The World Blog by humble servant.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has praised his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for skipping the ongoing US-led 'Summit of the Americas'. Maduro, who was not invited to the event in Los Angeles, has suggested a more inclusive gathering with US President Joe Biden “as a guest”. On Monday, Lopez Obrador confirmed he would not attend the event after Washington refused to host the left-leaning leaders of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. During a parliament address later in the day, Maduro said “we express our admiration for the clarity and courage of the President of Mexico”. Maduro also supported Lopez Obrador’s calls to “leave the world of sanctions, blockades, exclusions and discrimination coming from the US.” “Unfortunately, it is the US government itself that has punctured the so-called summit, which has already made that summit fail,” the Venezuelan leader said. In his view, “it has no agenda, it has no theme, it has no decision points, it has nothing t...

The World Bank (WB) has cut its global growth projection for this year from 4.1% to 2.9%, warning that many countries are likely to face recession. “Amid the war in Ukraine, surging inflation, and rising interest rates, global economic growth is expected to slump in 2022,” the Tuesday press release said. “Several years of above-average inflation and below-average growth are now likely, with potentially destabilizing consequences for low- and middle-income economies. It’s a phenomenon – stagflation – that the world has not seen since the 1970s.” According to WB President David Malpass, “for many countries, recession will be hard to avoid.” The institution said that after halving from 5.7% in 2021, growth would be stuck at 3% in both 2023 and 2024 as the Russia-Ukraine conflict affected investment and trade, the pent-up demand from the pandemic faded, and policy support was withdrawn. The report highlighted that the slowdown in growth between 2021 and 2024 was on course to be twic...

Bilateral trade between Russia and Turkey grew 100% in April, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The minister attributed the surge in commerce to soaring energy prices arising from the crisis that has hit Europe over the past several months. Cavusoglu said Moscow and Ankara continued to boost cooperation in various sectors of the economy, including energy and transport, “despite all the pressure.” He added that Turkish Airlines continues to fly to Russia. “We are seeing positive results from this process,” the minister said ahead of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Turkey gets discount on Ukrainian grainREAD MORE: Turkey gets discount on Ukranian grain In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara could accept the use of the ruble to carry out trade with Russia. At the same time, the Assembly of Turkish Exporters said that the disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT would boost trade between the two countries in natio...

The White House on Tuesday insisted that “global challenges” such as the conflict in Ukraine, and not President Joe Biden’s policies, are to blame for soaring inflation in the US. Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the economy remains strong and the government is in a “good position” to tackle the current headwinds. “What we're dealing with right now, is global challenges,” Jean-Pierre told ABC’s Good Morning America in an interview on Tuesday, arguing the US economy was in a crisis when Biden took office. Only Democrats voted for his American Rescue Plan, she said, and “it’s put us in a place where we are in a stronger economic position to deal with inflation.” Jean-Pierre echoed that remark later in the day, at the White House press briefing dominated by actor Matthew McConaughey’s gun control speech. “What we’re trying to say, what I’m trying to say to you, is that the economy is in a better place than it has been historically,” she told reporters. Jean-P...

Food prices in Germany will continue to rise, the German Farmers’ Association warned on Wednesday, citing energy costs as a major factor. The conflict in Ukraine and its economic fallout have had “a massive impact on German agriculture,” Joachim Rukwied, president of the German Farmers’ Association, said in an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse. “Energy prices have doubled, the price of fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers, has quadrupled on average, and fodder costs more,” he explained, adding that the situation was “disastrous” for pig farmers in particular. According to Rukwied, food has been sold below value in recent years, and prices have to go up for farmers to be able to continue to farm at all. Inflation in Germany hit 7.9% in May, according to official statistics, reaching its highest level since reunification. The levels are also similar to those seen during the 1970s oil crisis. Eastern Germans oppose anti-Russian course – pollREAD MORE: Eastern Germans op...

The US has revealed its “hypocrisy” by announcing a ban on Russian oil, while continuing to purchase it in large quantities, Vyacheslav Volodin, the s peaker of Russia's State Duma has said. Washington claimed it had moved to restrict all imports of Russian crude oil, some petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal in early March as part of sanctions imposed on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. “Russian oil will no longer be accepted at US ports,” US President Joe Biden vowed at the time. But the statement wasn’t backed up by action, Volodin pointed out in a Telegram post on Wednesday. Data from the US Department of Energy suggests that “oil deliveries from Russia almost doubled in March compared to February - from 2,325 to 4,218 million barrels, respectively,” the parliamentary speaker wrote. Despite the announced ban, “our country has risen from ninth to sixth place in the ranking of the largest oil suppliers to the US,” he added. The fact that at the same time W...