Chinese capital Beijing's GDP exceeded 5.207 trillion yuan (about 743.79 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 5.4 per cent year on year, surpassing the 5 trillion yuan mark for the first time, according to the municipal statistics bureau.
India's central bank has proposed that BRICS countries link their official digital currencies to make cross-border trade and tourism payments easier, two sources said, which could reduce reliance on the US dollar as geopolitical tensions rise. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended to the
The global economy is proving more resilient than expected, with 2026 GDP growth expected to improve slightly over forecasts from last June, the World Bank said on Tuesday while warning that growth is too concentrated in advanced countries and overall too weak to reduce extreme poverty. The World
US job growth slowed more than expected in December amid business caution about hiring because of import tariffs and rising artificial intelligence investment, but the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 per cent, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged this mon
US President Donald Trump has approved the new bill called the ‘Sanctioning of Russia Act 2025’, which aims to sharply increase pressure on Russia over the Ukraine war. The proposed law would allow the US to impose tariffs of at least 500 per cent on countries that buy Russian oil, inc
The Bank of Japan raised interest rates on Friday to levels unseen in 30 years, taking another landmark step in ending decades of huge monetary support and near-zero borrowing costs. The central bank also signalled its readiness to continue raising rates by offering a slightly more upbeat view on
The European Central Bank kept its policy rates steady on Thursday and took a more positive view on a euro zone economy that has shown resilience to global trade shocks. The central bank for the 20 countries that share the euro raised several of its growth and inflation projections for the bloc, i
The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Tuesday that global trade in goods and services is expected to exceed 35 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025 for the first time. Despite geopolitical tensions, higher costs, and uneven global demand, which slowed growth momentum, global t
Iran's currency slipped to the lowest level in its history on Monday, nearing 1,250,000 rial to the US dollar on the open rate market, various outlets including the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The Iranian rial stood around 55,000 to the US dollar in 2018, when US sanctions were reim
The US Federal Reserve will reduce its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point at the December 9-10 policy meeting to support a cooling labour market, according to a majority of over 100 economists surveyed by Reuters. That strong consensus broadly mirrored a November poll and the near-85
Global growth will slow to 2.6 per cent in 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024, due to growing pressure from financial volatility and geopolitical uncertainty facing global trade and investment, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report released on Tuesday. The UNCTAD's T
Countries must act now to keep slowing population growth from wreaking havoc on their long-term economic prospects, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in a semi-annual report on Tuesday. The report said ageing populations have already begun to hinder economic growth in some
Poland must prioritise curbing the rapid increase in its public debt, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, adding that it sees rising fiscal vulnerabilities over the medium term. Strong growth in central Europe's largest economy, driven by wage gains and loose fiscal policy, has come pa
