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    Global public debt to pass $100tn this year, says IMF

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    Kremlin backtracks from comments on Saudi BRICS membership

    Saudi Arabia has been invited to join BRICS but has not yet formally done so. Last week, however, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described it as a BRICS member and said its foreign minister would attend the summit in the Russian city of Kazan.Asked to clarify Saudi Arabia’s status in BRICS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The summit will take place now, we will supply additional information on who will represent Saudi Arabia, whether it will be represented at this summit, and we will draw conclusions from this.”High-level Saudi involvement in the Oct. 22-24 summit would be a boost for Russia, which last week called on its partners in the group to work together to create new global financial institutions as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund.BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, and China, has expanded to include South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Moscow sees the development of the group as an important part of its strategy to counter U.S. global influence and defeat Western attempts to isolate it with sanctions over the war in Ukraine.”Russia is not isolated. In the modern world, it is very difficult to isolate any country, especially a state like the Russian Federation,” Peskov said.Saudi Arabia is a key partner for Russia. The two countries cooperate closely in the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries.President Vladimir Putin has cultivated a warm personal relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and visited him in Riyadh last December, declaring at the time that Russia’s ties with the kingdom were at an “unprecedented level”. More

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    Brazil’s Haddad backs limiting spending as fiscal issues worry markets

    WHY IT’S IMPORTANTBrazil’s government has been seeking new sources of revenue to meet fiscal targets that include reducing its fiscal deficit to zero, but market participants question its ability to fulfill that goal as it has been loath to adopt broad spending cuts.BACKGROUNDBrazil has a target of zero deficit for the year with a tolerance margin of 0.25 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) in either direction, as established by a fiscal framework passed last year.KEY QUOTES”The fiscal framework will not work if spending is not limited,” Haddad told newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.”What Faria Lima Ave (Brazil’s Wall St) is pointing out – in my opinion, with some exaggeration when it comes to the pricing of Brazilian assets – is that the spending dynamics going forward are worrying,” he added.”They could have an impact on the debt, and the government has to take action. The Finance Ministry has this on the table, 100%, with the same level of concern.”BY THE NUMBERSHaddad said that real rates of 6.5-7% on public debt were “a problem” and that he has been defending to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that a fiscal adjustment is needed to stabilize the fiscal situation in the long term.He noted that government revenues need to be at around 19% of GDP and expenses below that for Brazil to reach a fiscal surplus, stabilize its debt growth and in turn prompt the central bank to lower interest rates. More

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    Factbox-US companies to hire thousands of seasonal workers for holiday season

    Retailers are expected to add fewer seasonal jobs this shopping period than last year due to a softer labor market and tighter consumer spending, according to a forecast from Challenger, Gray & Christmas in September.Here is a list of companies that have announced hiring plans for the holiday season so far:Company Hiring plans – Hiring plans – 2023 2024 Target 100,000 100,000 Macy’s 31,500 full- 38,000 full- and and part-time part-time seasonal employees workers Bath & Body 32,700 32,500 Works United Parcel (NYSE:UPS) 125,000 100,000 Services 1-800-Flowers. 8,000 8,000 com Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) 250,000 250,000 Dick’s 8,000 8,600 Sporting Goods Kroger (N:KR) Said it 25,000 was “seeking to hire thousands of associates” More

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    The inflation risk for emerging markets

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