COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s inflation hit a record 11.1 per cent in November, official figures showed on Wednesday, and the authorities warned a worsening economic crisis could prompt further food rationing. The island’s tourism-dependent economy was hammered by the pandemic and the government imposed a broad import ban to shore up foreign exchange reserves, triggering shortages of … Read more
LONDON: European and the UK gas prices rocketed on Tuesday to an all-time high on strong winter demand and simmering geopolitical tensions between key supplier Russia and consumer nations. Europe’s reference Dutch TTF gas price hit 162.775 euros/megawatt hour in late morning deals, up more than 10 per cent from Monday, while UK prices leapt to … Read more
FRANKFURT: German consumer sentiment worsened for the second month running, a key survey said on Tuesday, as Europe’s largest economy braces itself for rising inflation and the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Pollster GfK’s forward-looking barometer fell to -6.8 from a revised figure of -1.8 for December. “The high incidence of the virus due to … Read more
PESHAWAR: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has expressed gratitude to the members of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for electing him as the senator and asserted that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf would continue to serve the masses. Talking to newsmen after winning the Senate election from the provincial assembly, he said, he would … Read more
WASHINGTON: With inflation expected to remain high for some time, the US central bank is likely to raise interest rates soon after it ends its bond-buying programme in March, a Federal Reserve board member said on Friday. The Fed earlier this week announced it will accelerate the end to its stimulus programme after inflation last month … Read more
BUENOS AIRES: An illusion of prosperity, a headlong rush into debt and years of austerity collided 20 years ago to provoke one of the biggest crises in Argentina’s history. The subsequent social unrest left scars that can still be felt today. The scenes were dramatic: people pounding on bank shutters, looting shops and falling under a … Read more
MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s central bank on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate for the fifth consecutive time in a continuing attempt to rein in spiralling inflation. Twelve-month inflation hit 7.37 per cent in November, its highest level in 20 years due to the increase in the prices of agricultural and energy products. The bank’s governing … Read more
RIYADH: The annual rate of consumer inflation in Saudi Arabia has averaged 3.3 per cent in the year through November 2021, according to the data compiled by Arab News. However, several organisations expect it to be in the lower range of 1 per cent to 2 per cent next year. The 3.3 per cent rate is … Read more
HONG KONG: The Asian and European markets rose on Thursday and the dollar held gains after the Federal Reserve laid out a more hawkish path by speeding up the taper of its pandemic financial support and indicated a number of interest rate hikes over the coming years. While the much-anticipated decision spells an end to the … Read more
KARACHI: Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) president Salman Aslam has expressed concern over 1 per cent increase in the interest rates and said that the latest decision of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to increase the key policy rate to 9.75 per cent would increase inflation. He said 9 per cent to … Read more
Consumer prices in the Gulf Cooperation Council states are projected to have risen 2.1 per cent in 2021, compared with 1.2 per cent in 2020, Arab News quoted a report by the GCC Statistical Centre revealed. Looking forward, inflation rate forecasts for 2022 and 2023 are predicted at 1.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has said that the PTI government has given the country nothing but inflation, poverty and unemployment over the past three years, adding that it seems as if this government is taking some revenge from the people of Pakistan. He strongly slammed … Read more
NEW DELHI: India’s annual wholesale inflation rate surged to 14.23 per cent in November, showed data released by the ministry of commerce and industry on Tuesday. “The annual rate of inflation is 14.23 per cent (provisional) for the month of November 2021 as compared to 2.29 per cent in November 2020,” a statement issued by … Read more
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the outlooks of more than 20 Turkish banks just weeks after Ankara appointed a new finance minister, Arab News reported. Nureddin Nebati was appointed treasury and finance minister on December 2 by President Erdogan and has taken the reigns of an ailing economy marred by a tanking currency. Fitch said on Friday: “The … Read more
WASHINGTON: Standing with the pump in her hand, Telila Scott was stunned to see the price of gas in Washington, a sentiment many are feeling as costs rise across the United States. “This is outrageous,” said Scott, who is currently unemployed. “I’ll pay $20 to try to fill my tank back up, but it still doesn’t … Read more
WASHINGTON: S&P Global Ratings on Friday changed its outlook for Turkey’s credit rating to negative from stable, as the country struggles with high inflation and a depreciating currency. Turkey’s annual inflation has surged above 20 per cent to its highest level in three years after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan installed loyalists at the central bank who … Read more
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday expressed his gratitude to the people of Pakistan for staging nationwide protests against increase in prices of petroleum products and food. He said that on my appeal to protest against price-hike, the people of Pakistan staged demonstrations across the country and hence pronounced their verdict … Read more
BEIJING: Consumer inflation in China picked up to its highest level in over a year in November, official data showed on Thursday, bolstered by an uptick in pork prices as seasonal demand spiked. The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of retail inflation, came in at 2.3 per cent on-year according to the National Bureau … Read more
WASHINGTON: The US employers posted 11 million open jobs in October, nearly matching a record high reached in July and a sign that companies were confident enough in the economy to expand, Arab News reported. The government report on Wednesday also showed that the number of people quitting their jobs dropped slightly in October to 4.2 million, … Read more
Transparency International (TI) released a nationwide perceptions survey on Wednesday, according to which 92% of Pakistanis believe that inflation and price hikes are the highest in the current Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s tenure as compared to previous governments. Read more: PML-N says biggest relief package for country will be PM Imran Khan’s resignation “Compared to … Read more
LONDON: The Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders, who voted for an interest rate hike last month, said on Friday he wanted more information about the impact of the new Omicron coronavirus variant before deciding how to vote this month, Reuters reported. Saunders said Omicron might slow Britain’s economy but it could also add to inflation pressures … Read more
ANKARA: Turkey’s annual inflation rate jumped over 20 per cent in November, official data showed on Friday, after a currency crisis last month in which the Turkish lira hit record lows against the dollar. Consumer prices climbed to 21.31 per cent from the same period in November last year, up from 19.89 per cent in October, … Read more
KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged the government to control inflation by keeping a check on profiteering and hoarding by the big investors, a statement said on Tuesday. Unisame president Zufikar Thaver said that the Unisame is badly affected by the snowball effect of inflation and invited the attention of … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday said that the country was close to achieving the textile export target of $20 billion and food inflation was on a constant declining trend sans receiving any media coverage. In a tweet, he said the prices of sugar, onion and tomato were on a … Read more
MADRID: Spanish inflation accelerated in November to its highest level in nearly three decades on the back of rising food and gas prices, official data showed on Monday. Consumer prices jumped 5.6 per cent, up from a 5.4 per cent increase in October, according to the preliminary figures from the national statistics institute. That is its … Read more
PARIS: Whether it is the heating bill, pump prices or making the weekly run to the supermarket, consumers are having to dig deeper and deeper into family budgets. Inflation is complicating the recovery of individual consumers from the pandemic and putting the recovery of the global economy at risk. What does the data say? Inflation figures … Read more
KARACHI: The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November 2021 is expected to register a double-digit growth to 10.43 per cent, compared with 9.19 per cent and 8.35 per cent in October and November 2021, respectively. This will take average inflation during July-November 2021/22 to 9.07 per cent, compared with 8.76 per … Read more
WASHINGTON: A key US inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve in October posted its biggest year-over-year increase since the early 1990s amid supply chain bottlenecks, the US Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, jumped five per cent in October from a year … Read more
