imf – Impact Lab

Big Problems, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Davos 2020 : the World is drowning in debt

January 16, 2020

New York (CNN Business)The world’s already huge debt load smashed the record for the highest debt-to-GDP ratio before 2019 was even over.

In fact, it broke that record in the first nine months of last year. Global debt, which comprises borrowings from households, governments and companies, grew by $9 trillion to nearly $253 trillion during that period, according to the Institute of International Finance.

That puts the global debt-to-GDP ratio at 322%, narrowly surpassing 2016 as the highest level on record.

More than half of this enormous number was accumulated in developed markets, such as the United States and Europe, bringing their debt-to-GDP ratio to 383% overall.

There are plenty of culprits. Countries like New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway all have rising household debt levels, while the government debt-to-GDP ratios in the United States and Australia are at all-time highs.

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Analysis, China, Economy, Future

Chart: The World’s Largest 10 Economies in 2030

January 21, 2019

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

Today’s emerging markets are tomorrow’s powerhouses, according to a recent forecast from Standard Chartered, a multinational bank headquartered in London.

The bank sees developing economies like Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, and Egypt all moving up the ladder – and by 2030, it estimates that seven of the world’s largest 10 economies by GDP (PPP) will be located in emerging markets.

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Analysis, Banking, Business, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Ten years after Lehman’s collapse, these ten risks could cause the next crisis

September 17, 2018

On Sept. 15, 2008, a credit crunch turned into a full-blown crisis when New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. The global recession that followed is still too fresh in many people’s memories to be considered history. But 10 years on, the state of the financial system suggests that the crisis has been relegated to the history books for many in the industry.

In 2018, Wall Street is enjoying another heyday. Bonuses for bankers have returned to pre-crisis levels, profits for commercial banks are at a record high, the stock market is in its longest bull run in history, the US economy is humming, and deregulation and tax cuts rule the day in Donald Trump’s administration.

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Banking, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

IMF head forsees the end of banking and the triumph of cryptocurrency

October 7, 2017

In a remarkably frank talk at a Bank of England conference, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund has speculated that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have as much of a future as the Internet itself. It could displace central banks, conventional banking, and challenge the monopoly of national monies.

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Analysis, Economy, Globalism, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

China’s Economy Overtook the U.S. in 2010 to Become Number One

January 24, 2011

China’s economy overtook the U.S. in 2010.

Some time in 2010, the Chinese economy overtook that of the United States. In purchasing power parity (PPP) terms – that is, adjusting for the different costs of living in the two countries – the size of China’s economy was $14.8 trillion in 2010, compared to the US economy’s $14.6 trillion.

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