Amidst the allegations of dominance and political ploys, OPEC and other oil-producing countries (including Russia) announce to cut oil production output, despite an already tight market, in a move that is bound to send energy prices soaring again.

A coalition of oil producing nations, also know as OPEC+, that controls more than 40% of global oil supplies and about 90% of proven oil reserves, took a controversial decision on October 5 to cut production by 2 million barrels a day (mb/d), an amount equivalent to 2% of the world's total output. After the biggest production cut since the start of the pandemic and months of market volatility and missed targets, the oil cartel which comprises the OPEC group of 13 countries and 10 allies led by Moscow, is determined to restore its credibility and regain control of crude oil price. It may be recalled that oil prices have fallen to around $80 a barrel from more than $120 in early June amid growing fears about the prospect of a global economic recession. The decision comes despite the fact the energy cartel has already been producing (3.6 mb/d) less than its quota of 42.4 mb/d.    Full Article ...

The US Federal Reserve's relentless rate hike spree, which has caused a seemingly unstoppable bull-run of the dollar, is ensuring that global inflation pressures are being transmitted to the rest of the world. This has forced other central banks to follow suit or else risk the flight of capital as interest rate differentials narrow.

Most major central banks around the world, led by the West, continue to maintain their hawkish stance in a hint that the war on inflation is far from over. For example, the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its September 20-21 meeting by hiking the federal funds target rate by another 75 basis points (bps) to a range of 3% to 3.25%. For the record, the Federal Reserve has effected five rate hikes this year so far (albeit in tranches), beginning in March when it raised the benchmark rate by 25 bps to the range of 0.25% to 0.50%-the first rate hike announced by the US central bank since 2018. In the European Union, the European Central Bank, central bank of the 19 EU countries whose official currency is the euro, also implemented a similar rate hike in September, lifting its benchmark rate to 1.25%.    Full Article ...

The world's sixth-largest economy is grappling with a plethora of thorny challenges, from soaring food prices to high energy costs to low growth to, last but not least, an unusually long period of political instability. Given that, it is clear the task for the newly appointed government led by Rishi Sunak, the first British PM of color, is cut out.

The UK economy is in a major cri sis, exacerbated by a raft of thorny issues, including the economic fallout of Brexit; Boris Johnson's numerous U-turns; and Liz Truss's shocking departure from 10 Downing Street. Truss, who became the fourth prime minister to resign since 2016, said she was sorry for the mistakes made by her government and accepted responsibility for "going too far and too fast" with her contentious "trickledown" economics approach. However, her faulty policies and her failed bid to deliver "growth, growth, growth" via unfunded tax cuts (which sparked a bond market revolt) have only pushed the economy into an even deeper crisis.    Full Article ...

India, which has enhanced its share of renewable energy with the support of solar and wind energy, would do well to also include geothermal energy in its armory towards reaching the net-zero goal.

While it is true that India's fossil fuel consumption will remain high for the next few decades, which would push both carbon and greenhouse gas emissions higher, the government is doing well to tap all the possible renewable energy sources, including solar and wind, which could contribute to bringing down emission levels. The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming has heightened the urgency of researching new types of renewable energy sources. In that quest, it has now stumbled upon one more such clean energy source: geothermal energy.    Full Article ...

Indian startups' funding winter may last longer than expected as the macro environment becomes all the more challenging, while jittery investors adopt a 'wait and watch' approach.

Altough winter is officially yet to set in, India's startup ecosystem has already begun to feel the biting chill. A massive drop in venture funding, a drying deal pipeline, rising 'dry powder' (an industry jargon) and shrinking average ticket size only confirm that Indian startups are already in the middle of what many call a harsh funding winter, even before winter actually arrives. According to a PwC report titled, "India Start-up Deals Tracker Q3 CY22", funding in the world's thirdlargest startup ecosystem hit a two-year low at $2.7 bn in the third quarter ended September 30, falling both sequentially as well as on a year-on-year basis. In fact, the decline in funding activity was much sharper compared to the same period last year when investors pumped in a record $11.4 bn across 326 deals.    Full Article ...

The rate rising spree of central banks poses recession risks to economies of the world.

Raising interest rates is a dampener for growth. When growth is affected, it impacts the purchasing power of companies and consumers. The increase in interest rates is akin to a levy of taxes which affects the way income for the consumer, investment in capital goods, investment in stocks and investments are made. The reduced purchasing power also leads to a reduced investment in securities and financial assets. All this leads to reduced money in the economy and in turn, leads to recession.    Full Article ...

Globally, more economies are increasingly leaning towards digital solutions. Indeed, new technologies like CBDC need to be adopted, as was the case with cryptocurrencies, so that they can be used efficiently in the fast-changing payment ecosystem.

The currency's evolution has been steady, from the exchange of goods and services to metal coin minting to currency notes and now to digital currency. This evolution is inevitable with the end-users' changing needs and global scenarios. However, the evolution has been phenomenal more so during the past decade with the advent of several technological developments that have paved the way for out-of-the-box innovations. The digital currency revolution, conceptualized by the invention of distributed ledger technology (blockchain), started with the introduction of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin which gained huge popularity and acceptance.    Full Article ...

The drive by central banks around the world to control rising inflation rates is beginning to cause serious cracks in global bond markets while increasing financial instability.

The cost of borrowing and servicing debt is rocketing. Suddenly, investors holding government bonds are facing serious losses, particularly pension funds in Europe that tend to invest in long-term bonds using short-term interest rates to borrow-short-term interest rates are up; long-term bond prices are down. That's a mismatch in asset values. In the case of the United Kingdom, pension funds and others had been employing a piece of financial jiggerypokery called "liability-driven investment" schemes. This was the practice of buying bonds that were then used as collateral for loans to purchase more bonds-as much as €1.5 tn over the last decade since the Global Financial Crisis. If the value of the bonds used as collateral drops like a stone, as it has just done, then the ability to borrow vanishes. So the Bank of England (BoE) has been forced to loan €65 bn to such bondholders to bail them out of their Ponzi scheme.

Despite the overwhelming success of UPI, there exists scope for product innovations in both the B2C as well as B2B credit card segments. This will give a further boost to digital payments in the country and facilitate a faster transition towards a less-cash society.

With seven billion transactions per month, the number of real-time digital payments and transfers in India is three times as much as in China and six times as much as in the US. This incredible feat has decisively muted all those who scoffed at the idea of 'Digital India'.

The buzz in the fintech space is driven by the BHIM UPI application that has facilitated real-time payments from the mobile phone in a flash. With its 2-step secure authentication for the transfer of money from one bank account to another using just the mobile number, BHIM UPI has set new global standards. The winning feature is the digital payment is at zero transaction cost.    Full Article ...

Australia: Yet Another Rate Hike
The Reserve Bank of Australia announces another rate hike as inflation hits 32-year high.
With seven billion transactions per month, the number of real-time digital payments and transfers in India is three times as much as in China and six times as much as in the US. This incredible feat has decisively muted all those who scoffed at the idea of 'Digital India'.

The 'Lucky Economy'-one of the many sobriquets by which Australia is known by-needs a stroke of luck (perhaps a bountiful one) as it battles the worst inflation in years. Led by surging housing and food prices, the consumer price inflation in Australia hit a multi-decade high during the just concluded third quarter ended September 30, 2022, which has stoked fears that its central bank will raise rates even further when its board meets next.    Full Article ...

Global Crude Oil Demand Rebounded in 2021 after falling a year before, suggests the latest study by BP.

According to the 'Statistical Review of World Energy 2022' report, released recently by the UK-based petrochemicals giant BP, global oil consumption rebounded sharply in 2021 after experiencing a record decline in 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Crude consumption had risen for nine straight years before demand fell by more than 9% in 2020. As per the study, oil consumption increased by 5.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2021, but remained 3.7 million b/d below 2019 levels. Oil demand in 2021 averaged 96.9 million b/d. Much of this weakness, said the report, was concentrated in aviation-related oil demand, which was more than 2.5 million b/d (33%) below 2019 levels. Nevertheless, it has consistently been losing out to renewables and other substitutes. Fossil fuels accounted for 82% of primary energy use last year, compared to 83% in 2019 and 85% five years ago, the report said.    Full Article ...

In some organizations, there is still a stigma attached to executive illness. Having open and transparent arrangements to support the sick executive will help remove any sense of stigmatization that some (i.e., political rivals perhaps) may wish (inappropriately and unfairly) to attach to an executive's absence.

While the health and well-being of every member of the workforce matters a great deal, this article focuses on executive health and the importance of ensuring that each member of the executive elite takes good care of themselves. If they don't, then who else will?

A primary responsibility of leadership is the welfare of staff. Another is ensuring the continuity, and continuing success, of the business as a whole. The drive to make things happen, be successful, develop the business and consider the well-being and welfare of staff can actually result in a leader neglecting to monitor and manage their own health and well-being.    Full Article ...

As the literary world is quite excited about the centennial celebrations of Eliot's masterpiece of modernism, Analyst too joins the lot in celebrating "What the Thunder Said".

October 2022 marked 100 years since TS Eliot's The Waste Land was published. Literary enthusiasts and critics have already written hundreds of thousands of words to give expression to their impression about these four hundred and thirtythree lines that constitute this landmark poem during the last hundred years and I am sure tens of thousands more are likely to be written in the centenary year alone.

Now, you may question, what is so unique about The Waste Land that stirred modern men to write so much about so few lines that roar all about unfulfilling lives, "broken images" and loss-sounding more like a parody, pastiche, allusion. The answer is simple: breaking from tradition, yet desperately attempting to rebuild with    Full Article ...