#economic-policy

#economic-policy

The economy continued to grow slowly in the last three months of the year, with the growth rate unchanged from the previous quarter. The often-dominant services sector showed no growth, with the main driver instead coming from manufacturing. Construction, meanwhile, registered its worst performance in more than four years. The rate of growth across 2025 as a whole was up slightly on the previous year, with growth seen in all main sectors.

Egypt's House of Representatives approved a cabinet reshuffle put forward by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, reshaping key economic posts as the country grapples with a floundering economy. The shake-up announced on Tuesday brings 13 new ministers to the government, including those overseeing housing, higher education, planning, investment, and foreign trade. It also creates the position of deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, according to Egyptian media.

On Wednesday evening in Dhaka, Shafiqur Rahman, the emir [chief] of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, unveiled an ambitious election manifesto. A key promise: If his party wins the country's February 12 election, it would lay the ground for Bangladesh to quadruple its gross domestic product (GDP) to $2 trillion by 2040. Addressing politicians and diplomats, the 67-year-old Rahman pledged investment in technology-driven agriculture, manufacturing, information technology, education and healthcare, alongside higher foreign investment and increased public spending.

Policy-makers are being urged to focus on investments in artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that makes sense for the economy. The Rethinking AI sovereignty paper, published to coincide with the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, recommends that policy-makers reframe AI sovereignty as strategic interdependence, where localised investments are combined with trusted partnerships and alliances. The paper, co-authored by the World Economic Forum and Bain & Co, presents data that illustrates the gap between AI infrastructure investment in the US and China compared with other countries.

Not only is this America's 250th year, but it is a year when competing visions for America's economic future are coming to a head,

One of the great mysteries about the rise of populism, in both the United States and Europe, is why it has benefited the political right so much more than the left. For years, American progressives have been trying to get people worked up over rising rates of economic inequality, with the expectation that this anger could fuel greater support for the Democratic Party.

If you haven't heard by now, the U.S. government has another economic stimulus package up its sleeve. President Trump in all his strategizing has unveiled a plan to return the revenue generated by his controversial tariff program to every American, with the exception of high-income earners. This has middle-class America already budgeting those checks into their holiday spending plans perhaps a bit prematurely as though it's already money in the bank. It's been four years since the last round of stimulus payments, and the new

"The Larry Summers era is over," Politico proclaimed, after the House Oversight Committee released correspondence from Jeffrey Epstein's estate attributed to the veteran Harvard economist Lawrence Summers. That framing seemed a bit over the top. It is true, though, that, in the thirty-plus years that I've been writing about the economy and economic policy, Summers has been pretty much a constant presence.

And it left little doubt that the most important gains Trump made between his 2020 defeat and his 2024 win were not among young voters or Black voters or white working-class voters, but among Latino voters: In 2020, Joe Biden won Hispanic voters by 25 percentage points, and Hispanic voters supported Hillary Clinton by an even wider margin in 2016. But Trump drew nearly even with Kamala Harris among Hispanic voters, losing among them by only 3 points.

There was a time - not so long ago, though it already feels sepia-tinted - when London was the sort of place that tourists arrived in with stars in their eyes and left with shopping bags cutting off circulation at the fingers. Harrods bags, Selfridges bags, Mulberry bags, the bright yellow of Fortnum's peeking out of a suitcase being sat on in a hotel lobby. Europe's favourite grown-up playground; Manhattan's chic transatlantic sibling; Tokyo's idea of European swagger with better tailoring and more chaotic restaurants.

And so right now, I think our Council of Economic Advisers' estimate of how much harm there is to GDP is it's probably going to cost us one to one and a half percentage points of the fourth quarter. But that doesn't mean we're going to get a negative quarter. I think if we had two or three more weeks, especially if it ran into Thanksgiving, we probably would have had a negative quarter.

While President Trump's unorthodox deal making style has intentionally resembled a "bull in a china shop," it was more like a placid cow in a field last week in China. The world collectively took a deep breath following the U.S.-China Summit, as neither Trump nor Chinese President Xi Jinping escalated the ongoing trade war between the two nations. However, among global leaders, business chief executives, and everyday consumers, many questions remain.

Former Chancellor George Osborne has warned that Reform UK "cannot be trusted to run the economy", accusing Nigel Farage's party of lacking fiscal credibility at a time when economic stewardship is likely to define the next general election. Speaking amid growing scrutiny of Reform's costed plans, Mr Osborne dismissed the party as economically unreliable, pointing to its proposals to lift the two-child benefit cap and nationalise water companies - policies that have already been branded "socialist" by Conservative critics.

Mr Donaldson, CEO, The Maxol Group, called on Stormont and Westminster politicians to shift gears from strategies to 'full throttle economic delivery' and build on the UK-EU Common Understanding on trade and emissions cooperation, US trade deals, north-south trade successes and improved rail links between Belfast and Dublin. He said: "These are serious times that demand serious solutions... Business should be the engine of growth, and I know that the firms in this room are ready to play their part - but confidence hinges on tangible results that people can feel in their daily lives."

By many measures, France is in a political crisis. The country has record debt levels. Its last two prime ministers were brought down in no-confidence votes because they couldn't find agreement on a budget. President Emmanuel Macron has never been so unpopular. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris. ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: When Macron appointed his latest prime minister last month - yet another mainstream conservative from his camp - the left took to the streets in protest.

Kemi Badenoch is set to announce a golden rule for the economy in her conference speech on Wednesday as she desperately tries to restore the Conservative Party's credibility on the nation's finances. With millions of Britons still reeling from the impact of Liz Truss' disastrous mini-Budget, the Tory leader will attempt to restore voters' trust in the party's handling of the economy by pledging that half of all money saved from cuts must be put towards shrinking the deficit.

The governor of the Bank of England has said the UK needs a supportive investment environment if it is to realise the economic benefits of innovative new technologies. Speaking at an event in Edinburgh on Monday, Andrew Bailey said general purpose technologies (GPT) such as AI, green energy and the space sector could lead to industry-wide growth and a boost to productivity. However, he said achieving this required the necessary investment, which he said depended on a lot of commitment.

Luis Toto Caputo, 60, has an unmatched ability to raise money in turbulent waters. The Argentine economy minister eliminated the export tax on grains earlier last week, and in just three days, $7 billion flowed into the country. Last Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the White House is negotiating a $20 billion aid package for Argentina. The financial storm that threatened to wipe out the peso and Argentine bonds subsided. The national currency appreciated again, and bonds regained ground.

Keir Starmer is tightening his grip on economic policy by beefing up a committee that will help shape the 26 November budget. Pensions minister Torsten Bell and Starmer's new chief economic adviser, Minouche Shafik, will co-chair the budget board, that will meet weekly to discuss the details of the statement. Government sources said the meetings were aimed at ensuring No 10 and No 11 were aligned and that there was not a repeat of the backlash from businesses that followed Rachel Reeves's maiden budget.

Angela Rayner, stamp duty dodge, forced her to quit. That was the starter pistol on Starmer's circus. If the Deputy PM can't keep her own tax affairs straight, what chance has she got running the country!? Rogues gallery And the chaos doesn't begin and end with Rayner's tax fiddle. Andrew Gwynne, booted out for racist and sexist filth in his messages. Rushanara Ali, kicked out after shafting her tenant. Louise Haigh's fraud conviction from years back, exposed.

Bessent criticized the weak jobs data released Friday, extending recent administration claims that the numbers aren't correct and haven't been collected properly. (Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the August report, and said without evidence that the BLS rigged the data against him.) "President Trump was elected for change, and we are going to push through with the economic policies that are going to set the economy right," Bessent said. "I believe by the fourth quarter we are going to see a substantial acceleration."

Former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik has been appointed chief economic adviser to British prime minister Keir Starmer, the Associated Press reported. An economist by training, Shafik served as president of the London School of Economics before she was tapped to lead Columbia in 2023. She also previously held leadership positions at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.