Author: Steven Sahiounie

Lael Brainard, the Fed’s vice chair, will become a top economic adviser along with Jared Bernstein, who would head the Council of Economic Advisers. WASHINGTON — President Biden said Tuesday that he had selected Lael Brainard, the vice chair of the Federal Reserve, to direct the National Economic Council, choosing a veteran economist to oversee his administration’s transition from passing big economic laws to carrying them out. Mr. Biden also chose Jared Bernstein, a longtime member of his inner circle dating back to Mr. Biden’s tenure as vice president, to be the next chair of the White House Council of…

The South American country, which has battled soaring prices for years, saw its annual inflation hit 98.8 percent. Argentina’s inflation rate has hit just shy of 100 percent, the government said on Tuesday, with savers feeling more pain from some of the world’s fastest-rising prices and workers’ budgets straining as costs outstrip salaries. The South American country, which has battled spiralling prices for years, saw monthly inflation speed up to 6 percent in January, in line with forecasts, while the annual figure hit 98.8 percent, the highest since hyperinflation in the 1990s. Gisella Saluzzo, 30, a doctor in Buenos Aires,…

BEIJING — China’s economic recovery is off to a modest start. Migrant workers have mostly returned to work after China’s biggest holiday of the year, and children went back to school this week. But preliminary data indicate overall growth isn’t roaring back on all cylinders yet, despite mainland China ending its Covid controls in early December. For example, official loan data for January showed year-on-year growth in loans to businesses, but a sharp drop in that to households. “The mixed data send a clear message that markets should not be too bullish about growth this year,” Nomura’s chief China Economist…

Brexit has dealt the UK economy a “productivity penalty” of £29bn, or £1,000 per household, a Bank of England policymaker has said. Jonathan Haskel, an external member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, said a wave of investment “stopped in its tracks” in 2016 following the vote. He said the UK had “suffered much more” of a productivity slowdown than other large economies because of Brexit. The Treasury said it did not recognise Mr Haskel’s figures. The Bank of England declined to comment. Mr Haskel, who was interviewed by website newsletter The Overshoot, was asked why he thought the UK was an…

People in Nigeria have taken to sleeping outside banks. They want to be among the first in line to get notes from the cash machine once it is loaded up in the morning. A lack of newly designed naira notes has led to a cash shortage and a growing sense of anxiety among those desperate to get hold of their money in a country where 40% of the population don’t have bank accounts. The Supreme Court has even become involved and has ordered that the deadline to hand in old notes be extended but this has made little difference. People…

India’s markets regulator has confirmed that it is investigating allegations made by Hindenburg Research against companies owned by multi-billionaire Gautam Adani. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also says it is examining market activity around the report. Mr Adani’s business empire had over $100bn (£82.3bn) wiped off its stock market value after the claims of market manipulation and financial fraud. Adani Group has denied the claims. On Monday, SEBI said in a Supreme Court filing that it was studying the allegations and “the market activity immediately preceding and post the publication of the report”. “SEBI is strongly and…

As Japan’s prime minister names his pick for the new head of the country’s central bank, it is clear that the job comes with some major challenges. The latest figures published by the government show the economy is recovering from the pandemic at a far slower pace than expected. At the same time prices are rising at the fastest rate in more than 40 years. So what can the academic Kazuo Ueda do to fix the world’s third largest economy? If approved by the country’s parliament as the next governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), Mr Ueda has to…

A union representing hundreds of workers at an Amazon warehouse has revealed plans for seven more strike days. The GMB union said its members in Coventry would now take further industrial action on 28 February, 2 March and between 13-17 March. It marked an escalation in their pay fight, which began with a 24-hour strike last month – the first official walkout to hit the US tech firm’s operations in the UK. GMB said more than 350 staff, out of 1,400, would take part in the action – a rise on the 300 or so who were involved last month. The site…

Ford has announced that 1,300 jobs, a fifth of the workforce, is being cut from its UK business as part of a Europe-wide overhaul. The majority of the UK losses will be at the Ford site in Dunton, Essex – its UK headquarters and technical centre. Up to 1,000 jobs are to be axed at the location with the remaining 300 to come from administrative roles spread across the remaining five sites. Production staff at Dagenham, Halewood and Daventry are to be unaffected. Ford has two other sites in the UK: in Stratford, east London – where software is worked on -…

Consumer price inflation accelerated again in Switzerland at the start of the year, largely reflecting higher food and energy prices, figures from the Federal Statistical Office showed on Monday. Inflation rose 3.3% year-on-year in January, driven by surging gas and electricity prices. The rate exceeded economists’ forecasts of 2.9% and was the highest since August 2022. On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.6% in contrast to the 0.2% drop in the previous month. The annual increase in inflation was largely propelled by a 5.6% rise in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages. Housing and energy prices surged…