The IMF said Wednesday that its board had voted to allow member states' IMF-issued international reserve assets to be used by multilateral development banks (MDBs) to acquire financial instruments that would stretch their balance sheets further.
Gross domestic product in the world's number four economy shrank by 0.5 percent against market expectations of a drop of only 0.3 percent.
US President Joe Biden unveiled steep tariff hikes on Chinese green tech this week, hitting imports like electric vehicles, chips and solar cells -- and adding stress to US-China ties.
The European Commission expects inflation to fall to 2.5 percent in 2024, down from a previous forecast of 2.7 percent -- news that will be welcomed by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The official unemployment rate has reached 32.9%, which is 0.8% more compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, as per Stats SA. However, the QLFS results also showed that the number of employed people has also increased from 22,000 to 16.7 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the last quarter of 2023.
The Fed has held interest rates at a 23-year high as it looks to bring inflation down to its long-term two percent target.
Sunak -- whose governing Conservatives are trailing the main opposition Labor Party before a general election and suffered heavy losses in English local polls last week -- has made economic growth one of his top priorities.
The BoE is widely expected to maintain borrowing costs at 5.25 percent for a sixth meeting in a row, mirroring a wait-and-see approach by the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.
The new note, which will allow people to carry around fewer bills, will be available at banks and ATMs from Tuesday, the South American country's central bank said in a statement.
Von der Leyen said there were "imbalances that remain significant" and "a matter of great concern". She singled out Chinese subsidies for electric cars and steel that were "flooding the European market".
The world economy is expected to expand by 3.1 percent this year, up from a previous projection in February of 2.9 percent, according to the the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
For months, the US central bank has maintained its benchmark lending rate at a 23-year high to cool demand and rein in price increases -- with a slowdown in inflation last year fueling optimism that the first cuts were on the horizon.
The figures are unlikely to stop the European Central Bank (ECB) from cutting interest rates in June as expected, according to economists despite the growth figure.
Improvements in key indicators, from industrial output to business activity, in recent months suggest that a hoped-for recovery may be slowly under way.
Beijing has set a goal of around five percent for 2024, which officials have already admitted will "not be easy" and which analysts said was ambitious given the challenges the world's second-largest economy is confronting.
Beijing officials last month set a target of around five percent growth for the year -- a goal they admitted would "not be easy" and which analysts said was ambitious given the headwinds the country is confronting.
The Fed has lifted its benchmark lending rate to a 23-year high of between 5.25 percent and 5.50 percent as it looks to bring inflation back down to its long-term target of two percent with as little damage to the labor market as possible.
Chinese officials have struggled for months to kickstart economic growth as they battle a range of headwinds, particularly a prolonged property sector crisis that has fueled fears of wider contagion.
Yellen has repeatedly warned about the risks of China's excess industrial capacity during four days of meetings with officials and business leaders in the southern city of Guangzhou and capital Beijing.
US Treasury chief Janet Yellen warned during a visit to China on Friday that Beijing's subsidies for industry could pose a risk to global economic resilience.
It is the communist country's strongest Q1 growth since 2019, but still well off Standard Chartered Bank's forecast of 6.1 percent.
SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago said that this decision was unanimous, revealing that the committee "noted a range of risks" before announcing this verdict.
The Bank of England is widely expected to keep its main interest rate at a 16-year high Thursday, rejecting a cut as inflation remains well above target despite recent slowing.
Asian markets mostly rose Wednesday as traders tracked another record day on Wall Street, with focus squarely on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.
The Bank of Japan's outlier policy of negative rates and massive asset purchases was aimed at jump-starting economic growth and price rises after the "lost decades" of stagnation and deflation.
Her comments came after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently refused to rule out the chance of stagflation, a dreaded scenario where economic stagnation meets rising costs.
While price increases have fallen from their peak in 2022, households are still feeling the pinch from costs of living -- adding pressure on President Joe Biden as he tries to win over voters on his economic policies while running for reelection this year.
Top officials have been upfront about the myriad challenges China is facing, admitting that a modest five percent growth goal will not be easy and that "hidden risks" are dragging the economy down. But they have supplied few details about how they plan to tackle the problems.
Beijing's leadership on Tuesday laid out an objective of "around five percent" gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year -- a dream of many developed Western nations but for China a far cry from the breakneck expansion that powered its rise.
After the ECB launched an unprecedented campaign of monetary tightening to tame runaway consumer prices, eurozone inflation has been slowing steadily from a peak of over 10 percent in late 2022.
