First quarter

We are coming to the end of the first four-month period of the year, with months of great activity and a lot of news, some of which is very upsetting.

On this occasion, while Finland debates how to join NATO due to the war situation, we will talk about the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor, the IMF’s (current) forecasts for this year and we will end with a new reading recommendation.

With 9,277 km of rail and 6,279 km of road, the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor is the longest of all the core network corridors. As multimodal transport, it passes through 25 central ports, 19 central airports, 45 central intermodal terminals, and 19 central urban centers.

Taking into account the above mentioned, it will extend from the north, crossing 7 countries, starting with Finland and Sweden, to the south, passing through Denmark, the northern, central, and southern part of Germany, as well as Austria, and the industrial area of northern Italy and the ports located in the south of this country, ending its route on the island of Malta.

For this purpose, it has an estimated investment of more than 200 billion euros and is part of the 9 priority axes framed within the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), occupying the fifth position, so that once completed it will become a route of great importance for the continent’s economy.

Below is a video about the project and the work being carried out:

This Brenner Base rail tunnel, to be commissioned by 2028, is expected to help significantly reduce traffic and contribute to meeting the environmental targets set by the European Union to ensure a favorable change in the locomotive mobility of the people living in the countries through which the railroad will run.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has slowed the recovery and growth of the world economy, which was hit hard in 2020.

Thus, the projections estimated by the financial organization can be seen in the following image:

There is a drop in growth compared to the previous year, a fact that was already stated and expected by the agency in its 2020 report and reaffirmed in 2021.

Therefore, to get into the subject, when broken down among the main countries with advanced economies, what is expected by the institution is what we can see below:

🇩🇪 Germany: 2.1 %

🇫🇷 France: 2.9 %

🇮🇹 Italy: 2.3 %

🇪🇸 Spain: 4.8 %

🇯🇵 Japan: 2.4 %

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: 3.7 %

🇨🇦 Canada: 3.9 %

Meanwhile, as far as emerging markets and developing economies are concerned, the growth forecast is as follows for these countries in particular:

– ASIA

🇨🇳 China: 4.4 %

🇮🇳 India: 8.2 %

ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam): 5.3 %

– EUROPE

🇷🇺 Russia: -8.5 %

– LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

🇧🇷 Brazil: 0.8 %

🇲🇽 Mexico: 2.0 %

– MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 7.6%.

– SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

🇳🇬 Nigeria: 3.4 %

🇿🇦 South Africa: 1.9 %

As can be seen, the only country that will see a major setback in its GDP is Russia given recent events and the repercussions they are having.

The pandemic further underscored the weight of technology, putting many jobs in jeopardy. Thus, the prestigious Argentinean investigative journalist and co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Andrés Oppenheimer, in his latest book entitled ¡Sálvese quien pueda!(Every man for himself!) addresses this phenomenon that is radically transforming society: the likelihood that, in the next two decades, almost half of our jobs will be replaced by computers and artificial intelligence systems.

After years of research around the world, Oppenheimer proposes solutions for dealing with the impending revolution in the labor market. The journalist also tells us which jobs he believes will be safe from the threat of robots in a future that looks uncertain for millions of workers and explains which countries will be most affected by this phenomenon and at what speed.

Thank you for taking five minutes of your time.

See you in 15 days.

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