Author: Steven Sahiounie

A recent survey by Avgi shows that income inequality is growing increasingly sharp putting many at risk of poverty. Citing the national central bank’s annual report, the relative poverty index was assessed to be 19.6% which is higher than the EU average (amounts to 16.8%). The report also projects that 28.3% of the Greek population faces the risk of poverty and social exclusion: specifying that the most vulnerable groups are the unemployed people, pensioners, and households with dependent children. The Gini index for inequality was reported to have increased to reach 32.4% back in 2019. Back in March, The Pharmaceutical Association of…

Iran and Russia can become the export center of some food items in the region with joint production and investment, Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Mokhber said on Saturday during a meeting with Russian President’s Special Aide Igor Levitin in the Iranian capital. During Levitin’s two-day visit to Tehran, both sides reviewed the latest joint projects and cooperation between Iran and Russia in the framework of the North-South corridor, cooperation in the field of energy, transportation, and expansion of the two countries’ trade relations. “Fortunately, the implementation of the joint plans and projects between the two countries is in good progress and the…

Lebanon, Argentina, and Zimbabwe were the countries with the highest annual inflation rates in February 2023, according to calculations made by Russian news agency Sputnik and based on data from national statistics.  Inflation in Lebanon was at a whopping 190% in February, putting it in first place by far, while Argentina ranked second with an annual inflation rate of 102.5%. The country with the highest inflation rate in January, Zimbabwe, saw its inflation cooling down to 92.3% after it was at 230%. Joanna Wronecka, the UN’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon, warned in a tweet that the Lebanese people are severely harmed by currency…

There’s been a seismic shift in investor perspective: Bad news is no longer good news. For the past year, Wall Street has hoped for cool monthly economic data that would encourage the Federal Reserve to halt its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes to tame inflation. But at its March meeting — just days after a series of bank failures raised concerns about the economy’s stability — the central bank signaled that it plans to pause raising rates sometime this year. With an end to interest rate hikes in sight, investors have stopped attempting to guess the Fed’s next move and have turned instead to…

The funds are enough to cover the nation’s imports for more than five months, presidential adviser Oleg Ustenko said The gold and foreign currency reserves of Ukraine have reached an all-time high of $30 billion, presidential adviser Oleg Ustenko said on Sunday, adding that the funds are enough to pay for Ukrainian imports for at least five months. “Our foreign reserves have reached a decade all-time high of over $30 billion,” Ustenko told Rada TV channel. “The amount would be enough to cover more than five months’ worth of Ukrainian imports.” According to Ustenko, the economic situation is considered to be stable…

The fossil fuel will be essential in shifting to clean energy, the global forum’s CEO says Natural gas will be a critical component in the world’s transition to new energy sources, the secretary general and CEO of the World Energy Council, Angela Wilkinson, has argued. “We want it to be more renewable-powered electrification,” Wilkinson stated during a panel discussion moderated by CNBC, noting that significant effort will be required to achieve that goal. “We can’t let perfection be the enemy of the good in this, right? The reality is, to get renewables to scale we’re going to have other clean energy…

Combined losses of wealthy promoters of digital currencies has reportedly totaled $110 billion Crypto billionaires have lost a combined $110 billion in the past twelve months, registering an enormous year-on-year decline of 75%, according to estimates by Forbes published earlier this week. In 2022 the magazine reported that the combined wealth of the world’s richest crypto holders totalled around $140 billion, but a year of fraud allegations, government lawsuits and probes, along with dropping asset valuations, sent their collective worth plummeting to less than $30 billion as of March 10, 2023. The steep decline in fortunes also sent the number…

Robust recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic remains “elusive,” Kristalina Georgieva has said The world economy is facing its weakest period of growth since the 1990s in the next five years due to problems triggered by the pandemic and political tensions, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stated on Thursday. A severe slowdown in the global economy last year following the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine is set to continue in 2023 and could persist for the next five years, she warned. Global GDP will grow at about 3% over the next half decade compared to an…

“The collective West is not inclined to recall the topic of US nuclear weapons, which are based in Europe, around our country” he said The West does not recall US nuclear weapons in Europe, but responds hysterically to Russia’s intentions to build storage facilities for such weapons in Belarus, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel on Sunday. “The collective West is not inclined to recall the topic of US nuclear weapons, which are based in Europe, around our country, but in this case, they are inclined to this hysterical reaction to our…

The Israeli occupation authorities announced Sunday the closure of the Ibrahimi Mosque, in Hebron city in the west Bank in front of the Palestinian worshipers for two days. Director General of the Hebron Endowment, Nidal Al-Jabari, denounced in a statement to Wafa news agency, the closure of the Mosque, describing it as “a flagrant violation of the Mosque’s sanctity and a provocative attack on the Muslims’ right to access to the places of worship related to them. Al-Jabari called upon the international community and institutions engaged in cultural, heritage and religious affairs, on top of which the UN Educational and Scientific…