“An additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030, due to the severe longterm impact of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total number to more than a billion, a new study from the UN Development Programme has found.
“Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a “tipping point”…”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1079152
“Friday’s big monthly U.S. payrolls report was a big disappointment, with roughly half the number of jobs created in November as were forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.
“But the troublesome signs for the labor market were hardly limited to the underwhelming headline number…”
“Iceland’s Reykjanesbær City Council have urged the government to temporarily extend the unemployment benefit period, RUV reports…
“As reported, Iceland’s national rate of unemployment is now higher than it was following the 2008 financial collapse, with foreign workers hit particularly hard.”
https://grapevine.is/news/2020/12/04/government-urged-to-extend-unemployment-benefit-period/
“Here’s a head-scratcher: The use of cash has been declining for years in Britain, but demand for banknotes is skyrocketing. Nobody is quite sure where the money is going.
“A group of UK lawmakers said on Friday as much as £50 billion ($67.4 billion) in cash was “missing,” and it urged the Bank of England to investigate.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/04/business/missing-cash-bank-of-england-50-billion/index.html
“Crisis in retail: the UK town centres struggling to survive.
“Nationally, the vacancy rate in retail is now 13.2 per cent, according to the Local Data Company. But in some towns, especially in the north of England and parts of Scotland, it is almost double that. Vacancy rates in shopping centres are almost twice those of retail parks.”
https://www.ft.com/content/77b797fc-2fcf-420b-947c-a1a72109c231
“The COVID pandemic is putting pressure on the sustainability of some European economies, prompting some to argue that economic growth and monetary support from the European Central Bank will not be sufficient and that public debt should be renegotiated.
“The EU is struggling to overcome the deepest crisis in its seven-decade history, caused by the most fatal pandemic in a century, which depressed growth and sent public debt to record levels.”
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/can-eu-economies-grow-enough-to-repay-the-increasing-debt/
“Deflation in Europe Becoming Self-Fulfilling:
“In late October, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde stated that she didn’t see any deflation threats “at all.” In order to try and stop the perceived self-fulfilling process the ECB is burying its head in the sand and not seeing what is directly in front of it.”
https://www.deflation.com/en/Articles/Deflation-in-Europe-Becoming-Self-Fulfilling
“European Banks Warned By ECB to Avoid Letting Bad Loans Pile Up:
“The European Central Bank urged the region’s big banks to do a better job scrutinizing companies’ ability to repay loans and weather the pandemic, warning them of the possibility that a mountain of loans eventually sours, weighs down the banking industry and slows the economic recovery.”
“The surge in crude prices to the brink of $50 a barrel isn’t being celebrated in every corner of the oil market: weak fuel demand in Europe means the continent’s beleaguered refineries are struggling to pass on the higher cost to buyers.
“Road-fuel usage in some of Europe’s biggest economies has slowly crept higher in recent weeks, but it’s still down by about a third compared…”
“More than 1 million small and medium-sized businesses [Mexico] have closed permanently since the middle of last year, mainly due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by the national statistics agency Inegi.
“The agency determined that 1,010,857 businesses have shut their doors for good since May 2019, a figure that represents 20.8% of the [total].”
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/coronavirus-has-shuttered-1-million-small-businesses/
“Mineworkers in Peru on Friday joined a growing group of farmworkers in blocking major highways throughout the country, ratcheting up pressure on newly appointed interim President Francisco Sagasti.
“Hundreds of union members from the Doe Run metallurgical plant, located in the Andean town of La Oroya, blockaded a highway critical to the supply of food to the capital, Lima.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/4/peru-mine-workers-block-highway-labour-protests-spread
“The World Bank said on Friday it has approved a $400 million loan in support of Morocco’s reforms to strengthen the safety net for poorer households following the coronavirus pandemic.
“The funding will support social assistance programmes including emergency cash transfers set up by Morocco through a special COVID-19 fund, the World Bank said in a statement.”
“Lebanon seeks to get an emergency loan of $246 million to aid from the World Bank to provide poor families with cash assistance…
“A current report by the World Bank estimates Lebanon’s real GDP has decelerated by nearly 20 per cent and that half of the population has fallen into deprivation in 2020.”
https://lomazoma.com/breaking-news/7854001.html
“Kuwaitis get another chance Saturday to do something rare in the Arab Gulf — elect lawmakers with a real say in how their country is run.
“Yet it’s hard to detect much enthusiasm. The parliamentary election comes at a make-or-break moment for an economy reeling from lower oil prices, the pandemic and stalled reform.”
“Protesters hit the streets in several Iraqi cities on Friday, one week after clashes between supporters of a controversial Shiite cleric and anti-government demonstrators left nine people dead.
“On November 27, followers of militiaman-turned-cleric Moqtada Sadr turned out in a show of force in the Iraqi capital, southern hotspot of Nasiriyah and other cities.”
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201204-iraqis-renew-protests-in-solidarity-after-violence
“India is witnessing its biggest unrest in the farming industry in years.
“Tens of thousands of farmers are protesting in the capital New Delhi against law that they say will expose them to corporate exploitation.”
“Chevron Corporation is reducing its capital and exploratory budget for the next five years by billions of U.S. dollars compared to previous guidance as it looks to save its dividend payouts in the post-pandemic world.”
“Total SE is in talks to divest from an oil project in Iraqi Kurdistan, people familiar with the matter said, as it continues to offload assets in a bid to trim debt…
“Like its peers, Total has been selling assets to curb debt as plunging oil and gas prices sap earnings.”
“Under pressure from investors and governments alike to cut emissions, major European oil companies are… struggling to craft business plans that promise the returns shareholders have come to expect. Europe’s big oil firms, however, have another card to play…
“BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total all say they are betting on higher profits from sales of groceries and snacks at their retail networks, which will still be an essential port of call for motorists in an electric era.”
“Citing an array of risks heading into 2021, Moody’s Investors Service has a negative outlook on much of the global banking industry.”
“A sharp increase in margin calls during this year’s market turmoil has triggered a fierce debate between banks and derivatives clearinghouses over the extent to which the clearing industry needs to reform and standardise margining practices to avoid destabilising the wider financial system in future crises.”
“Global debt is set to reach $200 trillion (£149 trillion), or 265% of the world’s annual economic output, by the end of the year, S&P Global has forecast… The credit ratings giant said it amounted to a 14-point rise as a percentage of world GDP.
“Global debt-to-GDP has been trending up for many years; the pandemic simply exacerbated the rise,” S&P’s report said. Yet, despite the big jump and an expected wave of defaults over the coming year, the firm does not expect a major crisis at this stage.”
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/global-debt-hit-200-trillion-115035556.html
The IMF was warning about our “$19tn corporate debt timebomb” before the pandemic even started.
“Covid’s legacy is a corporate debt mountain… Once state support is switched off, many businesses will be unable to bear the debt they took on to survive.”
https://www.ft.com/content/ed8cb1c7-22cd-4a68-ad91-bca1f0048b54
You can read the previous ‘Economic’ thread here. I’ll be back on Monday with a ‘climate’ thread.
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