Economy

Moody's on Wednesday slashed its assessment of the country's banking system from "stable" to "negative", and said it expects conditions for the banking sector to deteriorate further over the coming 12 to 18 months, especially with regard to the performance of bank loans and broader earnings, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Building closer India-UK trade and security partnerships is of huge value to both our nations," Braverman tweeted on Tuesday. "There is an economic imperative for our countries to work together, which is why we are so eager to secure a trade deal," the Indian-origin minister, who was in the eye of the storm over her controversial remarks about Indians forming the largest group of visa over-stayers, said.

UN Development Program (UNDP) warned of the risks of inaction in a new paper, noting that if these countries do not get access to effective debt restructuring, poverty will rise and desperately needed investments in climate adaptation and mitigation will not happen, reports Xinhua news agency.

The global economy is moving "from a world of relative predictability, with a rules-based framework for international economic cooperation, low interest rates, and low inflation... to a world with more fragility, greater uncertainty, higher economic volatility, geopolitical confrontations, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters", Georgieva said in a curtain raiser speech ahead of the 2022 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank scheduled next week.

Due to the inflation, food prices spiked by 84.6 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2021, reports the BBC. In August, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said that it had expected inflation to ease, as the country's economy slowed, after peaking at about 70 per cent.

The statement was issued after the inaugural RCEP Ministers' Meeting held in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province, on the sidelines of the 54th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Ministers' Meeting. The meeting welcomed the entry into force of the RCEP agreement on January 1, 2022 and looked forward to its ratification by all signatory states, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the statement.

The $40 billion losses were flagged in a flood response centre meeting during discussion on an interim report titled "An Early Assessment of Flood Impact on Pakistan's Economy", presented by the Ministry of Finance. "The devastating conditions suggest that the scale of flood losses is in the range of $30 billion to over $40 billion," said Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, while talking to The Express Tribune.

The heatwaves followed by rains and glacial melting has been a global trend this year bringing out the stark reality that despite all talks and conventions, the world community has failed to contain and reverse climatic change. But Pakistan's case is unique. Beyond the human losses, the country's economic managers have the most challenging task ahead as floods ravaged the country's road and communication network, damaged an incalculable number of houses, and destroyed millions of hectares of crops.

The local currency surpassed the critical threshold of 204 against the US dollar in the interbank market during intra-day trade, while the benchmark KSE-100 index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) plunged by nearly 800 points, Geo News reported. The expert said that the federal budget for the next fiscal year was being seen as a "major milestone" for the revival of the stalled $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, Geo News reported.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have pushed debt levels for many countries to alarming levels. Take the case of Nepal. The Himalayan nation has been hit by a yawning trade deficit due to growing imports. Nepal's trade deficit in the first eight months of its financial year beginning on July 16 touched $9.5 billion.