Production of solar panels for renewable energy has become unprofitable for the first time in a decade. Prices for polysilicon, a key raw material for green electricity sources, have skyrocketed amid the coronavirus pandemic, writes Bloomberg. The cost of the key material for solar panels has quadrupled over the past year. Prices of solar modules, meanwhile, have increased by 18 percent since the...

The Saudi authorities hope to raise $55bn over the next four years from their privatisation programme. According to Mohammed Al-Jadaan, the country's finance minister, the kingdom has already identified 160 projects in 16 sectors, which are to be transferred into private hands in whole or in part through direct sale of assets or the creation of public-private partnerships. According to the...

The US Ministry of Finance has put forward a proposal at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to introduce a global minimum corporate income tax of 15%. This rate is now higher in most major countries, but in tax-advantaged jurisdictions it is either zero or around 10%. The US Treasury Department formally proposed a single minimum corporate tax rate of 15% for...

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) experts, 6-8 million people in the world may have already died because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, 1.8 million people are officially estimated to have died from the virus in 2020, and preliminary estimates of total mortality from COVID-19 stand at 3 million. Some 6-8 million people around the world could have died as a result of...

Average GDP growth in the most economically developed countries slowed to 0.3% in the first quarter of 2021 from 1% in the fourth quarter of 2020, preliminary data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show. In annual terms, GDP growth remained negative at minus 0.8% after minus 2.9% in the fourth quarter, minus 3.8% in the third, minus 11.6% in the second and...

The Maldives authorities have warned that the state could disappear due to climate change. 80% of the surface of the islands on which the country is located are barely more than one metre above sea level. The Maldives could disappear by the end of the century if the world does not begin to tackle climate change quickly and in a concerted manner, the country's environment, climate change and...

Japan's government will introduce amendments to laws that will require organisations in 14 key infrastructure sectors to consider national security risks when using imported equipment or services, the Nikkei newspaper reported, citing its own data. The authorities intend to monitor compliance with the rules and suspend or revoke licences in case of violations. Nikkei cites the telecoms, energy,...

Ethereum creator and the world's youngest crypto-billionaire Vitalik Buterin donated more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies to pandemic India foundation COVID-Crypto Relief and other organizations. At the same time, the tokens donated by Buterin have plummeted in value because of his actions. The co-founder of blockchain platform and cryptocurrency Ethereum Vitalik Buterin donated over $1...

World economic growth in 2021 is expected to be 5.4%, according to the UN Global Economic Monitoring Division's mid-year report. The global GDP growth forecast was improved to 4.7% in January. The decline of the global economy in 2020 was 3.6%. Economic recovery in China and in the US has improved global growth prospects, but they are threatened by an increase in the coronavirus infections and...