Do it yourself

Wishing all the readers, family, and friends a very Happy Diwali. May the Lord enlighten all of us and relieve everyone from pain and misery.   ========================================================================== The growth is slowing across the world. The engines of global growth - India and China – are also expected to slow down in 2024. Most European countries are flirting with recession. Canada is technically in recession. The US growth is stronger than estimates but not enough to support the Growth decelerating As per the latest  World Economic Outlook  report released by the World Bank, global growth has slowed down to 3% in 2023 from 3.5% recorded in the year 2022. The global economic growth is expected to further decelerate to 2.9% in 2024. The advanced economies have grown by 1.5% in 2023 against 2.6% in 2022. Their growth is likely to further decelerate to 1.4% in 2024. Economic growth in Emerging economies is also not accelerating. These economies are exp...

  In its latest flagship Global Economic Prospects (June 2023) report, the World Bank has highlighted numerous weak spots in the global economy, which if not handled promptly and properly could result in a financial crisis culminating in a deep downturn in 2024. The report emphasizes that the global economy is far from full recovery from the impact of coronavirus induced slowdown. It severely lacks the strength necessary to make progress on “global ambitions to eliminate extreme poverty, counter climate change, and replenish human capital.” It is further emphasized that “years before COVID-19 arrived, governments had already been turning their backs on free and fair trade. And long before the outbreak of the pandemic, governments across the world had developed an appetite for huge budget deficits. They turned a blind eye to the dangers of rising debt-to-GDP ratios. If a lost decade is to be avoided, these failures must be corrected— now, not later .” The following are some o...

Continuing from Friday (see Slipping back into deep abyss ) Two of the key questions that are begging answer from the central bankers infusing trillions of dollars in fresh liquidity in the global financial system and the governments borrowing incessantly to further their populist agenda, is what will be the impact of this debt burden on the potential economic growth? and How the perpetually slow growth will impact the demography, i.e., whether the world will follow the demographic trends of Japan and grow old? (see How will this tiger ride end? ) As per the World Bank report titled Global Waves of Debt - Causes and Consequences , "Amid record high global debt, low interest rates and subpar growth have led to an intense debate on whether the recent rapid increase in debt is reason for concern. Some argue that countries, especially those that issue reserve currencies, should take advantage of low interest rates to borrow more to finance priority expenditures. Oth...