Syria has been engulfed in military conflict for more than four years. These battles have cost the Middle Eastern nation more than a quarter million lives and led to a population decrease of 23 percent with over four million refugees registered in neighboring countries.
American home sales are growing as more first-time homebuyers enter the market, driving demand for existing homes throughout the country.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing-home sales saw a sharp rise in May, rising 5.1% on a seasonally adjusted annual rate from the prior month. Sales also rose 9.2% on a year-over-year basis, when only 4.9 million units annualized sold compared to the 5.35 million annualized in May.
Raul Castro’s Cuba has made many changes in recent years, and some of these seem to be paying off for the economy. After more than five decades of limited diplomatic relations with the US, the island nation just south of Florida has finally begun to work on restoring official channels of communication. Castro has also allowed a limited opening of the Cuban economy to private interests while also trying to attract foreign investments.
Analysts project that the Cuban economy will grow 4.0 percent in the first half of 2015, due to gains in such areas as manufacturing, trade and construction. Tourism also shot up 15 percent in the first few months of 2015.
Asian exporters are finding it harder to sell to the U.S., causing many nations to look for alternative markets of goods-hungry consumers.
It is easy to become quite cavalier when analyzing economic performance of various countries to think of them as existing in bubbles. However, as anyone with a moderate level of economic understanding and experience reading markets knows, trade is a major factor of almost every healthy economy in the world. That means that every nation’s fortunes are interconnected. When that nation happens to be one with an economy as large as China’s, it can have ripple effects around the world.
Nigeria is an oil rich nation. While that has helped it grow into one of the largest economies in Africa, the recent downturn in oil prices has caused a significant pinch in the nation’s cash flow. This has led both the Nigerian government and outside economic thinkers to discuss ideas for ways, the Nigerian economy can not only solve its short-term financial problems, but also cure its nation’s dependence on oil exports for longer-term growth.
According to a new report from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), violence not only cost the world economy trillions of dollars but also carved out 13 percent of the world’s GDP in 2014. The IEP adds that political turbulence and refugee migrations destabilize economies worldwide and left many nations with heavy financial burdens in 2015.
Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking US territorial island in the Caribbean has an unusual dilemma. Its economy has performed remarkably poorly, causing Puerto Rican citizens to leave the country to seek better opportunities. Yet, those very same movements off the island reduce the territory’s tax base, worsening its debt problems.
As a result, Puerto Rico finds itself is on the brink of default, with its own population contributing to the problem by leaving. For years, the Puerto Rican economy has deteriorated. Much of the problem flows from poor debt management.
Emerging from last year’s recession, many in the financial industry were curious about the Japanese government’s take on its own recovery programs. While these programs included a substantial stimulus package, they also included increases in sales tax and capital expenditures. However, based on a recent statement issued by the Bank of Japan, the nation apparently feels quite positive about its recovery progress; a fact signaled by its announcement of plans to maintain the Bank of Japan’s massive stimulus program.
