World Economy Review - August 2020
RTS Index
After a drawn-out fight against the COVID-19 pandemic over the past half year, countries going through lockdowns to varying degrees have recently published the growth rate of their gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter, and "slump" has become the buzzword.
Nonetheless, be it "quarter-on-quarter" growth or "year-over-year" economic performance, China has grossed impressive positive growth from April through to June. And this is inseparable from the bolstering of anti-epidemic efforts.
The world`s second-largest economy grew by 3.2 percent in April-June from a year earlier, reversing a 6.8-percent decline in the first quarter – the first contraction since at least 1992 when official quarterly GDP records started, according to China`s National Bureau of Statistics.
The reading beats the median 1.1-percent forecast by economists surveyed by Nikkei and coincides with an AFP poll, which projected the economy would claw its way back into growth territory in the second quarter of this year. The poll also forecast that China will be the only major economy to experience positive growth this year.
"China`s GDP growth rebounded rapidly in the second quarter, thanks to the successful epidemic control, orderly resumption of work and production, and supportive government policies," said Bai Ming, deputy director of the international market research institute of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
The Wall Street Journal has said China`s strategy of early lockdowns as well as the modest stimulus are paying ec...
The World Economy
World GDP Growth, %
The world economy can be evaluated in various ways, depending on the model used, and this valuation can then be represented in various ways (for example, in 2006 US dollars). It is inseparable from the geography and ecology of Earth, and is therefore somewhat of a misnomer, since, while definitions and representations of the "world economy" vary widely, they must at a minimum exclude any consideration of resources or value based outside of the Earth.
For example, while attempts could be made to calculate the value of currently unexploited mining opportunities in unclaimed territory in Antarctica, the same opportunities on Mars would not be considered a part of the world economy - even if currently exploited in some way - and could be considered of latent value only in the same way as uncreated intellectual property, such as a previously unconceived invention. Beyond the minimum standard of concerning value in production, use, and exchange on the planet Earth, definitions, representations, models, and valuations of the world economy vary widely.
It is common to limit questions of the world economy exclusively to Human economic activity, and the world economy is typically judged in monetary terms, even in cases in which there is no efficient market to help valuate certain goods or services, or in cases in which a lack of independent research or government cooperation makes establishing figures difficult. Typical examples are illegal drugs and prostitution, which by any standard are a part of the world economy, but for which there is by definition no legal market of any kind.