Focused analysis on macroeconomic shifts, policy changes, and their direct effects on communities across the globe.
Economic growth
Japan's demographic situation is no longer approaching. It is here. The country's working-age population has been in constant decline, falling 16% from a peak of 87.3 million in 1995 to 73.7 million in 2024. The old-age dependency ratio more than doubled from
Inflation
Turkey spent several years running one of the most unconventional monetary experiments in recent economic history. Between 2021 and late 2023, the central bank repeatedly cut interest rates even as inflation climbed, acting on the belief, held by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that high rates cause inflation rather than fight
Inflation
The numbers Argentina is posting in 2026 were considered unreachable two years ago. When President Javier Milei was inaugurated in December 2023, annual inflation stood at 211%, the highest of any major economy in the world. Currently at 31%, it is at its lowest level since 2018. Forecasts for 2026
Economic growth
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
Economic growth
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.
Inflation
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
Economic growth
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.
Inflation
Sub-Saharan Africa entered 2026 on its strongest macroeconomic footing in years. Regional growth came in at an estimated 4.5% in 2025, the fastest pace in a decade. Inflation had been falling consistently. Fiscal deficits were narrowing. Central banks across Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa had started cutting
Economic growth
The numbers Ghana is putting up right now are genuinely unusual. Inflation peaked at 54.1% in December 2022, the cedi had lost more than half its value against the dollar that year, and the country's debt-to-GDP ratio had hit 92.4%. By April 2026, inflation
Economic growth
Japan's economic story in 2026 is one of visible contrasts. Manufacturing and exports are providing meaningful support, with the country's industrial base benefiting from strong global demand for electronics and components. The Conference Board's LEI for Japan rose 0.7% in the most recent
Economic growth
Sub Saharan Africa is projected to grow at 4.3% in 2026 and 4.5% in 2027, according to the World Bank. Those are not bad numbers by global standards. The challenge is that they are not good enough given what the continent actually needs. By 2035, approximately 1.2
Economic growth
Brazil's Conference Board Leading Economic Indicator fell 1.2% in the most recent reading, one of the weaker scores among major economies tracked in the global dataset. It sits alongside declines in the Euro Area and China, signaling that the slowdown is not confined to any one region