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World economy

"Nobody believes in the Doha Round...Multilateral negotiation in the WTO is over"

World economy 3rd December 2018

“Nobody Believes In The Doha Round…Multilateral Negotiation In The WTO Is Over”

Ana Fuentes | “Perhaps the solution is to have 40 or 50 states agreeing, for example, common rules on e-commerce. And that all who are interested can join, as distinct from commercial agreements which you cannot choose to be part of – so if the EU signs a free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada, Israel cannot decide to be part of it”, explains J. Robert Basedow, Professor of International Political Economy at the LSE.

Are US sanctions losing their clout?

World economy 2nd December 2018

Are US Sanctions Losing their Clout?

Gary Grappo |  America’s latest round of sanctions on Iran’s primary hard currency earner will be felt not only by the Iranian government, but also by Iranian people. Washington’s frequent use of economic sanctions for all matter of offenses could end up diminishing their utility over the long term and empowering bad actors.

G-20 meeting: Are trade headlines hiding a ‘tech cold war’?

World economy 1st December 2018

G-20 Meeting: Are Trade Headlines Hiding A ‘Tech Cold War’?

The G20 meeting that will take place on Friday 30th November 2018 and into the weekend could serve as an ideal venue for pre-meeting deals. The market is already anticipating trade deals between US and China to counter the surge in protectionism we have seen in the past year. However, Neil Dwane, strategist at Allianz Global Investors has an interesting theory: if trade tensions continue, the US and China could lock each other out and create their own tech ecosystems, forcing the rest of the world to choose one over the other.

black friday 2018

Uncategorised, World economy 29th November 2018

Black Friday: $60 Bn In Sales From Thursday To Sunday, Which Means 6% Rise Over 2017 Same Period

The first figures on the purchase by consumers on Black Friday and the last weekend show significant strength in private consumption. The data published by the firm Customer Growth Customers should be highlighted, which shows that between Thursday and Sunday some 60 billion dollars of products were sold in the US through different sales channels, which represents a 6% increase over the same period last year.

A varied set of views on China- Greece ties

World economy 28th November 2018

China: Hidden domestic debt, the elephant in the room

With the economic slowdown and equity market correction in China, hidden domestic debt has come to the attention of global markets again. The vast majority of that debt is in wholly owned shell companies, called Local Government Financing Vehicles (LGFV). Analysts at Julius Baer estimate that only around half of them are businesses with real, sustainable cash flow.

Food industry: Feeding the future, feeding a growing planet

World economy 25th November 2018

Feeding The Future, Feeding A Growing Planet

It’s a simple question: Will we be able to feed everyone if the population of the planet rises from about 7 billion people today to 9-10 billion in 2050? Several experts at Citi have tried to anwer this question, starting from mentioning Thomas Malthus’ Essay on the Principles of Population, and concluding that  food industry in its current format is unsustainable for future demand.

The economic cold war between the US and China is here to stay

World economy 23rd November 2018

China And The US, For The Better And The Worse, Look Like More Than Many Can Admit

In this new binary world where China is bad and the US is good, there is a great danger of over-looking the very real structural risks in the west at the moment. As told by Mark Tinker, AXA strategist in Asia, one of the current amusing party games might be to play ‘substitute the words US for China in different bearish economic projection’ and see if it worries you more or less.

lifebuoy water

World economy 19th November 2018

Unintended consequences of saving the world from the financial crisis

Neil Dwane (Allianz) | The response of central banks to the financial crisis 10 years ago may have saved the world from a devastating depression, but it also created a host of unforeseen effects – from more indebtedness to more economic inequality. Looking back at what we got right – and what went wrong – what lessons can we take away for the future?