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global trade averages in 2024, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its Global Trade Update Friday. It said that trends like the widening deficits of the US and EU with China along with India’s rising deficit with Russia amid shifting energy trade could prompt new tariffs, restrictions, or investment shifts, adding to economic uncertainty. However, it cautioned that trade resilience is under pressure in 2025 and as trade uncertainty grows, global cooperation and balanced policies will be key to preventing economic fragmentation and safeguarding long-term growth. Noting that protectionism and shifting trade strategies could disrupt global trade and services trade remains strong but goods trade faces uncertainty, UNCTAD urged balanced policies and multilateral cooperation. Governments are expanding tariffs, subsidies, and industrial policies, reshaping trade flows.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics released today (14 March), the GDP decline was mostly the result of a fall in production output, which sank by 0.9% in the first month of the year. UK named 'market hotspot' for 2025 despite negative news surrounding economy Similarly, construction output decreased by 0.2% in January 2025, after a similar 0.2% fall in December last year. However, the sector by 0.4% as a whole, in the three months to January 2025. Meanwhile, the UK's monthly services output expanded by 0.1% in January, but stood below the 0.4% growth ...

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves before a key statement about the state of the public finances later this month. Official figures Friday showed that the economy, the world's sixth-largest, saw output drop by 0.1% during the month, in contrast to expectations for a modest increase and December's solid 0.4% gain. The Office of National Statistics said the weak performance was largely due to bad weather affecting the manufacturing and construction sectors, despite a solid performance by the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy. Though monthly figures are notoriously volatile and prone to future revision, the decline puts in sharp relief the struggles the Labour government, elected last July after 14 years in opposition, is having in generating growth. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said raising the U.K.'s economic growth is his government's number one priority over the next five years. Since the global financial crisis in 2008-9, the British economy's growth performance has been historically lackluster.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A massive military buildup across Europe could achieve what governments have failed to do in years: jump-start a sluggish economy, seed new innovations and create new industries. Countries from the U.K.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Friday stated that the central transfers from the Union Government in the form of Grants-in-aid and share in central taxes as a proportion of total revenue receipts have reduced significantly. The Tamil Nadu Minister while presenting the state budget for 2025-26 said that the state's own revenues have been increasing due to the efforts of the state Government. «While the State's Own Revenues have been increasing due to the efforts of the Government, the central transfers from the Union Government in the form of Grants-in-aid and share in central taxes as a proportion of total revenue receipts have reduced significantly,» Thennarasu said. He said that withholding of funds under Samagra Shiksha, denial of funds under NDRF for Cyclone Fengal, and a paltry release of Rs 276 crore for two massive disasters in the form of Cyclone Michaung and the unprecedented rainfall in southern districts have all caused severe strain on the State Finances. «In 2024-25, the grants-in-aid are estimated to substantially reduce to Rs.20,538 crore in the Revised Estimates, as compared to the Rs. 23,354 crore projected in the Budget Estimates. Anticipating the release of the entire funds due to the State under Samagra Shiksha in the ensuing year, the Grants-in-aid receivable from the Union Government are estimated at Rs.23,834 crore in Budget Estimates 2025-26,» he added.

Gig workers, or those outside traditional employer-employee relationships, are set to play a key role in the world's fifth-biggest economy, spurred partly by high unemployment after COVID-19 pandemic curbs fuelled growth in the sector. Tamil Nadu is also introducing an insurance scheme for nearly 150,000 gig workers to compensate for accidental deaths and disability, its finance minister, Thangam Thenarasu, said while unveiling the budget.

JD Vance shared the Trump administration’s position on key issues like deportation, immigration, border security, economy, and trade during an interview on Fox News' «The Ingraham Angle» on Thursday. Green Card Holders and Deportation Vance addressed the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and green-card holder, recently arrested for allegedly spreading pro-Hamas propaganda. Vance said, «A green card holder… doesn't have an indefinite right to be in the United States.»

Piyush Goyal on Friday said that he had a «forward looking» discussion with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement. «Our approach will be guided by 'India First', 'Viksit Bharat' and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,» the Commerce Minister wrote on his X timeline, sharing a photograph of the meeting. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US last week. His visit to the US followed US President Donald Trump and PM Modi's plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025. The two leaders had committed to designating senior representatives to advance these negotiations. During the recent meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative, and supply chains more resilient. They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade — "Mission 500" — aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.

Iran's clerical leaders, engaging with the «Great Satan» to hammer out a nuclear deal and ease crippling sanctions may for once be the lesser of two evils. Though it harbours deep mistrust of the United States, and President Donald Trump in particular, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials said. That's why, despite the unyielding stance and defiant rhetoric of Iran's clerical leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran's corridors of power to strike a deal with Washington, the people said. Tehran's concerns were exacerbated by Trump's speedy revival of his first term's «maximum pressure» campaign to drive Iran's oil exports towards zero with more sanctions and bring the country's already fragile economy to its knees, they said. President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly highlighted the severity of the economic situation in the Islamic Republic, stating that it is more challenging than during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and pointing this month to the latest round of U.S. sanctions targeting tankers carrying Iranian oil.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump and his team are sending a message: Hang in there through the economic turmoil, and better days will come. A little sacrifice for the greater good may not be such a bad thing.

iPhone SE released a few years ago, but won’t be enough to reverse a China slide, according to analyst firm IDC. The market tracker found sales of the iPhone 16e were 60% stronger in its opening three days versus the iPhone SE from 2022. But that won’t be enough to alter the forecast that Apple’s sales in China will decline about 2% overall this year. “The competition from Android will be even stronger, strengthened by the national China subsidies which will benefit Android significantly more than Apple,” said Nabila Popal, IDC senior director. The new $599 iPhone 16e replaces the $429 iPhone SE, making the challenge in China tougher when it comes to fending off budget Android alternatives. The device includes only one rear camera, limited base storage and insufficient AI features, making it a tougher sell in the region. The Chinese government has set aside 300 billion yuan (in excess of $41 billion) for subsidies to stimulate the consumer economy. Those extended to smartphones in recent months and have helped the likes of Xiaomi Corp. and Vivo expand their sales. Apple is working on bringing its Apple Intelligence suite to Chinese consumers as early as the middle of this year, Bloomberg News has reported. Still,Apple could make up for the sales weakness via other models in the region. “We need to keep in mind that these would likely still be only a small portion of Apple’s volumes given that many consumers in China place an emphasis on ‘face’ — not wanting to be seen as having a lower-priced iPhone,” IDC’s Bryan Ma said. Looking beyond China, he expects the 16e to make up as much as a fifth of iPhone sales in India in the second half of the year.

Delhi Capitals on Friday announced Axar Patel as their captain for IPL 2025. The all-rounder was the franchise's top retention for Rs 16.5 crore ahead of the mega auction. Patel has played for DC since 2019. He does not have a lot of experience in the leadership role, but was also named India's vice-captain in January. The 31-year-old has led Gujarat in 23 matches across formats, most recent being in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2024-25. He captained DC in one IPL match last year. Itwas a must-win fixture that they lost to RCB to miss out on the playoffs, when Rishabh Pant was serving a ban for a slow over-rate. The team entered the mega aution in search for a captain after Pant exited the franchise ahead of the mega auction. They had KL Rahul as another option, when he was bough for Rs 14 crore. However, DC has chosen their most experienced player. Patel has played 82 games for them across six seasons. Last year he scored 235 runs at an average of nearly 30 and took 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.65. He comes into this year's IPL after having played a key role in India Champions Trophy title. He took five wickets with an economy rate of 4.35 and made vital contributions batting at No. 5 in the tournament.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Passenger vehicle sales in February held their head above water, but only just. Wholesale dispatches for the month climbed 1.9% from a year earlies to 377,689 units, according to data put out by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Thursday.

Indian FMCG companies are grappling with a shortage of salesmen. Companies selling daily essentials are finding recruiting the famed ‘feet on the street’ difficult in the face of intimidating sales targets amid a slowdown and more attractive gig workforce opportunities, executives said. This comes at a time when companies are looking to hire incremental sales force and direct distribution roles to penetrate newer tier-2 and tier-3 markets and the hinterland in expectation of demand recovery in the new fiscal. “It is progressively getting harder to find salesmen across FMCG. These are hard jobs, you’ve to pound the pavement and get the sales, when eight months of the year it's extremely hot or the weather is harsh,” said Dinkar Ayilavarapu, head of Flipkart Wholesale, the B2B marketplace owned by the Flipkart Group.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent — the seventh consecutive reduction — as it finds itself grappling with uncertainty created by United States President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.

Sticky issues haven't changed since 2007 in the FTA's Take 1. What has changed, drastically, is context. Take 2 will be forged with the US having triggered a global tariff war and supply chains disrupted.

Retail inflation fell to a 7-mth low of 3.6% in February, driven by falling vegetable prices, official data showed on Wednesday. But the pre-Holi gains are likely to be short-lived with heatwaves predicted in the country as early as March. Vegetables have been the main driver of inflation in the last 12 months, and the correction is set to reverse when winter stocks run down.

According to Nutmeg, 31% of UK investors surveyed said they do not feel confident about the prospect of positive investment returns this year. Even seasoned investors with over ten years' investment experience feel unsure about financial markets this year, with 38% saying they lack confidence in the investment outlook. Underpinning the lack of confidence, 52% of investors believe economic uncertainty is one of the top risks facing their investments in 2025, followed by market volatility (41%) and political risk (28%). Square Mile's Martin Ward: Five UK fund picks five years on from...

green projects to boost flow of climate-related financing. The central bank has also proposed to set up a dedicated “on tap” cohort on climate change risks and sustainable finance under its Regulatory Sandbox initiative. Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Thursday said that the lack of bankable green projects slowed the adequate flow of credit and a collaborative approach could address this constraint. «Capacity and expertise constraints limit the ability to appraise and thus finance climate change mitigation. It also enhances the risk of funding such projects. Thus, creation of a common pool of such bankable projects will have multi-fold benefits for the entire ecosystem,» Malhotra said at a seminar on climate change risks and finance organised by the central bank in New Delhi. He stressed upon capacity building and improving technical know-how to better appraise risks in financing projects which use green technologies.

Donald Trump has “big” plans for the U.S. economy — a smaller public sector, overhauling global trade so that it benefits Americans and new tax policies that aim to spur growth.

Tamil Nadu's progressive social policies, robust infrastructure facilities, and large skilled labour force enabled the state to place itself on an elevated economic development trajectory, making the state contribute 9.21 per cent to national GDP in 2023-24, Tamil Nadu's first economic survey 2024-25 said on Thursday. The survey brought out by the State Planning Commission and handed over to Chief Minister M K Stalin, said the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices reached Rs 27.22 lakh crore in 2023-24, posting a nominal growth rate of 13.71 per cent and a real growth rate of 8.33 per cent. «Tamil Nadu economy in 2024-25 faced global headwinds with its innate economic strength. The pandemic, coupled with geopolitical tensions and extreme weather events, disrupted global supply chains and triggered crises in the energy and food sectors,» it said. The global economy posted a real growth rate of 3.33 percent in 2023. India's economy recorded 7.61 percent growth in 2022-23, 9.19 per cent in 2023-24, and 6.48 per cent in 2024-25. «Building on a strong foundation of inclusive policies, Tamil Nadu has demonstrated remarkable economic resilience, consistently achieving growth rates of 8 per cent or more since 2021-22, and the state is expected to maintain a growth rate above 8 per cent in 2024-25,» it said. In 2022-23, Tamil Nadu's per capita income was Rs 2.78 lakh, 1.6 times the national average of Rs 1.69 lakh. The state consistently outpaced the national average over the years and is the fourth-largest state in per capita income.