UNCTAD report '"Trade and Development Foresights 2025 – Under pressure: Uncertainty reshapes global economic prospects” cited mounting threats including trade policy shocks, financial volatility and a surge in uncertainty that risk derailing the global outlook.

"Leadership teams must recognize that the livelihoods of their employees' families hinge on the stability of the business. Understanding that the survival of the business goes beyond mere profitability can serve as a powerful motivator" he adds.

"The weakness of yesterday's US retail sales release have given market doves a new lease of life and allowed them to refocus on the likelihood of an early Fed rate cut," Rabobank analyst Jane Foley told AFP.

Washington, US - US economic growth was stronger than expected in the final months of 2023, government data showed Thursday, offering a boost to President Joe Biden as he starts his reelection campaign. The world's biggest economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter, fueled by...

Washington, US - Consumer inflation in the United States rose more than anticipated in December, government data showed Thursday, underscoring the bumpy road to cooling price increases as the presidential election looms. The Department of Labor's consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, was up 3.4 percent from a...

Its net profit fell 7.29% Y-o-Y in the three months to December.

Doha, Qatar--Qatar National Bank (QNB) expects the global economic growth to be around 2.9 percent in 2024, roughly the same rate as last year. QNB, in its weekly commentary, said, "There is no doubt that expectations for 2024 were influenced by the experience of investor sentiment from 2023, when negative...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Business activity in the eurozone slumped at a faster rate in December, weighed down by a deeper downturn in France, a key survey said on Friday. The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) published by S&P Global fell to 47 in December from 47.6 in November. A figure below...

Washington, United States - A key inflation measure used by the US Federal Reserve to set interest rates eased further last month amid declining energy and goods prices, according to government data published Thursday. The annual personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 3.0 percent in October, down 0.4 percentage points...

Recent developments spark concerns that the conflict, which is spreading across the region, presents a long-term threat to global energy and commercial infrastructure.

Marrakech, Morocco-- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its growth forecasts for China and the euro zone and said overall global growth remained low and uneven despite what it called the "remarkable strength" of the U.S. economy. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF left its forecast for...

Washington, US - A Federal Reserve official left open the possibility on Monday of pausing or stopping interest rate hikes at the central bank's next policy meeting in September, saying "there's nothing off the table." "Thus far we're on the golden path and we've got to walk that line," Chicago Fed...

Doha, Qatar--Qatar National Bank (QNB) Group foresees a recession in the US economy during the upcoming 12 months, pointing out that the US economy continues to demonstrate its resilience despite significant headwinds from high inflation, tighter financial conditions, and an uncertain global environment. In its weekly commentary, QNB added that...

The Fed paused its aggressive campaign of monetary tightening last month to give policymakers more time to assess the health of the US economy, and the impact of recent banking stresses on lending conditions. In the weeks since, positive upgrades to economic growth and cooler inflation data have reinforced the...

During periods of economic stability, government focus typically gravitates towards infrastructure development. Investments in sectors like construction, transportation, energy, utilities, and telecomms infrastructure, are likely to see a boost. The financial sector is also expected to be positively impacted, he adds.

BERLIN, GERMANY - On his many visits to semiconductor factories and electric car plants, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz bangs the drum for an economy at the forefront of an industrial transformation. But the picture painted by business leaders and experts is less rosy, predicting hard times to come for Europe's largest...

The eurozone entered into a technical recession at the start of the year, shrinking by 0.1 percent for a second consecutive quarter, figures from the EU's statistic agency showed. Eurostat revised down an earlier forecast that had predicted slight growth, after economic powerhouse Germany said last month it had fallen...

European Central Bank vice president Luis de Guindos on Wednesday previewed the slowing eurozone inflation rate, calling it "positive" but cautioning that "I would not say that the victory is there".

President Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy announced a deal to raise the debt ceiling, dragging the United States back from the precipice of default with only a few days to spare. Congress will vote on the deal to extend the government's borrowing authority on Wednesday, just shy of...

WASHINGTON, US - President Joe Biden said that Democratic and Republican negotiators were on the verge of resolving a debt ceiling standoff, as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic US default was pushed back to June 5. "It's very close and I'm optimistic," Biden told reporters at the White House on...

The IMF said the 2023 upgrade reflected "higher-than-expected resilience" in both demand and supply, alongside improved confidence in reduced post-Brexit uncertainty as well as lower energy costs.

President Joe Biden slammed Republican demands in negotiations to resolve the US debt ceiling standoff as "unacceptable" but said a solution can still be found before a disastrous default. Biden said he would talk directly with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during his Air Force One flight back to Washington.

In addition to battery electric vehicles, BMW is exploring hydrogen fuel cell technology to harness the potential of clean hydrogen production in the region, adds the managing director of BMW Group Middle East.

President Joe Biden's administration again warned of "catastrophic" consequences for the US economy including huge job losses if the country defaults, as negotiations to forge a debt deal are expected to resume this coming week. For weeks US policymakers, bankers and the White House have warned that the country is...

The Bank of England lifted its key interest rate to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, noting inflation remained stubbornly high but that the economy would now avoid recession this year. The BoE hiked the rate by a quarter-point to 4.5 percent with UK annual inflation stuck above...

"It appears that the central bank is willing to sacrifice parts of the economy and tighten its grip on households and businesses to combat inflation. However, this strategy risks doing more harm than good. It is crucial now that they refrain from further rate hikes to salvage their own credibility,"...

The regional apex banks -- including the CBUAE, SAMA, CBB, and QCB -- have raised rates by 25bps in response to the US Fed's decision to increase its benchmark lending rate.

Its economy grew 4.5 percent in the first three months of the year as the country reopened after dropping strict health controls that helped keep the coronavirus in check but battered businesses and supply chains. The country is beset by a series of other crises, from a debt-laden property sector...

His remarks came after the IEA Executive Director, Fatih Birol, criticized OPEC+ for their unexpected decision to reduce oil output by 1.66 million barrels per day from May until the end of 2023. Birol labeled finger-pointing and misrepresenting the actions of OPEC and OPEC+ as "counterproductive."

Germany, the EU's biggest economy, saw growth stagnate at zero percent over the previous quarter. Year-on-year, Germany was the only country in the single-currency zone to record a contraction, of 0.1 percent.

Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB), said the indices for the eurozone showed "a very friendly overall picture of an economy that continues to recover" but warned "a closer look reveals that growth is very unevenly distributed". Inflation fell to 6.9 percent on an annual...

Washington, United States - US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expects the world's biggest economy will continue to grow, despite heightened recession concerns following recent turmoil in the banking sector. The dramatic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank last month had rattled the industry, prompting US authorities including...

London rose but Frankfurt and Paris slipped in muted trade during a holiday-shortened week, while Asian indices slipped lower. "Markets are drifting as investor thoughts start to turn towards the scale of severity, as the likelihood of a recession later in the year in the US increases," said Richard Hunter,...

Asian indices drifted after losses on Wall Street, as data showing a softening in the US jobs market pointed to a slowdown in the world's biggest economy. Oil dipped, having spiked earlier this week following shock output cuts from OPEC+ crude producers.

London, United Kingdom--The British economy performed slightly better than previously estimated in the final quarter of last year as it expanded by 0.1 percent, revised official data showed Friday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) initially said growth had been flat in the October-December period. Either way, the UK narrowly avoided...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Economic growth in the eurozone accelerated in March and hit a 10-month high, according to a closely watched survey published on Friday, despite turmoil in the markets and concerns over banks. The S&P Global Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed the indicator at 54.1, up from 52.0...

This year's event, held in the Swiss resort of Davos, was an intense and inspiring, and had brought together prominent leaders from government, business, and social institutions.

Significant technology development is going on in the climate space in the UAE, distinguished Professor Laura D'Andrea Tyson tells TRENDS in an interview.

Around one-third of countries are likely to go through a recession, Sir Masood Ahmed, President of the Center for Global Development, tells TRENDS in an interview.

Citing historical "disinflation" cases dating back to 1950 in major economies, the report concluded that central banks "are likely to be hard pressed to achieve their disinflationary goals without significant sacrifice in economic activity." The analysis, prepared by a team of academic and corporate economists, identified parallels between the current...

In 2023, some Middle Eastern economies appear to be more resilient than most developed markets, Maroun Kairouz, Director for MENA at the World Economic Forum, tells TRENDS.

Supply of diesel to Europe from the US and the emerging refinery hub in the Middle East may make up some of the missing barrels from Russia, but a shortfall seems likely, not least considering the prospect for a strong recovery in China leading to lower export quotas, he adds.

Household spending and business investment remained positive in the final quarter last year though they slowed, while inventories and net exports helped growth, said Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics.

The rhetoric has shifted from talk of a recession in the 20-nation club to "a small contraction", she said, with some major economies like Germany possibly dodging a contraction altogether.

Almost two-thirds of chief economists believe a global recession is likely in 2023, with 18 percent of them considering it extremely likely – more than twice as many as in the previous survey conducted in September 2022. A third of respondents consider a global recession to be unlikely this year.

Inflation slows and China reopens to the world, give a boost to markets.

Analysts attribute the sharp slowdown to the so-called base effect, which makes year-on-year price increases look smaller when compared to extremely high levels 12 months earlier. The latest reading is still higher than in any another other emerging market except for Argentina. But it fulfils Erdogan's campaign promise that inflation...

Mikati said the economy had grown by nearly two percent in 2022 after two straight years of severe recession that saw Gross Domestic Product fall by 25.9 percent in 2020 and by 10.5 percent in 2021.

After a healthy rally in recent weeks fuelled by signs that price rises were slowing, the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England this week crushed any Christmas spirit by hiking borrowing costs again by sizeable amounts and warning of more pain.

Global stocks sank as central banks hiked interest rates again and signaled they needed to go higher to tame inflation. Meanwhile, downbeat economic data out of China and the United States fanned recession fears. Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank mirrored the Fed's half-point hike on...