Displaying items by tag: Economy

Researchers calculate that £190 billion is needed to get the UK economy back on track – four times as much as the chancellor has committed so far, and a figure which broadly matches the ambition of US president Joe Biden’s new administration. This UK stimulus should be devoted to supporting businesses, workers, and households hardest hit by the pandemic, restoring public services and helping the growth of sustainable, ‘future-proof’ industries and jobs. The thinktank said, ‘Failure to deliver such a boost risks condemning the UK to a stagnation trap with about half the rate of economic recovery. It would mean lower business investment and leave unemployment at more than 10 per cent in spring 2022.’

At his spending review on 25 November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s plans for public spending. It is an important fiscal event, with decisions made over hundreds of billions of pounds of public money. It is also an important political event, as the government sets out relative priorities and allocates funding towards achieving its policy objectives. The initial reaction from the Institute for Fiscal Studies was this: ‘Rishi Sunak has been spending truly astonishing amounts of money this year and plans to continue to do so next year in response to Covid. Yet this was a spending review in which he reduced planned spending into the future, cutting over £10 billion from departmental spending plans next year and for subsequent years.’ (See also the next article.) Pray for the 1.3 million public sector workers who will see their pay frozen in 2021-2 and for the projected 2.6 million unemployed by spring. See

Perú's parliament will impeach President Vizcarra for blocking an investigation into mis-use of public funds. He swept into power with an anti-corruption agenda. He denies ‘moral incapacity‘, despite audio recordings of him misusing funds. They have provoked a public outcry in pandemic-stricken Perú which now has the highest Covid death rate per capita in the world. Perú's economy is also struggling to recover from the three-month shutdown of the mining sector due to coronavirus. Pray for lawmakers to ensure corruption is replaced with honest reliable leadership. Pray for wise business transactions and a speedy economic recovery for commerce and industry that has seen quarterly GDP plummet by over 40%. Pray for successful strategies to halt the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile missionaries are working to reach the thousands of Chinese migrants now settling in Peru: pray for believers from their ministry (see).

UK faith group representatives, in an open letter, have urged the Government to centre its economic recovery on the pressing need to reduce the impact of climate change. Signatories include members of the 'Faith for the Climate' network. The opening statements read, ‘Covid-19 has unexpectedly taught us a great deal. Amidst the fear and the grief for loved ones lost, many of us have found consolation in the dramatic reduction of pollution and the restoration of nature. Renewed delight in and contact with the natural world has the capacity to reduce our mental stress and nourish us spiritually. We have rediscovered our sense of how interconnected the world is. The very health and future of humanity depends on our ability to act together, not only with respect to pandemics but also in protecting our global ecosystem.’

A shopper grumbled while returning a loaf of bread to a rack - the price had jumped by a third. Nearby a half-mile queue of cars waited at an empty petrol station hoping for a delivery. Zimbabwe has an economic crisis. Basic goods prices rise weekly as the value of the Zimbabwean dollar tumbles. Inflation was 785.6% in April, and poverty is deepening. UN aid agencies reported that 7.7 million people, half of the population, require food assistance. A loaf of bread went up 36% last month, and last week a 22-pound sack of cornmeal jumped 30%. Fuel soared by 152% recently; a similar rise in 2019 sparked national demonstrations and deaths. ‘Things cannot continue this way. These people should just admit they have failed,’ said a Harare resident, referring to President Mnangagwa’s government which took power pledging to revive the economy. Pray for food aid to reach the hungry.

Scotland's unemployment rate is now the highest in the UK, having risen by 30,000 to 127,000 between February and April as a result of the pandemic. Many people will be feeling a deep sense of anxiety about their livelihoods. The UK’s Scottish secretary Alister Jack said the impact of coronavirus was clearly seen in the latest figures, which are ‘expected to continue for some time’. There is no obvious reason why Scottish unemployment should have risen so much, although it could be the downturn in oil and gas consumption, or a bigger dependence on tourism jobs. The UK government is providing comprehensive coronavirus support packages to help people get through this unprecedented pandemic. We can pray for redundant young people and those already on company loans and universal credit.

Some European countries are cautiously coming out of lockdown. Italy is opening some factories and construction sites. Spain is allowing hairdressers and small businesses to reopen. Germany’s children are back at school. France is also easing lockdown. Political leaders now grapple with the economic and social shocks that lockdown has left behind, while trying to avoid large-scale second waves of infection. Italy is contending with a fresh rise in migrant arrivals from Libya, an ongoing economic crisis, and uneven support from Brussels. Spain is squabbling over spending as Catalan separatist leaders have seized on the pandemic to reignite the argument that their wealthy industrialised region would be better off independent from the devastated economy of the rest of Spain. Germany handled the coronavirus crisis better than other large European countries and favours cautious reopening, but business groups and local governments want to move faster.

Manufacturing clothes was once a pillar of Gaza’s economy, with 900 factories employing 36,000 Palestinians. But the industry collapsed in 2007 when Hamas seized control of Gaza and Israel banned the export of clothing from Gaza to Israel or the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Ziad Qassem’s 25 years as a tailor seemed worthless in the cruel blockade: unemployed, debt piling up, worried how he would provide for his wife and five children. Coronavirus came to the rescue. Demand for masks and protective gear soared worldwide. Gaza garment factories are flooded with new orders from Israel, ordinarily seen by much of Gaza’s Palestinian population as the enemy. Israeli rights groups have called for the permanent easing of restrictions that govern entry in and out of the Gaza enclave, home to some two million people, so that the economy can function more normally even after the pandemic. See

President Bolsonaro's coronavirus strategy of ‘putting economy first' is putting thousands of lives at risk. He calculates that the number of deaths will be less costly than the inevitable recession caused by an economic shutdown. Brazil's poorest communities lack refuse collection, have water shortages and open sewers, and are very densely populated. These are perfect conditions for the virus to proliferate. Bolsonaro's televised national address, calling the virus ‘a little flu’, was condemned by business leaders and politicians. Two of his tweets were removed for ‘violating rules’ and defying international guidelines. Bombastic media appearances, dubbed ‘Brazil can't stop’, encouraging citizens to get back to work and downplaying the virus threat, were quickly taken off air. The majority of Brazil's elderly live with family members or someone else who is not their partner.The ‘deny’ strategy is expected to produce a situation worse than Italy in two or three weeks, and a collapsed health system.

Our IPC Colleague and Exec Member, Onassis Jeevaraj has prepared an INDIA - Prayer Focus guide.  The four-page PDF booklet provides an up to date overview of some of the key issues and challenges that India is facing, along with Prayer Pointers and links to more information and resources.

Topics covered include - Elections, Persecution, Lynching, The Economy, Hindu Ideologies, Natural Disasters, Children and Women, and the Church

It will be a valuable tool for guiding individual, small group or corporate prayers.

Download the INDIA - Prayer Focus HERE