Category: Economy

On Tuesday, the virtual summit between United States President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping saw the nations exchanging a sharp remark on Taiwan ahead of the hotly awaited summit between leaders. Both presidents expressed their concerns over the other’s position on Taiwan over the telephonic conversation.

The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi slashed the US for their ‘wrong words and deeds’ and said that “any connivance of and support for the Taiwan independence forces would only boomerang in the end”.

The Chinese government has also reacted angrily to a congressional delegation visit to Taiwan, while the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) conducted more drills. This was after the recent aerial incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated his concern over the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) continued pressure on Taiwan over diplomatic, military, and economic. The Secretary of State further urged Beijing to captivate meaningful dialogue to sort cross-Strait issues peacefully. He also expressed that it should be in a manner that is consistent with the wishes and in the best interest of Taiwan’s people.

The rising tension is also over Beijing’s self-ruling democracy claiming Taiwan over trade, human rights, and other issues.

On Wednesday, the United of America and China pledged to work together to speed up the climate action for this decade. The new pact in which the nations are working in the face of global warming is already wreaking disasters around the globe.

In Glasgow, this announcement came as the crunch COP26 headed towards its pivotal final days. All the negotiators are working hard to find ways to limit global warming and bring it as low as 1.5-2 degrees Celsius from the previous industrial level.

Earlier this week, China’s President Xi Jinping was criticized by President Joe Biden for not attending the summit in Glasgow. The President said that China “walked away”. However, on Wednesday, the US and Chinese envoys stressed their countries’ collaboration. The nations confirmed that they had agreed upon working on climate and put other differences aside for a while.

Xie Zhenhua, Beijing’s longtime climate envoy said, “ Both sides recognize that there is a gap between the current effort and the Paris Agreement goals so we will shorten climate action”.

The agreement includes a document that outlines its focus on lowering methane emissions. It is expressed as the most effective way to limit the warming and the single fastest method.

Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, outlined his plans for a green revolution on Tuesday in order to force Western economies to end their dependency on fossil fuels. Later this month, Britain is set to host the COP26 United Nations climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. The meet aims to strengthen global action on global warming.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “with the major climate summit COP26 just around the corner, our strategy sets the example for other countries to build back greener, too, as we lead the charge towards global net-zero”. Earlier, Mr. Johnson was a little skeptical regarding climate change, had now presented his 368-page net-zero strategy. The document will put Britain at the vanguard of green economies. He further added that nations like Russia and China are following their lead with their own net-zero targets after prices tumble and green tech became the global norm.

Britain took part in the year 2019, to become the first Group of seven members to set a net-zero emission target for 2050. It aims to make drastic changes in the way Britons travel, heat their homes, and consume electricity.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund ripped this year’s economic growth forecast for Asia. The IMF warned Asia about risks by a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections, supply chain disruption, and inflation.

According to the reports, this year China’s economy will see a growth of 8% and 5.6% in 2022. However, the recovery will remain “unbalanced” as fiscal tightening and repeated outbreaks of the coronavirus weigh on consumption. In its report, the IMF stated that any “untimely policy normalization or misconstrued communication from the United States Federal Reserve could lead to higher borrowing costs and significant capital outflows from Asian emerging economies.

A cut of 6.5% in this year’s economic growth for Asia was forecasted by the regional outlook report. It is 1.1% down from April’s projection due to a spike in Delta variant cases hit consumption and factory output. For 2022, IMF raised the growth forecast to 5.7% from 5.3% of April’s estimate in response to vaccination drives.

A growth of 9.5% is expected to be seen for India while economies like Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, and Taiwan benefit from the high-tech and commodity boom.

On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement that gross domestic product grew 4.9% in the third quarter from a year ago. It has missed the expectations of 5.2% expansion, according to analysts polled by a news agency. Despite a less-than-expected rise in industrial activity in September, China’s third-quarter GDP grew by only 4.9%.

In September, industrial production rose by 3.1% below the 4.5% expected. On Monday, in a press conference in Mandarin, the spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics Fu Linghui said, “Since entering the third quarter, domestic and overseas risks and challenges have increased”. He added that the power shortage had a “certain impact” on the basic manufacturing but the economic impact “is controllable”.

In the latter half of September, a rise in the price of coal and a shortage of electricity prompted local authorities to unexpectedly cut off the power. Since then the central government has emphasized that they will boost the coal supply and ensure the availability of electricity. The data which was released showed the businesses were not much interested to put money into future projects.

Bruce Pang of China Renaissance said, “China’s once leading growth recovery is losing momentum going into the fourth quarter”.

Myanmar is combatting a low-hanging local currency amid an unprecedented dollar shortage that drove up the cost of imports. It has aggravated the economy’s struggle with dual challenges of the pandemic and post-coup financial isolation.

Myanmar’s national currency kyat has tumbled nearly 60% since the military seized power this February. It triggered a freeze on the key sources of foreign currency supplies of Myanmar’s foreign reserves held in the US, and suspension of multilateral aids. The safety of money in banks is fueling worries as the restriction on cash withdrawals is seen in the country.

The money chargers have pulled down their shutters after the shortage of dollars was seen. As pressure mounted on the exchange rate, the Central Bank of Myanmar abandoned its attempts to fix the kyat at 0.8% on either side of its benchmark rate against the dollar.

According to the World Bank, it predicts Myanmar’s economy to witness a slump of a further 18% this year majorly due to the pandemic. This could lead to the biggest contraction in employment in the nation and the number of poor in the country would rise.

A senior executive at a Myanmar bank said, ”the worse the political situation is, the worse the currency rate will be.”

On Sunday, the UAE’s Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri announced the agreement that The United Arab Emirates and Syria have agreed to expand their economic cooperation and explore new opportunities.

According to the ministry’s data, the value of non-oil trade between the two countries in 2021’s first half was one billion dirhams ($272 million). The decision came after the economy minister of UAE met with his Syrian counterpart. In an informal meeting outside Dubai Expo 2020, UAE’s economy minister and Syria’s counterpart discussed ways to expand their relationship, according to a news agency.

The UAE reopened its mission to Damascus in late 2018 as a means of countering the influence of non-Arab actors such as Iran and the Turkish government, both of which support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Despite UAE’s support, the Syrian army recaptured most of the territory from the opposition, the UAE and other Arab nations made openings in favor of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

As per UAE, the US sanctions imposed on war-torn country Syria earlier this year made it more challenging for them to return to the Arab league. The US attempted to prevent any reconstruction efforts or trade deals from being made without first enacting human rights reforms.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi will launch the “Azadi@75- New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape” conference-cum-expo. The conference and Expo will be held in Lucknow that will showcase and launch many development projects.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement where they said that Mr. Modi will interact with everyone virtually. He is scheduled to hand over the keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U) houses, virtually to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Modi will lay the foundation stone and launch 75 urban development projects of the state under Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT.

The project will include; the flag of 75 buses under FAME-II for seven cities; Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, and Ghaziabad. It will release a coffee table book encompassing 75 projects. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will publish a coffee table book encompassing 75 projects implemented as part of its flagship missions.

The expo will be organized between October 5-7 as a part of “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” which will be themed on transforming the urban landscape with a definite aim on the transformative changes brought about in UP.

Last year, when the pandemic took hold and threatened to destroy the economy, Australia came up with the solution of an innovative A$90 billion (S$88 billion) scheme. The scheme gave the money to the employers to keep their staff employed.

A stunning success at first glance at least, the scheme was called JobKeeper. According to the data, the scheme has saved 7,00,000 jobs and avoided a surge in unemployment. Nearly 3.8 million workers benefited along with one million businesses. In July last year, lockdown caused unemployment to increase to a peak of 7.4%. However, the jobless rate has fallen to 4.5%. This was lower than the pre-pandemic level of 5.1%.

According to the latest survey, it was found that 71% of Australians support companies being forced to refund the JobKeeper grant if they did not need it. It also found that 68% of Australians asked for the government to reveal the top 10,000 companies that received public funding and the amount they received, compared to 8% who objected and the remainder who did not make a commitment.

It has been labeled as one of the largest wastes of taxpayer money in Australian history by the opposition Labor party.

The Indian government’s defense ministry has dissolved the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) with effect from October 1. According to an official, the ministry has transferred its assets, employees, and management to the 7 public sector units (PSUs).

On May 16, last year the Central Government had announced that it will provide autonomy, accountability, and efficiency in ordnance supplies by the corporatization of the OFB, as part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. The order came on September 28 where the defense minister said that the Government of India has decided to transfer the management, control, operation, and maintenance of these 41 production units and identified non-production units to the 7 wholly-owned government companies of India from October 1, 2021.

The 7 PSUs also called as DPSUs are Munition India Limited, Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited, Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited, Troop Comforts Limited, Yatra India Limited, India Optel Limited, and Gliders India Limited.

Currently, the OFB is an entity within the defense ministry that supplies essential arms and ammunition to the government’s three armed forces and paramilitaries. Within a period of two years, all the PSUs should seek an option for a fixed acceptance for the employees on deemed deputation to that respective PSU.