“The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data revealing that the COVID-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on international connectivity, shaking up the rankings of the world’s most connected cities.
“London, the world’s number one most connected city in September 2019, has seen a 67% decline in connectivity.
By September 2020, it had fallen to number eight.
“Shanghai is now the top-ranked city for connectivity with the top four most connected cities all in China—Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
“New York (-66% fall in connectivity), Tokyo (-65%), Bangkok (-81%), Hong Kong (-81%) and Seoul (-69%) have all exited the top ten.
“The study reveals that cities with large numbers of domestic connections now dominate, showing the extent to which international connectivity has been shut down.”
“Worldwide Airport Slot Board (WASB)… has sought for airport slot use relief for the northern summer 2021 season.
“For preserving essential air transport connectivity, the organisations called on regulators worldwide to quickly implement more flexible slot rules on a temporary basis.”
https://www.airport-technology.com/news/global-aviation-industry-airport-slot-use-relief/
“The World’s First Affluence Recession: Previous epidemics did not cause economic crises because most consumers were poor by today’s standards, and their discretionary spending was minimal…
“Today’s economy depends on a thousand luxuries large and small, from overpriced coffee to air travel, and these luxuries are what many consumers are now giving up.”
“The Walt Disney Co has announced plans to lay off 4,000 more workers in its theme parks division in California and Florida due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on the industry.
“…32,000 [Disney] workers will have their employment terminated in the first half of the 2021 financial year, which began last month.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/disney-jobs-axed-pandemic-b81742.html
“According to research by the Aspen Institute, nearly 40 million Americans could face eviction over the next several months.
“The only thing holding back the flood right now is the CDC’s eviction moratorium order and a patchwork of state and local protections for renters.”
https://www.vox.com/21569601/eviction-moratorium-cdc-covid-19-congress-rental-assistance-rent-crisis
“Millions of Americans will spend this Thanksgiving having struggled to put food on the table after the Covid-19 pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of people unemployed and without financial assistance to fill the gap.
“More than 25 million Americans reported not having enough to eat in the past week, according to US census data.”
“This era’s capitalism is driving many among the young to socialism: The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a historic 30,000 recently and likely left younger generations feeling further alienated from capitalism.
“One must go back to the 1930s to find another generation so repeatedly hammered by economic collapse. Many saw capitalism as hopelessly outmoded, especially in the early years of the Depression.
“Socialism, communism and fascism made enormous gains.”
“Britain’s struggle to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic will result in pay packets being squeezed and taxes rising to fill a £40bn hole in the public finances, two leading thinktanks have warned.
“Despite record peacetime borrowing of £394bn this year, the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the run-up to the next general election would be marked by a hit to earnings and pressure on the government to balance the books.”
“Traditional UK retail in crisis as shift to online accelerates:
“Today’s news of mounting financial problems at the UK’s Arcadia Group, owner of high street names such as Topshop and Burton, is the latest sign of distress from bricks-and-mortar retailers poleaxed by the pandemic.”
https://www.ft.com/content/2c6424c3-dc2f-4744-9b5a-ac3fb36eeaf6
“Britons are concealing a total of around £8.5billion worth of debt from their friends and family, new research claims.
“Swathes of secret shoppers are stacking up average hidden debts of around £600 each, with credit card use, going overdrawn, bank loans and not keeping up with bill repayments all proving problematic for many. Over a quarter of Britons keep quiet about their financial situation.”
“Hungary and Poland’s veto of the Eurozone’s pandemic recovery fund could cause unemployment levels to explode.
“According to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), 40 million people have benefited from temporary unemployment schemes due to coronavirus.”
“India entered an unprecedented recession with the economy contracting in the three months through September due to the lingering effects of lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Gross domestic product declined 7.5% last quarter from a year ago.”
“A struggling Indian bank being acquired by DBS Group Holdings Ltd. will write off 3.18 billion rupees ($43 million) of bonds before being purchased by the Singaporean group.
“The Reserve Bank of India, which orchestrated the rescue, “has advised the need to fully write down” the Tier-2 debt…”
“Between 2015 and 2019 the stock of household debt in China rose by about $4.6trn, close to the $5.1trn accrued by Americans over a similar period before the global financial crisis of 2007-09…
“Delinquency rates have climbed above 30% [!] this year at many nonbank lenders, compared to 5% for banks.”
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/11/28/bad-debts-in-china
“Debt risks continued to cloud the Chinese corporate bond market this week as another major state-owned enterprise defaulted on a trust loan after the shocking default of a state-owned coal mining firm earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Minmetals International Trust Co. Ltd. said that a wholly-owned logistics subsidiary of Jizhong Energy Group Co. Ltd., which is owned by the Hebei provincial government, had failed to repay principal and interest of a 500 million yuan ($76 million) trust loan due Monday.”
“Australian coal reportedly worth more than $1.1 billion is being held up at Chinese ports because of apparent problems with environmental standards [ie simmering trade disagreements].
“According to The Australian, there are now more than 80 coal ships stranded off the coast, with 1500 seafarers aboard…
“…the move has prompted the Morrison government to raise concerns about “discriminatory action”.”
https://7news.com.au/business/finance/australian-coal-held-up-off-chinese-ports-c-1653183
“South Africa can’t implement a pay deal with public servants because it would precipitate a fiscal crisis, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said.”
https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/south-african-treasury-warns-of-fiscal-crisis-over-state-wages
“Negotiations to save [South Africa’s] Land Bank from collapse are on a knife-edge as lenders to the state-owned agricultural bank balk at a plan that seeks to restructure its financial affairs and smothering debt load.”
Poor Guatemala has just been hit by brutal, back to back hurricanes and was rocked by budget protests earlier this week, with angry protestors setting fire to their Congress building.
“Guatemala has paid $37.7 million to an ICSIC creditor to lift an attachment on bond payments and avoid a sovereign default – though it still has to honour another award worth $55 million rendered in the same dispute.”
https://globalarbitrationreview.com/guatemala-pays-icsid-award-avoid-default
“Four people were shot dead and dozens wounded in Iraq’s south, medics said, in clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of Shia Muslim leader Muqtada al-Sadr…
“Iraq is facing its most dire fiscal crisis in decades following a collapse in oil prices earlier this year and the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the government unable to pay public sector salaries on time.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/27/tens-of-thousands-of-sadr-supporters-rally-in-baghdad
“Nearly a year into a pandemic that has ravaged the global economy like no time since the Great Depression, the only clear pathway toward improved fortunes is containing the virus itself…
“[But] even after the coronavirus is tamed into something familiar and manageable like the flu, will people habituated to keeping their distance from others return to restaurants, shopping malls and entertainment venues in the same numbers? With videoconferencing established as a replacement for business travel, will companies shell out as much as before to put them on airplanes and in hotels?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/business/coronavirus-global-economic-outlook.html
You can read the previous ‘Economic’ thread here. I’ll be back on Monday with a ‘climate’ thread.
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