Ruling party Pheu Thai’s boldest pledge, the 10,000 baht digital wallet handout, will be funded solely by the fiscal budget and all eligible Thais should have the money by the fourth quarter. After the National Digital Wallet Policy Committee met on Wednesday, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the scheme, which will cost about 500 billion baht, will be solely funded by the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget instead of loans. “I am able to fulfil the promise I gave to people. This [handout] adheres to laws and aligns with fiscal regulations,” said the premier, who also doubles as finance minister. Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat explained that the funding will come from three budgetary sources: 152.7 billion baht from the 2025 fiscal budget, 172.3 billion baht from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives 2025 budget, and 175 billion baht from the 2024 fiscal budget. He said the handout will be given to registered Thai citizens aged 16 and above who earn no more than 840,000 baht per tax year and have no more than 500,000 baht in their bank accounts. Recipients can use this digital wallet at specific stores within their home districts, he said, adding that these stores can use the money earned to buy goods from other stores without location restrictions. The digital wallet cannot be used to purchase “sin” goods, fuel, services or online products, he added. Stores wishing to be part of this campaign should have a presence in the tax system, he said, adding that the money earned via this scheme cannot be withdrawn immediately. Registration procedures for both users and stores will be available in the third quarter. Julapun said the 10,000 baht will be distributed via a “super app” created by the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, which can be used by all banks in an open-loop model. He insisted that the entire process would be transparent. The government also plans to set up a committee, chaired by the National Police chief, which will include members of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, to prevent fraudulent activities. It is believed that this digital wallet handout will provide a 1.2-1.6% boost to the country’s GDP, which has been badly affected by geopolitical tensions and a slow recovery from the pandemic.
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Former US President Donald Trump is now richer than billionaire financier George Soros, after his social media company’s successful debut on Nasdaq this week added billions of dollars to his fortune.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Trump’s net worth has soared by more than $4 billion this year to an estimated $7.8 billion. Trump ranked 328th on the list at Wednesday’s market close, while the 93-year-old Soros was down in 375th with an estimated $7.2 billion net worth. A hedge fund manager, Soros shot to infamy for crashing the British pound in 1992. Meanwhile, Trump’s increased wealth also placed him above the likes of billionaire entrepreneur and ABC ‘Shark Tank’ star Mark Cuban ($7.3 billion), Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus ($6.9 billion), oil-dynasty heir Gordon Getty ($6.2 billion), and Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings ($5.9 billion). The former US president’s net worth more than doubled this year thanks to his 58% stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, which effectively went public this week after merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Trump Media stock, whose new ticker corresponds to the former president’s initials, has attracted significant attention, gaining nearly 60% in the first half hour of trading on Monday. This comes as Trump faces hundreds of millions of dollars in growing legal fees and penalties as a result of numerous lawsuits, which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has denounced as spurious and politically motivated. As part of a process in which New York State Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump’s business of fraud, Judge Arthur Engoron last month demanded a $454 million bond for the former president to even file an appeal. James was preparing to seize Trump’s Manhattan properties when an appeals court announced on Monday that it would reduce the bond to $175 million and extend the filing deadline by ten more days. Earlier this month, Trump was forced to raise a bond of $91.6 million to appeal a defamation judgment against E. Jean Carroll. Trump is still appealing the $5 million judgment a jury awarded to Carroll last May after determining the former president had sexually abused her. The start of a New Year is a good time to scrutinize a portfolio and make some adjustments including adding undervalued stocks. Stocks that enjoyed big runs last year may cool off, requiring investors to search out securities they can buy low in hopes of eventually selling at a higher price. Fortunately, there are still a lot of undervalued stocks available despite the market rally that occurred in 2023. Stock market returns over the past year were uneven, with about 70% of the stocks in the S&P 500 lagging the index. Growth stocks outpaced value equities and most of the big gains were concentrated in mega-cap technology stocks. This presents investors with an opportunity to buy quality names on the cheap before they too move higher. Here are seven of the most undervalued stocks to buy for 2023.
The company’s shares are now trading at 26 times future earnings estimates, which is low by historic standards and presents a window of opportunity for investors to take a position while the price is favorable. In November, Starbucks reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results, and subsequently announced details of a new strategic plan that will see the retail coffee chain open 17,000 new locations by 2030 even as it cuts $3 billion in costs. While ambitious, the growth strategy has done little to help lift SBUX stock. The share price is being weighed down by ongoing concerns about sales in China, where the economy is struggling, and unionization activity at home in the U.S.
The company also said that it will buy back $10 billion of its own stock over the next year and reinstated its 2023 earnings guidance. However, even with the latest move higher, GM stock still looks undervalued. The company’s shares are currently trading at just five times future earnings estimates, which is why its among the more attractive undervalued stocks. Also, the stock is up only 7% in the last 12 months and is currently trading at the same level it was at a decade ago. A note of caution that it will likely be awhile before GM recovers from last fall’s strike by the United Auto Workers union, a job action the company says cost it $800 million in lost vehicle production.
Long-term investors who are blessed with patience may want to do some bottom fishing after Nike’s latest financial results. In truth, Nike’s recent print was better-than-expected. It was the forward guidance that spooked investors. The company reported quarterly earnings per share of $1.03 versus 85 cents that had been expected among analysts. Q2 revenue was $13.39B, slightly below the forecasted $13.43B. Nike’s gross margins increased for the first time in 18 months, and inventories dropped 14% to $8 billion. Unfortunately, Nike said that it now expects full-year revenue to grow 1%, compared to a prior outlook of up mid-single digits. For the just completed fourth quarter of 2023, Nike expects revenue to be slightly negative. That news sunk NKE stock. But there is a buy-the-dip opportunity here.
However, the stock is only trading at 14 times future earnings estimates, which is low for a company of its size, and it offers a dividend payment that yields 2%. FedEx reported earnings per share of $3.99 compared to $4.18 that was expected. Despite the miss, the company’s earnings were up more than 25% from a year earlier due largely to cost-cutting initiatives. Revenue in the latest quarter declined 3% to $22.17 billion from a year earlier, also missing analysts’ estimates. Looking ahead, FedEx said that it expects a low-single-digit decline in revenue for the entire fiscal year, down from a previous forecast of flat sales. It was the second consecutive quarter that FedEx lowered its sales outlook, citing weakening demand. However, the company said that its operating income should improve in the months ahead due to its ongoing cost-cutting plan.
The European Commission is pressing ahead with its plan to give Kiev up to €3 billion ($3.2 billion) from profits generated by frozen Russian assets amid waning financial support from the US, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Brussels is fast-tracking the decision to seize the interest earned from the assets held at clearinghouse Euroclear, starting from February onwards, the article stated. A first tranche of money could be sent to Kiev as early as July if Brussels can secure the approval of all bloc members, the outlet said, citing EU officials. The proposal is reportedly expected before a summit of EU leaders next week. The West has frozen roughly $300 billion in holdings belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict two years ago. Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion) of them and has accrued nearly €4.4 billion in interest over the past year. According to the report, Brussels would disburse between €2 and €3 billion in revenue generated by frozen assets this year, depending on interest rates. EU officials estimate that overall profits derived from Russian funds held by Euroclear could reach €20 billion by 2027, the FT said. The issue of tapping Russian assets has grown in importance since a $60 billion American aid package to Ukraine was blocked by the Republican-led US Congress, prompting Kiev to look for alternative donors to fund its war effort. The European Commission is pressing ahead with its plan to give Kiev up to €3 billion ($3.2 billion) from profits generated by frozen Russian assets amid waning financial support from the US, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Brussels is fast-tracking the decision to seize the interest earned from the assets held at clearinghouse Euroclear, starting from February onwards, the article stated. A first tranche of money could be sent to Kiev as early as July if Brussels can secure the approval of all bloc members, the outlet said, citing EU officials. The proposal is reportedly expected before a summit of EU leaders next week. The West has frozen roughly $300 billion in holdings belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict two years ago. Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion) of them and has accrued nearly €4.4 billion in interest over the past year. According to the report, Brussels would disburse between €2 and €3 billion in revenue generated by frozen assets this year, depending on interest rates. EU officials estimate that overall profits derived from Russian funds held by Euroclear could reach €20 billion by 2027, the FT said. The issue of tapping Russian assets has grown in importance since a $60 billion American aid package to Ukraine was blocked by the Republican-led US Congress, prompting Kiev to look for alternative donors to fund its war effort. Former US President Donald Trump has essentially ruled out the threat of cryptocurrencies being banned if he wins another term in the White House, triggering a jump in Bitcoin prices to an all-time high.
Trump, who warned in 2021 that cryptocurrencies were a “disaster waiting to happen,” appeared in a CNBC interview on Monday to have softened his stance. He acknowledged the popularity of alternative currencies, noting that Bitcoin was even used by many buyers of the special-edition Trump sneakers that he unveiled last month. “You probably have to do some regulation, but many people are embracing it,” the Republican frontrunner said. “More and more, I’m seeing people wanting to pay Bitcoin, and you’re seeing something that’s interesting, so I can live with it one way or the other.” Bitcoin surged above $72,000 for the first time after Trump’s interview. Other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Solana and Dogecoin, also rallied. “It’s an additional form of currency,” Trump said of Bitcoin. “I used to say, ‘I want one currency, I want the dollar, I don’t want people leaving the dollar.’ I feel that way, but I will tell you, it has taken on a life.” The ex-president insisted that he still intends to defend the US dollar’s status as the world’s leading reserve currency. “I would not allow countries to go off the dollar,” Trump said. “When we lose that standard, that will be like losing a revolutionary war. That will be a hit to our country just like losing a war, and we can’t let that happen. Too many countries now are fighting to get off the dollar.” As for cryptocurrencies, he added, “I have seen there has been a lot of use of that, and I’m not sure that I’d want to take it away at this point.” Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee to face incumbent President Joe Biden in this year’s US election. Polls released in the past week by the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CBS News/YouGov, and the New York Times show that US voters currently favor Trump over Biden by a margin of 2-4 percentage points. Although Trump is no longer contemplating a cryptocurrency crackdown, he has pledged to block the development of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC). He said in January that he would never allow a CBDC, calling it a “dangerous threat to freedom.” A digital dollar would give the federal government “absolute control over your money,” he warned. Bitcoin, the world’s highest-valued cryptocurrency, hit a new record on Monday as it surged above $72,000.
The token soared to a fresh all-time high of $72,030, breaking the record set in November 2021 and bringing gains for the year so far to nearly 70%, according to CoinDesk data. In 2021, Bitcoin reached $68,790 as the crypto industry boomed and amateur investors poured savings into digital coins. Analysts attribute the latest surge to cash inflows into US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as to expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates. “Bitcoin has started the week with a surge, dragging the rest of the cryptocurrency space higher with it,” DailyFX strategist Nick Cawley told Reuters. ETFs allow more retail investors to hold Bitcoin indirectly via funds that trade on exchanges. Institutional investors have shown increasing interest in the biggest cryptocurrency by market value after the US regulator approved crypto ETFs in January. The rally of the volatile cryptocurrency comes after its value plunged below $20,000 in 2022. Nearly $1.4 trillion was wiped off the crypto market in 2022 amid bankruptcies in the sector. According to SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly worked as former US President Donald Trump’s communications director, the latest rally in the token is a “really big breakthrough for Bitcoin as a digital asset.” The financier added that it is a “much broader story for digital property in general.” Late last year Standard Chartered Bank predicted that Bitcoin would reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, or even earlier. Cathie Wood, CEO of the investment firm ARK Invest, went even further, forecasting the Bitcoin price would breach $1 million by 2030. Only two nations in the world have approved Bitcoin as legal tender – El Salvador and the Central African Republic. However, CAR later reversed the decision. Bitcoin is recognized as a digital asset in many developed countries such as the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, with Germany, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland and Spain allowing Bitcoin to be used in transactions. Meanwhile a number of countries, including China, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have banned Bitcoin. Сhina, once one of the most popular places for Bitcoin mining, prohibited all cryptocurrency transactions in the country in 2021 when it forbade banks and other institutions from providing services such as clearing and exchange, and made mining in the country illegal. It's not every day that an arcane European Union initiative goes viral online. But last Friday turned out to be that day thanks to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire exporting his frustration with the slow progress of the bloc's capital markets union (CMU) project straight to social media with an online clip that has since amassed more than 8.5 million views.
Now, a whole host of online channels are circulating the French-language clip, in some cases in AI-enhanced dubbed English, as proof that the EU is bankrupt and that Brussels is on the verge of raiding Europeans' savings, sparking critiques and memes. At issue is Le Maire's contention that a capital markets union would give authorities the “ability to mobilize all of Europeans' savings, some €35,000 billion worth, to finance the climate transition, fund our defense efforts, and invest in artificial intelligence.” Some, such as Arnaud Bertrand — a tech entrepreneur whose posts frequently fetch over 1 million views on X (formerly known as Twitter) — alleged Le Maire was “straight out declaring that Europe has run out of money” and signaling EU leaders’ intent to use Europeans' bank deposits to fund public spending, including on aid to Ukraine. But that's not quite what's happening here. The real point of the CMU is to create a single market for investment in the EU — one where people can invest across borders easily, much as they do across states in the U.S., while also benefitting from scaled-up services. So, rather than having 27 national pension schemes, under the vision consumers could pay into a pan-EU one. And, rather than navigating different tax regimes across EU countries, people could invest abroad in the EU as easily as they can in their home country. European companies, meanwhile, would be able to access financing from the whole of the EU, rather than being forced to list in the U.S., as German company Birkenstock did last year to Brussels' embarrassment. The key confusion with the online reaction to Le Maire's rant is that requisitioning savings is not on anyone's agenda. The CMU, as it stands, is intended to be entirely voluntary. What's more, even those in EU policy circles believe Le Maire's bark is worse than his bite in pushing for the project. Le Maire expressed equally bombastic language to reporters. “I’m fed up with discussions. I’m fed up with empty statements. Do you really think that China and the U.S. will be impressed by our statements? We need decisions,” he told reporters as he entered Friday's meeting of European finance ministers in Ghent, Belgium. However, given the glacial progress on the initiative to date, some of the French frustration might be justified. The EU has wanted a single market for capital since close to its inception, while the European Commission has been trying to regulate a CMU into existence since revealing a dedicated action plan nearly a decade ago. Today's reinvigorated push for action is a function of the EU struggling to keep up in an increasingly competitive landscape. Unlike the U.S., the bloc can't easily throw huge sums of money at green industrial policy via an Inflation Reduction Act-style act. Nor can it match China's aggressive state support for key industries like solar panels and chip manufacturers. Meanwhile, the importance of meeting green and digital transition goals has upped the urgency of unlocking private investment alongside public funds. This is especially the case now that governments, in the wake of unprecedented levels of EU public spending to prop up the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic and during the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, are having to tighten their belts. For now, the EU is working on moving the CMU along at different levels. Finance ministers plan to sign off on a political statement with their priorities for the project next month, and former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi is working on a report about the EU’s competitiveness. The Commission, on its part, has put forward legislation on listing and retail investment with the aim of making capital flows across the bloc more simple. But Le Maire’s argument is that none of this is enough, and if the EU tries to move forward with 27 countries on board, the CMU will never get done due to the complexity. Instead, he wants a smaller group of countries to move forward with cross-border projects to speed up investment. Nonetheless, at the Ghent summit, officials involved in the drafting of the Eurogroup statement and deputies from national ministries gave a resounding eye-roll to Le Maire’s latest outburst, knowing that behind closed doors he is far more cooperative. France’s finance ministry, meanwhile, isn’t too worried about the naysayers. Speaking to POLITICO, one spokesperson said the CMU project is “clear and credible” and France will keep working on it. “For those who have questions, we are open to discussion to make it understandable,” they added. The price of Bitcoin, the world’s highest-valued cryptocurrency, surged past the $60,000 mark on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk.
The token rose above $60,600 at 14:55 GMT, its highest level since November 2021, marking a gain of over 6% over the past 24 hours. The digital currency has surged for a fifth consecutive day, supported by inflows into US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs allow more retail investors to hold Bitcoin indirectly via funds that trade on exchanges. The launch of ETFs in early January has helped drive the value of Bitcoin up nearly 40% so far. According to Reuters, traders are also investing in Bitcoin ahead of the upcoming halving in April, a process designed to slow the release of the cryptocurrency. The value of all the Bitcoin in circulation has exceeded $2 trillion this month for the first time in two years, according to Reuters, which cited the crypto platform CoinGecko. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $68,982.20 in November 2021 before dropping to around $29,000 last July due to uncertainty caused by the criminal charges against Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and amid concern about economic woes in China. For more than seven decades, a secretive and highly influential organization has been bringing together the heads of Europe’s largest banks twice a year at luxury hotels and royal palaces across the continent to discuss global policymaking among other issues, according to a report by the Financial Times on Monday.
The article highlighted that the existence of the Institut International d’Etudes Bancaires (IIEB) is barely known outside its membership while the group has no website and its meeting agendas are not made public. Members are reportedly discouraged from sharing details of the discussions. “This is not like Davos, where anyone can buy their way in,” one longtime member told FT on condition of anonymity. “This really is exclusive,” he added. Some members have been complaining about lack of transparency within the group, which was set up to encourage closer ties among banks at a time of geopolitical tensions and challenges to financial stability across Europe. “We were members for decades when the organization served a purpose to bring European banks closer together,” Par Boman, the chair of Swedish bank Handelsbanken, told the FT. “But after the financial crisis we felt its extravagance and lack of transparency did not fit our values.” According to the report, the IIEB was established in Paris in 1950 by the heads of four lenders from across the continent – Crédit Industriel et Commercial, Union Bank of Switzerland, Société Générale de Belgique and Amsterdamsche Bank. The aim was to hold regular high-level discussions on developments in the banking sector, as well as the economy and monetary system. The topics under discussion reportedly reflected the concerns of European bankers at certain periods of time. In the 1950s, for example, it was the formation of subsidiaries in former colonies, while by the 1960s, the attention had turned to the global role of the US dollar, the problems with the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates and the threat of American takeovers of European banks. Towards the end of the century, the IIEB discussions were more concerned with the impact of the euro, the growing derivatives market, and M&A deals between big banks, the FT wrote. “As Europe’s lenders come under pressure to improve their lackluster valuations – having fallen far behind their US rivals on profitability in recent years – and with the continent bracing for a long-heralded wave of cross-border dealmaking, the IIEB is entering one of its most important periods since it was set up in the aftermath of the second world war,” the paper wrote. According to the FT, besides being a forum where Europe’s top financiers can exchange ideas, the IIEB serves as an elite social club where, over three days, the bankers’ spouses can enjoy gala dinners, private tours of historic landmarks and high-end shopping trips. The report noted there has been almost no media coverage of the IIEB’s activities during its more than seven decades of existence despite the importance of the topics under discussion. Daily life became 3.2 percent more expensive in January compared to the same month last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported based on an initial estimate.
According to CBS, it calculated the estimate based on incomplete source data. In December, inflation was still 1.2 percent. The increase was mainly because the influence of energy price developments on inflation decreased in January. The drop in energy prices was much less sharp in January than in December. Energy and fuel together became almost a quarter cheaper, on average, in the last month of 2023 than a year earlier. In January, energy and fuels became only 2 percent cheaper. Excluding energy, inflation was 3.5 percent in January and 3.4 percent in December. The prices of energy like gas, electricity, and district heating strongly influenced inflation for some time. Energy prices increased in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine, and inflation skyrocketed. From January 2023, the government’s energy price cap led to lower energy prices, and partly as a result, inflation was lower in 2023. Because the price cap was introduced exactly one year ago in January, the influence of energy prices on inflation decreased in January 2024. Food, drinks, and tobacco prices increased by over 4 percent in January. In December, that increase was still over 5 percent. Services were 4.8 percent more expensive than a year earlier. According to the European measuring method, which is slightly different from CBS’s, prices rose by 3.1 percent annually in January. In December, that was 1 percent. The method agreed upon within the European Union to measure inflation does not take account of the costs of living in your own home. The inflation rate for the entire eurozone will be announced later in the day. The European Union has put together a preliminary agreement that includes a €10,000 cap on cash payments to address the challenges posed by money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The accord, reached through negotiations among member states and the European Parliament this week, seeks to protect citizens and the EU financial system from illicit financial activities. However, the proposed legislation raises privacy concerns and fears of state surveillance and government control over how people spend their money, as well as potential abuse of the new powers. The newly established regulations will impose the cash payment limit on entities engaged in financial services, banking, real estate agencies, asset management firms, casinos, and merchants. Moreover, these entities will be obligated to verify the identity of individuals making cash payments within the range of €3,000 to €10,000. While member countries have the flexibility to set lower limits for cash payments, the interim agreement introduces a heightened focus on monitoring high-net-worth individuals, a provision advocated for by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In an expansion of the scope of oversight, the interim agreement now encompasses a significant segment of the cryptocurrency sector. Crypto service providers will be required to authenticate customer identities for transactions equal to or exceeding €1,000. Beginning in 2029, the regulatory framework will be extended to include professional football clubs and agents, which will be categorized as obligated entities. This classification mandates these entities authenticate customer identities, monitor transactions, and promptly report any suspicious money transfers to the financial intelligence services of their respective countries. The agreement empowers member countries to exclude football clubs and agents from their national lists if they are determined not to pose a risk. National financial intelligence services and other competent authorities will gain access to information on ownership, bank accounts, and land and property registries. These authorities will also supervise the transfer of ownership for specific luxury goods, setting thresholds at €250,000 for cars and €7.5 million for yachts and aircraft. The impending implementation of the new legislation has ignited a robust public debate, exposing a diverse range of viewpoints. Heightened apprehensions surrounding potential totalitarian surveillance, especially with exemptions for high-profile individuals, evoke disquieting parallels to Orwell’s ‘1984’ and intensify fears of a dystopian reality. Skepticism has been cast on the effectiveness of these regulations, prompting queries about their ability to genuinely combat money laundering and fostering calls for a more inclusive strategy that addresses the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector. Conversely, some interpret the EU’s cash payment cap as a positive stride toward meeting the needs of the contemporary economy. They acknowledge the evolving financial landscapes and the digitization of cash flows, including the growing influence of central bank digital currencies. However, there are those who condemn these measures as excessive state control. The ongoing discourse reflects a polarized perspective on the EU’s actions, encapsulating concerns about potential abuses of power and the necessity of adapting payment methods to contemporary needs. This debate underscores the intricate dynamics between financial regulations, surveillance, and individual freedoms in the digital age. Cryptocurrencies facilitate illegal activities such as money laundering, according to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has insisted that digital assets should be banned.
Dimon once again attacked the top cryptocurrency this week, calling Bitcoin “worthless” and saying he still isn’t buying into the hype surrounding the crypto. “I've always said that Bitcoin doesn't have value,” the Wall Street heavyweight told Fox Business Network on Tuesday. “The actual use cases are sex trafficking, tax avoidance, money laundering, terrorism financing. It's not just people buying and selling Bitcoin,” he claimed. Dimon and several other industry chiefs, including Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, have said the crypto market must follow the same anti-money-laundering rules as traditional financial institutions. A series of fake tweets from the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account this week about the much-awaited Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval decision sent the price of the crypto soaring above $47,000. It later fell as low as $45,400 after the tweets turned out to be fake. The crypto industry has suffered a slew of scandals recently, starting with the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange in November 2022. This placed the sector under intense scrutiny from US lawmakers and resulted in the conviction of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. In November 2023, another major crypto exchange, Binance, was fined $4.3 billion for various violations, ranging from money laundering to bank fraud. The 20-nation euro currency bloc is expected to see only moderate economic growth, +0.6% in 2024, according to the results of a survey carried out by the Financial Times among 48 economists.
The outlooks issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are more optimistic, as analysts from the institutions expect the bloc’s economy to grow 0.8% and 1.2% in 2024, respectively. The experts polled by the FT said that the Eurozone economy won't be able to exceed 0.6% growth in spite of the fact that wages are expected to grow faster than inflation. Two thirds of the respondents said that they see the economy in the euro area slip into a recession. commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. According to the economists, wage growth in the single currency area is set to total only 4% in 2024, while consumer prices are projected to rise by over 2.5% on average next year and slightly below 2.1% in 2025. The ECB had previously forecast wages and inflation next year to grow 4.6% and 2.7% respectively, which would mark the growth of real household incomes for the first time in three years. The regulator expects consumer prices to grow 2.1% in 2025. Meanwhile, unemployment is projected to rise from a record eurozone low of 6.5% in October to 6.9% at the end of next year, according to most economists polled. High interest rates, probable energy market turmoil and geopolitical instability are expected to lead to a deeper recession, the economists warned, saying that the potential election of Donald Trump as US president along with the possibility of Ukraine losing the military conflict with Russia could send the single currency bloc into a period of even weaker growth. Canada is broadening a probe of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and freezing its participation in the multilateral organization indefinitely, the government said Friday.
Ottawa had temporarily suspended its involvement in the AIIB in June after a whistleblower asserted that China's ruling party pulls the strings at the bank. The AIIB, a project pushed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was launched in 2016 to counter Western dominance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It has 106 global members, including Australia, Canada, France and Germany. "In consultation with some of our closest international partners, Canada is expanding its review of the AIIB," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement, adding that its participation in the bank would remain indefinitely suspended. The probe will include an analysis of AIIB investments, as well as its governance and management frameworks, and an assessment of management's response to concerns raised by a former executive. Bob Pickard, a Canadian who was the bank's communications chief, resigned in June and alleged that the organization is dominated by members of the Chinese Communist Party and primarily funds projects of interest to Beijing. Ottawa said it has raised those concerns with Australia, Britain, Germany and Sweden on the sidelines of a recent IMF meeting. The AIIB and China's foreign ministry have rejected Pickard's explosive claims, saying the bank operates with "openness, meritocracy and transparency." British insurance company Lloyd’s of London said it is “deeply sorry” for its strong links to the transatlantic slave trade and will now commit around £52 million ($63.8 million) to a program of initiatives as reparation for its past wrongdoings.
Lloyd’s, which began operating in 1688 as the trade in humans flourished, will invest £40 million ($49.1 million) in slave trade-affected regions and spend around £12 million ($14.7 million) on a diversity program to boost the recruitment of black and ethnic-minority employees in the commercial insurance market, as well as bursaries for black students to study in the UK. “We’re deeply sorry for this period of our history and the enormous suffering caused to individuals and communities both then and today,” Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chairman of Lloyd’s said in a statement on Wednesday. The move comes after independent research discovered that the 335-year-old insurance market played a “significant role” in facilitating the 300-year transatlantic slave trade, labeled by the UN the largest forced migration in history. More than two million Africans were estimated to have died en route from their countries to the Americas, where slaves were used for forced labor between the years 1500 and 1800. Research published this month by Black Beyond Data, based at Johns Hopkins University, found Lloyd’s insured the largest slave-ship owners in the early 1800s and also facilitated relationships between slave-ship captains, ship owners, and insurance underwriters. According to the findings of the Mellon Foundation-funded investigation, the organization also actively protested the abolition of the slave trade across the British Empire in 1807. The Black Beyond Data team examined material from Lloyd’s archive, including ledgers where insurers recorded policies for ships leaving Liverpool as part of the trade, according to Alexandre White, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University. The firm apologized in 2020 for its historical ties to the slave trade and authorized the independent report, over which it claimed it had no editorial control. In response to the findings, the British firm said on Wednesday that, while it cannot undo the past, its current interventions will address the vestiges of the trade, including inequalities. “We’re resolved to take action by addressing the inequalities still seen and experienced by Black and ethnically diverse individuals: which is why we’ve launched Inclusive Futures, a comprehensive programme of initiatives to help these individuals and communities progress from the classroom to the boardroom,” Bruce Carnegie-Brown said. The move is “completely inadequate,” according to Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at the University of Birmingham, who has criticized Lloyd’s of “reparations washing.” “This is PR: giving an apology, making some commitments, but this is not serious. You’re talking about massive amounts of wealth that they owe back to people,” The Guardian quoted Andrews as saying. The professor has been quoted by the BBC as saying “If they were serious they would be proposing a transfer of wealth to the descendants of the enslaved, not a diversity scheme for so called ‘ethnically diverse’ people.” Llloyd’s of London declared a mid-year 2023 profit of about $4.8 billion (£3.9 billion). |
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