The Red Sea crisis, involving Houthi attacks, has garnered global attention and has potential implications for the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region conflict and the global economy.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 21: The global economy is moving from normalization seen at the end of last year, to a new "non-normality", according to Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB).

What's next for the global economy?

October 13, 2020 04:30 am

The US and China are now on a collision course in all dimensions and this will continue, to some extent, even if Joe Biden wins next month’s presidential election.

The COVID shock to the dollar

June 27, 2020 07:00 am

NEW HAVEN – Pandemic time runs at warp speed. That’s true of the COVID-19 infection rate, as well as the unprecedented scientific efforts under way to find a vaccine. It is also true of transformational developments currently playing out in pandemic-affected economies. Just as a lockdown-induced recession brought global economic activity to a virtual standstill in a mere two months, hopes for a V-shaped recovery are premised on an equally quick reopening of shuttered economies.

Covid-19 is testing the world

May 11, 2020 15:00 pm

The Covid-19 pandemic has indicated an unprecedented change in the balance of world order—first of a state’s capacity, its limitations and priority and the second of the collapse of America-led world order. Regional Alliances like NATO, EU, ASEAN, SAARC etc have become almost irrelevant in Covid-19 humanitarian cooperation.

KATHMANDU, April 15: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also sharply lowered Nepal's growth forecast in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that threatens to wreak havoc on the global economy.

World is changing

April 7, 2020 09:07 am

The casualty figures show no sign of stopping anytime soon. With the number of COVID-19 infected and deceased going up by the day, governments across Europe and North America are scrambling to put measures in place. At the same time, talks of how the world will look like after the containment of the virus are slowly starting to emerge. New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman writes that the world will now have a new historical divide, BC—before corona and AC—after corona—while acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harrari feels that in the post COVID world, people might have to forgo their privacy for the sake of their health. Many others have their own arguments.

Time to revive agriculture

April 5, 2020 09:52 am

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a public health crisis, experts are now voicing their concerns that the virus could have a much broader impact on the global economy. The UN's trade and development agency says the slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to two trillion dollars this year. It will certainly impact agriculture as well. Some agriculture experts and entrepreneurs have made some observations that social distancing, reduced social and religious functions, minimizing travel, avoiding crowds, closures, and other protective practices will have impact on markets and prices of food items, dairy products, meat, flowers, and ornamental plants. There is a supply chain slowdown affecting the transportation of fertilizer, fuel, and other production inputs.

RIYADH/WASHINGTON, March 27: Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies pledged on Thursday to inject over $5 trillion (£4.1 trillion) into the global economy to limit job and income losses from the coronavirus and “do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic.”

Only Multilateralism Can Save Us

March 22, 2020 10:28 am

WASHINGTON, DC – The global economy was ripe for a recession even before the coronavirus pandemic struck. Many commentators have been warning that stock markets were overheated, that advanced economies were heading for a slowdown, and that US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies had disrupted supply chains and ushered in an era of heightened uncertainty. Now, the stock market has finally crashed, and a recession has become almost inevitable.

GENEVA/DUBAI, Feb 28: All countries need to prepare to combat the coronavirus, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, as authorities raced to contain the epidemic’s rapid global spread and Wall Street looked set for its biggest weekly fall since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

When Viruses Turn Political

February 16, 2020 11:40 am

OXFORD – Before the coronavirus exploded into the news, a report by the World Health Organization warned that the world was not prepared for “a fast-moving, virulent respiratory pathogen pandemic” that could kill 50-80 million people, cause panic and instability, and seriously affect the global economy and trade. The experience of the last 200-plus years has shown that only governments acting in concert can effectively fight such a pandemic—and even then, only with the trust and compliance of their citizens. This points to three challenges facing political leaders in the fight against the new coronavirus, now known as COVID-19.

The Power of AI

February 6, 2020 09:29 am

KREUZLINGEN – Artificial intelligence is permeating almost every aspect of life in advanced economies. From governments to businesses to individuals, AI’s reach is sweeping, and its implementation is proving transformational.

Global Economy Without a Cushion

February 4, 2020 12:10 pm

NEW HAVEN – With the benefit of full-year data, only now are we becoming aware of the danger the global economy narrowly avoided in 2019. According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest estimates, world GDP grew by just 2.9 percent last year—the weakest performance since the outright contraction in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009 and far short of the 3.8 percent pace of post-crisis recovery over the 2010-18 period.

Ownership Concentration

January 25, 2020 09:22 am

DUBAI – If the global economy were a chess game, few pieces would be left on the board. Most would be relegated to the role of bystanders, observing a concentration of power in the hands of an ever-dwindling number of global players. Now let us imagine that the pieces left standing are corporate entities, with a shrinking number of ultimate owners at the helm. This analogy fundamentally characterizes the global economy today.

NAIROBI, Jan 20: The world’s richest 2,153 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined in 2019, while unpaid or underpaid work by women and girls adds three times more to the global economy each year than the technology industry, Oxfam said on Monday.

LONDON – At the start of a new decade, many commentators are understandably focused on the health of the global economy. GDP growth this decade most likely will be lower than during the teens, barring a notable improvement in productivity in the West and China, or a sustained acceleration in India and the largest African economies.

Limits of monetized fiscal deficits

October 31, 2019 00:30 am

NEW YORK – A cloud of gloom hovered over the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting this month.

Four collision courses

September 30, 2019 01:30 am

NEW YORK – In the classic game of “chicken,” two drivers race directly toward each other, and the first to swerve is the “loser.” If neither swerves, both will probably die. In the past, such scenarios have been studied to assess the risks posed by great-power rivalries. In the case of the Cuban missile crisis, for example, Soviet and American leaders were confronted with the choice of losing face or risking a catastrophic collision. The question, always, is whether a compromise can be found that spares both parties their lives and their credibility.

OSAKA, June 28: Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that some developed countries are taking protectionist measures that are leading to trade conflicts and economic blockade - calling them the biggest risk of the increase in instability in the global economy.

Your daily dose of missed important news of the day.

WASHINGTON, Jan 30:  U.S. and Chinese negotiators start two days of high-level talks Wednesday aimed at settling a six-month trade war that has weakened both sides, shaken financial markets and clouded the outlook for the global economy.

Global economy ten years after

September 13, 2018 00:10 am

Much will be said about the tenth anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, so I will focus on the global economy, which has not been nearly as weak as many seem to think.