The international troika of lenders visit Portugal to assess how the country is managing its 78 billion euros bailout; Central bankers and finance ministers of the G20 meet in Moscow for two-day talks; Mandela International Day is marked even as the former South African statesman remains in a “critical but stable” condition.
Monday, July 15
Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei said growth in the world’s second largest economy may dip below 7 percent in the second half of the year, signalling that Beijing may tolerate a slower pace of expansion than officials have previously indicated.
Lou, speaking yesterday at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington, added that he is confident of achieving a growth rate of at least 7 percent this year, though 6.5 percent growth would not pose a “big problem”.
Natural disasters like hurricanes and floods have caused more than $2.4 trillion in economic and insurance losses in the past decade. Which disasters tend to be the most costly, and how successfully have residents and businesses protected themselves against serious damage?
In June, the Geneva Association, a global insurance think-tank, warned that the speed at which oceans are warming is threatening insurers’ ability to sell affordable policies in a growing number of places around the world.
Fewer babies have been born in Europe since the start of the 2008 financial crisis, ending a Europe-wide upswing in the birth rate, claims a new study.
The study, conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, found that the birth rate in 28 European countries dropped as unemployment rose.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday lowered Italy’s sovereign credit rating to BBB from BBB+ and placed its outlook on negative, citing weakening prospects for the eurozone’s third largest economy as it remains stuck in its worst recession since World War 2.
The agency also lowered its GDP forecast for Italy in 2013 to -1.9 percent, compared with an earlier forecast of -1.4 percent.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecast for 2013, citing new downside risks from recession-hit Europe and a slowdown in emerging markets.
In its mid-year update to the World Economic Outlook, the IMF on Tuesday scaled back its 2013 forecast for global growth to 3.1 percent, as fast as the economy expanded last year and below the Fund’s 3.3 percent projection in April.
In the world’s largest assessment of public opinion on the matter, Transparency International found that more than one in two people think corruption has worsened over the last two years while a quarter admitted to paying a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last year.
China’s decades-old policy of providing free coal for winter heating to residents in the north is shortening the lives of people by about 5.5 years and causing higher rates of lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes, according to a new study published on Tuesday.
The study, which appeared in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was conducted by researchers from China, Israel and America and was based on analyses of health and pollution data collected by official Chinese sources from 1981 to 2001.
A report by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit called the “Worldwide cost of living index 2013” has named two of Australia’s major cities in the top five most expensive cities in the world to live in. Sydney ranked third behind Japan’s Tokyo and Osaka, while Melbourne took fifth spot after the Norway’s capital, Oslo.
The index, which compares all cities with New York and US dollars revealed that the price of a loaf of bread skyrocketed in Sydney from $1.81 a decade ago to $3.48.
This week, the United States and European Union begin negotiations on a transatlantic free trade and investment agreement, though progress might be overshadowed by the US’ alleged spying activities on EU member states. Also, South Sudan celebrates its second anniversary of independence.
Monday, July 8
