Aurelia Butler

Argentina’s Senate voted on Thursday to approve a $45 billion debt deal with the IMF, converting the agreement into law and ensuring that the economically battered country can avoid another messy default.The deal still needs to be signed off by the IMF’s board. The IMF spokesman, Gerry Rice, said in a statement that “the legislative approval is an important signal that Argentina is committed to policies that will encourage more sustainable and inclusive growth.” More

The writer is chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation The world is uniting against Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. The UK government’s decisive action on sanctions has support from across the food and drink industry, as we watch an escalating human tragedy unfold before our eyes. We agree a cost must be imposed on President Vladimir Putin and his government for their actions. Russia cannot invade its neighbour and remain part of the global economy and trading system.But our members are well aware of the implications that sanctions, trade restrictions and the supply chain disruption that flows from them will cost UK businesses and shoppers. This will translate into food price rises and, possibly, temporary shortages.The situation is more acute because the pandemic, during which global supply chains struggled to meet unpredictable demand, pushed up prices. With Ukraine and Russia — for different reasons — no longer exporting goods to most nations, global shortages loom that exacerbate existing inflation. The UK is not dependent on food supplies from Ukraine and Russia, but we suffer the impact from the price rises caused by shortages in world markets. This month, global wheat prices spiked at more than 80 per cent higher than a year ago. Sunflower oil — 80 per cent of it produced by Ukraine and Russia — is rapidly becoming unavailable, pushing up the cost of alternatives. Other products, such as white fish and the wood pulp used in packaging and labels, are becoming scarce as supplies from Russia and Ukraine dry up.Food and drink manufacturers are in a bind. They cannot see a let-up this year in the inexorable rise of input costs — ingredients, raw materials, energy and so on. One company told me it expects energy costs to rise by up to 500 per cent this year. Businesses are urgently stripping further costs out of their processes. But there are limits. With margins squeezed suddenly and severely, higher prices are inevitable.The UK already has a mounting cost-of-living crisis. Now food price rises will run alongside rapid increases in household bills, fuel and borrowing costs. Incomes are under significant pressure, with low-income families particularly vulnerable. The government cannot do much about prices in global markets. But it can mitigate food price inflation in the UK and eliminate gaps on shelves. We have three suggestions. First, these pressures are unprecedented and the response must be too. Supply chains will be highly unpredictable in coming months. The UK and devolved administrations must allow the industry to use safe, alternative products where ingredients become unavailable, often with little notice — starting with sunflower oil. If we are to keep products flowing freely, manufacturers need swift agreement on substitutes.Second, the UK’s prized food security and resilience must be guarded fiercely. Our manufacturers and producers are in every part of the country — and we want to keep it that way. We need a robust, cross-government mechanism, a National Food Security Council, to work alongside the industry and enable us to respond collectively, and fast, to the impact of supply chain disruptions. Some effects are already clear but others will take longer to understand. We need to react to immediate issues of ingredient and energy costs and the longer-term impacts of fertiliser, petrochemical and CO2 shortages. Third, ministers must urgently remove complexity and cost from upcoming regulation. Businesses must be able to focus on keeping afloat and feeding shoppers. From new packaging rules to where food promotions can be placed in shops, we urge ministers to pause, reflect and consider whether regulation is fit for purpose — and whether now is the time to pass additional costs to consumers.The government has more power over how the crisis in Ukraine affects the UK than it thinks. It should use this power wisely. More

The two leaders were meeting to strengthen security amid the Ukraine crisis and improve economic ties between the two nations. Japan in recent years has supported India’s urban infrastructure development and the high-speed railway based on its bullet train technology.In 2014, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced 3.5 trillion yen in investment and financing over five years during a visit to India.($1 = 119.1700 yen) More

Inflation hit 54% in February and economists expect it to continue rising towards 70% in coming months, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent commodity prices soaring and knocked the lira.Speaking at a business conference in the southern resort of Antalya, Nebati said a government-backed scheme that protects lira deposits against depreciation had helped eliminate concerns over what he called “attacks” on the lira’s exchange rate.”What we have seen in recent months is that the exchange rate is stable and moves forward within acceptable limits,” he said.The lira is down 11% against the dollar this year, mainly due to the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The currency had declined 44% last year, mostly after a series of rate cuts, long sought by President Tayyip Erdogan, which sparked a currency crisis and sent inflation to a 20-year high.The lira protection scheme as well as costly forex market interventions by the central bank helped stem the currency crisis in December.The central bank cut its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14% between September and December but has kept it unchanged at the last three meetings. Erdogan’s new economic plan prioritises a current account surplus, exports, credit and growth, while keeping interest rates low.However Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which it terms a “special operation”, risk widening Turkey’s current account deficit, due to rises in commodity prices and a potential decline in tourism revenue. More