Aurelia Butler

Consumers expected inflation for the next 12 months to be a median 3.8%, the Bank of Korea’s monthly survey showed, down from 4.2% in November and the lowest since 3.3% in May.In the same survey, the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) rose slightly to 89.9 in December, after two successive months of decline, to 88.8 in October and 86.5 in November, from 91.4 in September, it said in a statement.The Bank of Korea was among the first major economy central banks to begin raising interest rates, in August last year, and has up to November, raised its policy rate by a total of 275 basis points in nine steps to 3.25%.In the latest Reuters poll, the majority of analysts expected the Bank of Korea to raise the rate once again in early 2023, to 3.5%, and then stop its tightening cycle. More

The bank held its key interest rate at 7.5% at its final meeting of the year on Dec. 16 but slightly shifted its rhetoric to acknowledge growing risks of inflation, saying a recent military mobilisation was adding to labour shortages.”There is an understanding that if (a rate hike) is needed to stabilise inflation at 4% by 2024, then we will do this,” Zabotkin said in an interview with RBC published on Tuesday. He pointed to high inflationary expectations, a labour crunch, logistical constraints, the higher-than-planned fiscal deficit trajectory and worsening external conditions as risks. “Together, this is quite a large bouquet of pro-inflationary factors,” Zabotkin said. “The need for raising rates will be dictated by (these factors), in whatever combination and in whatever volume they will eventually materialise in 2023.”Zabotkin also said the structural shift Russia’s economy is undergoing is a process that takes longer than a typical cyclical downturn.”If the economy develops close to the upper range of our October base forecast, then we will return to the level of 2021 somewhere in 2025,” he said. A Reuters poll last week suggested that the central bank will have limited room to cut interest rates in 2023 as inflation is set to remain above target. More

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s sovereign floating rate bond redemptions will hit a record high next year, underscoring the fiscal challenge facing President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as he raises the spending ceiling to fund a social welfare package. Redemptions on the LFT bonds, which are linked to benchmark interest rates, will reach 464 billion reais ($89 billion) in 2023, with 178 billion reais due in March and 286 billion in September. Financial markets had been expecting the central bank’s benchmark rate – currently at 13.75% – to fall in March but they have started to price in a rate hike since Lula presented his social package, which bypasses the constitutional spending cap and which Congress approved last week.They now expect rates to remain in double digits until 2033.Former Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida pointed to real interest rates – adjusted for inflation – of above 6% over the longer term.”If the next government doesn’t present and clarify a new fiscal rule soon, we’ll be left with this very high interest rate,” said Mansueto, now chief economist at BTG Pactual. “This has to change. Otherwise, it will hurt private investment a lot and lead to a very worrying trajectory of public debt growth.” Brazil’s public debt is expected to close this year at around 74% of GDP, its lowest since 2018. Even so, it remains higher than the 65% average of emerging countries, and some economists estimate it could approach 90% of GDP at the end of Lula’s term. Congress authorised extra spending of 145 billion reais for one year to fund monthly payments to households of 600 reais under his “Bolsa Familia” welfare program, and an increase of 23 billion reais in public investments. In response to a request for comment, the Treasury said next year’s high level of bond redemptions was due to 2020 debt issues related to the pandemic. It said it had a liquidity reserve of 1 trillion reais, which allows it to “anticipate periods of greater concentration of maturities and mitigate the risk of refinancing the public debt.”In September the central bank interrupted an aggressive tightening cycle designed to tame high inflation currently running at around 6%, after 12 consecutive increases from a 2% record low in March 2021.($1 = 5.1904 reais) More

Musk said, “approaching 100 starlinks active in Iran”, in a tweet on Monday. The billionaire had said in September that he would activate Starlink in Iran as part of a U.S.-backed effort “to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information” to Iranians.The satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent the government’s restrictions on accessing the internet and certain social media platforms amid protests around the country. The Islamic Republic has been engulfed in protests that erupted after the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody after being arrested by the morality police for wearing “unsuitable attire”. More

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s powerful UGTT union will hold mass protests and “occupy the streets” soon to show its rejection of next year’s austerity budget, the leader of the union said on Monday, in its strongest challenge to the government of President Kais Saied yet.The union, with more than a million members, has proven able to paralyse the economy with strikes. It has at times backed Saied after he seized most powers last year, but on other occasions has voiced opposition.”Why do we accept this situation? We will not accept it…we will occupy the streets to defend our choices and the interest of the people,” Noureddine Taboubi, the head of UGTT, said.Tunisia’s 2023 budget expects to reduce the fiscal deficit to 5.2% next year from a forecast 7.7% this year, driven by unpopular reforms that could pave the way for a final deal with the International Monetary Fund on a rescue package.Tunisia will raise taxes for several professions, including lawyers, engineers and accountants, from 13% to 19%. Taboubi said that this government is “a tax-collecting government…the Finance Law increases the suffering of Tunisians”.During 2023, which Economy Minister Samir Saeed said would be a “very difficult year”, the government will also reduce subsidies’ expenditures‮ ‬by 26.4 percent, mainly in energy and food.This month, the government raised the prices of drinking water and is expected to frequently raise fuel prices next year to reduce the growing energy deficit.The budget sparked widespread rejection from some professions. The lawyers threatened in a statement what it called “a tax disobedience”.Tunisia has reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a $1.9 billion rescue package in exchange for unpopular reforms, including cutting food and energy subsidies, and overhauling public companies. It aims to reach a final deal early next year.The 2023 budget showed that wage bill in the public sector will drop from 15.1% in 2022 to 14% next year, a main reform demanded by the IMF. More

The program, called Peloton Certified Refurbished, will provide models priced at $1,145 and $1,995 with the same 12 month warranty provided with new bikes. The fitness equipment maker was all the rage among fitness enthusiasts during COVID-19 lockdowns, with the company hitting a peak market valuation of nearly $50 billion in early 2021. However with people returning to gyms the company saw demand for its fitness equipment dwindle and saw its market cap slump to $3.02 billion currently.The company earlier this year expanded its rental program in the U.S., giving consumers a month-to-month option on its Peloton Bike and Bike+ models. More