ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund has slightly upgraded its outlook for world growth this year on the back of resilient service sector activity in the first quarter and a strong labor market, the lender said Tuesday.

China's economy grew 6.3 percent year on year in the second quarter, a figure that belies the country's slowing post-pandemic recovery and one that analysts warn is inflated given the low base of comparison with lockdown-wracked 2022.

Annual inflation in Egypt hit 36.8 percent in June, official figures showed on Monday, an all-time high for the country grappling with a punishing economic crisis.

"The UAE has achieved the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in its history in 2022, reaching AED84 billion ($23 billion) despite a 12% decline in global FDI movement, according to the UNCTAD's annual World Investment Report 2023," Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed said. According to UNCTAD report, UAE ranks first regionally in attracting FDI inflows and the country has become the fourth largest recipient of greenfield investment projects in the world with a total of 997 projects, after the United States, the United Kingdom, and India.

"The PMI [S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index] has averaged 55.5 in the first five months of the year, higher than the average over the same period last year, despite weakness in external order growth. Business activity has been supported by domestic demand so far in 2023," Khatija Haque, head of research and chief economist, Emirates NBD Research said. The tourism sector is expected to become the largest contributor to the local economy in 2023.

This innovative economic model will serve UAE in its "future vision by adopting flexible economic policies that rely on speed and accuracy in responding to global changes, adopting stimulating economic strategies, and forward-looking economic plans based on economic diversification, and improving economic procedures and legislation," Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates said.

China's central bank cut a key interest rate and injected $33 billion into financial markets Thursday, as data showed the world's second-largest economy was flagging.

The tax implementation is in line with global efforts to fight tax avoidance and address challenges caused by the digitalization of the global economy.

The Treasury has warned it could run out of money to pay its bills by Monday -- leaving almost no room for delays in enacting the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which suspends the debt limit through 2024 while trimming federal spending.

Non-perishable foods and transport costs climbed more than 50 percent over May 2022, while average inflation for the past 12 months was 29.16 percent, the latest Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed.

The agreement was ratified three days after Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected as President of Turkey.

Government data released Tuesday showed month-on-month inflation was 2.41 percent, while average inflation for the past 12 months stood at 28.23 percent.

The country readily describes itself as a "start-up nation", and its per capita GDP is higher than that of Germany, France or Britain.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has spent weeks using "restraint" and "responsible" to describe his second budget since coming to power in May last year.

The country's already vulnerable economy was shaken further by Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, which rocked tourism, raised commodity prices and prompted foreign investors to pull about $20 billion out of its financial markets.

Oil prices slipped on Monday as concerns about rising interest rates, the global economy and the outlook for fuel demand outweighed support from the prospect of tighter supplies on OPEC+ supply cuts.

While the expected expansion would be faster than other major economies, it will be below the long-term average.

Some central banks in the region, such as Australia, have begun pausing interest rate hikes as they saw their economies and job growth moderate from the impact of global headwinds and past monetary tightening.

The IMF's report warned that risks were high, and reducing debt vulnerabilities should be an "overriding priority," especially in low-income developing countries where 39 countries were already in or near debt distress.

The city-state's economy expanded 2.1% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2022.

India's central bank is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate on Thursday for the seventh consecutive meeting and leave the door open for more increases to bring inflation back within its target range, economists said.

Pakistan's central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to its highest-ever level on Tuesday, as the cash-strapped country steped up its fight against soaring consumer prices.

Egypt has sharply devalued the currency three times since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 exposed vulnerabilities in the country's finances.

The Southeast Asian country's economy has bounced back strongly from a pandemic slump, expanding at a 22-year high of 8.7% in 2022, but its outlook for this year has been clouded by cooling global demand.

India's monetary policy committee is likely to deliver the expected 25-basis point (bps) rate hike in April, even as global markets lowered rate hike bets from the U.S.

India's industrial output rose a bigger than expected 5.2% in January compared with the same month last year as strong domestic urban demand boosted electricity generation and manufacturing, despite weakening exports.

The UAE aims to double the size of its economy by 2031 and diversify away from hydrocarbons.

Pakistan's central bank is widely expected to raise its key policy rate by 200 basis points in an off-cycle meeting on Thursday as it struggles to unlock critical funding from the IMF, a Reuters poll showed.

The South Asian country is deeply in debt, and needs to introduce tough tax and utility price increases to unlock another tranche of a $6.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout and avoid defaulting.