have arrived on an understanding on Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) deciding monopoly on new biotech drugs.

Bank of America Corp (BofA) has turned positive on Russia's economy as it started seeing signs of recovery in near future though on a weaker note. The drastic slowdown in capital investment is gradually easing off. Russian economy seems to have bottomed out. Russian gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk 4.6 percent during the second quarter.

Though US business investment marginally eased in August, the new home sales on the upward move during August. The latest data for August indicates that the US economy is not impacted much in line with ongoing global unrest. The US economy is growing as per the forecast for GDP growth rate of 1.4 percent for the third quarter. Barring aircraft and defense equipment, business investment showed a marginal drop of 0.2 percent during the month. The August' drop comes close after gains in July that were considered to be the biggest upward movement in the year boosting business confidence that American corporate sector is not disturbed by the sluggish global economy. New home sales in August rose 5.7 percent to annual growth of 552,000 indicating highest level since 2008. This growth in home sales was higher than the forecasts.

German automaker Volkswagen Group is under scrutiny after it was found by the U.S Clean Air Group that some of its cars did not pass the standard emission test. The test conducted by Peter Mock and John German revealed another scandal - the use of "defeat device" software in its cars.

Indian currency Rupee seems to be heading for its biggest drop since 2013 as INR continued to drop for the third consecutive session following the selling pressure in riskier assets owing to renewed growth concerns on Asia.

The Chinese manufacturing sector registered its worst performance in the past 78 months. The measure of sentiment among purchasing managers, Preliminary Caixin China manufacturing index (PMI) dropped to 47 in September from 47.3 in August.

The debt-ridden Island Puerto Rico has opted for value-added tax (VAT) as a measure to enhance revenues for the government. The new VAT structure will come into force starting1 April 2016.

The latest data for August shows that Russia's economy is showing signs of slowing down. But the rate of decline is moderating, the real sector data is giving a sigh of relief as the worst conditions in the economy are softening, if not improving.