Tag: learnbonds

  • Only three countries control over 80% of global diamond reserves

    Only three countries control over 80% of global diamond reserves

    Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates that Russia, Congo, and Botswana control about 86.1% of the global diamond reserves.

    Total global diamond reserves are about 1.1 billion carats.

    The demand for diamonds is set to grow

    Russia controls more than half of the global reserves (52%) with 650 million diamond carats followed by Congo with 150 million carats. Botswana is third with reserves totaling 90 million carats. Other notable reserves are in South Africa (54 million), Australia (39 million) and other countries (120 million carats)

    In terms of diamond production, at the end of 2019, Russia produced an estimated 19 million diamond carats in mining. Australia had 13 million carats followed by Congo at 12 million carats. Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa produced six, three, and two million carats respectively. Other countries produced one million diamond carats.

    The research further shows that the buy and sell demand for diamonds is set to keep rising whereby 2050, the figure will be 292 million carats, a growth of 88.38% from 2018’s number of 155 million. By 2022, the demand will be 178 million diamond carats. Four years later, the demand will grow by 12.36% to 200 million carats.

    Although the demand is set to grow, various factors come into play. According to the report: “The demand for polished diamonds is mainly driven by two major factors including geopolitical and macroeconomic. These factors tend to increase or lower consumer confidence and thus affect the demand directly.”

    Some of the global diamonds reserves are expected to deplete in the coming years. However, apart from mining, diamonds can also be produced in laboratories in the form of synthetic diamonds.

  • UK banks approved nearly 1 million mortgages in 2019

    UK banks approved nearly 1 million mortgages in 2019

    Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates the United Kingdom’s banks approved 982.286 mortgages in 2019. This is an increase of 7.4% from 2018’s 909.597.

    According to the data, mortgage approval for home purchases increased by 8% for 2019 compared to the previous year. In total, 507.789 mortgages were approved for home purchases in 2019. The highest approval for home purchases was in July at 51.160.

    On the other hand, compared to 2018, there was a rise in remortgage approval for 2019 by 7.9%. Across the year, the total remortgages were 367,590. The highest remortgage approval was in October 38,549 while the least approval was in January at 23,618.

    For other borrowing avenues, there was an increase of 3% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Under this category mortgages, approval was 106,907 in 2019.

    The data further indicates that the entire market mortgage lending in 2019 was £265.8 billion following December’s £22.2 billion. The gross lending was 1.1% lower than in 2018.

    Under this figure, the high street banks’ lending was £172.1 billion to have a cumulative figure of £437.91 billion for 2019.

    The data shows that there was a spike in high street bank lending in October 2019 when lending stood at £25.1 billion.