While Germany contracts and the broader eurozone shuffles along at under 1%, Poland is doing something that looks, in the current European context, almost unusual: it is growing at a genuinely healthy pace. Economic growth in Poland is set to remain strong in 2026, at 3.5%, supported by resilient
There is a conversation happening in economic circles about whether Germany is facing a cyclical downturn or something more structurally serious. The evidence is beginning to favour the latter. Germany contracted 0.9% in 2023, contracted again by 0.2% in 2024, and managed only 0.2% growth in 2025.
Not long ago, Argentina was the country investors avoided by instinct. Hyperinflation above 200%, a collapsed currency, negative central bank reserves of roughly $11.5 billion, and a history of sovereign defaults made it one of the most hostile investment environments in Latin America. That story has shifted more rapidly
New Zealand has one of the most indebted household sectors in the developed world. The numbers that came out of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's May 2026 Financial Stability Report put the situation in sharp relief. New Zealand households collectively owe over $370 billion in debt, approximately
When US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on May 14, it was his first visit to China since 2017. The summit that followed on May 14 and 15, 2026, covered trade, Taiwan, the war in Iran, and what both governments described as the foundation for a more stable bilateral
South Korea came into 2026 carrying the weight of a sluggish 2025, when the economy grew just 1%, its weakest performance since the pandemic year of 2020. Then the first quarter of 2026 happened, and the mood shifted almost entirely. The economy expanded 1.7% quarter on quarter in Q1
The headline numbers for Sub-Saharan Africa in 2026 are not bad. Growth is projected at 4.1%, the median fiscal deficit has narrowed from 3.4% of GDP in 2024 to an estimated 3.0%, and median public debt improved from 57.2% of GDP to 53.1% between
Brazil made a fiscal commitment. In 2023, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presented Congress with a medium-term fiscal framework that included a zero primary deficit target for 2026 and, eventually, a primary surplus of 1% of GDP before the end of Lula's term.
The European Central Bank's decision to hold its deposit facility rate at 2% on April 30, 2026, was widely expected. What was not expected to generate as much attention is the conversation happening inside the Governing Council about whether that 2% will be the bottom of the rate
The Bank of England voted 8 to 1 to keep its benchmark Bank Rate unchanged at 3.75% in April 2026. One member voted to raise rates to 4%. That split says something about where the debate inside Threadneedle Street currently sits. UK inflation has been moving in the wrong
Brazil's economy grew by 3.4% in 2024, which was a good year for the country by most standards. In 2025 that slowed to 2.3%. The World Bank now projects growth of just 1.6% for 2026. That deceleration is not happening in isolation. It is happening
The eurozone economy grew by just 0.8% in the first quarter of 2026, year on year. That figure landed the same day the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged for the third consecutive meeting, and together they tell a story about an economy caught between two bad options.