Global ETF News Older than One Year
Developing Countries Paid Record $1.4 Trillion on Foreign Debt in 2023
December 3, 2024--Financial Squeeze on Poorest Economies Tightened as Private Creditors Retreated
Developing countries spent a record $1.4 trillion to service their foreign debt as their interest costs climbed to a 20-year high in 2023, the World Bank's latest International Debt Report shows. Interest payments surged by nearly a third to $406 billion, squeezing the budgets of many countries in critical areas such as health, education, and the environment.
The financial strain was fiercest for the poorest and most vulnerable countries-those eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the data show. These countries paid a record $96.2 billion to service their debt in 2023.
Source: worldbank.org
New report examines how artificial intelligence may shape future of international trade
November 21, 2024--A new report published today (21 November) by the WTO Secretariat discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on world trade. The report examines key trade-related policy considerations raised by this technology and discusses the critical role of the WTO in facilitating AI-related trade, ensuring trustworthy AI, and promoting global regulatory convergence.
The report was launched at an event at the WTO attended by representatives from government, academia and the private sector.
The report, entitled "Trading with Intelligence: How AI Shapes and is Shaped by International Trade", discusses how AI can reduce trade costs, reshape trade in services, increase trade in AI-related goods and services, and redefine economies' comparative advantages. The report also highlights the increasing fragmentation of approaches to AI regulation, which may have a particular impact on trade opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized businesses.
The report provides an overview of government initiatives taken at the domestic, regional and international levels both to promote and to regulate AI.
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
OECD GDP growth remains stable in the third quarter of 2024
November 21, 2024--"Gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD rose by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2024, slightly up from 0.4% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates."
Gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD rose by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2024, slightly up from 0.4% in the previous quarter,1 according to provisional estimates (Figure 1).
The overall GDP growth rate for the G7 remained unchanged in Q3 2024, at 0.5%. This reflects a mixed picture among G7 countries. While growth in the United States remained stable in Q3 at 0.7%, it slowed in Canada and Japan (from 0.5% in Q2 to 0.2% in Q3 in both countries), the United Kingdom (from 0.5% to 0.1%) and Italy (from 0.2% to 0.0%).
The slowdown in Japan mainly reflected contractions in investment (-0.3% in Q3, compared with 1.6% in Q2) and exports of services (-4.2%, compared with 9.4%), the latter mostly due to lower tourism. In Italy, the reduction in growth was related to a negative contribution from net trade (exports minus imports) and mainly reflected a decrease of value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing, and in industry2 (see Italian statistical office). In the United Kingdom, the Q3 slowdown reflected destocking, which was the main drag on growth.
Source: OECD
G20 Economies Should Target Reforms to Boost Medium-Term Growth Prospects
November 21, 2024--Improving fiscal policy frameworks, fostering education and skills, and supporting the green transition can help ensure strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth
For most Group of Twenty economies, growth is poised to weaken over the next five years and remain well below what was typical in the two decades before the pandemic.
That's one of the biggest shared challenges for the group, which accounts for about 85 percent of global gross domestic product.
Growth is more robust across the African Union, which joined the G20 last year, but booming populations mean those economies also must create jobs for millions of young people entering the labor market.
For both groups, as well as the European Union, lifting growth is essential to improving outcomes for people, and there's a common solution: implementing priority reforms can significantly boost prospects for growth over the next five years, or medium term, as our new report to the G20 outlines. Our analysis also indicates that payoffs from structural reforms are greatest when they are carefully sequenced and reflect social consensus.
Source: imf.org
Report shows surge in G20 trade-restrictive measures amid increased unilateral policies
November 13, 2024--Trade restrictive measures introduced by G20 economies significantly increased in coverage over the past year, according to the 31st WTO Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures issued on 13 November. Although G20 economies also continued to introduce wide-ranging trade facilitating measures, the report points to increasing evidence of inward-looking and unilateral trade policy decisions.
Warning that these measures are creating uncertainty for the world economy, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on G20 governments to refrain from adopting new restrictions that could worsen the global economic outlook.
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
IMF-Fiscal Monitor October 2024: Putting a Lid on Public Debt
October 23, 2024--Global public debt is elevated. It is projected to exceed US$100 trillion in 2024 and will rise over the medium term. This chapter shows that risks to the debt outlook are heavily tilted to the upside. In a severely adverse scenario, global debt is estimated to be nearly 20 percentage points of GDP higher three years ahead than the baseline projection, reaching 115 percent of GDP.
Much larger fiscal adjustments than currently planned are required to stabilize (or reduce) debt with high probability. Now is an opportune time for rebuilding fiscal buffers and delaying is costly. Rebuilding fiscal buffers in a growth-friendly manner and strengthening fiscal governance is essential to ensure sustainable public finances and financial stability.
Source: imf.org
Global Financial Fragilities Mount Despite Rate Cuts and Buoyant Markets
October 22, 2024-- Increased investor risk-taking could fuel vulnerabilities
When it comes to financial stability, the world is facing a split screen of short-term and medium-term factors. The good news is that near-term financial stability risks remain contained.
Why? Because the likelihood of a soft landing for the global economy has significantly increased.
As inflation continues to decline, major central banks have started cutting interest rates. This is boosting already buoyant asset prices and keeping financial market volatility subdued.
At the same time, our latest Global Financial Stability Report calls on policymakers to remain vigilant about the medium-term prospects. We want to highlight two areas of concern.
Source: imf.org
IMF-As Inflation Recedes, Global Economy Needs Policy Triple Pivot
October 22, 2024--Let’s start with the good news: it looks like the global battle against inflation has largely been won, even if price pressures persist in some countries. After peaking at 9.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022, we now project headline inflation will fall to 3.5 percent by the end of next year, slightly below the average during the two decades before the pandemic.
In most countries, inflation is now hovering close to central bank targets, paving the way for monetary easing across major central banks.
The global economy remained unusually resilient throughout the disinflationary process. Growth is projected to hold steady at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, but some low-income and developing economies have seen sizable downside growth revisions, often tied to intensifying conflicts.
Source: imf.org
China stimulus unleashes ETF buying spree in US and Europe
October 10, 2024-A scramble for Chinese equities united the global investment industry last month, just as attitudes towards European and Japanese stock markets became heavily bifurcated along geographical lines.
Despite strong domestic enthusiasm, foreign exchange traded fund investors turned their backs on European and Japanese stock markets in September.
Yet global investors were unified in their enthusiasm for Chinese stocks after the People's Bank of China unveiled a series of stimulus measures that included monetary easing, steps to support the country's crisis-hit property market and a Rmb800bn fund to boost the stock market, by lending to asset managers, insurers and brokers to buy equities and to listed companies to buy back their stock.
Source: msn.com
Global goods trade on track for gradual recovery despite lingering downside risks
October 10, 2024--Global goods trade is projected to post a 2.7% increase in 2024, up slightly from the previous estimate of 2.6%, WTO economists said in an updated forecast on 10 October.
The volume of world merchandise trade is likely to increase by 3.0% in 2025; however, rising geopolitical tensions and increased economic policy uncertainty continue to pose substantial downside risks to the forecast.
Services trade has a more favourable outlook compared to goods according to leading indicators.
In the October 2024 update of "Global Trade Outlook and Statistics," WTO economists note that global merchandise trade turned upwards in the first half of 2024 with a 2.3% year-on-year increase, which should be followed by further moderate expansion in the rest of the year and in 2025. The rebound comes on the heels of a -1.1% slump in 2023 driven by high inflation and rising interest rates. World real GDP growth at market exchange rates is expected to remain steady at 2.7% in 2024 and 2025.
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
