Aurelia Butler

Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow $75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow $85 per monthBilled Quarterly at $199. Complete digital access plus the FT newspaper delivered Monday-Saturday.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow $75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

On a yearly basis, prices in May slowed to 2%, within the central bank’s target range and below the annual rate recorded a month prior as the country shakes off the effects of the COVID pandemic and other shocks. The May easing was the result of a drop in prices of both food and non-alcoholic beverages, according to the consumer price index (CPI) for Metropolitan Lima, the inflation reference for the Andean nation. Core inflation – which excludes food and energy prices because of their high volatility – rose 0.16% last month.Falling annual inflation within the central bank target range of between 1% and 3% could help the bank maintain its monetary easing cycle. Peru’s central bank reduced the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.75% in May, following a reduction in April and forecasts that the CPI will continue its downward trend this year. More

PARIS (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s (S&P) decision to downgrade its rating on France’s sovereign debt should in the short term deliver more political sting than pain in financial markets.Days ahead of a June 9 EU parliamentary election, S&P cut France’s long-term sovereign debt rating on Friday to “AA-” from “AA”, citing expectations that higher than expected deficits would push up debt in the euro zone’s second-biggest economy.WHAT MARKET REACTION CAN BE EXPECTED?Citigroup analysts said in a note on Wednesday that a downgrade could push the spread between French and German benchmark bonds out by 3-5 basis points (bps).That would be a relatively minor impact, pushing the spread out to around 50 bps, roughly where it stood two months ago after the government hiked its budget deficit estimates.WHAT’S THE IMPACT ON POLICY?The downgrade adds pressure on President Emmanuel Macron’s government to detail billions of euros in budget savings needed to keep its deficit reduction plans on track.After raising its estimates in April, the government now expects to cut its public sector budget deficit from 5.1% of economic output this year to 4.1% next year, with aim of reducing the fiscal shortfall to an EU ceiling of 3% by 2027.S&P said it expected France to miss its 2027 target, forecasting the deficit would stand at 3.5% of GDP then.The International Monetary Fund and the national public finance watchdog also questioned whether that target is in reach and urged the government to detail promised budget savings.The government has said that even to meet this year’s deficit target it will need to make 20 billion euros ($22 billion) of budget savings that were not included in the 2024 budget law.It has said some of that will come from ministerial spending freezes, cutting development aid, axing wiggle-room for unplanned spending and additional belt-tightening by local governments.But the government is under pressure to be more specific and in particular detail additional savings also worth 20 billion euros for next year.POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS?The downgrade comes as Macron’s party is struggling to reduce the far right’s comfortable lead in the polls ahead of European Parliament elections on June 9.Since Macron was first elected in 2017, his mostly positive economic track record has been one of his stronger points, which the downgrade now calls into question.”All of the opposition parties will use the (downgrade) news to attack the government’s financial and economic record,” said economist Charles-Henri Colombier with think-tank Rexecode.The downgrade could also embolden opposition lawmakers to vote motions of no-confidence due on Monday against Macron’s minority government, although much will depend on whether divided conservatives throw their weight behind them.Both the far right and far left have tabled the motions over the government’s refusal to submit new legislation for an amended 2024 budget to reflect the measures needed to finance the wider than expected deficit.HOW DID THE OPPOSITION REACT?Marine Le Pen, whose far-right Rassemblement National party is between 10-12 points ahead in polls before next week’s EU elections, was damning. “The catastrophic management of public finances by governments as incompetent as they are arrogant has put our country in very serious difficulties with record taxes, deficits and debts,” it said.Eric Ciotti, the head of the conservative Les Republicains party, which Macron’s camp has repeatedly courted, said it was evidence of a “pitiful management of public finances”.The far left La France Insoumise accused the government of wanting to use the downgrade to reduce public spending and target social protection to reduce deficits.”The rating agencies, like the debt scarecrow, are only pretexts to increase austerity and supply-side policies,” it said. ($1 = 0.9224 euros) More

President Vladimir Putin signed the decree in October mandating the reintroduction of capital controls, affecting dozens of companies in the fuel, energy, metal, chemical, timber and grain industries in order to prop up the rouble. The Russian currency was under pressure from capital outflows and limited foreign currency supply. In April, the capital controls measures were extended for a year.Certain Russian exporters were required to deposit no less than 80% of foreign currency earnings with Russian banks and then sell at least 90% of those proceeds on the domestic market within two weeks.According to a changes in a government decree, signed on May 30, the government commission on foreign investments may drop the foreign currency sales requirements for the companies if more than half of the value of their foreign contracts are settled in roubles.The central bank has long voiced doubts over the controls’ efficacy, disagreeing publicly with the government over the issue.The controls were introduced as the rouble tumbled past the 100 mark against the dollar and authorities sought to wrest back control of the foreign exchange market. The rouble now trades near to 90 to the dollar.The government has argued that the controls reduce rouble depreciation risk. The central bank believes that high interest rates of 16% and strong export revenues were more impactful in supporting the rouble. More