Polls/Data In One Place.

If you have a bar of gold, what do you do with it?

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1. World Bank:

Today, almost 700 million people (8.5 percent of the global population) live in extreme poverty - on less than $2.15 per day. Progress has stalled amid low growth, setbacks due to COVID-19, and increased fragility. Poverty rates in low-income countries are higher than before the pandemic.

Around 3.5 billion people (44 percent of the global population) remain poor by a standard that is more relevant for upper middle-income countries ($6.85 per day), and the number or people living on less than this standard has barely changed since the 1990s due to population growth.

In 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 16 percent of the world’s population, but 67 percent of the people living in extreme poverty. Two thirds of the world’s population in extreme poverty live in Sub-Saharan Africa, rising to three quarters when including all fragile and conflict-affected countries. About 72 percent of the world’s population in extreme poverty live in countries that are eligible to receive assistance from the International Development Association (IDA).

Based on the current trajectory, 622 million people (7.3 percent of the global population) are projected to live in extreme poverty in 2030. This means, about 69 million people are projected escape extreme poverty between 2024 and 2030 compared to about 150 million who did so between 2013 and 2019. In addition, 3.4 billion people (nearly 40 percent of the world’s population) will likely live on less than $6.85 per day.

If growth does not accelerate and become more inclusive, it will take decades to eradicate extreme poverty and more than a century to lift people above the $6.85 per day poverty line. (Source: worldbank.org)

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2. Global public debt is set to reach $100 trillion, or 93% of global gross domestic product, by the end of this year, driven by the US and China, according to new analysis by the International Monetary Fund. In its latest Fiscal Monitor — an overview of global public finance developments — the IMF said it expects debt to approach 100% of GDP by 2030, and it warns that governments will need to make tough decisions to stabilize borrowing. Debt is tipped to increase in the US, Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa and UK, according to the IMF report, which urges governments to rein in debt. (Source: bloomberg.com, italics mine)

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3. Gold surged to an all-time high Monday (10/21), fueled by geopolitical tensions and central bank interest rate cuts. Bullion’s price climbed to $2,740.37 a troy ounce on Monday, representing a 40 per cent gain in the past year. The war in the Middle East, coupled with uncertainty over the outcome of next month’s US presidential election, have supercharged gold’s allure as a haven asset. “The outlook for gold is quite bullish,” said Joni Teves, UBS precious metals strategist, who has a $3,000-a-troy-ounce price target next year. “We think that investor holdings of gold have a lot of room to grow over the next year or so, and that should drive prices higher.” (Source: ft.com)