Prime Minister of Canada - Fear of ‘catastrophic event’ holding back global recovery

Stephen Harper offered a gloomy assessment of the world economy even as he used his fourth day of an Indian trade mission to plead for closer ties with the south Asian country.

The prime minister told a World Economic Forum audience in Gurgaon, just outside New Delhi, that he worries fear of a “catastrophic event” is restraining the global recovery and spurring increased protectionism.

“If I were to go back and look ahead I would say one of the things that most surprises me is that four years after this crisis, we’re still in it to some degree,” Mr. Harper told a moderator at the global business meeting.

He said the U.S. governments debt and deficit problems are one thing but a bigger more potentially imminent concern for world leaders is the risk of another economic crash.

“I do believe is that what worries big actors in the global economy, is that there will be some kind of catastrophic event as happened in late 2008 that will send everything into a tail spin.” Read more >>

India’s inflation accelerates; food costs increase

India’s inflation accelerated as food costs increased, adding pressure on the central bank to extend last year’s fastest round of monetary tightening in Asia.

The benchmark wholesale-price index rose 8.43 percent in December from a year earlier after a 7.48 percent gain in November, according to a commerce ministry statement in New Delhi today. The median forecast of 30 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for an 8.4 percent increase.

“Inflation is worrying and is a potential constraint on the economy’s growth potential,” Robert Prior-Wandesforde, the Singapore-based head of India and Southeast Asia economics at Credit Suisse Group AG, said before the release. “The central bank is likely to step in and hike rates.” Read more...