cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/economy/p/1400220/people-want-economic-system-change-but-have-stopped-trusting-anyone-to-deliver-it-65-bel

Full report(PDF).

• A new survey of citizens of 17 of the world’s largest economies reveals that 65% of respondents believe the economic system is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful
• Over two thirds (69%) want major changes to the economic system
• Just 31% believe their government will make decisions that benefit the majority of people long-term

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/57946383

Kenya has just become the latest African nation to clamp down on raw mineral exports, with President William Ruto declaring that the country will no longer ship unprocessed minerals abroad.

Ruto has announced a set of measures that will ensure all minerals extracted in the country are processed locally before being exported. The move seeks to expand the country’s value from its mineral resources, strengthen domestic processing industries, create more jobs, and grow the country’s economic ambitions.

Ruto notes that the government will work with investors to establish the necessary processing facilities, with immediate plans for gold refineries and an oil refinery and petrochemical complex.

The ban follows Kenya’s suspension of all mining operations by Tata Chemicals Magadi (TCML) on 28 July 2026, with authorities ordering the company to leave after ruling its activities had delivered insufficient benefits to the country.

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Ghana’s Gold Board has prohibited the export of unrefined gold doré, while Guinea has announced a raw gold export ban requiring domestic refining to 99.5% purity. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has renewed its cobalt export ban, and Zimbabwe is preparing legislation to halt lithium concentrate exports from January 2027.

These bans are a key way that Africa can grow its influence within the global metals and minerals economies, as countries shift from being raw material exporters to value creators. As previously reported, Africa stands at a crossroads of economic growth and opportunity, with downstream value-add a key focus in driving this growth.

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A World Economic Forum (WEF) report from late 2025 stated that Africa — and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in particular — stands to benefit significantly from the rising global demand for critical minerals, with the continent’s rich mineral wealth providing key opportunities.

“Through value-added processing and regional collaboration, Southern Africa can capture greater economic value and build resilience across mineral value chains,” the WEF report states.

The report also notes that in order to unlock that potential, coordinated action across the entire mining value chain is required. Local processing bans have emerged as a critical lever to ensure Africa captures more value from its mineral wealth.

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Web Archive link

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/economy/p/1389784/luck-or-merit-not-all-inequality-is-equally-acceptable-inequality-in-earnings-attracts-a

YouTube video.

Ingvild Almås et al.: Fairness Across The World. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 7.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-labor-day-iran-war-driving-chris-wright-energy-2026-9

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/58693216

Archived

China is pumping tens of billions of dollars into eight state-owned banks and insurance companies to help shore up the country's financial system and boost its slowing economy.

The cash injection, which is being led by China's finance ministry, will total 360 billion yuan ($53.6bn; £39.7bn), state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.

The outlet said the move "will help further enhance their sound operating capabilities, risk resistance capabilities, and ability to serve the real economy".

It marks the latest move in Beijing's attempts to reinvigorate the world's second largest economy as it faces issues including trade tensions with the West, the impact of the Iran war and an aging population.

[...]

China's economic growth slowed sharply between the start of April and end of June as weak domestic demand and the Iran war's impact on oil prices overshadowed the country's strong exports.

[...]

This weekend's announcements come as Beijing is aiming to reshape the economy in the face of a number of challenges such as a shrinking workforce [and] a years-long property market slump.

[...]

Insurers Set to Receive Billions

Reports say that China Life Insurance, the country's biggest life insurer, is in line to receive 35 billion yuan. China Taiping Insurance Group is set to get 7 billion yuan.

The People's Insurance Company of China said it intends to raise as much as 15 billion yuan by privately placing A-shares, a category of stock that allows investment specifically in China based companies, with the ministry of finance. The money raised would go toward rebuilding the company's capital base.

[...]

Separately, three state owned lenders announced Sunday that they will collectively receive 290 billion yuan in capital injections of their own.

[...]

Beyond shoring up balance sheets, the initiative is also designed to strengthen state backed insurers that Beijing has already pushed to support the stock market using medium and long term funding. It could additionally put those larger insurers in a better position to help regulators oversee smaller, higher risk insurance firms.

The broader insurance industry has been under pressure from persistently low interest rates, which have chipped away at profitability. A number of small and mid sized insurers have reported weakening solvency ratios, a key gauge of financial stability, as a result.

[...]

[The measure] extends a financing mechanism that had already been used to strengthen several other major state banks over the past year.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/economy/p/1379465/retails-recent-performance-is-mixed-so-is-its-outlook-the-retail-labor-market-remains-st

• Retail categories are currently not experiencing much hiring activity; job postings and hiring are both below 2019 levels.
• Wage growth for Food Preparation & Service workers is flat, while wages in retail have picked up slowly since the beginning of 2025.
• Hiring Lab research shows a substantial share of multiple-job holders work in service sectors, highlighting the need for flexible work arrangements.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/57722641

New Zealand's exporters are diverting shipments originally bound for China into other markets as demand from the country's biggest trading partner cools, an official from the antipodean country's central bank said Thursday.

"We've certainly seen many of our exporters looking at, and actively diverting, product that they would have been looking to put into China, into other markets as well," said Karen Silk, assistant governor at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. "It is not the only export market."

Silk's remarks reflect how the slowdown in China's economy has rippled through to businesses elsewhere. Growth in the world's second-largest economy slowed to multi-year lows in the second quarter, weighed down by tepid domestic demand and a prolonged real estate slump. She spoke to CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Thursday, a day after the central bank delivered its second consecutive interest rate hike to curb inflation.

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China has been New Zealand’s largest trading partner and top market, buying roughly a quarter of New Zealand’s total exports over the 12 months ending in July. New Zealand’s China-bound goods in 2025 were close to double that of the next two biggest export markets — the U.S. and Australia — combined, according to the New Zealand China Council.

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Elevated global commodity prices, including for wheat, have handed New Zealand’s pasture-based farmers a relative cost advantage even as China-bound volumes soften, Silk said.

“In some ways, New Zealand actually benefits from a price perspective when we have those supply factors going on globally,” she said.

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