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☆ Inflation blame game: UK economic woes set government and central bank on a collision course
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Sunak has reiterated his "total support" for the Bank of England and under fire Governor Andrew Bailey. Meanwhile, economic growth has all but stagnated and public debt has surpassed 100% of gross domestic product for the first time since March 1961. "What is perhaps surprising is that the energy shock in the U.K. was larger than in most of mainland Europe." In a recent CNBC-moderated panel at a monetary policy forum in Sintra, Portugal, Bailey noted that the U.K. labor force is unique in remaining below its pre-Covid levels. Thanos Papasavvas, founder of ABP Invest, also alluded to the unique susceptibility of the U.K. to high inflation, but said the Bank of England should have been alive to this far earlier.

Persons: Sunak, Andrew Bailey, STEFAN ROUSSEAU, Rishi Sunak, Shaan Raithatha, CNBC's, We've, they've, Raithatha, we've, Richard Flax, Panmure Gordon, Simon French, Bailey, it's, Brexit, Catherine Mann, It's, Panmure Gordon's, French, Thanos Papasavvas Organizations: Bank of England, Getty, Sunak's Conservative, The Bank of, Vanguard, CPI, CNBC, Bank, Monetary, Committee, Panmure, ABP Invest Locations: The Bank of England, U.S, Ukraine, Europe, Moscow, Sintra , Portugal, U.K, British

☆ Sierra Leone's main opposition party demands rerun of general election
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Umaru Fofana | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FREETOWN, July 1 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's main opposition party said it had decided to formally reject the results of the national election won by President Julius Maada Bio, citing "glaring irregularities", and called for a rerun of the June 24 poll. Bio was re-elected for a second term with 56% of the vote, narrowly avoiding a run-off against main rival Samura Kamara of the opposition All People's Congress (APC). But Kamara has questioned the official tally, while European election observers noted statistical inconsistencies. In its first official statement on the full results, the APC said on Friday it rejected the outcome "given the glaring irregularities and violations of established electoral procedures." "A rerun after an official declaration of results and a swearing-in ceremony is unconstitutional," he said by phone to Reuters.

Persons: Julius Maada, Samura Kamara, Kamara, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, Swaray, Alessandra Prentice, David Holmes Organizations: People's Congress, Reuters, EU, Thomson Locations: FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, United States, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France

☆ Ireland bolsters data watchdog's powers, privacy activists cry foul
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Padraic Halpin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBLIN, June 28 (Reuters) - Ireland bolstered its powerful data regulator's ability to stop the sharing of information during its inquiries into global tech companies amid criticism from opposition parties, privacy activists and non-governmental organisations. Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is the European Union's lead regulator of many of the world's largest technology companies due to their EU headquarters being based in Ireland, and has levied billions of euros worth of fines under the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018. The DPC had sought the powers in order to ensure fair procedure, he said. "To be clear nothing in this amendment will prevent a complainant from speaking out about the nature of their data privacy complaint. The European Consumer Organisation, European Digital Rights group and Amnesty International also spoke out against the bill.

Persons: Max Schrems, James Brown, DPC, Johnny Ryan, Catherine Murphy, Padraic Halpin, Grant McCool Organizations: DUBLIN, Data Protection, Irish, of Civil Liberties, European Consumer Organisation, European Digital Rights, Amnesty International, Social Democrats, Thomson Locations: Ireland, European, Austrian

☆ EU to meet on U.S. data transfer pact in mid-July - lawyer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBLIN, June 26 (Reuters) - The European Commission is due to finalise a new data transfer pact with the United States by mid-July, a lawyer for Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), the bloc's lead regulator for many big tech firms, said on Monday. The European Union and United States agreed in March 2022 on the new mechanism to safely transfer EU citizens' personal data to the U.S. after Europe's top court threw out the two previous data transfer frameworks because of concerns about U.S. intelligence agencies accessing Europeans' private data. The two sides have since been working through the detail and Catherine Donnelly, a lawyer for the DPC, said the Irish regulator understood the pact will be presented to the College of Commissioners, the Commission's collective decision-making body, by mid-July. The social media giant said it expects the new pact to be fully implemented before it has to suspend transfers. Reporting by Padraic Halpin, additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels, editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Catherine Donnelly, Meta, Denis McDonald, Padraic Halpin, Foo Yun Chee, Christina Fincher Organizations: DUBLIN, European, Data, European Union, United, College of Commissioners, Facebook, Irish High Court, Thomson Locations: United States, Dublin, Europe, Brussels

☆ Woman unresponsive after gunshots heard at Sierra Leone opposition HQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Cooper Inveen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The window of the room she was found in had a shattered hole the size of a fist, the reporter said. It is not immediately clear what happened outside the press conference or how the woman was wounded. Two witnesses caught inside the building, who were later released by security forces, told Reuters they heard gunfire and saw tear gas. The police and security forces did not respond to a request for comment. Bio and Kamara reported small-scale attacks on their supporters before the election, while the APC's recent questioning of the independence of election officials raised tensions.

Persons: Samura Kamara, Julius Maada, Sidi Yaya Tunis, Bio's, Kamara, Cooper Inveen, Edward McAllister, Philippa Fletcher, Chris Reese, Diane Craft Organizations: Reuters, Congress, APC, Thomson Locations: FREETOWN

[1/6] Ballots are displayed at a polling station, after polls closed, on the day of the national election, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, June 24, 2023. The race is expected to be close between the incumbent and the All People's Congress' (APC) Samura Kamara, who narrowly lost to Bio in the last election in 2018. The main opposition APC also said their election representatives were attacked and intimidated in three districts, highlighting the tense backdrop to the vote. Inflation soared to its highest level in over 20 years in 2022, while the national Leone currency slumped 60% in value. Bio and Kamara reported small-scale attacks on their supporters ahead of election day, while the APC's recent questioning of the independence of election officials has raised tensions.

Persons: Cooper Inveen, Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio's, Samura Kamara, Abu Koroma, We've, Kandeh Yumkella, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, Kamara, Alessandra Prentice, Angus MacSwan, Ros Russell, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Provisional, APC, World Bank, Thomson Locations: Freetown, Sierra Leone, FREETOWN, Sierra, Leone, Ukraine

As part of those reforms, Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, plans to scrap an old scheme by which it swaps its crude for gasoline imports. We are getting our swaps crude cargo in October at the earliest," one major player said. Nigeria's falling oil production has exacerbated the country's fiscal problems, because it reduces the revenue that could be used to repay debt. PRIVATE IMPORTERSPaying for fuel deliveries with crude cargoes means there is less crude for Nigeria and NNPC's to export, and so less revenue. International monetary experts have long suggested Nigeria remove fuel subsidies and liberalise its foreign exchange to address its fiscal crisis.

Persons: Bola Tinubu, Mele Kyari, Kyari, NNPC, Tinubu, Aliko, Nigeria's, Julia Payne, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Libby George, Dzirutwe MacDonald, David Evans Organizations: Reuters, NNPC, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, LONDON, Nigeria

☆ Employees at the student-loan company named in a major lawsuit blocking Biden's debt relief were confused about their involvement in the case: 'Are we the bad guys?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Employees at student-loan company MOHELA were confused about their role in one of the lawsuits blocking debt relief. MOHELA has denied involvement in the case, and Supreme Court justices were skeptical of its standing. But it appears MOHELA employees weren't given a heads-up they would be called into this major lawsuit. Millions of borrowers are waiting for the Supreme Court to issue its final decision on the legality of Biden's debt relief, which could happen in the coming weeks. Do you work at MOHELA or another student-loan company and want to share your story?

Persons: MOHELA, —, Joe Biden's, Cori Bush, Bush, James Campbell, Campbell, Ella Azoulay, Amy Coney Barrett Organizations: Student, Protection, Service, Employees, GOP, Missouri Sunshine, Missouri Rep, Missouri Attorney Locations: Missouri, Nebraska, MOHELA

☆ Bank of England can't rule out more rate rises, MPC's Haskel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - The Bank of England may need to raise interest rates more than once from their current level of 4.5% to bring inflation under control, Monetary Policy Committee member Jonathan Haskel said on Monday. "My own view is that it's important we continue to lean against the risks of inflation momentum, and therefore that further increases in interest rates cannot be ruled out," Haskel wrote in an article for The Scotsman newspaper. "As difficult as our current circumstances are, embedded inflation would be worse," he added. "We are monitoring indicators of inflation momentum and persistence closely," Haskel said on Monday. Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar and Kylie MacLellanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jonathan Haskel, Haskel, BoE, David Milliken, Sachin Ravikumar, Kylie MacLellan Organizations: Bank of England, Monetary, Scotsman, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Washington

Despite hitting an 18-month low of 4.70% in April, analysts do not expect India's inflation to fall to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 4% medium-term target in a sustainable manner for some time. India has raised rates by 250 basis points (bps) since May 2022, but surprised analysts in April by keeping them unchanged. India's hold on rates contrasts with recent central bank actions elsewhere. "Our goal is to achieve the inflation target of 4% and keeping inflation within the comfort band of 2-6% is not enough," Das said. Das said that the central bank would remain "nimble" with its liquidity operations amid spikes in overnight rates despite surplus liquidity in the banking system.

Persons: Shaktikanta Das, OIS, Das, Michael Patra, Suvodeep Rakshit, Gaura Sen Gupta, Swati Bhat, Sudipto Ganguly, Ira Dugal, Krishna N, Sam Holmes, Kim Coghill Organizations: REUTERS, Reserve Bank of India's, MPC, Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of Canada, Reuters, Reuters Graphics Reuters, IDFC, Thomson Locations: Delhi, India, Anushree, MUMBAI

ABUJA, June 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC Ltd is winding down crude swap contracts with traders and will pay cash for gasoline imports, its chief executive told Reuters, adding that private companies could begin importing petrol as soon as this month. And we now have an arm's-length process where we can pay cash for the imports," Kyari told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday. This is the first time NNPC has said it is terminating crude swap contracts. In its report detailing March crude oil loadings, NNPC also allocated crude to the swap contracts held by the consortiums. Nigeria has struggled to meet its OPEC oil quota of 1.742 million bpd due to grand oil theft and illegal refining.

Persons: Bola Tinubu's, Tinubu, NNPC, Kyari, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Camillus Eboh, Julia Payne, Susan Fenton Organizations: NNPC, Reuters, Dangote Refinery, Thomson Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Ukraine, Dangote, NNPC, Vienna

☆ The House just passed a bill to block student-loan forgiveness and end the payment pause immediately
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A bill to overturn Biden's student-debt relief passed the House by a vote of 218-203. Along with blocking broad debt relief, the bill would also end the payment pause. The bill would overturn President Joe Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, along with immediately ending the ongoing student-loan payment pause, throwing borrowers back into repayment earlier than expected. Pierce said that means the bill will "unwind debt relief already delivered to hundreds of thousands of public service workers across the country. This will happen because the seventh and eighth payment pauses also give credit towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness for each paused month covered by these executive actions,."

☆ The GOP's bill to permanently block Biden's student-debt relief could cause public servants' loan balances to unexpectedly balloon if it passes, advocacy groups say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The SBPC and AFT released a report analyzing the impacts of a GOP bill to overturn student-debt relief. GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx rejected that idea during a hearing last week as Democrats said loans would be reinstated under the bill. However, the text of the CRA statute could suggest the GOP bill might do far more than block Biden's broad debt relief and the student-loan payment pauses. "This resolution will unwind debt relief already delivered to hundreds of thousands of public service workers across the country. The report also estimates that two million public servants making progress toward payments in PSLF could lose "at least some progress toward relief."

☆ Bank of England set to raise rates to 4.5% next week, a possible peak
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Economists polled by Reuters this week were unanimous that the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will raise rates to 4.5% next week, in sharp contrast to a poll two weeks earlier which showed only a slim majority expecting a hike. "Previously we had seen the MPC holding Bank Rate at 4.25% but the April labour market and March CPI inflation data were too much to ignore," said Peter Schaffrik, global macro strategist at Royal Bank of Canada. Only a minority of economists polled by Reuters this week expect the BoE to raise interest rates above 4.5% this year. But investors in interest rate futures - whose views shift more rapidly - see rates reaching 4.75% or 5% by September. "In our view, further tightening beyond May can't be ruled out," said Andrew Goodwin, chief UK economist at Oxford Economics.

☆ Bank of England policymakers consider 12th straight rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - The Bank of England is weighing up whether to raise interest rates for the 12th meeting in a row next week as it continues to grapple with an inflation rate that remains above 10%, higher than in any other big, rich economy. Following is a summary of recent comments by members of the Monetary Policy Committee. If they become evident, further monetary tightening would be required. JON CUNLIFFE, DEPUTY GOVERNORHas not commented on monetary policy in recent months. MPC MEMBERS WHO VOTED IN MARCH TO STOP RAISING RATESSILVANA TENREYRO, EXTERNAL MPC MEMBERApril 14: "We need to be patient (to see the effects of past rate increases).

☆ David Solomon's private plane use gets flagged at Goldman Sachs' annual shareholder meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One shareholder cites reports about Goldman Sachs CEO's use of the corporate jet. A shareholder of Goldman Sachs cited Goldman CEO David Solomon's personal use of the corporate aircraft at the company's annual meeting Wednesday morning in Dallas. Chesser put the proposal in terms of Goldman Sachs organizational processes that, he said, "look pretty weak." Solomon acknowledged Chesser's remarks, and moved to take questions before advancing to the next shareholder proposal and presentation. As Insider has previously reported, at least one other shareholder has asked Goldman's investor relations department for information about Solomon's personal use.

The central bank said its policy stance remains focused on "withdrawal of accommodation", signalling it could consider further rate hikes if necessary. The monetary policy committee (MPC), comprising three members from the central bank and three external members, retained the key lending rate or the repo rate (INREPO=ECI) at 6.50%. Most analysts had expected one final 25 basis point hike in the RBI's current tightening cycle, which has seen it raise the repo rate by a total 250 bps since May last year. The central bank sees inflation at 5.2% in 2023-24, and GDP growth is seen at 6.5% in the financial year beginning April 1. Reuters GraphicsFinancial stability concerns appear to have prompted the pause in rate hikes, said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at rating agency ICRA.

☆ Instant View: Here’s what experts think of India's surprise rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

The monetary policy committee (MPC) retained the key lending rate or the repo rate (INREPO=ECI) at 6.50% in a unanimous decision. With the likely softening of CPI to the low- to mid-5% levels in the coming month, the current repo rate of 6.5% implies that India’s real policy rate will hover around 1% during 2023-24, while maintaining a policy rate differential of about 1.5% with the US. Room for additional rate hikes has been retained with MPC’s policy stance continuing to remain unchanged at ‘withdrawal of accommodation’. We believe the bar for future rate hikes has increased, especially since near-term prints of CPI will be sub 6%. Scope for further hikes is limited given our growth-inflation outlook and impact of the past rate hikes on the same.

☆ Biden could protect student-loan borrowers from being stuck with useless degrees and a lot of debt by bringing back a rule Trump ditched, progressive lawmakers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It included reinstating and strengthening the gainful employment rule, which protects student-loan borrowers from unaffordable debt post-graduation. Biden delayed implementation of the rule until 2024 and is expected to put out a proposal this month. "The Gainful Employment rule is a cornerstone of our ambitious regulatory agenda," the spokesperson said. Along with reinstating gainful employment, lawmakers and advocates have also called for the executives of for-profit schools to be held liable for costs when the school shuts down, rather than taxpayers and borrowers. Now, lawmakers and advocates await the department's gainful employment proposal.

☆ China refiner ZPC enters strategic fuel marketing deal with Sinopec
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, March 30 (Reuters) - Privately controlled Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC), operator of China's largest refinery, said on Thursday it has reached a strategic agreement with state refining giant Sinopec (600028.SS) on the domestic marketing of its fuel. Under a deal reached earlier this week, Sinopec will handle more than 60% of ZPC's domestic refined products sales, worth about 55 billion yuan ($8.0 billion) a year, the company said in a statement posted on its WeChat account. "With the growing new refining capacity at home, the mismatch between refined fuel supply and demand will become more and more prominent," ZPC said in the statement. ZPC, controlled by private chemical group Rongsheng Petrochemical Co Ltd (002493.SZ), operates an 800,000 barrels-per-day refinery in the eastern port of Zhoushan. Earlier this week, Rongsheng Petrochemical agreed to sell a 10% stake in itself to Middle Eastern energy giant Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) for $3.6 billion.

☆ BoE's Bailey says rate-setters can put inflation before bank worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( William Schomberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey signalled on Monday that interest rate-setters would focus on fighting inflation and would not be swayed unduly by worries about the health of the global banking system. Some investors have argued that central banks should take into account the banking turmoil when setting interest rates. "With the Financial Policy Committee on the case of securing financial stability, the Monetary Policy Committee can focus on its own important job of returning inflation to target," Bailey said. As well as the BoE, the European Central Bank, U.S. Federal Reserve and Swiss National Bank have all raised interest rates this month, despite the high-profile bank failures including Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. Bailey repeated the BoE's view that further monetary tightening would be required if signs of persistent inflationary pressure became evident.

[1/2] The processing facility at an oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, September 17, 2014. The company joins Canada's biggest oil producers in urging policymakers to boost public funding for the costly technology that is seen as key to cutting emissions from the carbon-intensive oil sands. Until then, the company will pay Canada's carbon tax, set to rise to C$170 a tonne by 2030, Nicholson said. Canada's oil sands produced a record 3.15 million bpd in 2022 and are forecast to hit 3.7 million bpd by 2030, according to S&P Global. "The oil sands are long-life, low-decline assets," said Wood Mackenzie analyst Scott Norlin.

☆ Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's bet big on A.I. is paying off as his core technology powers ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

As the engine behind large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Nvidia is finally reaping rewards for its early investment in AI. Nvidia counts on China for about one-quarter of its revenue, including sales of its popular AI chip, the A100. Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang shows CNBC's Katie Tarasov a Hopper H100 SXM module in Santa Clara, CA, on February 9, 2023. Nvidia founders Curtis Priem, Jensen Huang and Chris Malachowsky pose at the company's Santa Clara, California, headquarters in 2020. "We invented this new way of doing computer graphics, ray tracing, basically simulating the pathways of light and simulate everything with generative AI.

☆ China to restructure sci-tech ministry to achieve self-reliance faster
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Eduardo Baptista | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - China will restructure its science and technology ministry to channel more resources to achieving important breakthroughs, with the goal of moving faster towards self-reliance, according to a State Council plan submitted to parliament on Tuesday. The restructuring of the central government ministry was included in a reform plan of state institutions that the State Council, China's cabinet, submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC), which is meeting this week. The institutional changes revealed on Tuesday will reduce the scope of the science and technology ministry as previous responsibilities, such as building high-tech industrial development zones and driving technological progress in rural areas, will be re-distributed across several ministries. "Strengthen the Ministry of Science and Technology's strategic planning ... optimise the whole-process management of scientific and technological innovation," the cabinet said in the plan. Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ New EU-US data pact may come too late for Facebook -regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Conor Humphries | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies Facebook may face EU-U.S. data freeze by MayAction due to concerns about U.S. intelligenceNew EU-U.S data privacy deal may come laterDUBLIN, March 7 (Reuters) - A new pact to facilitate the safe transfer of EU citizens' personal data to the United States might not come into force in time to avoid a suspension of Facebook's transatlantic data flows, the U.S. firm's lead European regulator said on Tuesday. European Union regulators led by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon are finalising a ban on the legal tool used by Facebook to transfer European user data because of concerns U.S. intelligence agencies could access them. In an interview, Dixon said the ban could be in place by mid-May while a new EU-U.S data protection framework that would provide an alternative basis for the transfers might take longer. It must be signed off by other European regulators by April 13, and after that, Dixon said she would have another month to issue a ruling. NEW FRAMEWORKOfficials have said the new EU-U.S. framework, which aims to offer EU citizens the same level of data protection as under European law, may be ready by summer.

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