Month: October 2018

Concerns about debt diplomacy on China's expansive infrastructure megaproject — the Belt and Road — have become an increasing source of debate from Asia to Africa and the Middle East. In recent weeks, more than $30 billion in projects have been scrapped and other loans and investments are under review.   Public opposition is also testing the resolve of ruling authorities from Hanoi to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, as concerns about Chinese investment build. In late August, Malaysia's newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad canceled more than $20 billion in Belt and Road projects for railway and pipelines, and Pakistan lopped another $2 billion off plans for a railway following a decision late last year to cancel a $14 billion dam project, citing financial concerns. Nepal canceled its dam project last month…

The U.S. government's budget deficit hit $779 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, while spending increased and tax revenues remained nearly flat, the Treasury said Monday. It was the biggest deficit since 2012, and $113 billion more than the figure a year ago. The 2018 deficit amounted to 3.9 percent of the country's more than $18 trillion annual economy, up from 3.5 percent last year. The government's deficit spending boosted the country's long-term debt figure to more than $21 trillion, forcing the government to pay an extra $65 billion last year in interest on money the government has had to borrow to run its programs. In all, government spending rose by $127 billion last year, while tax collections increased by $14 billion. The Treasury said the annual…

Zimbabwe's government says the country is emerging from a recent economic meltdown that saw shops run out of goods and motorists spend long hours in lines at gas stations. Economists say Zimbabwe's crisis is not over, as people have no confidence in the currency or in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government. For weeks now, there have been long and winding queues at most fuel stations in Zimbabwe, as the precious liquid has been in short supply. Lameck Mauriri is one of those now tired of the situation. "We are really striving but things are tough to everyone," said Mauriri. "I do not know how those in rural areas, how they are surviving, especially if in Harare it is like this. We are sleeping in fuel queues. There is not fuel, there…

More Americans are moving to smaller cities in search of a better quality of life. They're leaving places like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York for mid-sized cities such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Dallas, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A huge draw for these second-tier cities is that the cost of housing consumes a much smaller chunk of people's salaries. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of the people who move do so for housing-related reasons. They're looking for a new or better home, cheaper housing, or to buy a home rather than rent. It costs about $4,100 a month to rent a place in Manhattan. That's almost two-thirds of New York City's median household income of $83,500. Buying a…

Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses.  Sears once dominated the American retail landscape. But the big question is whether the shrunken version of itself can be viable or will it be forced to go out of business, closing the final chapter for an iconic name that originated more than a century ago. Holdings will also close 142 unprofitable stores near the end of the year. Liquidation sales at these stores are expected to begin shortly. This is in addition to the previously announced closure of 46 unprofitable stores that is expected to be completed by November 2018. The company, which started out as a mail order catalog in the 1880s, has been on a slow march toward extinction as…

An increase in world oil prices is helping Vietnam earn money that will quicken its already fast economic growth and may help the country build new infrastructure. The only red light: higher fuel prices among Vietnam's consumers. Vietnam, though not a major oil-producing nation like much of the Middle East, has counted energy-related commodities as its fifth highest source of exports. The industry is largely state-owned, including energy supplier PetroVietnam, with $3.1 billion in annual sales. Much of Vietnam’s energy comes from under the seas off its east and south coasts. If crude oil prices hold at an average $65 per barrel this year, above last year’s average of US$60, economic growth will exceed the 6.7 percent target set by the legislature, the Communist Party of Vietnam’s website said last…

World stocks are climbing Friday after two days of sharp losses. Major U.S. stock indexes are up more than 1 percent, but they're still on track for their biggest one-week loss since late March. Technology and internet companies were some of the hardest hit over the last two days and they led the market higher Friday. Apple climbed 2.7 percent to $220.18. Consumer-focused companies also rallied, as Amazon jumped 3.8 percent to $1,783.96 and Netflix surged 4.7 percent to $336.30. The S&P 500 index climbed 37 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,766 at 9:45 a.m. Eastern time. The benchmark index tumbled 5.3 percent over the past two days and as of Thursday it had fallen for six consecutive days. The S&P is down 5.6 percent from its latest record high,…

Just in case any of the global central bankers and finance ministers gathered in Indonesia missed the message delivered repeatedly this week, the host nation said it again Friday: Everyone stands to lose if trade wars are allowed to escalate. Indonesian President Joko Widodo didn't mention the United States or China, the world's two largest economies, but it was clear who he was talking about in an address to the plenary session of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings on the island of Bali.   WATCH: IMF Urges US and China to De-escalate Tariff Wars "Lately it feels like the relations among the major economies are becoming more and more like Game of Thrones," Widodo said in a speech peppered with references to the HBO series about dynasties…

Elon Musk replied with a tweet saying "This is incorrect" after the Financial Times reported that outgoing Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. Chief Executive James Murdoch was the lead candidate to replace him as Tesla Inc. chairman. Tesla has until Nov. 13 to appoint an independent chairman of the board, part of settlements reached last month between Tesla, Musk and U.S. regulators after Musk tweeted in August that he had secured funding to take the electric car maker private. The SEC settlement capped months of debate and some investor calls for stronger oversight of Musk, whose recent erratic public behavior raised concerns about his ability to steer the money-losing company through a rocky phase of growth. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said Musk's tweeted statements about going private were fraudulent, allowed the billionaire to retain his role as CEO while requiring he…

Parties to a new global treaty to combat the illicit sale of tobacco products have taken the first steps toward cracking down on this multi-billion dollar trade.  At a three-day meeting at the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva they have outlined a plan to shut down the lucrative black market trade in tobacco. A global tobacco treaty (Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products) entered into force on September 25, with 48 countries joining the new protocol, which is part of the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC).  Two-thirds of the parties have enacted or strengthened national legislation aimed at tackling illicit trade in tobacco products. Parties attending the meeting have set up a working group to create a monitoring system to track and trace…

One of Donald Trump's top economic advisers says the president is not trying to improperly influence the U.S. central bank. The director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, spoke to the television network CNBC a day after Trump said the U.S. Federal Reserve is "loco" (crazy) for raising interest rates. On Thursday, Trump continued his attacks on the central bank, calling the Fed "out of control," but denied he has plans to fire Fed Chair Jay Powell.  Kudlow said, "We all know the Fed is independent. The president is not dictating policy to the Fed."   The Federal Reserve slashed the benchmark interest rate nearly to zero in an emergency, temporary effort to boost economic growth hurt by a severe recession 10 years ago. Since then, the economy has stopped shrinking…

The world's longest commercial flight, a 19-hour journey from Singapore to New York, took off Thursday from Changi Airport. The Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900ULR will touch down at Newark Liberty International Airport early Friday after traveling 15,350 kilometers. Singapore Airlines previously flew the same route, but abandoned it in 2013 due to high oil prices and the gas-guzzling four-engine aircraft used.  Singapore Airlines is offering no coach seats, instead stocking the plane with 67 business-class spots and 94 premium economy. Shortly before takeoff, premium economy tickets were going for more than $2,100. The Airbus A350-900ULR ("Ultra Long Range") is a new two-engine plane with far greater range and fuel capacity than other commercial airliners. In addition, it has several features that aid passenger comfort during the trip, like hospital-grade air…

Mat Beren and his friends used to drive by the vast greenhouses of southern British Columbia and joke about how much weed they could grow there. Years later, it's no joke. The tomato and pepper plants that once filled some of those greenhouses have been replaced with a new cash crop: marijuana. Beren and other formerly illicit growers are helping cultivate it. The buyers no longer are unlawful dealers or dubious medical dispensaries; it's the Canadian government. On Oct. 17, Canada becomes the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace. Uruguay launched legal sales last year, after several years of planning. It's a profound social shift promised by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and fueled by a desire to bring the black market into a regulated, taxed…

U.S. stocks posted their worst loss since February on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average finishing the day down more than 800 points. The losses were widespread as bond yields remained high after steep increases last week. Companies that have been the biggest winners on the market the last few years, including technology companies and retailers, suffered steep declines. The Dow gave up nearly 828 points, or 3.15 percent, to 25,600. The Nasdaq composite, which has a high concentration of technology stocks, tumbled 316 points, or 4.1 percent, to 7,422. The S&P 500 index sank 95 points, or 3.3 percent, to 2,786, its fifth straight drop. That hasn't happened since right before the 2016 presidential election. Every one of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished down for the day. Microsoft dropped 5.4 percent to…

The Treasury Department has issued new rules on foreign investments into American companies that will give the government more power to block foreign transactions on national security grounds. The rules represent the latest escalation in an intensifying economic conflict between the United States and China. It will implement a program for tougher reviews of foreign acquisitions that Congress approved this summer. The new regulations will require foreign investors to alert a Treasury-led interagency committee to all deals that would give the foreign investors access to critical technology covering 27 industries, including semiconductors, telecommunications and defense. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the new rules will "address specific risks to U.S. critical technology." ...

Dark, dirty and slow, Zimbabwe's trains, like much else in the impoverished southern African country, have seen better days. Once the preferred mode of transport for most Zimbabweans, the state-run rail service mirrors the decline in the country's economic fortunes during the last two decades under the leadership of former President Robert Mugabe. Gilbert Mthinzima Ndlovu, a veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war and a security guard at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) for 35 years, yearns for the old days when trains were full and arrived on time. "Times are different now as we have few passengers," the off-duty Ndlovu told Reuters as he rested in a badly lit first class cabin during the journey from the capital Harare to his home in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. Now…

Last month, Patrick Ho, a former Hong Kong official fighting foreign bribery charges in New York, thought he had finally received a break. In a dramatic move in the high-profile bribery case, prosecutors on Sept. 14 dropped all criminal charges against Cheikh Gadio, a former Senegalese foreign minister they had accused of helping Ho bribe African officials. Arguing that the government's move undermined its case against Ho, Ho's lawyers urged a federal judge in New York to release their client from a federal jail.  But the presiding judge, Loretta Preska, wasn't buying it. She dismissed the motion, Ho's fifth unsuccessful request for bail. And prosecutors said Gadio has agreed to cooperate, expressing confidence that his testimony against Ho will strengthen their case.  "(Far) from weakening the case, Gadio's testimony will…