Main world events of the week April 17-23
The credit crisis in the USA
Monday morning started with a report from Morgan Stanley that loans have declined at record levels. The last time such figures were in the early 2000s - 20 years ago. The relatively positive detail is that so far only small businesses have been affected.
However, Business Insider, citing Fidelity Investments, argues that in the near future, the banking sector may expect a wave of new shocks.
The banking sector is threatened by rising rates due to continuing inflation and the transfer of deposits from banks into money market funds. The analysts believe that as long as the funds' yields exceed the interest on bank deposits, the outflow of money from the banking sector will continue.
China is no longer a top-one
The country with the highest population will lose the top spot in the middle of this year. Its nearest competitor, India, will overtake it.
The latest UN report estimates that the number of people in Hindustan will grow to 1.4286 billion, 3 million more than in the Middle Kingdom.
Since 1950, when the UN first started collecting statistics on the subject, China has held the lead. However, population growth in both giants has been slowing over the past few years, which could create economic problems due to an aging population.
Although China has for some time now allowed and even encouraged having more than one child, families are in no hurry to become big. Such a problem does not exist in India, which has a record 900 million working-age people. However, there are still problems with labor marker that needs to be solved.
A record drought in Catalonia
Spanish provinces are in a catastrophic situation. All of Europe felt the effects of the drought last summer, but the Spanish knew about it long before the season broke out. The region had not had normal rainfall for more than 30 months.
This is the largest drought since 1905. The regional authorities imposed severe water restrictions on households and businesses. Due to the shoaling of water reservoirs, it was decided to abandon farming of some crops. Fruit and berry plantations are also under threat, but specialists hope that the irrigation will be enough to save the plantations.
