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☆ Global Growth Forecast Is Lifted but Risks Loom, O.E.C.D. Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the United States, the Federal Reserve left interest rates steady on Wednesday, citing wariness about how stubborn inflation was proving. Even so, the United States is expected to remain an engine of global growth this year, expanding at a 2.6 percent pace, the O.E.C.D. Both the euro currency bloc and Britain ended 2023 in recession, deepened by record high interest rates deployed by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to help fight inflation. The outlook should improve next year, as high interest rates come down, unleashing more spending by businesses and households. forecast the eurozone economy to expand at 1.5 percent in 2025, more than double the expected growth rate this year.

Persons: “ We’ve, Clare Lombardelli, Lombardelli Organizations: Federal Reserve, Britain, European Central Bank, Bank of England Locations: United States, Europe, Germany, Greece, Spain

☆ It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the rocky soil of Lorraine, a former coal mining region near the French-German border, scientists guided a small probe one recent day down a borehole half a mile into the earth’s crust. Frothing in the water table below was an exciting find: champagne-size bubbles that signaled a potentially mammoth cache of so-called white hydrogen, one of the cleanest-burning fuels in nature. “Hydrogen is magical — when you burn it you release water, so there are no carbon emissions to warm the planet,” said one of the scientists, Jacques Pironon, a senior researcher and professor at the University of Lorraine. “We think we’ve uncovered one of the largest deposits of natural hydrogen anywhere in the world.”The discovery by Mr. Pironon and another scientist, Philippe de Donato, both members of France’s respected National Center for Scientific Research, caused a sensation in France, where the government has vowed to become a European leader in clean hydrogen.

Persons: ”, Jacques Pironon, “, Pironon, Philippe de Donato, France’s Organizations: University of Lorraine, National Center for Scientific Research Locations: Lorraine, France

☆ Eurozone Inflation Falls Faster Than Expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Excluding food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 3.6 percent, a sharply slower pace than previous months. “The price to pay is higher interest rates, more difficult financing and therefore an economic slowdown,” he added. Interest rates were raised from below zero and are now at the highest level in the central bank’s two-decade history. But Europe is facing a drawn-out economic slowdown as high interest rates and the lingering impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to curb activity. to start lowering interest rates next year, possibly before the summer.

Persons: ” Bert Colijn, ” Bruno Le Maire, Christine Lagarde, Colijn Organizations: ING Bank, European Central Bank, ”, Eurostat, France Inter Locations: Ukraine, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Europe, United States

☆ X Has Become a ‘Global Sewer,’ Mayor of Paris Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, announced Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that she was quitting the social media site because it had devolved into a “gigantic global sewer” for disinformation, hatred, anti-Semitism and racism, and a “tool for destroying our democracies.”Without naming Elon Musk directly, she added: “This platform and its owner intentionally exacerbate tensions and conflicts.”In recent weeks, dozens of advertisers paused their campaigns on X after Mr. Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory this month, and the company could lose as much as $75 million in ad revenue by the end of the year. Mr. Musk has strenuously denied that he is antisemitic or that the site supports disinformation, and visited Israel on Monday in an apparent bid to repair the damage. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took him to an Israeli kibbutz where dozens of people were killed during the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7. Mr. Musk was scheduled to meet later with President Isaac Herzog to discuss “the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online.” Israel also appeared to reach an understanding to deploy Starlink, the satellite internet service Mr. Musk owns, in Gaza for aid agencies to use amid cellular and internet blackouts.

Persons: Anne Hidalgo, Elon Musk, Musk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog, ” Israel Organizations: Elon Locations: Paris, Israel, Gaza

More than 100,000 demonstrators in Paris and cities across France took to the streets on Sunday to show their solidarity with the country’s Jews and to deplore antisemitic acts that have multiplied across the nation since Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7. The marches in France came a day after a huge pro-Palestinian protest in London that police said involved about 300,000 people. Tensions have been rising in France and particularly in Paris, home to large Jewish and Muslim communities, after Hamas’s attack and during Israel’s subsequent military campaign in the Gaza Strip. In the past month, over 1,240 antisemitic acts have been reported in France. The police had made 539 arrests as of Nov. 10.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, ”, Macron Organizations: Senate, National Assembly, Le Parisien Locations: Paris, France, Israel, London, Gaza, Le

☆ Eurozone Economy Shrinks, While Price Pressures Ease
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Growth in the eurozone contracted unexpectedly this summer, as rising interest rates cooled momentum in Germany and France, the region’s two biggest economies, Europe’s statistics agency reported Tuesday. The downturn reflected the challenges facing policymakers at the European Central Bank, who last week paused their campaign of interest rate increases to fight inflation amid signs the region’s economy has weakened. Data showed the eurozone’s inflation rate in October eased to 2.9 percent, another sign of the impact of the central bank’s higher interest rates. Compared with a year ago, economic growth was up just 0.1 percent. Europe’s anemic growth pace is in sharp contrast to the United States, where the economy has surged despite a steep hike in interest rates by Federal Reserve to tame inflation.

Organizations: European Central Bank, Data, Federal Reserve, Gross Locations: Germany, France, United States

☆ War With Hamas Hits Israel’s Economy, Central Bank Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The war between Israel and Hamas will abruptly slow the Israeli economy this year and next and send the nation’s budget deficit soaring as the country ramps up spending to support the military, civilians and businesses during the conflict, the Bank of Israel said on Monday. Many businesses have been forced to pause activity, and hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists are now on active duty, while many people are in shelters. Even so, he added, “it is clear that a shorter or longer duration, as well as any developments of the war to additional arenas,” would add uncertainty to the economic outlook. The conflict has dealt a fresh blow to a resilient economy that until recently had been hailed as an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Israel had low debt, a current account surplus and high foreign exchange reserves, although growth had begun to slow amid high interest rates, rising inflation and expectations of a slowdown in the global economy.

Persons: “, Amir Yaron Organizations: Bank of Israel Locations: Israel, Jerusalem

☆ Prospect of Prolonged Israel-Gaza War Adds Economic Havoc to Human Toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

That has concentrated the pool of recruits around people who make up the bulk of Israel’s entrepreneurial economic activity. Two credit ratings agencies this week warned that Israel’s debt could be downgraded. The Bank of Israel has about $200 billion in foreign exchange reserves — close to 40 percent of the country’s gross domestic product — which its governor, Amir Yaron, told I.M.F. and World Bank officials in a video call on Sunday provided ample capacity to support the economy. Since the conflict, the central bank has earmarked $30 billion in foreign exchange to support the shekel, which has fallen to an eight-year low.

Persons: ”, Ben, David, Moody’s, Fitch, Israel’s, Israel, Goldman Sachs, Amir Yaron, I.M.F Organizations: Bank of Israel, World Bank

☆ Greece, Battered a Decade Ago, Is Booming
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Paris Skouros pointed toward the sky outside his office in Athens on a recent weekday. Greece’s financial crisis almost ruined his firm, Skouros & Sons, an elevator company. Years of harsh austerity measures imposed by international bailouts had been wrenching, Mr. Skouros said, as new construction ground to a standstill. “During the crisis, we just wanted to survive,” Mr. Skouros said, as the sound of hammers hitting sheet metal rang out in his workshop. “Now we’re profitable, and business is so strong that we can’t find enough workers to keep up with demand.”Laden with debt it couldn’t pay back, Greece nearly broke the eurozone a decade ago.

Persons: Paris, bailouts, Skouros, Mr Organizations: Skouros Locations: Athens, “, Greece

The falling shares mean that Mr. Arnault (now worth about $195 billion, Forbes says) dropped to the second-richest person in the world in June, eclipsed by Elon Musk. Mr. Arnault has broadened LVMH beyond extravagant playthings into the world of experiences, acquiring over 50 grand hotels and resorts. Mr. Arnault’s changes mean he doesn’t have to retire next year as originally expected. The French media is full of headlines comparing the Arnaults to the Roys, the fictional family in the HBO series. There are TikTok videos explaining why the Arnaults are “the real ‘Succession’ family.” The family hates this talk, and takes pains to play down parallels to the show.

Persons: Arnault, Forbes, Elon Musk, LVMH, —, gobbling, Delphine, Dior Organizations: Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, HBO

☆ Can There Be Too Many Cafes in Paris?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The sound of clinking wine glasses floated through the evening air recently as throngs of patrons sipped chilled rosé and nibbled on cheese plates in front of the cafes, restaurants and épiceries bordering Place d’Aligre in the Bastille district of Paris. Waiters threaded through the crowd, their trays loaded with Aperol spritzes and oysters, as more people hurried in to meet friends. Paris has long been renowned for its bustling cafe culture, with 13,000 open-air terraces occupying sidewalks and squares in the years before the pandemic. But thousands of additional outdoor spaces bloomed under an emergency program set up to relieve businesses during Covid lockdowns. They are now permanent, after a 2021 decree by Mayor Anne Hidalgo that allows them to return every year from April through November.

Persons: lockdowns, Anne Hidalgo Locations: Bastille, Paris

☆ U.K. Inflation Eases to 6.8% as Energy Prices Fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Behind the Numbers: Slowdown reflects falling energy prices. Inflation in Britain peaked in October at more than 11 percent, the highest rate in 30 years, after Russia’s war in Ukraine fanned a surge in energy and food prices. Officials in Britain and Europe’s largest economies have worked to tame high energy costs, which jumped after Russian gas supplies were cut off. Food prices in the U.K. rose 14.8 percent in July from a year earlier. Wages in Britain have been rising, as workers demand higher pay to offset rising prices and employers compete to fill jobs in a tight labor market.

Persons: it’s, Darren Morgan Organizations: National Statistics, Bank of England, The Bank of England Locations: Britain, Ukraine, Germany

☆ Lebanon Freezes Accounts of Former Central Bank Governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lebanese authorities on Monday froze the bank accounts of the country’s embattled former central bank governor, Riad Salameh, days after the United States, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on him for “contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon” through decades of corruption. The action, announced by Lebanon’s interim central bank governor, Wassim Mansouri, followed an internal investigation. The assets of four people close to Mr. Salameh were also frozen by the central bank. They include Mr. Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh; his son, Nady Salameh; Anna Kosakova, whom U.S. officials described as Mr. Salameh’s former partner; and his former assistant at the central bank, Marianne Hoayek. The U.S.-led coalition accused them of helping Mr. Salameh funnel hundreds of millions of dollars through layered shell companies to invest in European real estate so that he could amass an outsize fortune outside of the country.

Persons: Riad Salameh, Wassim Mansouri, Salameh, Salameh’s, Raja Salameh, Nady Salameh, Anna Kosakova, Marianne Hoayek Organizations: Monday, Lebanon’s Locations: United States, Britain, Canada, Lebanon ”, U.S

☆ French Journalists Call Off Strike, Failing to Block ‘Far-Right’ Editor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Journalists at France’s leading Sunday newspaper announced Tuesday that they were ending one of the longest media strikes in recent French history, but they predicted that dozens might resign to protest the appointment of an editor with a far-right track record as the new editor in chief. Staff members said they had little choice but to work with the new leadership or leave their jobs. The new editor, Geoffroy Lejeune, who formerly led a far-right French magazine that was fined for publishing racist insults, was scheduled to take up his new post on Tuesday. Word of his appointment at The JDD, as the paper is known, had ignited a firestorm in French media and political circles, raising concerns that a major mainstream news outlet could be transformed into a right-wing platform. Before the uproar, about 100 journalists worked at the Paris paper.

Persons: Vincent Bolloré, Geoffroy Lejeune Organizations: France’s, Sunday, Le, Staff Locations: Paris

The agreement, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, was struck a year ago, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, to alleviate a global food crisis after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia had blockaded Ukrainian ports, blocking ships from carrying its grain and sending global prices soaring to record highs. The deal has been extended three times, most recently in May. Russia has repeatedly complained about the agreement, which it calls one-sided in Ukraine’s favor. Moscow has said that Western sanctions, imposed because of Moscow’s devastating war, have restricted the sale of Russia’s agricultural products, and Moscow has sought guarantees that free up those exports.

Persons: upending, António Guterres, “, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr Organizations: Initiative, United, United Nations Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Africa, United Nations, Turkey, Ukrainian, Ukraine’s, Moscow

☆ Wheat prices jump after Russia pulls out of the Black Sea grain deal.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Liz Alderman | More About Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The risk of a fresh uptick in global food inflation emerged Monday after President Vladimir V. Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea grain deal, sending wheat prices surging and exposing vulnerable countries in Africa and the global south in particular to the prospect of a new round of food insecurity. Chicago wheat futures, a barometer for global prices, jumped more than 4 percent as the Kremlin’s move once again jeopardized a key trade route to global markets for grain from Ukraine, one of the world’s major bread baskets. “It will hurt specific countries dependent on these exports,” Mr. Ash said. But beyond that, “it shows how weak Putin is after the Wagner coup: He is now desperate to take any bit of leverage he can.”The Black Sea Grain Initiative was struck a year ago to alleviate a global food crisis after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when Russia blocked ships from carrying the country’s grain out of its ports on the Black Sea. Those blockages swiftly sent grain prices soaring to record highs.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Timothy Ash, Ash, Wagner, blockages Organizations: Wagner, BlueBay, Management, Initiative Locations: Russia, Africa, Ukraine, London, “

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