Deterioration of the forecast for the European economy growth, further weakening of the industrial sector, low inflation and continuing tension in world trade are forcing the European Central Bank (ECB) to take the path of further easing of monetary policy. Reduction in the already negative deposit rate may occur as early as September; at the same time an announcement about the restart of the...

The total volume of current account imbalances in the world in 2018 hasn’t changed much and amounted to 3% of GDP, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported. The oil exporting countries, the rise in prices for this energy resource supported an increase in the surplus. In China, the surplus fell sharply, and so the country left the top ten oil exporters. The deficit in the United States,...

Facebook's plans to launch its own cryptocurrency called Libra faced serious resistance from the US administration and watchdogs. Washington is concerned that the new means of payment can be used for carrying out illegal operations such as money laundering, human trafficking and financing of terrorism. It is not the first time that such concerns have been expressed. In mid-July, US Treasury...

Taking into account the main economic indicators, the USD exchange rate is overestimated by 6-12 percent. At the same time, the rates of euro, yen and yuan are at an acceptable level, experts of the IMF believe. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded that the current exchange rate of the US dollar is significantly overvalued. Taking into account the main short-term economic...

Population of the Earth is over 7.7 billion people, of which 4.3 billion use the Internet. 3.5 billion are active users of social networks, which is 0.5 billion more than in 2017, states a report of Global Digital Statshot research company. As of July 2019, 46% of the world's population used social platforms, which is an increase of 7.8% compared to last year. Facebook remains the most popular...

Against the background of China's dominance in world trade, the country's growing role in global financial flows remains in the shadow. In spite of this, Chinese capital exports worldwide have reached record levels in recent decades, according to a group of economists from Harvard, the University of Munich and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Half of the debts are not counted in the...

OPEC lowered the forecast for non-cartel production growth for the current year by 95 thousand barrels per day (bpd) to 2.05 million bpd. As a result, the average volume of these shipments in the current year will amount to 64.43 million bpd. The decline can be explained by extension of the OPEC + transaction for nine months. Recall, OPEC and its allies explained the decision taken last week by...

High level of political uncertainty and slow world trade are key risks for growth of the euro area economies, follows from the updated forecast of the European Commission. These factors have already resulted in a decline in exports and deteriorated industrial business activity, primarily in Germany. As a result, this year the GDP of the area will increase by only 1.2%, and will grow by 1.4% in...

The European Central Bank is ready to adjust all its tools to increase inflation, but it also needs to explore a number of deeper problems that can change the course of its policies, said Olli Rehn, member of the Board of Governors of the ECB and Head of the Bank of Finland. “The Board of Governors is ready to adjust all its instruments accordingly so that inflation continues to steadily approach...