Global Economy

In the past few years the global economy has lacked a positive dynamic, exemplified by the uneasy combination of plenty of technological opportunities, slow investment growth—which is exacerbated by lackluster business and consumer confidence—weak productivity, and a range of lingering policy and business challenges. This puts the global economy in a holding pattern in which positive and negative forces offset each other, at least for the immediate future. This characterization...

China's economy will grow slightly faster than expected this year at 6.9 percent and its shift to fostering services and private consumption is helping to support regional growth, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday. An ADB report said Asia's developing economies remain resilient to economic weakness in industrialized countries and are on track to grow 5.8 percent in 2015 and 6 percent in 2016. It said Asia's growth is supported...

The World Bank says Sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth will slow in the year 2015 due to the fall in the prices of oil and other commodities. In a report released Monday, the World Bank predicts slow economic growth of four percent in 2015, compared to the previous year when growth was 4.5 percent. The economies of these African countries will slow largely because of the fall of oil prices and...

There is a common misconception about banking regulations in Ethiopia, finance minister Sufian Ahmed tells The Africa Report. In a country with impressive economic growth but very little private-sector dynamism, a 2011 regulation mandated that private banks devote 27% of their loan portfolios to low-interest treasury bills. The measure constrained access to credit, and many assume those funds are channelled into the Grand Ethiopian renaissance dam, a flagship state project that...

Kenya’s economic growth could be the highest in sub Saharan Africa over the next 15 years according to a new World Bank report. The Bank’s half yearly Pulse report on the African economy said that Kenya’s growth should remain “robust” at around 6.2 per cent until 2030, well above that of many other African economies who will suffer from China’s economic slowdown and restructuring away from foreign investment and towards...

NAIROBI—Africa’s fitful and uneven economic growth will gain momentum this year and next, three prominent organizations said in a joint report released on Monday. On average, the continent’s economies will grow 4.5% in 2015 and 5% in 2016, according to the annual African Economic Outlook report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program. While the trend indicates African economies...