ISA Economic Data Release: 17 February 2023

Highlights From the Past Week

- The United States’ inflation rate fell slightly to 6.4% year-on-year in January 2023, a smaller decline than expected.

- India’s inflation rate rose to 6.5% year-on-year, a bigger increase than had been expected.

- Economic growth in Thailand slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of last year, falling to 1.4% on a year-on-year basis. Thailand’s economy grew by 2.6% for the year in 2022.

- Economic growth in Colombia slowed in the fourth quarter of last year, falling to 2.9% on a year-on-year basis during that period. For the entire year in 2022, Colombia’s economy expanded by 7.5%.

- The Israeli economy expanded by 5.8% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter of last year, a much faster rate of growth than had been expected. For the year in 2022, Israel’s economy grew by 6.5%.

- Despite lengthy negotiations, Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have so far been unable to reach a deal on unlocking bailout funds for that cash-strapped country.

A Look Ahead

- There are significant concerns about the global economy’s ability to match its rates of economic growth from the 2010s in the coming years due to demographic decline and sluggish rates of productivity growth.

- Hopes that inflationary pressures would ease faster than expected have been tempered by some of the recent inflation data that suggests that the fall in inflation in many key economies is slowing sharply.