1. From January 1 this year, the new EU customs control rules on the import of goods after Brexit came into effect. A British food industry group has warned that the opening of a new border operation model may lead to food shortages in the UK in the short term. In terms of food trade, Britain imports five times as much from the EU as it exports to the EU. According to the British Retail Association, at present, 80% of Britain’s imported food comes from the European Union.

2.Earlier in December, Redalio, founder of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, predicted that the Fed would raise interest rates four or five times next year until it had a negative impact on the stock market. There are now two types of inflation in the United States: cyclical inflation when demand for goods and services exceeds production capacity, and monetary inflation caused by overissuance of money and credit. For the second type of inflation, he warned that if cash and bondholders were to sell these assets aggressively, the central bank would have to raise interest rates faster or keep them low by printing money and buying financial assets, which would exacerbate inflation. This makes it more difficult for the Fed to make policy.

3. Up to 20.5% of American adults surveyed can hardly afford to pay for water, electricity and gas for some time, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. In addition, US households owed nearly $20 billion in various fees to energy companies, 67 per cent more than the average in previous years. During the epidemic, the price of water, electricity and gas in the United States also rose all the way, setting a new record for the most expensive in the United States in the past seven years.

4. December 31, according to the annual report released by the global sovereign wealth fund data platform (Global SWF), assets held by global sovereign wealth and public pension funds rose to a record $31.9 trillion in 2021, driven by rising US stock markets and oil prices, and investment rose to the highest level in years.

5. France officially launched plastic restrictions in 2022, including the ban on the use of plastic bags for the vast majority of fruits and vegetables. It is reported that under the new measures, in addition to large-scale packaged and processed fruits and other commodities, 30 kinds of fruits and vegetables, including cucumbers, lemons and oranges, are not allowed to be packaged in plastic bags. More than 1/3 of French fruits and vegetables are packaged in plastic bags, and the government believes that plastic restrictions can prevent 1 billion plastic bags from being used each year.

6. Bill Nelson, director of NASA, announced that the Biden government has pledged to extend the operation of the International Space Station by six years until 2030. It will continue to work with the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency. It is reported that the United States originally planned to operate the International Space Station until 2024, when NASA prepares to hand over the day-to-day operation of the space station to commercial entities in order to free up funds for the Artemis moon landing program.

7. Preliminary verification data released by Clarkson, a British shipbuilding and shipping industry analyst, show that global new ship orders in 2021 are 45.73 million modified gross tons (CGT), of which South Korea undertakes 17.35 million modified gross tons, accounting for 38%, ranking second only to China (22.8 million CGT,50%).

8.China and Japan have established bilateral free trade relations for the first time, and some automobile-related enterprises will enjoy zero tariff. Yesterday, the RCEP came into effect, and 10 countries, including China, officially began to fulfill their obligations, marking the start of the world’s largest free trade zone and a good start for China’s economy. Among them, China and Japan established bilateral free trade relations for the first time, reached bilateral tariff concession arrangements, and achieved a historic breakthrough. A manufacturer of car wiring harness in Huizhou, Guangdong, imports a large number of plastic components and relays from Japan every year. The previous tariff rate for these two types of products was 10%. The implementation of RCEP will save enterprises an annual tariff of 700000 yuan, and the tariff will be reduced to 0 15 years later. It is understood that among the RCEP members, Japan is China’s largest source of auto parts imports, with imports exceeding 9 billion US dollars in 2020.

9. Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry Company in Japan: both are pushing ahead with plans to launch the world’s first wooden satellite in 2023. The characteristic of wooden man-made satellite is that it can burn up in the atmosphere after use, and it has less burden on the environment. First, an experiment to expose wood to space and confirm its durability will be launched in February next year.

10. The total box office revenue of North American films in 2021 is estimated to be $4.5 billion, double that of 2020, but still well below the annual total of $11.4 billion in 2019, and lower than China’s annual box office revenue for the second year in a row, according to data released by Comesco Analytics.

11. According to data released by Clarkson, an analyst of the British shipbuilding and shipping industry, the global order volume of new ships in 2021 is 45.73 million modified gross tons, of which South Korea undertakes 17.35 million modified gross tons, accounting for 38%, ranking second only to China.

12. German Finance Minister Lindner: the new government will provide tax breaks worth at least 30 billion euros to individuals and businesses during the current legislative period. The 2022 budget was drawn up by the government of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose draft 2023 budget will include deductions such as pension insurance contributions and the abolition of electricity surcharges.

13. Affected repeatedly by the COVID-19 epidemic, the US economy grew strongly in the first half of 2021, but slowed sharply in the third quarter and then rebounded in the fourth quarter. Most economists expect the US economy to grow by about 5.5 per cent for the whole of 2021. However, with less fiscal and monetary policy support, overall economic growth is expected to slow to 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent in 2022, and the epidemic and inflation will be key variables affecting the US economy. In 2021, u.s. inflation rose 6.8% year-on-year, the highest in nearly 40 years. In the face of high inflation, retailers reduce their volume and do not cut prices in order to cope with the soaring costs brought about by inflation.

14. The site of a building in Myeongdong in Seoul, South Korea, has been the “land king” of South Korea for more than a decade, but in 2022, land prices here fell 8.5%, the first decline since 2009. Prior to this, the Mingdong Business District has occupied the top 10 of the country’s publicized land prices for many years in a row, but this year’s land prices have all dropped compared with last year, and two places have fallen out of the top 10. The important reason is that the main source of foreign tourists in the business circle has decreased and the vacancy rate of shops has increased.

15. After novel coronavirus O’Micron variant spread rapidly in many places around the world, the outside world has been paying attention to its “lethality”. Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert in the United States, predicts that the latest wave of O’Mick Rong Crown disease heterovirulent strains may peak by the end of January. Studies by South African scholars have shown that in Tsvane, South Africa, where the outbreak first broke out, Omicron caused lower mortality and severe illness rates than in previous outbreaks. If this pattern continues and repeats itself around the world, there may be a complete “decoupling” between the number of cases and mortality in the future, and Omicron may be a harbinger of the end of the pandemic.

16. UK think tank CEBR: the main task in the coming year will be to combat inflation and climate change, while global economic growth will be strong and the stock market will be weak. The world economy will be affected by the supply chain crisis and the rapidly spreading Omicron variant at the start of the year, but the global economy is still expected to grow by about 4 per cent in 2022, compared with a previous valuation of 5.1 per cent in 2021. The biggest problem for policymakers may be inflation. In the face of higher interest rates and a setback in quantitative easing, global bond, equity and real estate markets are expected to fall globally, by between 10 per cent and 25 per cent, with some of the impact lasting into 2023.