Economy Today : Economic Indicators
The basic Economic Indicators that reflect Economy Today are :
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the total market value of every finished product, whether commodities or services, produced within a country in a specific time period (usually a fiscal year) taken together.
Gross National Product (GNP) - the total market value of all finished commodities and services, produced by the production factors of a country and then disposed off through sales within a particular time period. The outputs from outsourcing of production all add to the GNP of a nation.
Per Capita Income - the total earnings of a country through all means of production in a given time period, divided by the population of that country.
The above are basically used to compare the general economic condition of a population to those of other nations.
World GDP in Economy Today
The Gross Domestic Product of an economy is computed by adding the following :
private consumption in the economy
investments in business capital
total government expenditures on finished goods and services
Net exports of the economy which implies gross imports deducted from the gross exports.
With the gross world product closing in on the $50 trillion mark, as reported by the IMF, the following countries lead in terms of GDP (in trillions of USD) :
U.S.A. close to 13.25
Japan around 4.5
Germany about 3.0
China near 2.75
U.K. around 2.5
Economy Today : Role of Global Organizations
The World Bank consisting of the IBRD and the IDA basically deal with developing nations and are concerned with :
human development
rural development
land and agriculture
protecting the environment from all kinds of adversities
infrastructure which means the basic facilities and capital equipments required for the proper functioning of a nation