ASIA: China just posted its strongest quarterly growth on record as the world’s second largest economy continued its robust recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. GDP growth of 18.3% year-on-year in the first quarter was the strongest since China began keeping records in 1992, and was driven by a surge in retail sales, industrial production and […]

ASIA: China’s economy likely grew at record pace of 19% in the first quarter, rebounding from a pandemic slump early last year as demand recovered at home and abroad and as policy support for ailing smaller firms continued, a Reuters poll showed. Reuters poll suggests that the world’s second-largest economy has continued to gain momentum, […]

ASIA: Investors are putting billions of dollars more into U.S. stock funds than Chinese ones, according to data from fund research firm EPFR Global. U.S. and China stock funds are the two regions that have attracted the most inflows from international investors over the past two quarters, Cameron Brandt, director of research at EPFR said. […]

ASIA: China’s exports rose sharply in March while imports growth surged to the highest in four years in yet another boost to the nation’s economic recovery, signaling improving global demand amid progress in worldwide COVID-19 vaccination. The data suggests the world’s second-largest economy will continue to gather momentum as it emerges from the COVID-19-led slump […]

ASIA: Asian markets have a very volatile day today. The surge in Covid-19 numbers globally has raised concerns worldwide. Indian markets fell in line with other major Asian markets. Nikkei in Japan, Hang Seng in Hong Kong, and Shanghai Composite in China fell between 0.5 percent and 1 percent on Monday. The continuing rise in […]

ASIA: International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath has said its 2021 GDP numbers for India were locked on March 5, around the same time the country started seeing an upsurge in Covid-19 cases and that there could be a downward risk if the country goes for a nationwide lockdown. The IMF this week […]

ASIA: According to a study, some 75% of the world’s bitcoin mining is done in China. The reason given for this in the report is cheap electricity and relatively easy access to manufacturers who make specialized hardware. As a result, the nation’s bitcoin carbon footprint is as big as one of its ten largest cities, […]

ASIA: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its FY22 growth forecast for India to 12.5% from 11.5% estimated earlier in January, even as a resurgent Covid spread threatens to undermine the country’s economic recovery. The Washington-based global financial institution, in its annual World Economic Outlook ahead of the annual Spring meeting with the World Bank, […]

QUESTION: Hello Martin, can you explain to me how a currency would sustain value for international trade if a country, like Canada (where I live), did what you suggested and stopped issuing debt and just printed money to level that was 5% – 10% of national GDP? would it depend on the attractiveness of what […]

ASIA: China’s factory activity in March expanded at the slowest pace in almost a year on softer overall domestic demand, but underlying economic conditions remained positive even as input and output inflationary pressures intensified for manufacturers. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 50.6 last month — the lowest level since April 2020 […]