The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Kuwait’s non-oil growth strengthened in 2019, but lower oil prices and output curbs are weighing on the oil sector, bringing the country’s overall growth to around 0.7 per cent in 2019 from 1.2 per cent in 2018. The Washington-based fund stated that its projections are based on oil prices declining from $62 per barrel in 2019 to about $56 per barrel in 2023 and remaining broadly unchanged thereafter. “The current conjuncture and the exhaustible nature of oil underscore the need to diversify the ...

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Friday said growth slowdown in India appears to be temporary and that she expects the momentum to improve going ahead. The world appears a better place in January 2020 compared to what it was when IMF announced its World Economic Outlook in October 2019, she said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 here. She said the factors driving this positive momentum include receding trade tension after the US-China first phase trade deal and synchronised tax cuts, among others. She, however, said 3.3 per cent ...

Huge changes to the world of work over the past two decades have made little impact on teenagers’ career expectations, which have become more concentrated in fewer occupations, according to a new OECD report. Dream jobs: Teenagers’ career aspirations and the future of work says 47% of boys and 53 % of girls surveyed in 41 countries expect to work in one of just 10 popular jobs by age of 30. The figures, based on the latest PISA survey of 15-year-olds released last month, reveal a narrowing of expectations as ...

Germany and the Netherlands have room to spend more to boost economic growth, International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath said on Monday, joining a long list of experts calling the two countries to open state coffers. Germany just avoided recession last year but growth is likely to remain sluggish this year as its vast industrial sector struggles with weak exports, particularly due to shifting car consumption habits. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi and Dmitry Zhdannikov)

In the October World Economic Outlook, we described the global economy as in a synchronized slowdown, with escalating downside risks that could further derail growth. Since then, some risks have partially receded with the announcement of a US-China Phase I trade deal and lower likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. Monetary policy has continued to support growth and buoyant financial conditions. With these developments, there are now tentative signs that global growth may be stabilizing, though at subdued levels. In this update to the World Economic Outlook, we project global growth ...

The OECD area employment rate – the share of the working-age population with jobs – increased to 68.9% in the third quarter of 2019, from 68.7% in the previous quarter. Compared to the previous quarter, the employment rate in the third quarter of 2019 was stable in the euro area (at 67.9%, following continuous increases since the fourth quarter of 2013). Within the euro area, the employment rate increased by more than 0.5 percentage point in Estonia (to 75.7%), Latvia (to 72.7%) and Portugal (to 70.8%) but declined by 0.3 ...

The world’s financial sector should take rapid steps to address record or near-record inequality levels within countries that new research shows could be a harbinger of a new financial crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva issued what she termed a “call to action”, urging a shift to facilitate more lending to small and women-led businesses, which in turn would help bolster resilience in the event of a future crisis. “Our new research file:shows that inequality tends to increase before a financial crisis, ...

The signing of a Phase 1 trade agreement between the United States and China will reduce – but not eliminate – uncertainty that has dampened global economic growth, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. At an event at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Georgieva declined to give an adjusted global economic forecast, saying that would be released on Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. But she said the IMF expected the trade deal would ensure that China’s gross domestic product expands by 6% in ...

The OECD unemployment rate remained stable at 5.1% in November 2019. Across the OECD area, 33 million people were unemployed. The unemployment rate was also stable in the euro area, at 7.5% in November, with a decline of 0.2 percentage point in Austria (to 4.2%) and a smaller decline (by 0.1 percentage point) in France (to 8.4%), Slovenia (to 4.6%) and Spain (to 14.1%). The unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage point in Latvia (to 6.3%) and Portugal (to 6.7%) and more moderately (by 0.1 percentage point) in Belgium (to ...

Annual inflation in the OECD area picked up to 1.8 % in November, compared with 1.6% in October 2019. Annual inflation excluding food and energy also increased, marginally, to 2.1% in November compared with 2.0% in October. Food prices rose by 1.6% in November, compared with 1.4% in October while energy price deflation slowed to (minus) 1.1% in November compared with (minus) 3.0% in October. Source: OECD

Equatorial Guinea’s leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving president, should declare his assets before the nation receives more financial support, according to the International Monetary Fund. The central African country needs an IMF bailout to deal with a crisis that shrank its economy by a third to $13 billion last year. Under a program agreed to last week, the state will be required to increase transparency, improve governance and implement reforms to fight corruption, Lisandro Abrego, the lender’s mission chief for Equatorial Guinea, said in an interview. “Authorities ...

Global growth this year recorded its weakest pace since the global financial crisis a decade ago, reflecting common influences across countries and country-specific factors. Rising trade barriers and associated uncertainty weighed on business sentiment and activity globally. In some cases (advanced economies and China), these developments magnified cyclical and structural slowdowns already under way. Further pressures came from country-specific weakness in large emerging market economies such as Brazil, India, Mexico, and Russia. Worsening macroeconomic stress related to tighter financial conditions (Argentina), geopolitical tensions (Iran), and social unrest (Venezuela, Libya, Yemen) ...

I am very disappointed that COP25 in Madrid did not achieve the decisive, collective and ambitious outcomes that the climate emergency demands from world leaders. Despite the commendable efforts by Chile as Chair and the impressive work by Spain as host, this unsatisfactory result reflects the current geo-political context, the predominant focus on short-term national interests and a lack of trust among countries, but this is still no excuse for inaction. Urgent action is needed to rebuild the foundations for strong collective action if we are to avoid the rapidly ...

The International Monetary Fund would welcome any deal to reduce U.S.-China trade tensions and tariffs, but is urging the world’s two largest economies to permanently resolve their 17-month trade war, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said. “We would welcome any steps to de-escalate the trade tensions and roll back recent trade measures, particularly if they can provide a comprehensive and lasting agreement,” Rice told a regular trade briefing. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva “has been using the phrase, ‘we need to move from trade truce to trade peace.'” Source: Reuters (Reporting ...

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it fully supports the European Central Bank’s decision to leave its monetary policy unchanged for now. “The IMF staff firmly supports maintaining strong monetary accommodation until the ECB’s medium-term inflationary objective is met,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters at a regular briefing. The ECB on Thursday left policy unchanged at the first meeting of its new president, Christine Lagarde. With Thursday’s decision, the ECB’s rate on bank overnight deposits, which is currently its primary interest rate tool, remains at a record low ...