Bangkok Post (September 2)
“Many developing countries are teetering on the edge of a debt crisis, with the Covid-19 pandemic, soaring food and energy costs, and the monetary tightening of major economies all threatening to push them over.” Lebanon, Sri Lanka and some other countries have already teetered. “As of the end of March, 38 of 69 low-income countries were either already in or at high risk of debt distress. Middle-income developing countries’ debt-service burden is at its highest level in 30 years.”
Tags: COVID-19, Debt crisis, Developing countries, Distress, Energy costs, Food, High-risk, Lebanon, Low income, Major economies, Middle-income, Monetary tightening, Pandemic, Soaring, Sri Lanka, Teetering, Threatening
The Economist (August 20)
The Bank of Japan expects “prices will rise by 2.3% in the current fiscal year. That would be the first time prices outstrip the bank’s 2% target since it was introduced in 2013, excluding the impact of sales-tax hikes. The covid-19 pandemic and commodity shocks from the war in Ukraine seem to have done what years of loose monetary policy could not.”
Tags: 2.3%, 2013, BOJ, Commodity, COVID-19, Pandemic, Prices, Rise, Sales-tax hikes, Shocks, Target, Ukraine, War
South China Morning Post (August 6)
Hong Kong’s “tough Covid-19 measures have lasted too long. They have sucked much of the joy out of everyday life and left the city isolated.” Politics have also lessened Hong Kong’s appeal. “The protests, the national security law, mass arrests and relentless rhetoric have all had an impact.” So many of the best and most “cherished memories of the city…. belong to an era that has ended.”
Tags: Appeal, COVID-19, Era, Hong Kong, Isolated, Joy, Mass arrests, National-security law, Politics, Protests, Rhetoric
Wall Street Journal (July 8)
“Big cities can’t get workers back to the office.” More than two years since Covid-19 first struck, “less than half the number of prepandemic office workers are returning to business districts consistently.” Despite numerous carrots and the occasional stick, “occupancy is especially low in cities like New York, where workers are the engine of local economies.”
Tags: Big cities, Business districts, Carrots, COVID-19, New York, Occupancy, Office, Prepandemic, Stick, Workers
The Diplomat (May 2)
“Two and half years on and Japan remains an outlier among industrialized G-7 nations, which have re-opened for tourists and eliminated quarantines.” The border restrictions “prevent Japan from benefiting from the weak yen,” which would “encourage inbound tourism and play a considerable role stabilizing the currency and creating jobs.” Nevertheless, “public opinion and the pernicious idea that COVID-19 is brought in by foreigners” seem to be driving debate, with international tourism “unlikely to be given the green light until the second half of the year following the result of the upper house election.”
Tags: Border restrictions, COVID-19, Currency, Election, Foreigners, G-7, Inbound tourism, Industrialized, Japan, Jobs, Outlier, Public opinion, Quarantines, Re-opened, Stabilizing, Tourists, Upper house, Weak yen
Time (April 26)
The CDC found that “almost 60% of the U.S. population—and 75% of U.S. children—have evidence in their blood suggesting a past infection with the virus that causes COVID-19…. By that estimate, most people in the U.S.—almost 200 million—have had COVID-19 as of February. That far exceeds the 80.8 million cases officially tallied by the CDC as of April 26.”
Wall Street Journal (April 26)
“Worries about the war in Ukraine, China’s Covid-19 outbreak, a U.S. or European recession and surging global inflation are making a long-spurned asset increasingly popular with Wall Street’s top money managers these days: cash.” Increasingly asset managers “are looking to move funds into low-risk, cash-like assets. That marks a shift from recent years, when steadily climbing equity indexes trained investors to buy every dip and not miss out on gains by holding cash.”
Tags: Asset, Asset managers, Cash, China, COVID-19, Dip, Europe, Inflation, Investors, Low-risk, Money managers, Recession, Shift, Spurned, Surging, U.S., Ukraine, Wall Street, War, Worries
Wall Street Journal (March 31)
“China’s support for Russia is the most serious but far from only reason Europe is losing patience. Beijing has launched an economic war on EU member Lithuania over its upgraded ties to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party’s human-rights record remains abysmal. Bullying behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic and stonewalling of the origins investigation hurt China’s credibility. The question is what Europe will do beyond condemnations, token sanctions and the occasional lawsuit.”
Tags: CCP, China, Condemnations, COVID-19, Credibility, Economic war, EU, Europe, Human rights, Lawsuits, Lithuania, Russia, Stonewalling, Taiwan, Token sanctions
Investment Week (March 28)
Global dealmaking has dropped “to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…. Just over $1trn of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter less than the same period last year.” Primary factors behind slowing M&A activity appear to be “tougher regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, soaring inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Dealmaking, Global, Inflation, M&A, Outbreak, Pandemic, Q1, Regulation, Russia, Slowing, Soaring, Tougher, Ukraine, War
Reuters (March 15)
“China posted a steep jump in daily COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, with new cases more than doubling from a day earlier to hit a two-year high, raising concerns about the rising economic costs of the country’s tough containment measures.” The nation’s “zero tolerance approach is not only becoming more costly, but also suffering diminishing returns against the highly infectious Omicron.”
Tags: China, Containment, COVID-19, Diminishing returns, Doubling, Economic costs, High, Infections, New cases, Omicron, Zero tolerance
