The war in Ukraine has accelerated the legalisation of cryptocurrency within the country’s financial system.

Following a meeting of the Counter Ransomware Initiative in Washington DC in November 2022, Australia has taken the lead in creating the International Counter Ransomware Task Force, which includes 37 countries.

The analysis and forecasts featured in this piece can be found in EIU’s Country

Northern Thailand has had some of the world’s worst air pollution levels in recent weeks.

Balance-of-payments data released by the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank) on March 31st showed that India’s current-account deficit narrowed to US$18.2bn (equivalent to 2.2% of GDP) in October-December 2022, from US$30.8bn (3.7% of GDP) in the previous quarter.

Singapore has retained its position as the best business environment over the next five years, according to EIU’s latest business environment rankings for the second quarter of 2023. Canada and Denmark, with tied scores, follow closely behind, largely supported by strong levels of economic and political stability.

The energy crisis in Europe and tightening regulatory standards have boosted efforts to diversify energy-supply sources. This will also allow Europe to make progress towards achieving net-zero emissions by moving away from fossil fuels.

EIU has been named the world’s most accurate economic forecaster, achieving a total of 49 first-place rankings in this year’s FocusEconomics Analyst Forecast Awards.

On June 3rd the president, Joe Biden, signed a bill that temporarily suspends the federal government’s US$31.4trn debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts and other changes.

On June 3rd the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, unveiled his new cabinet, which contains former bureaucrats as well as names from the private sector.