Growth, inflation, jobs, trade
At a Singapore conference, both CEOs warned that the cost and availability of funding could prove harder to solve than shortages of semiconductors or power. Broadcom is assembling $60 billion in debt financing; Intel raised $20 billion in stock in August.
The informal transfer network can reach remote villages within days and offers exchange rates far better than official channels. A 2024 survey found 93 percent of Myanmar remitters in Thailand used informal routes, despite the military government branding hundi illegal.
A weak monsoon cut hydropower output while hotter weather pushed electricity demand up 9.5 per cent. Then late rains flooded the coal-mining regions, disrupting supplies to plants already running short.
Local governments can now draw on existing borrowing room without seeking fresh approval from the national legislature. Around 40% of an estimated 1.4 trillion yuan in unused quota will be released, split between general budgets and infrastructure projects in Q4 2026.
The Syrian Sovereignty Fund holds factories, banks and real estate seized from figures linked to the former regime, and employs over 40,000 workers. It has signed a $7 billion deal with a UAE developer — but publishes nothing about its finances or management.
The debt milestone arrived four years ahead of pre-pandemic forecasts. Interest payments hit a record $1.1 trillion for the year, and the Congressional Budget Office's February projection of $39.4 trillion was made before the US went to war with Iran.
French covered bonds have widened by eight basis points on average, more than double the spread increase seen in German equivalents. Shorter maturities would give France more flexibility but would expose its interest bill to rising yields more quickly.
Cheaper solar and faster construction are giving developing countries a different path from the coal-and-gas route taken by Europe and the US. Renewables made up 86% of new power capacity added worldwide in 2023, with $152 billion invested in developing countries the previous year.
The Iraqi Oil Tankers Company chartered a supertanker for the voyage after its own fleet shrank from 23 vessels to six small ships. Baghdad now wants to buy modern crude carriers to cut its near-total reliance on foreign operators.
The canal authority is reducing daily crossings from 36 to 32 and tightening draft limits from September 15. The same lakes that keep the locks running also supply drinking water to more than half of Panama's population, and both have fallen to critically low levels.
Imports grew three times as fast as exports in August, driven by crude oil, gold and semiconductors. The monthly gap is the largest since before Trump's Liberation Day tariff announcement.
Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have suppressed fuel prices since the US-Iran war, but their dollar reserves have fallen by between 15% and 40% this year. The World Bank says Middle East oil exports won't return to pre-conflict levels until mid-2027, leaving governments with less room to absorb the next shock.
Moscow paid refiners almost 916 billion rubles in fuel subsidies this year after banning most exports and importing more to keep domestic supplies stable. Oil revenues fell more than 60% from the previous month in August, pushing the federal deficit to 2.8% of GDP, well above its 1.6% target.
Payroll growth has slowed sharply, with hiring in July now revised into negative territory. The unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent, but the report leaves open whether the weakness is temporary or something more persistent.
The projected 471.4 billion rubles is nearly double what companies paid in 2025. Most of the money started arriving after Putin reportedly asked business leaders at a closed-door meeting in March to help fund the war.
Drought, heat waves and forest fires have hit crops and livestock across the bloc, EU agricultural commissioner Christophe Hansen said after meeting ministers in Brussels. The final bill won't be clear until harvests are complete.
The two sides have identified non-sensitive goods worth roughly $30 billion in each direction as candidates for lower tariffs. No reductions have been announced yet, and any cuts will depend on separate legal processes in Washington and Beijing.
A Reuters study estimates 80% of idle terminal capacity could restart quickly once attacks stop. But three heavily damaged facilities, handling a fifth of Russia's regional export infrastructure, may need months of repairs.
Energy plants, steel mills and Black Sea export routes have all taken hits. With winter approaching, officials say the wider cost — lost output and blocked trade — could run to tens of billions more.
Nine in ten working-age people are unemployed and GDP per person has fallen to $212 a year. The UN estimates rebuilding will take decades and cost $71.5 billion.
The new package brings total French fuel relief spending to €1.4 billion. It comes as the government juggles a budget deficit of 5.4% of GDP and public debt nearing 120%, with prices driven up by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US-Iran war has virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried a fifth of global oil and gas supplies. Shipowners have responded with more than $20 billion in orders for new supertankers, as refiners in Asia and Europe hunt for crude on much longer Atlantic routes.
Public-sector employment fell for a third straight month, and wage growth slowed to its weakest pace since 2017. The figures arrive as US tariffs bite and Canada's share of exports bound for America continues to shrink.
Private employers added just 38,000 jobs, below the 47,000 forecast and the weakest reading since January. Wages held up, with gross pay rising 4.7% year over year.
The US Treasury Secretary held up the Trump administration's deregulation record — 129 rules scrapped for every one added — as a model for the world. The meetings are shadowed by US tariffs on allies, a breakdown in Canada trade talks, and an ongoing US-Iran conflict pushing up gas prices at home.
Investment and manufacturing drove the outperformance, putting growth 70 basis points above what economists expected. But the slowdown from 8.6% in the prior quarter is raising questions about whether the expansion is beginning to moderate.
Canada supplies 99% of American natural gas imports and 60% of its crude, giving Ottawa enormous theoretical leverage. But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warns that cutting the taps could cost half a million Canadian jobs and hand US refineries to Venezuela — permanently.
The Iran-US war has shut the Strait of Hormuz and sent oil prices surging, leaving Kenya facing two months of double-digit fuel price rises. Four people have been killed in street protests, and the central bank has frozen a year-long run of interest rate cuts.
Premier Danielle Smith has ruled out energy as a retaliatory tool, saying counter-tariffs on oil and gas would be 'disastrous.' Critics point out that Alberta's exports are largely exempt from US tariffs — while Ontario, Quebec and BC are bearing the brunt.
The tariffs cover roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, including dairy, wine and cement. Canada has promised dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on American steel, appliances and farm equipment, set to kick in on September 8.
Oil prices could hit $100 to $150 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, and Nigeria's Atlantic supply routes leave it well placed to benefit. But the country has squandered oil windfalls before, and the structural problems that eroded past booms have not gone away.
Trade talks collapsed Friday after a brief three-day pause raised hopes of a deal. Canada's retaliatory tariffs, targeting steel, dairy and electronics, are set to kick in on September 8.
The government says a newly discovered field in Fars province holds more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Any production is years away, and strikes on energy infrastructure since February have left Iran warning of shortages this winter.
What began with a Truth Social post in November 2024 has become a prolonged tariff conflict, with 50% duties now hitting $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. As of late August 2026, there is no sign of resolution.
The duties, covering everything from dairy and lumber to hockey equipment, hit up to $28 billion of Canadian exports. Prime Minister Carney has announced matching retaliatory tariffs on American goods, set to take effect September 8.
Chinese solar, battery and EV exports reached $26bn in March 2026 — up 52% on the year — as nations scrambled for alternatives after Iranian drone strikes shut Gulf oil and gas flows.
Utilities filed $29 billion in rate increase requests in the first half of 2025 alone, yet isolating the data centre contribution from ageing infrastructure and fuel costs has proved genuinely difficult.
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