Panama, the nation at the center of a global financial scandal, has vowed to deepen its ties to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in order to create greater transparency and avoid future such scandals. The nation will seek to provide greater tax regulation in line with the OECD’s guidelines, offering enhanced openness and fewer incentives for tax evaders from other countries.
The Federal Reserve has fully reversed course, indicating that interest rate increases are likely to come later rather than sooner, as weak economic growth plagues the United States. Recently released Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes point to the central bank’s hesitance to raise borrowing costs for Americans due to protracted weakness throughout the broad economy.
Central bank governor John Mangudya urged Zimbabweans to limit cash usage as the nation’s cash shortage grew worse this week, according to New Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe discarded its defunct currency in 2009 in response to hyperinflation, and additional provisions prevented the central bank from printing the Zimbabwe dollar.
Zimbabwe switched to the U.S. dollar as one of its main currencies, but the economy is running out of American dollars. In response to the cash crunch, the government has limited bank withdraws and shut down some ATMs.
The World Bank has warned that poverty rates in Russia will return to the rates they reached in 2007 as the nation’s economy continues to contract, inflation rises, and individual purchasing power diminishes. These conditions underscore the belief, common in the former Soviet nation, that the ordinary people in Russia are once again bearing the brunt of the nation’s poor economic climate.
The Federal Reserve has again cut its growth outlook for the American economy as multiple signs of weakness come from numerous independent reports. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow cut its outlook to 0.4% growth in the first quarter of 2016, the third cut that has seen growth expectations more than halve. That is far below economists’ consensus expectations of 1.9% growth, and is indicative of the GDPNow model’s reliance on real-time data and larger data sets.
An official from the U.S. State Department assured members of the U.S. Congress that Iran would not gain access to American markets, according to Reuters. The Iranian Sanctions Act is set to expire in the later part of 2016, but Republicans intend to renew the restrictions before they expire.
Iran has cooperated with U.S. authorities regarding its nuclear program, but officials levied new sanctions in early 2016 when Iran conducted ballistic missile tests.
The World Bank has taken its first steps into the sharing economy, made famous in America by companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb. In the case of the World Bank, it seeks to use the sharing economy to ease crippling traffic in the Philippines under a program it has dubbed the “Open Traffic Initiative.”
The Federal Reserve is urging Americans to prepare for higher interest rates that will impact almost all debts, including student loans, mortgages, and credit cards. Despite interpretations of a dovish Janet Yellen after last week’s remarks that the Federal Reserve would remain patient and pace its interest rate hikes in accordance with data, a more recent speech from the Fed is chastising investors for not preparing themselves for higher interest rates.
In a meeting with ambassadors, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated that conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory could erupt into a regional war between his country and Azerbaijan, according to Reuters.
Armenia lost 20 troops during skirmishes with Azerbaijani forces, as members of the international community call for an immediate cease-fire. Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but retains a large number of ethnic Armenians.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has rated Israel as the second poorest among its member nations. This is surprising, given the relative level of education and salaries.
Indeed, when looking solely at gross salaries, Israel is 26th in the world; however, when examining net salaries (i.e., disposable income after taxes), the country is second worst in the world (second only to Mexico).
