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Asia-Pacific
Governments owe an unprecedented $91 trillion, an amount almost equal to the size of the global economy and one that will ultimately exact a heavy toll on their populations, CNN reported. Debt burdens have grown so large — in part because of the cost of the pandemic — that they now pose a growing threat to living standards even in rich economies, including the U.S. Yet, in a year of elections around the world, politicians are largely ignoring the problem, unwilling to level with voters about the tax increases and spending cuts needed to tackle the deluge of borrowing.
2024 has not been the best year for airlines that serve smaller or faraway countries, TheStreet reported. Air Malta, Armenia's FlyArna and the LIAT airline serving Antigua and Barbuda have all either formally filed for bankruptcy protection or simply closed up shop and ceased operations since the start of January. Vanuatu, a South Pacific nation of 326,000 people, was left without an airline after its flagship carrier, Air Vanuatu, declared bankruptcy after struggling to find the capital to fund the "extended maintenance requirements" required for its four planes.
Following the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, automakers must navigate a possible disruption to their supply chain, Yahoo Finance reported. Baltimore is a key U.S. port for automotive imports and exports. Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO and President John Bozzella joins Market Domination Overtime to discuss how the industry will be impacted. Bozella claims Baltimore is the top port for automotive imports and exports of parts and vehicles. There is "no question there's gonna be some impact on the industry, what we don't know is the extent of the impact," he says.
More than 50 of the poorest developing countries are in danger of defaulting on their debt and becoming effectively bankrupt unless the rich world offers urgent assistance, the head of the UN Development Programme has warned, The Guardian reported. Inflation, the energy crisis and rising interest rates are creating conditions where an increasing number of countries are in danger of default, with potentially disastrous impacts on their people, according to Achim Steiner, the UN’s global development chief.