Economy
Our coverage of global economics, from inflation-fighting central banks to apprehensive financial markets
The global economy faces an exceptional moment of uncertainty. High and persistent inflation has led central banks to raise interest rates rapidly. Monetary tightening has caused banks to fail in America and house prices to wobble across the rich world. China has reopened its economy, having abandoned its “zero-covid” policy, but has not yet grown as fast as investors predicted. Still, many economies are proving surprisingly resilient to the forces that are buffeting them. The euro zone has technically entered a recession but remains stronger than feared, helped by the partial reversal of the surge in energy prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And labour markets continue to be strong. Read our latest economy news and analysis below to understand what is going on, why, and what may happen next.
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The US economy
Forget the shutdown. America’s real fiscal worry is rising bond yields
Watch Wall Street, not Washington
The resumption of student-loan payments will hit American growth
It is not just borrowers who face a return to reality
The pandemic has broken a closely followed survey of sentiment
Americans’ opinions about the state of the economy have diverged from reality
The $100trn battle for the world’s wealthiest people
Two financial giants look likely to crush the competition
America’s bosses just won’t quit. That could spell trouble
Bob Iger is not the only one hanging around for too long
A strike at Chevron shows a reinvigorated union movement
Workers are taking on more American firms—at home and abroad
China’s economy
The city that encapsulates China’s economic stagnation
Zhengzhou’s experience suggests that local problems will be hard to fix
Politics hamper China’s efforts to stimulate the economy
The prime minister is weak and the president frugal
China’s slowdown is rattling Asian economies
Governments are rushing to limit the damage
The path ahead for China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Now ten years old, China’s global infrastructure-building plan enters a new stage
Why China’s economy won’t be fixed
An increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions
Russia’s economy
The costs of Russia’s war are about to hit home
Vladimir Putin will be unable to protect citizens from the pain
A higher global oil price will help Russia pay for its war
The Kremlin tries new tactics to keep proceeds afloat
Russia will struggle to cope with a sinking rouble
What does the currency’s collapse mean for Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage war?
How Russia dodges diesel sanctions
Restrictions are bringing easy bucks to those who do not observe them
Buyers of Russian crude are exporting refined oil to the West
The price-cap scheme has created opportunities for middlemen
Asia’s economies
Sri Lanka shows how broken debt negotiations have become
The country’s creditors decide they have no choice but to freeze out China
What Asia’s economic revolution means for the world
Links between the region’s countries are getting stronger. But America’s loss is not entirely China’s gain
How Asia is reinventing its economic model
The continent’s future will involve less Western influence
Modi’s “one India” goal is good for the economy, but not for politics
In the next decade regional tensions will build in India
The end of a remarkable era in Indian finance
Uday Kotak, one of the past century’s great bankers, retired on September 1st
The Gulf countries want to reshape the Middle East in their image
Stability and development is a tempting formula, but it has been tried before
Europe’s economies
German builders are on the brink of collapse
The construction industry is being strangled by rising costs and remorseless red tape
Britain’s statisticians fix a blunder and find a bigger economy
The figures used to look abysmal. Now they’re only poor
Europe’s economy looks to be heading for trouble
Will policymakers still lift interest rates?
Germany’s economic model is sputtering. So are its banks
Politicised governance and a diminished private sector undermine competitiveness
Britain’s failed experiment in boosting low-wage sectors
Brexiteers’ plan to choke off immigration from Europe, to boost productivity, has not worked