Markets Archives - Page 423 of 782

Factoring the Environment into a Federal Budget

Charles Dickens’ character Oliver Twist is perhaps best known as the boy who wanted more. Of course, he got none. Instead, his efforts prompted Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle (official) to offer a princely £5 to anyone who would take the boy off his hands.

The environment is something of a modern Oliver Twist in the budget workhouse. There’s certainly no more porridge on offer – indeed significantly less counting the changes to renewable energy funding announced on 23 March.

The RBA Stirs the Negative Gearing Pot

A memo on the subject of housing taxation from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is stirring up debate on proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax in the election campaign. The memo, dated December 9 2014, does counter the government’s claim that changes to negative gearing will have an adverse effect on housing prices, although this was never its intended purpose.

Australia Still Tweaking Superannuation

The superannuation changes announced in last week’s federal budget will better target super towards its core purpose of supplementing the Age Pension. However, in such a complex area as super, appearances can deceive. Parts of the budget package may make the system even more generous to high-income earners – and more expensive for the government.

Carry forward won’t help women and carers to ‘catch up’

Ride-Sharing Gets Regulated in Indonesia

The Indonesian government recently announced it would start to regulate app-based ride-sharing services such as Uber and Grab Taxi. This followed a large strike by taxi drivers in Jakarta to protest against the ride-sharing companies.

Africa’s Economic Future without Commodity Dependence

The current slump in world commodity prices is forcing Africa to rethink its traditional dependence on raw material exports. This is why the time for African nations to lay the foundations for transitioning from extractive to learning economies is now.

The jolts are real. The International Monetary Fund has projected that the continent will grow by 3% in 2016. This is well below the 6% average growth over the past decade and the lowest rate in the past 15 years.

Federal Reserve Urges Ignoring Inflation

As job growth remains extremely weak and labor market indicators stay negative, the Federal Reserve is considering ignoring inflation in the short-term as it sets monetary policy. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said in a conference in London that the central bank might need to ignore high inflation in setting its monetary policy.

“Overshooting a little bit just to make sure you get to 2% strikes me as quite sensible,” he said, while acknowledging that inflation has been above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for several months.

China Upsets Footballs ‘Apple Cart’

Jackson Martinez, Alex Teixeira, and Ramires – formerly among Europe’s top footballers – are now the centrepiece of the Chinese Super League’s recent £200m acquisition of footballing talent. Out

When a Candidate Wins and a Country Loses

‘Shut up!’ ‘Go to hell!’ ‘A disgrace to your race!’ These words were uttered by the leading contender in the Philippine presidential race, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, in April 2016. The first was directed at Australian and American diplomatic envoys after the Australia Ambassador tweeted her reaction to Duterte’s so-called ‘rape joke’. Women’s groups who filed a complaint over the incident before the Commission on Human Rights were on the receiving end of the second statement.

Small Country, Smaller Economy, Big Storm Damage

TC Winston struck Fiji on 20 February 2016, causing widespread devastation. Classed as category five, TC Winston is the strongest cyclone to have ever hit Fiji and has impacted close to 350,000 people. This comes just four years after the category four cyclone TC Evan ravaged Fiji, causing damages estimated at around FJ$195 million (US$108 million).

U.S. Unemployment Claims Jump, Mortgage Rates Fall

In an increasing sign that U.S. workers cannot afford to buy houses as much as they used to, unemployment claims rose as mortgage rates fell, suggesting demand for houses is dropping as employment declines.