After the turmoil of the past two years, the consensus among economic pundits is that 2022 will be calmer. But in late 2019, when the first reports of a new coronavirus started to filter out from Wuhan in China, few imagined within months that the world economy would be flattened by a pandemic.
Finance ministers, central bank governors, and political leaders are hard at work preparing for the 2021 G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Rome on 30-31 October.
The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, published twice a year, is the most important source for evaluating the current and future outlook for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The recently released June edition is especially significant because of the warnings it contains. Someone reading this report too quickly could easily miss the bad news, because, as with all publications by international organizations, it comes sugar-coated.
Apple cut its revenue outlook for the latest quarter Wednesday, citing steeper-than-expected "economic deceleration" in China and emerging markets.The rare revenue warnings from Apple suggested weaker-than-anticipated sales of iPhones and other gadgetry, in part because of trade frictions between Washington and Beijing.Apple shares slid some 7.6 percent in after-hours trade on the news.The company slashed its revenue guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2019, ended 29 December,
With memories of Malaysia’s unexpected political shake-up still fresh, investors have three big elections to stay on edge about in the first half of 2019.Thailand is set to finally hold a vote on 24 February after several delays since the ruling party took over in a bloodless military coup in 2014. Indonesia’s turn is 17 April, a rematch between President Joko Widodo and his rival Prabowo Subianto.
The wave of volatility engulfing emerging markets increases the odds of another interest-rate hike in Indonesia in a policy decision on Wednesday that economists say is a close call.A rate pause this week was looking like a comfortable prediction after three rate hikes totalling one percentage point since mid-May helped to stabilize the rupiah and reverse some of the outflows earlier this year.
The slide in emerging markets is spooking Thailand’s US$26 billion Government Pension Fund.The fund will continue to avoid investing in developing-nation equities and bonds because of the risk of increased outflows due to global trade tensions and weakening currencies, according to its Secretary General Vitai Ratanakorn.The return on investment has been “disappointing” this year, compared with a 6.4 percent gain in 2017, as the value of domestic and foreign equities has slumped, Vitai said.
