At this year’s China Development Forum (the highest-level annual meeting between senior Chinese policymakers and top CEOs, current and former policymakers, and academics like me), the discussion focused squarely on the risk of China falling into the dreaded “middle-income trap.” After all, few...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/china-confronts-the-middle-income-trap/
China’s central bank on Monday left a key policy interest rate unchanged as widely expected when rolling over maturing medium-term loans, and drained some cash from the banking system through the bond instrument. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Keeping the medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate steady...
Euro zone inflation is retreating, so interest rates can come down in June, but the path beyond that is far too uncertain for policymakers to make any subsequent commitments, European Central Bank policymaker Peter Kazimir said on Monday. The ECB opened the door to a June rate cut last week but the...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/ecb-must-hold-off-on-rate-cut-talk-beyond-june-kazimir-says/
Israel’s European allies urged it on Monday to show restraint over Iran’s weekend missile and drone attack, calling on Israeli leaders to step away from “the edge of the cliff” of escalation in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, which is empowered to decide on...
China’s economy is expected to have slowed in the first quarter as a protracted property downturn and weak private-sector confidence weigh on demand, maintaining pressures on policymakers to unveil more stimulus measures. Data on Tuesday is forecast to show gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.6% in...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/chinas-q1-gdp-growth-likely-to-slow-more-stimulus-on-the-cards/
Foreign buyers will throng the vast halls of China’s biggest trade expo from Monday, scouting for deals on Chinese goods that U.S. and European governments complain are flooding global markets. The 135th Canton Fair comes as China is making a strategic policy shift, accelerating resource...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/low-price-is-the-word-at-chinas-largest-trade-show/
Retail sales beats all expectations US retail sales rose a very robust 0.7% month-on-month in March versus 0.4% expected with only one forecaster predicting this outcome out of 64 analysts. February’s growth rate was revised up to +0.9% from +0.6% MoM with March strength led by non-store retailers...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/us-household-spending-holds-firm/
Greece reported a higher-than-targeted primary budget surplus of 2.95 billion euros ($3.14 billion) in January-March, on higher tax revenues and disbursements from the European Union’s recovery fund, the finance ministry said on Monday. The government had aimed for a primary budget surplus – which...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/greeces-jan-march-primary-budget-surplus-beats-target/
A year after Silicon Valley Bank’s failure, less than halfof U.S. banks have established borrowing capacity by pledging collateral at the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending facility, according to Fed data. That’s despite a crescendo of calls from financial regulators for banks to make sure they...
Economists are sticking to their view that inflation in the euro zone will fall to 2% and stay there, a European Central Bank poll showed on Friday, in comforting news as the ECB prepares to cut interest rates. The ECB’s latest Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) put inflation at 2.4% this...