Aurelia Butler

TOKYO (Reuters) -Global central banks may already be facing a new economic environment where inflation will no longer revert to the low levels of the past, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Wednesday.Ueda said there is a view among academics that the current ongoing global inflationary pressure will eventually subside and that a period of “low for long” will resume.On the other hand, there is also a view that the current period of high inflation will change people’s views on prices, leading to a departure from “low for long,” he said.”It may be difficult to deny the possibility that we are already in a new normal that is different from the period of ‘low for long’ (inflation),” Ueda said in opening remarks at an annual academic conference hosted by the BOJ. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is closely scrutinizing exports to China and last year denied or took no action on a quarter of requests in order to stop sales that would advance Beijing’s militarization, a senior official said in testimony released on Tuesday.In 2022, 5,064 export and re-export license applications were reviewed and about 26% were denied or returned without action, Commerce Department assistant secretary Thea Rozman Kendler said in written testimony for a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday.”We identify sensitive U.S. technologies that would give our adversaries an advantage, develop policies and strategies for protecting these technologies, and review license applications submitted by exporters,” Kendler’s testimony said.Nearly 700 Chinese parties are subject to the government’s export controls on what is known as the “Entity List,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said in written testimony. More than 200 have been added since the beginning of the Biden administration, he said.”We leverage our administrative and criminal enforcement, as well as our regulatory authority, to address the diversion of advanced technologies – like semiconductors, marine engines, and satellite and rocket prototypes – that support China’s military modernization efforts,” Axelrod’s testimony said.The goal is to counter China’s “military modernization, human rights abuses, and other activities contrary to our national security and foreign policy interests,” he said.The hearing is titled “Countering China: Advancing U.S. National Security, Economic Security, and Foreign Policy”.The administration’s plans to restrict certain U.S. outbound investments in specific sensitive technologies are still under discussion, said testimony from Treasury Department official Paul Rosen.”Our desire is to avoid situations in which U.S. investments support and advance technologies that enhance military or intelligence capabilities in countries of concern that could undermine our national security and put Americans at risk,” his testimony said.Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in March the Biden administration was considering a pilot program to address risks about investment in China.”There are a lot of U.S. pension funds invested in China and people’s retirement money. You certainly don’t want do anything that has an unintended consequence,” Raimondo said. “You don’t want to be overly broad.” More

LONDON (Reuters) – Sentiment among British businesses fell for the first time in three months in May as firms were less optimistic about the economy and their trading prospects despite some signs of resilience in the economy, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Lloyds (LON:LLOY) Bank Business Barometer fell to 28% in May from 33% in April, its first decline since February, but in line with the survey’s long-term average.”The UK has avoided an outright contraction in GDP – indicating a certain amount of underlying resilience in the economy,” Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank said.Lloyds said the confidence decline this month potentially reflects firms having already accounted for the more upbeat economic news in recent months. While Britain’s economy has so far fared better than predicted this year, beating many forecasts of a recession, consumer price inflation fell by less than expected to 8.7% in April.Ho said the economic environment remains challenging, compounded by stubborn inflation and higher wage pressures.The gauge of businesses’ optimism about the wider economy fell by six points to 22% and trading prospects for the next twelve months fell for a second month in a row. Other surveys – such as the closely-watched S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) gauge of business activity -showed services firms increased prices at a rapid pace, potentially adding to inflationary pressures.More than half of companies surveyed by Lloyds intended to raise their prices in the coming 12 months.The Bank of England has increased interest rates 12 times since December 2021 and is expected to raise Bank Rate further in the coming months in an effort to tame high inflation.Lloyds said wage growth fell marginally but remained elevated compared with pre-COVID levels, with nearly a third of businesses expecting pay to increase by at least 3%.Other industry surveys have shown even bigger pay increases. Human resources data company XpertHR last week reported pay deals held at 6% in the three months to April, the highest median pay settlement since September 1991.Lloyds also said its gauge of hiring intentions fell back slightly to 24% in May, down from the ten-month high of 27% reported in April. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden is withdrawing the nomination of the acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to take the top job on a permanent basis. The White House gave no reason for the move and declined to comment.Ann Carlson, the agency’s chief counsel, was named acting head of NHTSA in September and formally nominated for the top position in March.She has overseen safety probes into Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc, air bag ruptures, efforts to reduce traffic deaths and to boost vehicle fuel economy requirements.U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Carlson would continue to serve at NHTSA but did not address why the nomination was withdrawn.”Ann’s service has helped advance NHTSA’s mission to save lives and reduce the economic costs of roadway crashes,” Buttigieg said in a statement. U.S. traffic deaths jumped 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, the highest number killed on American roads in a single year since 2005, but fell 0.3% in 2022.Carlson did not respond to a request for comment.Her nomination faced strong opposition, with the 13 Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month criticizing her role in the development of fuel-economy standards in 2021. They told Carlson the standards were “consistent with your long career as an environmentalist without traffic safety experience.”NHTSA is set to soon propose new fuel economy standards for 2027 and beyond.Jonathan Adkins, head of the nonprofit Governors Highway Safety Association representing state and territorial highway safety offices, said the group was deeply disappointed in the withdrawal of Carlson’s nomination.”GHSA urges the Biden Administration to nominate an individual with a strong safety background that can be quickly confirmed,” Adkins wrote on Twitter.Carlson took over NHTSA after Steven Cliff left in September 2022. Cliff was named NHTSA’s deputy administrator in February 2021 and ran the agency on an acting basis until he was confirmed in May 2022.For much of the last six years, NHTSA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator.During the Trump administration no nominee was ever confirmed to head NHTSA and there was no nominee for much of the four-year period. The Biden administration has struggled to win approval for many key transportation nominees in a closely divided U.S. Senate. More