May's Brexit Plans, Fed Optimism, Lower Fertility: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Europe. Here’s the latest news from Bloomberg Economics:

• Italy set next year’s deficit target at 2.4 percent with a commitment to reduce it in 2020 and 2021, in a partial concession to EU pressure
• Brexit plans. PM Theresa May intends to rush her Brexit plan through U.K.’s Parliament to avoid pushback from party rebels, said a person familiar. May’s team aims to hold a Parliamentary vote on the divorce treaty by the beginning of December
• New crisis. Just as Iceland looks back at a decade of recovery since its financial and economic collapse, the north Atlantic island is once again grappling with an existential challenge for one of its key industries
• Apply brakes. The Fed may eventually raise interest rates to levels where they begin to restrain economic growth though that’s still some way off, Chairman Jerome Powell said. While Fed officials agree the economy warrants further hikes, they disagree on whether another is needed this year
• Trade pain. China’s slowing economy amid weaker export growth will spill over to the rest of Asia in 2019 and drag the region’s growth rate down by 30 basis points
• Inflation country. As prices of everything from oil to rice soar in the Philippines, Maria De Guzman scrambles to adjust after her food bill that jumped 60 percent
• Strength in numbers. Indonesia’s economy is much stronger than during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the currency’s weakness is a source of strength, the World Bank said
• End of easy money. A crisis at one of India’s biggest infrastructure financiers is the latest example of how the end of easy money is causing strain
• Fewer babies. The global financial crisis left lasting scars on the world economy, including slower growth, higher government debt and even lower fertility rates, the IMF said

To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Tuhin Kar

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