The Lastest Macroeconomic News
14.05.2020 14:35 EBRD: Russia`s GDP In 2020 To Fall By 4.5%
Russia`s GDP will decline by 4.5 percent in 2020 due to lower oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic and in 2021 the Russian economy will grow by 4 percent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in its Regional Economic Prospects report published on Wednesday. Russia went through a double shock in the first months of the year, those being the COVID-19 pandemic, which paralyzed global oil demand, and the failed OPEC+ deal with Saudi Arabia, which led to a sharp drop in oil prices, according to the EBRD. "With its economy still dependent on oil, the fall in oil prices was significant, particularly in light of the fiscal stimulus needed to offset the impact of the pandemic. The Russian economy is expected to shrink by 4.5 per cent in 2020, followed by a rebound of 4.0 per cent in 2021," the spring report read.
11.05.2020 21:42 Crisis and Freelance: New Survey from Workspace
The COVID-19 pandemic has made significant changes in the economic situation of different countries. From a virus that suddenly burst into our reality, many suffered - someone directly, and someone indirectly. Some changes have also affected the freelance sphere, if only for the reason that many professionals from this area serve just the business that has suffered from quarantines, border closures and other additional conditions. To understand how things are going for people who themselves find work and work exclusively for themselves, Freelance service Workspace conducted another survey and a large-scale study on this topic. The survey, which was conducted at the end of April 2020, was attended by 714 freelancers. These are mainly specialists who are involved in design, copywriting, translation, web development, programming and SMM. The results of the survey provided interesting data, which we propose to familiarize with.
26.04.2020 12:54 Russian industrial companies are struggling with coronavirus restrictions
Russia`s biggest industrial companies make money smelting metal, processing hydrocarbons, mining ore and producing energy. But some of them have been forced rapidly to diversify into building temporary accommodation, making respirator masks and even managing bus services to keep their business running as the coronavirus pandemic bites. Unlike offices with employees that can work from home or retailers that can switch to online delivery, Russia`s vast industrial sector needs both workers who can physically attend production lines and regular shipments of components and materials, presenting companies with safety and logistical issues if they want to maintain output. Business operations across the country`s industrial network of factories, power plants, mines and metalworks have been affected, after Moscow responded to the country`s rising number of cases by declaring a national holiday and restricting the movement of people. While the big mining, metals and oil and gas companies are deemed “strategic” and therefore exempt from the shutdown, the smaller firms and contractors employed by them have been closed by government decree. This has caused problems all along the supply chain, at the same time that demand has fallen sharply because of shutdowns in the EU and China.
25.04.2020 12:48 Bank of Russia cuts lending rates and expects GDP to decline 4-6 per cent this year
Russia`s central bank cut lending rates on Friday, belatedly joining the global easing trend in an attempt to limit the economic hit from coronavirus, despite the pressure it will put on inflation and the country`s currency. The global slowdown and collapse in oil prices sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic has placed the bank in a bind, caught between wanting to limit the scale of Russia`s economic contraction but also temper inflation and prop up the rouble. The bank cut its key rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent and suggested more cuts could follow, as it forecast Russia`s economy would contract by between 4 and 6 per cent this year because of both the collapse in demand for the country`s raw materials and quarantine measures that have stifled domestic business. It had held rates steady last month, even as other big central banks eased lending costs.
19.04.2020 17:38 The IMF says its forecast for the COVID-19 recession might now be too optimistic
The International Monetary Fund recently announced the "Great Lockdown" recession will drag global GDP lower by 3% in 2020, but its managing director now thinks the gloomy outlook could be too positive. The coronavirus pandemic is set to leave 170 countries with lower GDP per capita by the end of the year, but the projection "may be actually a more optimistic picture than reality produces," Kristalina Georgieva told the BBC in an interview. "Epidemiologists are now helping us make macroeconomic projections. Never in the history of the IMF have we had that," she added. "And what they`re telling us is that the novel coronavirus is a big unknown, and we don`t know whether it may return in 2021." Uncertainty around the virus` future has left the world`s experts in the dark, but the IMF`s latest report lays out bleak outcomes for prolonged outbreaks. Should the pandemic last through 2020, the world economy will emerge with extremely modest gains the following year in a sluggish rebound. The combination of a longer initial pandemic and a 2021 resurgence would yield an even worse downturn, the organization said. Global GDP would sharply contract in 2021 and leave "additional scarring" as credit health deteriorates.
12.04.2020 17:59 BOFIT: Russia`s economy to contract by 1% in 2020
Russia`s economy will contract by 1% in 2020, according to the latest forecast by the widely respected Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT). Russia started this year with an official forecast for 1.9% growth. But the double whammy of an oil price shock following OPEC+ production cut deal collapsed on March 6 closely followed by an escalating coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has brought the global economy to a standstill will hurt the Russian economy. As bne IntelliNews reported after crunching the numbers Russia`s macroeconomic fundamentals are strong, but Russia Inc will not escape unscathed. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last week that the virus-related slow down will blow a RUB2 trillion hole in the budget and growth will slow to at least 0.5% this year. However, with over RUB10,000 trillion in the National Welfare Fund (NWF) the ministry can fund this sort of budget deficit for the next five years. Siluanov claims the government can cover the budget deficits that result from $30 oil prices for as long as a decade. Former Finance Minister and Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin, who is a widely respected authority on Russia`s economy, warned that if oil prices fall and stay low then the slowdown will be deeper and longer. BOFIT calculates that the economy will contract by 1% this year,” due to notably lower commodity prices and a weakened outlook for the global economy. We expect Russian GDP to return to moderate growth next year.”
18.03.2020 14:08 Surging U.S. Dollar Is Next Big Headache for World Economy
King Dollar is creating a new headache for virus-battered economies globally, with emerging markets especially vulnerable as they try to cope with collapsing currencies and plunging demand. Investors are fleeing emerging markets in record numbers and piling into the safe-haven greenback, with two emergency interest-rate cuts this month by the Federal Reserve doing nothing to diminish the dollar`s appeal. With the dollar more integrated into the world economy than ever before, its gains are an added stress for businesses and governments as they brace for soaring costs on their dollar debt. The dilemma for emerging market central banks is that as they slash interest rates to support growth, they risk destabilizing their currencies as well if they cut too much. “The surge in the dollar is another blow to emerging markets,” said Mitul Kotecha, senior emerging markets strategist at TD Securities in Singapore. “The demand for the dollar has outweighed any hit to the U.S. currency from sharply lower Fed rates. EM assets will continue to struggle as investors steer clear of relatively risky assets and maintain a bias for safe havens.”
17.03.2020 20:06 Will coronavirus trigger a global recession? The worst is still to come, experts warn
A global recession may be inevitable now as the world battles the coronavirus pandemic, economists say. “In our view, the worst for the economy is still to come over the next several months,” said Joachim Fels, global economic advisor at PIMCO, CNN Business reported. A lockdown in Italy, temporary business closures across the U.S., jittery stock markets and production halts in China, along with a drop in oil prices, all point to an economic slowdown, according to the network. S&P Global`s economists also have predicted a worldwide recession in 2020, MarketWatch reported. They forecast global GDP growth at less than 1.5% for the year. The COVID-19 virus, first reported in China, has swept across Asia and now has sparked new outbreaks in Europe and the United States. More than 185,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 7,300 deaths as of March 17, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 4,600 confirmed cases with at least 88 deaths. The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency. Factory shutdowns in China, one of the world`s top production centers, have caused ripples throughout the global supply chain.
03.03.2020 21:35 Russia`s economic growth at 1.3% in 2019, slightly above expectations
The Russian economy grew 1.3% in 2019, preliminary data from the statistics service showed on Monday, slightly exceeding expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters in late 2019 expected Russia`s gross domestic product to expand 1.2%. The central bank predicted that the economy would grow by no more than 1.3%. Rosstat has revised data in the past, usually to give the statistics a more positive hue. For example, in late 2019 Rosstat revised GDP growth figures, altering the trajectory of Russia`s 2018 economic growth to 2.5% from 2.3%. Rosstat has said it has five readings of GDP and revisions make numbers more accurate. In the next few years, GDP growth is expected to pick up thanks to state investment in large infrastructure projects, reaching 2% to 3% by 2022, according to the central bank`s forecasts. This year, the Russian economy was seen growing by 1.8%, below the 2.5% global growth projected by the World Bank, analysts polled in late January predicted.
31.01.2020 17:18 Economic growth looks even weaker this quarter, with virus now a wild card
Coming off the slowest year of growth in three, the economy in the first quarter of 2020 is expected to slow down even more due to the impact of Boeing and now the potential wild card of the coronavirus. Fourth-quarter GDP growth was 2.1%, in line with economists` expectations. GDP grew 2.3% for the year, the slowest pace since 2016. The GDP report, released Thursday morning, revealed continued weakness in business spending and more sluggish consumer spending, with consumption up just 1.8%, down from 3.2% in the third quarter. Residential spending was strong, supporting GDP by 0.2%. Millar expects first-quarter growth of just 1.5%, but that includes the anticipated half a percentage point hit from Boeing`s production cuts. That should reverse by the third quarter, when he expects growth of 2.5%, following 2% in the second quarter, he added.