Economic optimism

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey that details the state of the economy ahead of the government's Budget for fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021. The Economic Survey 2020-21, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, details the state of different sectors of the economy as well as reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth. Here are the updates: Highlights of the Survey V-shaped economic recovery due to mega vaccination drive, robust recovery in the services sector and robust growth in consumption and investment V-shaped recovery is due to resurgence in high frequency indicators such as power demand, rail freight, E-Way bills, GST collection, steel consumption, Etc India to become the fastest growing economy in next two years as per IMF India’s GDP is estimated to contract by 7.7% in FY2020-21 Agriculture to clock 3.4% Growth, while industry and services to contract by … [Read more...] about Economic Survey 2021 updates | India’s GDP is estimated to contract by 7.7%

“You’ll want to read this,” my wife said, handing me the Sunday Boston Globe . The cover story that week in late September 2020 was about a 62-year-old woman who had colon cancer that had metastasized. She died in a local hospital; her husband was also in poor health and could not take care of her at home. After she died, he moved into an area facility. Reading of someone so close to my own age succumbing to a highly preventable disease was a bit unsettling. The dateline, however, was the reason my wife had given me the paper. The story was from my hometown in Massachusetts, and the facility where the husband now lived was down the street from my childhood home. When I was a boy, we joked, far too easily, about “putting” people there when they got old. In later years, the joking ended when my father had to stay there briefly as his health began to fail. My brother then passed through its doors on his way to the final stop in a VA hospital. The couple in the story had struggled … [Read more...] about The Myth of the Golden Years

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified Wednesday before senators as the central bank is under scrutiny for its efforts to combat soaring inflation with rising interest rates while not driving the economy into a downturn. "We do understand the full scope of the problem, and we're using our tools to address it pretty vigorously now," Powell told the Senate banking committee. "Price stability is really the bedrock of the economy." He added, "We have both the tools we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses." While the Fed, which can have the most impact on rising prices by hiking interest rates, is trying to slow consumer demand, it can do little to address inflation on the supply side, where many factors are driving up costs. They include the war in Ukraine as well as pandemic-related shutdowns and supply chain disruptions. "Inflation has obviously surprised to the upside over the past year, and … [Read more...] about Jerome Powell testimony: Key takeaways from Senate hearing on economy

If you’ve ever wondered whether a life without work would be blissful, well, Lorie Kloda can confirm that it pretty much is. Kloda really likes her job as a university librarian in Montreal, but she still really liked not doing it for a year. During a paid sabbatical that ended this spring, she deleted the work-communication apps from her phone and regularly forgot what day of the week it was; she read, went to museums, picked up tennis. She stopped getting the Sunday scaries . It took a few months for Kloda to feel completely untethered from work. But in the U.S., a paid, voluntary break from a job that lasts longer than two weeks is generally considered unusual. Vacation days are nice—and Americans should get more of them —but truly helping people to be more than just their job would mean thinking on a bigger timescale. It would mean giving people a regular opportunity to subtract work from their life and see what remains—in other words, granting sabbaticals to everyone who … [Read more...] about What Is Life Like When We Subtract Work From It?

LONDON — For Boris Johnson, Britain’s embattled and scandal-ridden prime minister, nowhere is safe. On Thursday, that may become inescapably clear. Two local elections — one in a traditional Tory area in South Devon that the party has controlled almost continuously since 1885, the other in a postindustrial seat in North England that the Tories took from Labour for the first time in 90 years in 2019 — will deliver a decisive assessment of Mr. Johnson’s flailing popularity. As things stand, the Conservatives are set to lose both . Mr. Johnson’s ability to win over such disparate people and places — affluent farmers and neglected manufacturers, the shires in the South and old Labour heartlands in the North — once ensured his position at the top of the Conservative Party. Yet now, as Britain hovers on the brink of economic recession, the constituencies that previously united around the prime minister appear to be rejecting him. For Mr. Johnson, his authority frayed by a recent no … [Read more...] about It Feels Like Boris Johnson’s Britain Is Finally ‘Sinking Giggling Into the Sea’

WASHINGTON, June 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank is trying to bring inflation down without inflicting too much damage, but the Fed's aggressive rate hikes could tip the U.S. economy into recession. "We are strongly committed to bringing inflation back down, and we are moving expeditiously to do so," Powell told lawmakers at a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. "My colleagues and I are acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation," said the Fed chair, noting that the central bank is highly attentive to the risks of high inflation. Over the 12 months ending in April, total personal consumption expenditures (PCE) prices rose 6.3 percent; excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core PCE prices rose 4.9 percent. The consumer price index (CPI) … [Read more...] about U.S. Fed chief says recession is “certainly a possibility”

Britain’s economy appears to be “running on empty” as plummeting business confidence adds to mounting signs of a looming recession, according to a report. The latest S&P Global/ CIPS flash UK purchasing managers index (PMI) survey shows business expectations suffered the largest monthly decline since the start of the pandemic, with manufacturers and services firms reporting the lowest degree of business optimism since May 2020. S&P warned such a low level of business optimism has historically “signalled an imminent recession” is on its way. The preliminary PMI reading, which covers the manufacturing and services sectors, indicated that growth remained at its lowest level for more than a year in June. Recommended Russia says EU sanctions that prompted transit ban ‘unacceptable’ The report showed a reading of 53.1 for June, unchanged from the 15-month low recorded in May. A reading above 50 indicates growth. Chris Williamson , chief … [Read more...] about Economy ‘running on empty’ amid growing signs of looming recession, report warns

Asian shares advanced Monday after Wall Street ended a rare winning week, capped by a 3.1% gain on Friday for the benchmark S&P 500. U.S. futures and oil prices also were higher. Optimism over China’s progress in controlling coronavirus outbreaks, as schools and businesses reopen, was also fueling buying, analysts said. Stocks climbed last week as pressure from rising Treasury yields let up somewhat and investors speculated the Federal Reserve may not have to be as aggressive about raising interest rates as earlier thought as it fights to control inflation. That gave Wall Street a reprieve from its recent tumbles. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led regional gains, surging 2.8% to 22,326.53, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1% to 26,768.77. In South Korea, the Kospi climbed 1.9% to 6,706.40. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.9% to 6,706.40 while the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.2% to 3,388.38. Recommended Over £130m handed to housing … [Read more...] about Asian shares rally after Wall Street logs rare winning week

Mardika Parama, Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman and Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta   ● Fri, May 29, 2020 2020-05-29 09:33 760 fc6853813033f564188675f8bdac6101 1 Business maritime-affairs-and-fisheries-ministry,stimulus-package,fishermen,fisheries-subsidies,aquaculture,COVID-19 Free The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has proposed a Rp 1.02 trillion (US$69 million) stimulus package to aid small scale fishermen and aquaculture farmers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister Edhy Prabowo said the stimulus would include social aid for fishermen, fish farmers and salt farmers and funds to strengthen surveillance efforts against poaching. “We will optimize the budget to help enable fishermen to go on fishing while also providing the farmers with seeds, broodfish and infrastructure,” the minister said in an online press conference after attending a limited Cabinet meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday. The stimulus … [Read more...] about Ministry proposes $69m stimulus for fisheries, aquaculture

The Associated Press MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the NATO summit in Madrid: NATO country leaders and European Union heads of state and government got to admire some of the world’s greatest art and listen to a Ukrainian classical orchestra live as they gathered to dine at Madrid´s Prado Museum. Wednesday’s dinner — prepared by Spanish-US chef, José Andrés — was preceded by a live performance by the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, which has been in exile because of the war. U.S. President Joe Biden attended the event with his two granddaughters. The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Wladimir were also there. The group posed for a family photograph on either side of Diego Velazquez´s “Las Meninas,” the museum’s crown jewel, before sitting down to eat in the Jerónimo’s Cloister annex. The menu included a desert of strawberries from the Spanish city of Cuenca dressed in anis, violet caramel and with a typical Madrid “barquillo” finger wafer … [Read more...] about Live updates | NATO, EU leaders dine in Prado Museum