Container shipping costs plunged in the last year as inflation slowed consumer spending. The widespread bottlenecks at ports — at one point last year more than 100 ships were waiting to dock at the Los Angeles port — have also largely dissipated, the Financial Times reported.
The world will probably avoid a recession in the next two years, the International Monetary Fund said. The multilateral lender upgraded its forecasts, driven largely by an end to China’s zero-COVID policy, a less-severe-than-expected energy crisis, and a successful fight against inflation. [‘Surprisingly resilient’: IMF lifts global growth forecasts – Al Jazeera]
The international institution downgraded its projections for global growth, following in the footsteps of the International Monetary Fund, which voiced similar worries. “Our worst-case scenario is now our baseline scenario,” a World Bank economist told the Financial Times.
Supply problems have plagued the retail sector this year, forcing Walmart and Target with full warehouses to cut orders, for example. Adidas cuts its forecast for the year in a sign of growing uncertainty. The US will enter recession this year. Ukraine, Russia and the United Kingdom already are. The IMF confirms that global growth will slow to 2.7% next year, down from 3.2% this year and 6% in 2021. ['Worst Is Yet to Come' for Retailers Facing Recession – SJ]
For reasons more geopolitical than economic and financial reliability, Pakistan has obtained from the IMF the approval of the EFF (Extended Fund Facility) program with the seventh and eighth tranches of 1.17 billion dollars. Will this be enough to save the exports of the leather sector which, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), have decreased by 18.99%?
With the COVID-19 Lockdowns, “consumers have reduced spending on services and bought more artifacts“ (IMF-Blog), accelerating the rebound in manufacturing production, but the logistical crisis of the “Supply Chain” (NY Times) and the tail end of the pandemic have put global trade even more in crisis. Europe risks another energy crisis (Bloomberg) due to the soaring cost of gas, driven by the Ukrainian crisis. Agenda against inflation.
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