Singapore was one of the original "Newly Industrialised Countries" (NICs) alongside Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Between the 1960s to the 1980s, the manufacturing industry, in particular, was able to attract numerous Multi-National Companies (MNCs) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) into the country. This became the foundation for Singapore to grow into one of the most advanced and technologically driven economies in the world.In 2010, Singapore was the third fastest growing economy in the world behind Qatar and Paraguay – with a real GDP growth rate (constant prices, national currency) of 14.471 percent. Read more

The most recent threat to the global economy is the dawn of rising food prices. The ever-expanding demand-supply gap is the contributing factor for this food price rise. In recent times the shortage in the food supply has led to violence in many parts of the world. Pakistan has made use of troops to safeguard trucks that are carrying flour and wheat. Violent protests are also witnessed in countries like Mexico, Morocco, and Uzbekistan. This has in turn affected the normal functioning of the economy. The worst hit is the trade segment, which is the major source of revenue for these countries.Read more

Economic inequality is seen to exist in the developed and developing nations, across different income groups of a country's population and among different races to name a few.There are various measures of economic inequality available, prominent among them is the Gini Coefficient. The effects of economic inequality among the world populace cover a wide spectrum. The era of globalization and interconnectivity has added a new dimension to the whole process.Read more

Since 2008, Qatar has been consistently ranked among the top three fastest growing economies in the world. Analysts believe Qatar will continue its double-digit growth trend for the next few years on the back of rising oil and natural gas prices. Qatar's oil and natural gas industries account for 50 percent of GDP, 85 percent of export earnings and 70 percent of the government's revenue. According to 2010 statistics, Qatar produced 76.98 billion cubic metres of natural gas and an average of 1.213 million barrels of oil per day.  Read more

It was the 26th September, 2008. Hank Paulson, then US Treasury Secretary, had got down on one knee to Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House, and begged her to support his Bailout of the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks. At that moment we knew that consumer and business confidence around the world would plummet. It was a matter of business survival for us to understand just how bad it would be, but the data was painfully slow in coming. I kept asking myself, what is the point of having a forward indicator when it takes so long to get the data? Now we are taking a small step to fix that problem, by introducing the Global, Real-Time Consumer Confidence IndexRead more