Via RT Business The world lost four times more jobs last year than during the 2008-09 financial crisis, as the coronavirus pandemic rattled the global economy, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said. Global labor markets were disrupted “on a historically unprecedented scale” in 2020, the UN agency said in a new study released on...
Tag: RT Business
Recession is over for the richest few, while billions will live in poverty for at least a decade – Oxfam
Via RT Business The Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country globally at once, according to a new report revealed by Oxfam on Monday. The report, called ‘The Inequality Virus’, was published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is being held virtually this...
Russia cracks down on suspicious financial outflows from the country
Via RT Business The Russian government and the nation’s financial watchdog are reportedly working on a bill to prevent capital flight. The plan implies banning suspicious transactions to foreign bank accounts. The Russian authorities want to battle a popular scheme for withdrawing money – when a company based in Russia transfers cash to a non-resident...
Russia ramps up gold production despite pandemic
Via RT Business Gold mining companies of Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula produced more than 6.8 tons of the yellow metal last year, which is an almost eight percent increase year-on-year. According to Elena Kasyanyuk, deputy head of the subsoil use and mining department of the regional ministry of natural resources and ecology, the growth...
China overtakes US as global destination for foreign investment amid Covid-19 pandemic
Via RT Business China became one of the few counties to attract more capital than the US in 2020, making it the top destination for foreign direct investment, while overall global flows dwindled by over 40 percent. The Chinese economy pulled in $163 billion in inflows last year, marking a four percent year-on-year increase, according...
Halting Nord Stream 2 construction may result in legal battle, German minister warns
Via RT Business The decision to build the natural gas link from Russia to Europe was made long ago and ditching the project may lead to an array of legal trouble, Germany’s Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety warns. “If we stop the project now, we will inflict a great deal of harm,...
China’s forex reserves grow by over $100 BILLION in 2020 despite Covid-19 pandemic
Via RT Business China boosted its foreign exchange reserves by $108.6 billion last year to $3.22 trillion, in spite of the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed. The head of the China Forex Investment Research Institute, Tan Yawen, explained to the Global Times that the...
Cost of sanctions: German industry hit hard by anti-Russia measures, survey shows
Via RT Business Around a half of German businesses polled by one of the nation’s largest economic think tanks, the Ifo Institute, want the EU to lift sanctions against Russia, as the restrictions have hit the German industrial sector hard. The punitive penalties resulted in a greater bureaucratic burden which hinders business with Russia for...
India to overtake China as world’s fastest-growing major economy in 2021
Via RT Business India will regain its status as the fastest-growing global economy as early as this year at the expense of neighboring China, which has topped the rankings for two years in row, according to data and analytics firm GlobalData. The London-based consultancy firm expects the Indian economy to recover sharply this year from...
Eurozone business activity slows as stricter lockdowns take heavy toll on service sector
Via RT Business Business activity in the eurozone fell to a two-month low in January, preliminary data revealed on Friday shows, as tougher coronavirus-related lockdowns come into effect to stop the spread of new Covid-19 strains. HS Markit’s final Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which is considered a good gauge of economic health and combines...
Russia slashes its foreign debt by $21.3 billion in 2020
Via RT Business Russia’s foreign debt dropped $21.3 billion and totaled $470.1 billion as of January 1, according to the latest data revealed by the central bank. “Decreases in debt liabilities to non-residents were observed for all sectors of the economy, of which the most noticeable decline was registered for other sectors under credits,” the...
Oil prices slide amid concerns flare-up in China Covid cases could weaken fuel demand
Via RT Business The price of crude dropped on Friday, receding from the 11-month highs hit last week. Experts say the new coronavirus restrictions in China could curb fuel demand for the world’s biggest oil importer. International benchmark Brent slid over one percent to $55.49 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading...
India hopes to import more Iranian, Venezuelan crude under Biden
Via RT Business India hopes it could diversify its oil suppliers under the new US Administration that could relax restrictions on oil exports from Iran and Venezuela, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Bloomberg TV in an interview. “Some geopolitical changes are there,” Pradhan told Bloomberg, referring to expected policies from US President Joe Biden....
Bitcoin sell-off wipes out $100 billion from crypto market in just two days
Via RT Business The total market value of all cryptocurrencies has lost about $100 billion over the past 48 hours, after the world’s top digital asset, bitcoin, slumped around 10 percent as crypto fever cooled off. Bitcoin was trading at $31,375 per token at 14:40 GMT, having lost nearly 10 percent day to day, according...
Silk Road trade on track: Freight train sets off from China to Russia, drastically cutting travel time
Via RT Business A special China-Europe freight train departed from Dongguan in South China’s Guangdong province to Russia on Wednesday. It will arrive in Moscow within 15 days, cutting the travel time by two-thirds compared with the sea route. According to China Daily, the train is loaded with 50 containers of goods made by the...
China ramps up iron ore imports from India by nearly 90% to meet growing demand
Via RT Business The world’s top steel producer, China, bought 44.8 million tons of iron ore from India last year, according to customs data. The 88 percent increase comes as Beijing diversifies from traditional suppliers like Australia. Shipments from India were the highest in nine years, statistics showed. Australia and Brazil remained China’s top suppliers in...
Pandemic profiteer: Morgan Stanley makes a killing during coronavirus crisis
Via RT Business Morgan Stanley managed to substantially capitalize in 2020. The US investment bank beat fourth-quarter earnings forecasts to round off the lender’s best year on record. Earnings jumped 51 percent in the final three months of the year. The Wall Street bank’s net income applicable to common shareholders surged to $3.39 billion, or...
Russia continues ditching US Treasuries as part of state de-dollarization policy
Via RT Business The Russian central bank has continued getting rid of US Treasury bonds, with the share of investments in American debt shrinking 19.2 percent in November, according to the US Treasury Department. The statistics, commonly published with a three-month lag, show the share of Russian holdings totaled a modest $4.968 billion. Investments in...
Bitcoin & US tech stocks biggest market bubbles right now – Deutsche Bank survey
Via RT Business Nearly 90 percent of respondents in Deutsche Bank’s monthly investor survey said some financial markets are in bubble territory now, with cryptocurrency bitcoin and US technology stocks topping the list. The survey, which was based on responses from 627 market professionals, revealed bitcoin is viewed as the most extreme case, as half...
Goldman Sachs shows best-in-decade performance as underwriting profits more than DOUBLE in last quarter of 2020
Via RT Business Goldman Sachs Group made an exceptionally strong performance in the last quarter of 2020, raking in more than double the profits compared to the previous year despite global financial havoc inflicted by the ongoing pandemic. While 2020 proved to be a rollercoaster year for global markets – and a death sentence to...