The EU's Economic Commissioner said the bloc had encouraging economic news and may avoid a much-feared deep recession in 2023.

Inflation in Germany stood at an aggregate of 7.9% for 2022, official figures show. That's the highest it's ever been in Germany's post-war history. Food and fuel prices in particular drove consumer prices skyward.

Gloomy economic forecasts have cast a long shadow over this year's event in the Swiss Alps. But Georgieva said that although the IMF projects 2023 to be "a difficult year" and for growth to fall further, "we don't expect a global recession". She cited resilient labour markets and consumer spending, the post-Covid reopening of China and signs of inflation trending downwards.

The German economy is withstanding the aftershock of the Ukraine war better than prior projections showed.

A building-price explosion has ruined Germany's apartment-building plans. The rental market is becoming nightmarish, and experts say the government hasn't even begun to grasp the scale of the crisis.

The International Monetary Fund has given a brighter outlook in its latest report than in October, predicting that inflation will slow. It said that European economies had shown more resilience than expected.

Economic output grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2022 compared with the previous quarter, according to an early estimate.

The European Commission has revised its economic forecasts upwards slightly, predicting growth of almost 1% in the bloc for 2023. Inflation is expected to slow but remain high, a little more so outside the eurozone.

Relentless rains in South Africa have claimed at least a dozen victims with the bad weather forcing the government to declare a national state of disaster. It comes less than a year after the country’s deadliest floods. And, as the civilian death toll rises from rebel fighting in Eastern Congo, more people are seeking refuge in the North Kivu town of Goma.

The government in Buenos Aires has imposed price caps on many goods to rein in runaway inflation. While the curbs are welcomed among low income locals, economists doubt they will remedy the country's persistent problem.

The annual inflation among the 20 nations that use the euro has fallen, but less than expected as food costs surge.

Food prices contributed to the high inflation rates, increasing even more than fuel prices. The prices of energy products were 19.1% higher year-on-year in February.