Iraq intends to buy around three million tonnes of wheat to build a strategic reserve amid rising wheat prices due to the crisis in Ukraine, the country's trade ministry said on Tuesday night. The Cabinet of Ministers approved support to the Ministry of Trade through the urgent allocation of $100 million to buy imported wheat to build a strategic stockpile. The ministry stressed that it had...

China's budget deficit in 2022 will be 2.8% of GDP, according to the country's economic and social development plan released on Saturday. "In 2022, the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP is planned at around 2.8 per cent, slightly lower than last year's figure," the document said.   China's GDP growth rate in 2022 will be around 5.5 per cent, according to the country's socio-economic...

The world must invest billions of dollars to prevent the next pandemic by creating vaccines for each individual virus family. The Financial Times reports this, citing a leading expert. "With a similar set of vaccines, it would take only 100 days to create effective vaccines against the new viruses. Five years would be enough time for the world to implement such a project," says Richard Hatchett,...

As part of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) member countries' agreements, Japan has started unlocking oil reserves and is preparing to sell 7.5 million barrels from strategic reserves. The newspaper Kyodo News reported about it with reference to the comment of the Minister of Industry Koichi Hagiuda. As the newspaper notes, such volume of oil is consumed in the country in four days. The...

The World Bank says it has halted all its programmes in Russia and Belarus. The World Bank said it had halted all its programmes in Russia and Belarus in light of developments in Ukraine, the financial institution said in a statement.  "The World Bank Group has not approved any new loans or investments in Russia since 2014. There have also been no new loans approved for Belarus since...

In the worst-case scenario, as a result of some Russian banks disconnecting from the SWIFT international interbank payment system, Japan's GDP may drop by 0.3 percent. In the worst-case scenario, as a result of some Russian banks disconnecting from the SWIFT international interbank payment system, Japan's GDP may drop by 0.3 percent.фOne of Japan's major securities and financial businesses,...

According to Reuters, the US trade imbalance for 2021 increased by 27% to $859.1 billion, a new high. The previous high was $676.7 billion, reached in 2020. The balance sheet deficit was $80.7 billion at the end of December, up 1.8 percent from November. Experts attribute the surge to increased consumer goods imports. At the same time, November's figures were downgraded from $80.2 billion to...

UK Prime Minister insisted on disconnecting Russia from SWIFT, but the German Chancellor opposed it, the FT learned. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued over the issue of disconnecting Russia from the international banking system SWIFT, the Financial Times learned. During the talks, Johnson firmly insisted on disconnecting Russia from SWIFT, but Scholz...

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has declared defense emergency throughout the country. He stated this in an address to Ukrainians. He also decided to urgently convene the National Security and Defense Council. The president said that Russia had carried out a strike on Ukraine's military infrastructure. In an address to Ukrainians, he said that the entire security and defense sector of...