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The Lebanese pound sank to a historic low against the dollar on the parallel market Tuesday, the latest sombre milestone in an economic meltdown that has plunged most of the population into poverty. Officially pegged at 15,000 to the dollar, the pound was trading at 100,000 against the greenback, dealers said — a dizzying plunge from 1,507 before the economic crisis hit in 2019. The currency’s market value was at around 60,000 to the dollar […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States increasingly worries that China will use its power in global supply chains as an additional weapon to advance its political and military might, a report released Wednesday showed. The “Annual Threat Assessment” issued by the Director of National Intelligence said China is already using its supply chain dominance to force foreign companies and countries to transfer technologies and intellectual property to it. But the US intelligence community […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Bank of Japan’s long-standing monetary easing policies are “appropriate”, its next governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Friday, suggesting no sudden changes to the bank’s stance when he takes the helm in April. Under current boss Karuhiko Kuroda, the bank has unleashed a raft of extraordinary ultra-loose policies — from a negative interest rate to spending vast sums on government bonds — in a bid to boost the sluggish economy. […]
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Wednesday 2/22/2023 K-pop supergroup BTS’ management agency HYBE said Wednesday it had become the biggest shareholder of embattled rival SM Entertainment, whose founder has been mired in an ugly power struggle within his company. SM was founded by Lee Soo-man, who is widely referred to as “the godfather of K-pop” and credited for producing key figures in an earlier generation of artists such as BoA, Girls’ Generation and TVXQ, […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Major industrial and economic centers in China and the United States are among the most vulnerable regions in the world to the increasingly destructive power of climate change-driven weather extremes, according to a comprehensive analysis Monday. The new findings underscore the urgent need for governments to focus on decarbonization and adaptation measures such as flood-proofing — and show the economic fallout from climate change could be grave and widespread. Nine of […]
Beijing, China | AFP | Friday 2/17/2023 The Chinese billionaire chairman of investment bank China Renaissance has gone missing, the firm said, as shares in the company plunged in Hong Kong on Friday. Bao Fan, who is also executive director of the bank, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played a key role in the emergence of various domestic internet startups. “The company has been unable to contact Mr Bao,” […]
Colombo, Sri Lanka | AFP | Thursday 2/16/2023 Sri Lanka’s electricity board hiked consumer rates by up to 275 percent, officials said Thursday, the second steep increase in months as the bankrupt island nation works to secure an IMF bailout. An unprecedented financial crisis last year saw Sri Lanka’s 22 million people suffer through months of food and fuel shortages, along with lengthy power cuts. The government defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt and […]
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Thursday 2/16/2023 Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday defended a currency swap that sparked protests and cash shortages, but ordered old, small denomination 200 naira notes to remain in circulation to ease scarcities. Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage in physical cash since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) began to swap old bills of the local naira currency for new, re-designed ones, leading to a shortfall in […]
Washington, United States | AFP | US consumer inflation cooled slightly in January but the figure remains markedly above policymakers’ target, boosted by rent and energy costs, Labor Department data showed on Tuesday. The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, has come down from a blistering 9.1 percent peak last June while the central bank embarked on an aggressive campaign to rein in soaring prices. As households were squeezed by decades-high inflation, […]
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Tuesday 2/14/2023 Japan’s economy expanded just 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2022, a smaller rebound than expected despite the long-awaited reopening of the country to tourists, government data showed Tuesday. The figure for the three months to December fell short of the 0.5 percent growth forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with the world’s third-largest economy growing 1.1 percent for the calendar year. Japan reopened its doors to […]
Sri Lanka’s president said Wednesday the island nation will remain bankrupt for at least three more years as he works to repair battered government finances following an unprecedented economic crisis. Ranil Wickremesinghe took office last year at the peak of national unrest sparked by months of food, fuel and medicine shortages. He has since pushed through tax hikes and negotiated with international creditors after a default on Sri Lanka’s foreign debt to clear the way for […]
Washington, United States | AFP | President Joe Biden said in an address to Congress Tuesday that the US economy is better positioned to grow “than any country on Earth,” despite disruptions from Covid-19 and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “The pandemic disrupted our supply chains and Putin’s unfair and brutal war in Ukraine disrupted energy supplies as well as food supplies,” Biden said during his State of the Union address. “But we’re better positioned than […]
