After months of rhetoric calling for bold monetary easing from the Bank of Japan (BOJ), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday admitted that the BOJ’s 2 percent inflation target may be difficult to accomplish; and warned the BOJ to not pursue the benchmark “at all cost”, especially if global conditions change.
Extreme poverty could be virtually wiped out globally by 2030, said World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim in a speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, outlining a bold agenda to boost the incomes for the poorest 40 percent of every nation worldwide, while acknowledging the extraordinary efforts required to meet this goal.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, it is almost inconceivable to think that America today represents the greatest hope for the global economy. Yet, with Europe struggling to restore growth, China facing a hard landing if critical structural reforms are postponed, and emerging markets turning more and more towards state capitalism, the U.S. is in the best relative shape among the world’s largest economies – even if this fact in itself presents risks.
The role of women in society – and the economy – has come a long way since the days of the traditional sphere of work (i.e., caregiving, within the domains of a home).
Today, the additional economic contribution of women entering the workforce since the 1970s has accounted for nearly 25 percent of America’s GDP, while American women have gone from holding 37 percent of all jobs to nearly 48 percent.
Central banks in developing countries sold nearly 45 billion euros in currency holdings last year, reported the Financial Times on Monday, highlighting the damage Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has done to the Euro’s international standing, even as the U.S. dollar held steady.
According to FT, Euros now made up only 24 percent of emerging nations’ reserves, the lowest since 2002, while USD holdings managed to stay at about 60 percent.
China will spend more than 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) over the next three years to reduce pollution in its capital Beijing, reported the China Daily last Friday, as air quality continues to remain above “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” levels – since the start of 2013.
Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday upgraded Turkey’s sovereign credit rating from BB to BB+, placing the nation one level below an investment-grade rating and setting the economic outlook to stable.
In a statement, cited by the Financial Times, S&P said that the upgrade reflected Turkey’s gradual rebalancing of their economy; and lauded the Turkish government for making progress made in solving the Kurdish problem.
The World Bank on Tuesday said that it was ready to support the new development bank being established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), in a statement just hours after the groups of emerging nations reached a deal to challenge nearly seven decades of World Bank dominance.
In his inaugural address last Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the “Chinese Dream”, in which the mainland will restore its role as the largest economy worldwide. But unlike their predecessors, Xi and his fellow leaders can no longer rely on double-digit growth, or China’s old growth models. What China truly needs is a two-phase political transition, economic and financial reforms, and a geostrategic recalibration in Asia.
Although most French companies still favoured a proposed free-trade pact between the European Union and the U.S., France’s trade minister Nicole Bricq warned on Monday that the agreement was being too “hurriedly put together”; and that issues such as culture and agriculture were being overlooked in the process.
