Money Talks

Consumer prices in the Eurozone have risen at their fastest pace in the bloc's two-decade history. Inflation reached a record 5.1% in January. That's up slightly from 5% in December, and much higher than what most investors had expected.

Zsolt Darvas joined us from Belgium. He's a senior fellow at the European economy think tank, Bruegel.

#EUEconomy #EurozoneInflation #EnergyPrices

Oil prices are trading near seven year highs amid reports that exporters are failing to meet their commitments to raise output. According to a Bloomberg survey, OPEC members were only able to pump out an additional 50,000 barrels of crude a day in January. That's far short of the extra 400,000 barrels a day that was approved by the group and its allies late last year. The shortfall together with soaring demand from a global economy emerging from lockdowns has pushed up the price of the commodity.

Danni Hewson joined us from Huddersfield, UK to discuss upcoming OPEC's decision on oil supply. She's a financial analyst at AJ Bell.

#OpecMeeting #OilSupply #OilPrice

- Turkiye's tourism revenues double to $24.5B in 2021

- UK house prices record strong start to the year

- Eurozone manufacturing PMI hits five-month high

#TurkiyeTourism #UKHouseMarket #EurozoneManufacturing

The Indian economy is currently on track to grow by more than 9%, in a sharp rebound from last year's contraction. The official forecast is for the current fiscal year that ends in March, and is in line with IMF estimates. If it's met, India would be one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, outpacing the likes of China, Japan and the U-S. The government unveiled the new projection during a budget presentation for the 2023 fiscal year. Narendra Modi's government wants to raise spending on infrastructure projects like ports, roads and train lines to fuel a sustained recovery.

Harish Bijoor was with us to discuss more on Indian economy. He's a business strategy specialist in Bangalore.

#IndiaEconomy #IndiaGDP #IndiaBudget

- Japan's consumer sentiment falls on Omicron

- Macau Legend CEO resigns after arrest

- Citrix reportedly nears sale to Elliot, Vista for $13B

#JapanConsumerConfidence #MacauLegend #Citrix

Manmade fertilisers have boosted food production around the world. They've doubled the amount of people who can be fed from one hectare of land. But these chemical fertilisers cause pollution both when they're being made and when they are used. In Colombia, one company is on a mission to promote a cleaner kind of fertiliser. As Manuel Rueda reports, it's trying to do something big from a thing that's tiny.

#BeetleLarvae #OrganicFertiliser #GreenFarming

Cryptocurrencies are sometimes called the future of finance. But the leading digital token, bitcoin, has been criticised for being stuck in the Dark Ages when it comes to its environmental practices. A company in Costa Rica, however, is trying to show that crypto mining doesn't have to be a dirty word.

#BitcoinMining #CryptoMining #Hydroplant

Rising fuel prices and growing concerns over the use of fossil fuels are driving demand for electric vehicles. Global EV sales shot up from 2.1 million units in 2020, to 4.5 million, last year. While the likes of Tesla and China's SAIC Motor are leading the pack, many conventional automakers are also entering the race to go electric.

Daniel Ives was with us to discuss more. He's the managing director of Wedbush Securities.

#ElectricCars #FuelPrices #EVMarket

Oil price has risen to its highest in years over the past week. Demand for the commodity has grown due to the easing of strict pandemic restrictions. Geopolitical tensions are also threatening to hamper global supplies.

Russia is the biggest supplier of the natural gas that millions of European households need to heat their homes, and businesses to run their machinery. Moscow wants to sell even more to the bloc, with the commodity flowing through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Neil Atkinson is an independent oil industry analyst in Paris. He tells us what an escalation between Russia and Ukraine would mean for the European economy.

David Amaryan also joined us the programme. He's the founder of Balchug Capital, an emerging-markets investment manager based in Moscow.

#OilPrice #NaturalGas #RussiaUkraineTensions

Economic growth in Europe slowed to a crawl in the fourth quarter of 2021, as the Omicron variant forced governments to reimpose social distancing restrictions. GDP in the 19 countries sharing the euro expanded just 0.3% quarter-on-quarter. That's in line with market expectations, but much lower than the 2.3% growth recorded in the previous three months.

Hilary Ingham joined us from Lancaster, UK. She teaches economics at the University of Lancaster in the UK.

#EurozoneGDP #EuropeEconomy #EuropeRecovery