Aurelia Butler

“End fossil finance,” the protesters shouted as Powell was ushered off the stage by security. The disruption of the event lasted roughly two minutes before security moved the protesters out.Yaron remained seated throughout the disruption. Powell later retook the stage and resumed his speech. It was the second time in weeks that an event attended by the Fed chief was disrupted by climate activists. A group took over the stage at an event featuring Powell in New York on Oct. 24.Powell’s prepared remarks were published on time at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT).The IMF said in a statement that “security officers escorted the protesters out of the building and the event resumed shortly afterward.”A spokesperson for the Fed did not have a comment.The event was open to the public, with registration and photo identification required. More

In its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said its Board discussed holding rates steady at its November policy meeting this week, but judged a hike was needed to ensure a slowdown in inflation.”The Board’s priority is to return inflation to target,” the RBA said. Earlier this week, it ended a four-month pause by raising its cash rate a quarter point to a 12-year high of 4.35%. That brought the total increase this cycle to 425 basis points.”Whether further tightening of monetary policy is required to ensure that inflation to target in a reasonable timeframe will depend on the data and the evolving assessment of risks,” the RBA added.Consumer price inflation (CPI) slowed to 5.4% in the third quarter, from a peak of 7.8% last year, but was still higher than expected and well above the RBA’s target of 2-3%.Stubborn inflation in the service sector led the RBA to revise up its forecasts for both CPI and core inflation.The key trimmed mean measure of inflation is seen at 3.25% by the end of next year and just below 3.0% by late 2025, both around a quarter point higher than its previous forecast.”There is potential for further upside surprises to inflation,” the RBA cautioned, pointing to domestic cost pressures and external factors such as global warming.Such surprises would risk de-anchoring inflation expectations and require even higher interest rates, the RBA said.The central bank also noted the domestic economy had proved more resilient than expected, in part due to very rapid migration and strong government spending on infrastructure.The economy was now expected to expand at an annual 1.5% pace this quarter, up from 1.0% previously. Growth for end 2024 was lifted by a quarter point to 2.0%, while the forecast for late 2025 stayed at 2.25%.That in turn meant unemployment was now seen peaking at 4.25% in 2024, rather than the 4.5% previously predicted. The current jobless rate of 3.6% is near its lowest since the 1950s.Still the RBA did note that past rate rises coupled with high inflation had eroded real incomes and that many households were facing a “painful squeeze” on their budgets. Analysts estimate the latest rate rise will add A$100 a month in payments on a typical A$600,000 loan, bringing the total increase since May 2022 to $17,000 a year. More

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen began two days of meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Thursday in a bid to limit the economic fallout from tensions between Washington and Beijing and keep the lines of communication open.U.S. Treasury officials have sought to downplay expectations for any breakthroughs from the meetings in San Francisco, where U.S. President Joe Biden next week will host a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) country leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.Biden and Xi are expected to steal the spotlight with a planned meeting on the summit sidelines. Yellen first met with He during a visit to Beijing in July that was among a series of cabinet-level engagements that paved the way for Biden and Xi to meet.In opening remarks, Yellen said she wanted “an open and substantive discussion” on the U.S.-China economic relationship, Beijing’s subsidy practices and global challenges such as climate change and debt relief, among other issues.”The United States has no desire to decouple from China: A full separation of our economies would be economically disastrous for both our countries, and for the world,” she told He.Flanked by more than a dozen staff on each side facing each other across a swath of marigold flowers, Yellen sought to reassure China that the U.S. wants a healthy economic relationship based on a level playing field. She added she would discuss and explain the reasons behind continued U.S. national security restrictions.CHINA’S CONCERNSHe, China’s new economic czar, who faces flagging growth at home, said through an interpreter that his engagements with Yellen so far have been “constructive.” But he added that the two sides needed to bring their relationship “back to a healthy and stable development.”He said he would communicate China’s “key concerns on the economy,” including improving the investment and business environment and “to also take effective measures to bring our economic and trade relations back on track” – references to longstanding Chinese objections to U.S. tariffs on its exports and restrictions on U.S. investment in China.The San Francisco meetings mark the first in-person gatherings of new U.S.-China economic and financial forums involving staff-level officials from both sides after their launch in October.But in announcing the consultations on Monday, Yellen said this would not be a recreation of the Obama administration’s U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, a broad forum that was widely criticized for its lack of substance.A U.S. Treasury official said that a key goal for the meetings was deepening communications with China, gaining a better understanding of the relationship, and avoiding any misunderstandings about U.S. policy decisions. ‘FRACTURED’ RELATIONSHIPKelly Ann Shaw, a former White House trade adviser to former President Donald Trump, said it was important for Yellen to re-engage with China, but that the meeting would do little to change the overall trajectory of U.S.-China relations.”This relationship is fundamentally fractured. And I think it’s going to stay that way for the foreseeable future,” said Shaw, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells.”So it’s about figuring out, what do we want this relationship to look like knowing that? And just because you don’t like each other doesn’t mean you can’t get along where your interests align.”Yellen also said that she would discuss cooperation with China on global challenges, including climate change and debt relief for low-income countries, where the U.S. and China “have an obligation to lead.”Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Reuters NEXT on Thursday that Yellen also will make it clear that China should “not provide material support for Russia in their war against Ukraine,” as firms that do so will incur U.S. sanctions.”We think that having those direct conversations means that they understand us and we understand them,” Adeyemo said, adding that new sanctions were coming soon against parties aiding funding of the Hamas militant group in Gaza. More

LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s central bank again lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.00% on Thursday, as the monetary authority in the Andean nation continues to ease borrowing costs in an effort to help claw its way out of a recession.The bank’s third consecutive cut comes as the rate of rising consumer prices has been coming down.But the latest decision to cut rates does not necessarily imply a cycle of successive rate reductions, the monetary authority said in a statement.It added that future adjustments to the key lending rate “will be conditioned on new information on inflation and its determinants.”In October, annual inflation in Peru’s mining-dependent economy decelerated to 4.34% to reach its lowest level in over two years, according to official data.But the world’s No. 2 copper producer had already slid in to a technical recession earlier this year due to the adverse impacts of the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, lower private investment and lingering effects from earlier social conflicts.The statement noted that inflation’s downward trend is expected to continue, with the average rate of consumer prices expected to reach the central bank’s target of 2%, plus or minus 1 percentage point, early next year. The downward trend is driven by a moderation of prices internationally, according to the statement.Earlier on Thursday, Peru’s government announced a package of measures aimed at boosting investments in the country’s critical mining sector.Economy Minister Alex Contreras, who has said he expects a fourth-quarter recovery, said the measures should lead to a surge in funding for public and private projects of up to $8 billion in 2024, from $2.3 billion this year. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo on Thursday said the Group of Seven-led coalition that imposed a price cap on Russian oil last December was shifting its focus from reducing Russian revenues to raising Moscow’s cost of shipping its oil.Adeyemo told the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that Russia’s investment in a shadow fleet of tankers to carry its oil and the accompanying insurance was cutting into Moscow’s profits and reducing its ability to fund its war in Ukraine.”We want to make sure that Russia has as little income as possible that they can use to fund their illegitimate war in Ukraine,” he said, citing outside estimates that the price cap had added up to $35 per barrel to Russia’s costs in addition to reducing its revenues by 40% to 50%.”From my standpoint, them buying these tankers and spending money on tankers was far better than spending money on tanks,” he said. “So now Russia owns a series of inadequate tankers that are on the ocean, trying to move their oil with their insurance, and our goal is going from just being focused on their revenue – which was the $60 price cap – to being focused on their costs.”Reuters reported last month that Russian crude oil producers are enjoying the cheapest costs to ship to refiners in China and India in almost a year thanks to a growing number of vessels plying the routes.The arrival of new shippers working outside the purview of Western governments allows Russian firms to earn more than the $60 per barrel cap that the U.S. and its allies had aimed to impose on Russia through sanctions. It also means that enforcing the price cap will have limited impact on Russian revenues.G7 countries and Australia imposed sanctions in December 2022 that prohibit shippers or insurers domiciled in member countries from offering services to facilitate Russian oil exports when the price is above $60 a barrel. The sanctions do not apply to shipping companies or insurers from other countries, regardless of the price.Adeyemo said the price cap had driven Russia’s costs up significantly because it now had to ship oil over longer distances, and had been forced to build up its own ecosystem that did not benefit from economies of scale enjoyed by Western countries.”What we’re focused on now is making sure that we enforce the price cap as it exists, but also that we take additional steps to increase costs to Russia in order to make sure that they have less income to fund their illegitimate war,” he said.He gave no further details on what steps could be taken to increase Russia’s costs. More