The Bloomberg Misery Index relies on the age-old concept that low
inflation and unemployment generally illustrate how good an economy’s
residents should feel. Sometimes, of course, a low tally can be
misleading in either category: Persistently low prices can be a sign of
poor demand, and too-low joblessness shackles workers who want to switch
to better jobs, for instance.
Venezuela marks its fourth year as the world’s most miserable economy, with a score that’s more than three times what it was in 2017. Thailand again claimed “least miserable” status, though the nation’s unique way of calculating
unemployment makes No. 2 Singapore worth noting. Elsewhere, Mexico
looks to make big strides this year as inflation becomes more
manageable, while Romania absorbs more misery for the opposite reason.
Mexico makes the biggest progress this year, moving 16 notches toward
“least miserable” as economists remain optimistic that the central bank
will be able to tame last year’s bout of high inflation, bringing it to
an average 4.1 percent this year after 6 percent in 2017. Unemployment
is set to remain around 3.4 percent.
Malaysia moves down the misery scale to No. 52 from No. 43 due to
moderating inflation. The tepid price growth is allowing Bank Negara
Malaysia to be patient with interest-rate hikes, even as they were first
in the region this year to tighten this year.
Argentina, ranked at No. 3, belies a third year of improvement in its
overall score, set to be the lowest since at least 2013, the year in
which the IMF censured the country for covering up high inflation and
when Bloomberg began calculating the data.
Saudi Arabia, projected to make the biggest plunge from 2017 in its
misery index number, climbs into the top 10 most-miserable economies.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, saw its misery score rise to
6.3 this year from 5.5 in 2017. Consumer prices are estimated to rise
2.3 percent this year, compared with 1.6 percent in 2017,
No comments:
Post a Comment