IMF calls for wealth tax to help cover cost of Covid pandemic

Fiscal monitor says rich should pay more tax on temporary basis to help support poor and vulnerable

UK’s top firms close at post-pandemic high after IMF report

Investor optimism rises after global body upgrades growth forecasts

Western economies recovering faster than expected from Covid, says IMF

Growth forecast upgraded amid US and UK vaccine programmes and stimulus packages

A year of Covid crisis: a glimmer of economic hope at the end of the tunnel

Twelve months after the pandemic struck the Guardian’s economic tracker reveals real risk of lasting damage

Who is lending the British government all this money?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

Osinbajo defies expectations as Nigeria’s vice-president

Analysis: Buhari’s deputy wants to create jobs, feed pupils and cut red tape. Is he too high-profile for his critics?

‘We’ve been sold a dud’: small firms suffer decline in post-Brexit exports

Businesses beset by ‘nightmare’ combination of mounting costs and paperwork as well as delivery delays

Suez canal: Syria ‘rations’ fuel as efforts to free stuck ship fail

Syria oil ministry restricts supply as canal chief says ‘technical or human errors’ may have been behind stranding of the Ever Given

The Guardian view on China, Xinjiang and sanctions: the gloves are off

Editorial: Beijing wants to silence critics of its treatment of Uighurs. But the impact will be broader

How the Suez canal blockage can seriously dent world trade

Analysis: 12% of global shipping uses the canal with any delays disrupting supply chains, fuelling shortages and hiking prices

Germany dismisses Australia’s claims that planned EU carbon border tax is ‘protectionism’

Exclusive: Dr Jürgen Zattler, an official at Germany’s ministry for economic cooperation and development, says the policy is a tool to fight global warming

The Guardian view on finance failures: manmade errors amplified by machines

Editorial: Markets aren’t working when a system makes Elon Musk billions by adding his company Tesla to the US stock index

Poorest countries will suffer most from Covid downturn, says UN

Unctad agency says international cooperation has fallen well short of what is needed given scale of crisis

The Guardian view on the Biden stimulus: a historic moment

Editorial: The White House is putting government at the heart of the post-Covid economic bounce-back. The implications affect us all

Collapse of trade with EU will ‘last until the summer’

Delays and confusion at the UK’s ports threatens to put hundreds of small and medium-sized exporters out of business