The International Finance Forum (IFF) 20th Anniversary and Annual Meeting concludes in Guangzhou as World leaders, financial and business executives and academics gather in Nansha, Gangzhou to call for multilateralism and closer cooperation between Oct.27 and Oct. 29.

Jointly organized by the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, and the IFF, the Annual Meeting held three days’ back-to-back discussions and seminars centered on the theme of " New Capital, New Value, New World - Revitalization & Cooperation in a Fragmenting Global Economy".

IFF Co-Chair, former Governor of the People`s Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of Guangdong Province Wang Weizhong, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Lee Ka Chiu and IFF Co-Chair Han Seung-soo addressed the Opening Ceremony. The Acting Mayor of Guangzhou Sun Zhixiang opened the ceremony.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time in a year.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

Xi called on China and the U.S. to find the right way to get along with each other, according to the official Xinhua news agency.  

Biden hailed the summit as some of the most production as the two countries agreed to resume military communications and work to curb fentanyl production.

Xi arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for a summit with Biden and to attend the APEC meeting.

China’s retail sales rose 7.6% in the twelve months to October, up from September’s rise of 5.5% while industrial output rose 4.6%, official data showed on Wednesday.

Sales of catering increased 17.1% last month while merchandise sales rose 6.5%.

Retails sales rose 6.9% year on year in the first ten months of the year while industrial out grew 4.1% in the same period.
 

The number of Chinese cities that saw home prices fall increased in October, official data showed on Thursday.

Meanwhile data released on Wednesday showed property investment in China fell 9.3% in the first ten months of the year compared to the same period last year.

Property sales in the Jan-Oct period dropped 7.8% year-on-year, of which homes sales slid 6.8%.

Funds raised by property developers decreased 13.8% year on year, down from the 13.5% drop in the first nine months of the year.

China’s consumer prices declined in October data according to official data.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell 0.2% in the twelve months to October with drops in food prices being the biggest contributor.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, went up 0.6%.

The monthly CPI dipped 0.1% in October compared to a 02% increase in September.

Japan’s economy shrank in the July-September quarter, reversing two straight quarters of growth, as rising inflation and weak global demand took a toll on the world’s third largest economy.

Provisional government data showed that GDP growth fell 2.1% in the third quarter compared to a year ago.

The European Commission cut its growth forecast for the European Union, according to its Autumn Forecast released on Wednesday.

The EU economy is now projected to expand 0.6%, down by 0.2% from its summer forecast.

Economic activity however will gradually recover and inflation will continue to ease, according to forecast by the European Commission.

EU GPD is forecast to expand 1.3% in 2024.

The European Union on Wednesday reached a deal on a law to place methane emissions curbs on European oil and gas imports from 2030.

The agreement will oblige fossil gas, oil and coal companies to “properly measure, monitor, report and verify their methane emissions” and take action to reduce them.

The regulation also bans routine venting and flaring by the oil and gas sectors and limits venting from thermal coal mines.

The International Monetary Fund has reached an agreement with Pakistan on the releasing of $700 million of its $3 billion bailout deal.

The two parties reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of Pakistan’s economic programme supported by the IMF according to a statement by the IMF.

The agreement is still subject to approval of the IMF’s Executive Board. 

Greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2022 and there is “no end in sight to the rising trend’, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Last year carbon dioxide levels were 50% higher than the pre-industrial levels. The concentrations continued to grow in 2023.

Methane concentrations also grew and levels of nitrous oxide, the third main gas, had the highest year-on-year increase on record from 2021 to 2022.

The current trajectory puts the world on the path to a temperature increase well above the Paris Agreement, according to Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the WMO.