*
Japan chairs G7, co-chairs ASEAN+3 this year
*
Pledges to boost regional financial cooperation
*
Signals readiness to respond to sharp yen moves
(Adds detail on G7, FX swap scheme)
By Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Japan, this year's chair of the Group of Seven (G7), expects Russia's invasion of Ukraine to dominate talks among the world's major advanced economies, its top finance diplomat, Masato Kanda, told Reuters.
"Sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine will be a top priority at G7 financial leaders' meetings under Japan's chair," said Kanda, who will oversee G7 deputy-level talks on economic policy this year.
While Kanda underscored the importance of G7 unity in standing up to Russia, some analysts say there may be differences on sanctions, particularly among Europeans who are being forced to wean themselves off Russian energy supplies.
Kanda, who is vice finance minister for international affairs, listed the challenges the G7 will have to confront over the coming year.
"As the global economy faces various risks, we must respond swiftly and appropriately to recession risks, financial market instability, sanctions against Russia, energy and food concerns and middle-income countries debt problems," he said in an interview.
A sharp rise in U.S. interest rates has weighed on the dollar-denominated debt of emerging market economies, already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and now reeling from the high price of food and energy imports as a result of the Ukraine war.
Kanda said Japan was working hard to help Sri Lanka, which is suffering its deepest economic crisis in 70 years, by coordinating with the Paris Club of creditor nations and the International Monetary Fund to ensure the participation of China and India in efforts to restructure its debt.
"It is desirable to work with these non-Paris Club countries in the same way with the Common Framework," he said, referring to a Group of 20 mechanism designed to provide a swift and comprehensive debt restructuring for nations facing difficulty meeting debt obligations after the COVID shock to their economies.
"If this is realised, it would pave the way to carry out debt restructuring for other middle-income countries."
Separately, Tokyo plans to spearhead discussions on ramping up a regional multilateral currency swaps arrangement – called the Chiang-Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) agreement – to prepare for future financial crises and natural disasters, Kanda said.
The CMIM was launched in 2000 as a network of bilateral swap accords in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis. It became a multilateral scheme binding all countries in 2010.
However, it remains untapped, in part because of a lack of liquidity in each of the domestic currencies and the costs of direct transactions among regional currencies, some analysts say.
'UNDESIRABLE' SWINGS
Kanda reaffirmed Japan's determination to intervene in the foreign exchange market to curb excessive volatility in the yen, as it did last year, intervening to buy yen for the first time in 24 years.
"There's no change to this thinking," said Kanda, who oversaw last year's intervention to prop up the yen after it fell around 30% to 32-year lows near 152 to the dollar.
The yen has recovered ground since then, and is now trading around 130 per dollar.
Kanda emphasised that the government aimed for currency stability.
"Sharp, one-sided moves as seen last year are undesirable and cannot be tolerated from the viewpoints of people's livelihoods and corporate activity," he said.
He said that while the finance ministry oversaw the exchange rate, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) had independence in guiding monetary policy and was focused on achieving price stability.
"Generally speaking, the BOJ targets price stability, while we aim for currency stability," he said.
Some analysts have criticised the BOJ's ultra-loose monetary policy, saying that it triggered the unwelcome plunge in the yen last year that inflated the cost of raw material imports. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Additional reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Robert Birsel and Simon Cameron-Moore)
A retired army general who backs military support for Ukraine and a euroskeptic billionaire who has questioned NATO's collective defense clause are contesting for the ceremonial but prestigious post of Czech president in a runoff starting Friday. Former Gen. Petr Pavel and Andrej Babis advanced to a second round of voting because none of the eight initial candidates received an absolute majority in the first round two weeks ago. The polls favor Pavel, an independent candidate who came a narrow first in the first round with 35.40%.
TOKYO (Reuters) -Suzuki Motor Corp will invest 4.5 trillion yen ($34.8 billion) through fiscal 2030 in research, development and capital spending to make battery electric vehicles (EVs), it said on Thursday. The Japanese automaker known for making compact "kei" cars said it would invest 2 trillion yen in electrification and autonomous driving technologies, while allocating 2.5 trillion yen to build a battery EV plant and for renewable energy facilities. Suzuki's announcement comes after other Japanese automakers have rolled out similar goals to catch up with European and U.S. rivals in the fast-growing battery EV market.
Nine-time champion Novak Djokovic faces a semi-final debutant in American Tommy Paul.
The quarter-final line-up for the African Nations Championship guarantees the trophy will be going to a first-time winner.
IBM stock showed renewed strength in December, as the information technology giant gets set to report fourth-quarter earnings late Wednesday.
Moves to reintegrate Russian athletes for next year's Paris Olympics were strongly criticised by the British government on Thursday.The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said on Thursday that she was in favour of Russian athletes competing at the 2024 Olympics as neutrals.
A new bill is being proposed through Kenya’s senate to block employers from interfering with the work-life balance of their employees through calls, text messages, emails, or assignments past working hours, weekends, and public holidays.
Our Kang Watch continues as we approach the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Hector Navarro breaks down a new theory about how Hank Pym could play a key role in Kang the Conqueror’s plan to escape the Quantum Realm in today’s episode of Nerdist News! More Marvel News: https://nerdist.com/topic/marvel/ Watch more Nerdist News: http://bit.ly/1qvVVhV Follow Us: Facebook https://facebook.com/nerdist Twitter https://twitter.com/Nerdist Instagram https://instagram.com/nerdist/ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@nerdist #Nerdist #Marvel #MCU #Quantumania #Kang
Right now, the average price for a loaf of bread is, approximately, $1.87. Under a new law proposed by House Republicans, that price would go up to more than $2.50. This would be the result of the Fair Tax Act, … Continue reading → The post Congress to Vote on Whether to Abolish the IRS and Introduce One National Tax Rate appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
2023 is shaping up to be a rough year for Americans and Barry Sternlicht has a timeline for when a recession might reach our shores.
Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid to rest the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland in his 11th appearance in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session on Reddit. What Happened: Gates, answering dozens of questions over the course of a few hours during the AMA, including: “Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?” In respon
Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre joins the Live show to break down Intel’s latest earnings report.
The S&P 500 (SPX) has gained 5% this year, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP) is up 8%, even with a seemingly daily stream of job-cut announcements. Veteran Wall Street strategist Joe Lavorgna is certainly in the camp expecting a recession.
After months of talking to and reading the words of investment experts trying to find the right way to describe and forecast the U.S. economy and stock market for 2023, I’m not going to go out on a limb and say this time is different, but I am coming close: this time feels different. As I hear and read experts reaching back for market and economy parallels from the past, my experience over the past several decades has shown that every downturn, recession or crash ultimately proved to be a buying opportunity. Tell me the Federal Reserve will stick the landing, or that recession isn’t coming, and I’ll try to stifle a snort.
The core PCE price index is expected to have climbed. Officials say more rate hikes are on the horizon.
While the overall stock market direction so far this year remains up, the path ahead still presents plenty of potential headwinds. Inflation has yet to be properly tamed, the geopolitical map remains uncertain with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine still ongoing and Covid variants could reappear at any time. Add in the prospect for a fiery battle in Congress around raising the debt ceiling, and Oppenheimer’s Chief Investment Strategist John Stoltzfus thinks market volatility is “unlikely to leave the
My wife and I are 70 years old. We've paid off everything, including the house. Between my pension of $29,000 and Social Security, we're getting a gross of $99,000 a year in income, which is more than enough. Our current … Continue reading → The post Ask an Advisor: We Are 70 Years Old, Have $99K in Retirement Income, a $1.4M IRA and Other Investments. Is It Too Late to Convert to a Roth? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
Chevron will launch a massive $75 billion share buyback and raise its dividend, the Dow Jones energy giant announced late Wednesday. The news comes ahead of fourth-quarter earnings due on Friday. Chevron stock advanced Thursday.
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) rose more than 3% on Thursday, as analysts defended the popular tech stock after its post-earnings decline, and investors grew increasingly excited about its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives. Microsoft suffered a bit of a stock price swoon early on Wednesday despite delivering a relatively solid earnings performance, driven by strong gains in its cloud revenue. Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin, in turn, believes that Microsoft's growth may have already bottomed.
Financial guru Suze Orman thinks that most consumers are, or soon will be, facing dire straits, in an environment of higher interest rates and higher inflation.