Russia and Iran have started discussing the creation of a joint steiblcoin linked to gold, and economists have assessed the likelihood of recession in the United States in the coming year – these and other important news for Monday morning, January 16, in our daily review.
The Central Bank of Iran is discussing with Russia the possibility of creating a token that could replace the dollar, ruble and Iranian rial in foreign trade settlements. The token would be backed by gold, that is, it would work as a steiblcoin, a cryptocurrency tied to the fiat money rate, Vedomosti writes, citing Alexander Brazhnikov, executive director of the Russian Association of Cryptoindustry and Blockchain.
Despite the fact that inflation in the U.S. has begun to decline, American economists still expect that rising interest rates will lead to a recession in the economy in the next 12 months, according to a quarterly survey by The Wall Street Journal. According to the survey, economists now rate the likelihood of a recession within a year at 61%, down from 63% in October. The newspaper polled 71 economists, but not all of them answered all the questions. The poll was conducted from January 6 to 10.
Russia’s revenues from fertilizer exports in the first 10 months of 2022 increased by 70% year-on-year to $16.7 billion, the Financial Times reports, citing data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Revenues increased due to rising fertilizer prices amid Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the newspaper said.
Swiss bank Credit Suisse will fire more than 10% of its investment bankers in Europe in 2023, informed sources told the Financial Times. In December, the bank has already dismissed 2,700 people, including 540 employees in Switzerland and up to 200 in London. In total, Credit Suisse has 52,000 employees in its branches around the world.
The value of bitcoin was over $21,237 at its peak during trading over the past 24 hours, Coindesk data shows. The last time the cryptocurrency’s price was above $21,000 was just over two months ago, in early November.