Global Wrap-up

A quick round-up of news and current affairs across the world

Renault Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo has said that the automaker is firmly on the comeback trail after a record loss. He has forecast stable profitability for the French company despite global chip shortage and rising raw material prices. “The carmaker has abandoned the approach of only looking for sheer growth,” Mr Meo has added. Renault swung to net income of 368 million euros during the first half of 2021 from a 7.4billion-euro loss a year ago. Renault expects shortages in semiconductors to cost the company about 200,000 vehicles this year.

Fuelled by vaccinations and government aid, the US economy grew at a strong 6.5 per cent annual rate in the April-june 2021 quarter in another sign that the nation has achieved a sustained recovery from the pandemicdriven recession. For all of 2021, the economy is expected to expand by about 7 per cent. That would be the strongest calendar-year growth since 1984. It would also mark a sharp reversal from last year’s 3.5 per cent economic contraction, “the worst in 74 years” as a result of the pandemic.