applied know how
It appears Covid-19 could spell the demise for China’s belt and Road initiative . Or is it just a quick stop to regain impetus (and find some more cash to splash overseas).
Pres. Xi Jin Ping’s signature policy seems to be in trouble. The Belt and Road initiative (BRI) activity index produced by Caixin shows a steep drop this year.… Read more
World trade in goods plunged by 12% in April from March, after having already dropped 2.4% in March from February. This plunge of the Merchandise World Trade Monitor, released by CPB, was by far the largest month-to-month drop in the history of the data going back to 2000. Compared to April last year, the index was down 16.2%.
And this can easily be seen in the US data
Exports of goods collapsing 25% in April from March and 30% year-over-year, according to the Commerce Department earlier in June.… Read more
Earlier this year, private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor (www.stratfor.com) , recently published its Decade Forecast in which it projects the next 10 years of global political and economic developments.
While international analysts often try their hand at predicting the major events of the coming year, Stratfor believes that it’s identified the major trends of the next 10.
Over the last 20 years, the world economy has relied on the Chinese economic growth engine more than it would like to admit. The 1.4 billion people living in the world’s most populous country account for 13% of global GDP, which is significant no matter how it is interpreted. However, in the commodity sector, China has another magnitude of importance. The fact is that China consumes mind-bending amounts of materials, energy, and food.… Read more
