By Maggie Fick and Duncan Miriri NAIROBI (Reuters) – When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, Ethiopia was one of the world’s fastest growing economies. His pledges to open up one of Africa’s last untapped markets thrilled investors. But a year of war between the government and rebellious forces from the northern Tigray …
A year of war in Ethiopia batters investors and citizens Read More »
By Francesco Guarascio and Panu Wongcha-um BRUSSELS/BANGKOK (Reuters) – Tens of millions of migrants may be denied COVID-19 vaccines from a global programme because some major manufacturers are worried about legal risks from harmful side effects, according to officials and internal documents from Gavi, the charity operating the programme, reviewed by Reuters. Nearly two years …
Refugees lack COVID shots because drugmakers fear lawsuits – documents Read More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French business activity has expanded at a slower pace in December compared with last month, an initial estimate in a monthly survey of purchasing managers showed on Thursday, a trend partly due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Data compiler IHS Markit said that its flash composite PMI index for December, which includes …
French recovery slows down in December as Omicron weighs – PMI Read More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 3.7% in the third quarter from the previous quarter, the second largest decline on record, as the economy was hit by an outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19, official data showed on Thursday. The figure was not as bad as expected by economists polled …
New Zealand Q3 economic growth slammed by Delta lockdowns Read More »
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) -Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries, led by Japan and China, rose to a record high for the month of October, data from the Treasury department showed on Wednesday. Major foreign owners of Treasuries showed holdings of $7.648 trillion in October, an all-time peak, compared with $7.549 trillion the previous …
Foreign holdings of Treasuries hit record high in October -data Read More »
By Dan Burns (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said that while policymakers have decided on a swifter end to the asset purchases that have been padding its easy-money policy throughout the pandemic, they have made no decision yet on whether to start shrinking the central bank’s balance sheet. That issue will …
Fed’s Powell: No call yet on when balance sheet would shrink Read More »
By David Henry NEW YORK (Reuters) – Traders embraced and then turned way from the U.S. dollar on Wednesday as initial enthusiasm for higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve turned into confidence to take more risk with stocks and other currencies. The U.S. dollar index rose as much as 0.3% right after the Fed …
Dollar turns down in risk-on pivot as Fed chair talks policy Read More »
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) -Futures on the federal funds rate on Wednesday have fully priced in a quarter-percentage-point tightening by the Federal Reserve by May next year after the U.S. central bank doubled the pace of its monthly bond-buying tapering and flagged three interest rate increases in 2022. For March next year, traders …
Fed funds futures price in interest rate hike by May 2022 Read More »
(Reuters) – Fitch on Wednesday upgraded the outlook on South Africa’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to “stable” from “negative”, citing a faster-than-expected economic recovery. “A recovery is underway and GDP now seems on track to return to pre-pandemic levels during 2022” Fitch said. The rating agency affirmed the country’s sovereign debt rating at ‘BB-‘, …
Fitch revises South Africa’s outlook to ‘stable’ on economic recovery Read More »
By Anna Mehler Paperny TORONTO (Reuters) – As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Canadian government inspectors frequently deemed the employers of migrant workers compliant with health and safety rules despite a lack of evidence, according to an Auditor General report released Thursday. While Canadian provinces and territories set housing standards, the federal government is responsible for …
Canada failing migrant farmworkers on COVID-19, living inspections – audit Read More »
