“Chinese factory output slowed to its weakest pace on record early this year, a sign that the economy remained under pressure from US tariffs and weaker domestic demand despite a series of economic stimulus measures in recent months…
“China is ramping up assistance for the economy as 2019 growth looks set to plumb 29-year lows, but support measures are taking time to kick in.”
https://www.ft.com/content/a2c7edf8-45fb-11e9-b168-96a37d002cd3
“The downturn in China’s auto market worsened in January and February as an economic slowdown and a tariff fight with Washington chilled demand in the industry’s biggest global market. Sales of SUVs, minivans and sedans plunged 17.5 percent from a year earlier…
“The decline in sales of passenger cars in January was 15 percent… Last year’s auto sales suffered their first decline in nearly three decades, calling 4.1 percent from 2017 year to 23.7 million.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/chinas-auto-sales-contraction-worsens-february-61672585
“For years, China’s biggest borrowers relied on accounting alchemy to prop up their balance sheets. Those days are over.
“Corporate perpetual bonds have almost always been recognized by Chinese auditors as equity, not debt. That enabled state-owned enterprises to borrow billions of dollars without it showing up that way.”
“The single most pressing economic problem in Thailand is household debt. Actually, the household debt issue is currently the world’s most important economic issue too.
“With the prevailing debt in major economies, it is difficult to see the world’s economy moving beyond a 2% annual growth rate. The household debt problem has already triggered a global financial crisis, namely the Lehman Brothers crisis in 2008. And it can trigger a similar crisis in China any time.”
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1644312/household-debt-squeezing-the-nation
“New Zealanders have a debt problem. In the past seven years, household debt has skyrocketed…Kiwis are spending more money that they don’t have. It’s a signal to economists that the foundations are shaky.
“It’s also not hard to see why borrowing is going through the roof — property prices. Houses cost more. People have to borrow more to buy them. Wages are growing more slowly than house prices. The result? Ballooning debt.”
https://www.moneymorning.co.nz/our-ticking-time-bomb-why-kiwi-debt-is-about-to-explode/2019/03/14/
“Toronto households are some of the most indebted in the country, with the average family owing more than twice the amount they bring in.”
https://www.citynews1130.com/video/2019/03/13/household-debt-worries-mounting-for-canadians/
“While the overall level of [US] consumer borrowing is rising at a steady pace, one subset of loans, those linked to car purchases, has risen sharply over the past year.
“This is particularly true in the “subprime category” — those high-risk borrowers with a FICO consumer credit score below 620 (the bare minimum score required to be approved for a conventional mortgage in the US). More striking still, defaults on those subprime auto loans appear to have surged.”
https://www.ft.com/content/1ce6d32e-4520-11e9-b168-96a37d002cd3
“Brussels has said a vote by UK MPs to block a no-deal Brexit in any circumstances is a meaningless move, with one senior EU negotiator describing it as “the Titanic voting for the iceberg to get out of the way”.
“A European commission spokesman offered a withering assessment of the decision by MPs to ignore Theresa May’s assertion that no deal was the default position unless there was a deal in place by the time of the UK’s departure.”
“The Swiss economy will grow less quickly than previously anticipated, hamstrung by the global downturn, and stands to lose even more pace if the international trade dispute worsens.”
““We love our city, we love our weather, we love the Greek people, but we are scared and afraid in a way, because the situation is not that good,” Dimopoulos said about him and his friends.
““We have to try harder and harder to make our own money … Sometimes we are talking (about going) abroad: If it is going to be better for us to leave Greece or if it is going to be better to stay in Greece and try harder. It is in our minds.””
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/14/greece-financial-crisis-still-evokes-pain-and-fear-in-athens.html
“Turkey’s industrial output shrank for the fifth month in a row in January, the clearest evidence of continued weakness in the Middle East’s largest economy after it fell into a technical recession during the last quarter of 2018.
“Combined production of Turkish manufacturers, miners and power producers slumped 7.3 percent from a year earlier…”
“Protests initially erupted on December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread, while irregular fuel supplies have been a common feature for months across Sudan. “The economic issues need to be solved immediately as it impacts inflation and our currency rate,” said Eila. Although the bread price rise triggered the protests, anger had mounted across the country for years over soaring inflation and an acute shortage of foreign currency.”
“The World Bank will lend Angola $1 billion to fund social security and water projects, the president’s office said on Wednesday.
“Angola, Africa’s second largest oil producer, has been pushed into an economic crisis by the fall in oil prices since mid-2014.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/angola-worldbank/world-bank-to-lend-angola-1-billion-idUSL8N2106KA
“Venezuela’s largest private food supplier says massive looting and vandalism occurred at four facilities in the city of Maracaibo during nationwide power outages, complicating efforts to distribute food and drinks to people in the area.”
Read the previous ‘Economy’ thread here and visit my Patreon page here.
