2025-12-03 20:18

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's status as a global reserve currency could be undermined by the country's reduced support for its friends and military allies, Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann said on Wednesday. "If you can't depend on a certain country to be your ally, then why are you holding their currency in reserve?" Mann said at an event in New York hosted by the Global Interdependence Center and Bloomberg. Sign up here. Mann, a U.S. citizen, has served on the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee since 2021 and before that was the chief economist at Citi and the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States could draw lessons from Britain, where the pound's share of global reserves shrank from 80% in 1900 to 5% now, she said. The dollar accounted for 58% of global official currency reserves last year, according to data from the International Monetary Fund, down from 65% in 2016. Part of sterling's decline was caused by the cost of World War One, when Britain shifted from being a creditor nation to a debtor, as well as the growth of the U.S. economy in the 20th century, and the further financial hit from World War Two. But recent academic research placed increased emphasis on diplomatic factors as Britain gave up its empire and global military role, rather than purely economic and financial ones, Mann said. "The military alliances, the institutional relationships across countries, the agreements that countries have with each other, these ... have been identified as being much more important than people thought in the past," she said. "I do see a corollary in today's environment, where there's a retreat from these alliances by the United States," she said. U.S. President Donald Trump has been much more insistent than his predecessors in telling European countries to shoulder more of the cost of NATO. Mann said this could lead to greater dominance of the euro as a reserve and trade currency in Europe and nearby areas, much as the dollar took over in Latin America in the 1920s and 1930s. But the stalled growth of the yen as a global currency since the 1980s showed this was not a certainty and relied on countries with potential reserve currencies being willing to give up some control over financial institutions. "It's going to be a long time before we see the renminbi moving in that direction," she said. https://www.reuters.com/business/us-retreat-its-allies-could-hurt-dollars-status-boes-mann-says-2025-12-03/

2025-12-03 20:06

ABUJA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria's cabinet has signed off on a medium-term fiscal plan that projects spending of around 54.5 trillion naira ($37.71 billion) in 2026, its minister of budget and planning said on Wednesday. The plan forecasts total federal revenue at 34.33 trillion naira, leaving a 20.1 trillion naira deficit, or 3.61% of GDP, with debt service costs estimated at 15.9 trillion naira, Atiku Bagudu told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Abuja. Sign up here. Nonrecurrent debt expenditure is set at 15.27 trillion, underscoring the fiscal strain on Africa's most populous country. Oil, which accounts for most of the government's foreign exchange, is benchmarked at $64.85 per barrel, with production expected to average 1.84 million barrels per day (bpd), well below a 2.06 million bpd target, Bagudu said. The framework assumes an exchange rate of 1,512 per dollar and GDP growth of 4.68%, he said. ($1 = 1,445.4200 naira) https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigeria-approves-fiscal-plan-proposing-377-billion-2026-budget-2025-12-03/

2025-12-03 20:05

FTC aims to prevent Boeing's unfair edge over Airbus and military contractors Boeing expects to finalize Spirit merger by year's end despite FTC order Boeing shares drop 3.1%, Spirit AeroSystems shares up 3.5% Dec 3 (Reuters) - Boeing (BA.N) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it could close its $4.7 billion acquisition of wing and fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N) , opens new tab by the end of the year after a U.S. regulator said it could proceed, so long as it carried out divestments that have largely been agreed to with rival Airbus (AIR.PA) , opens new tab. Boeing's shares fell 3% and Spirit's rose 3.5% on the move by the Federal Trade Commission, which aims to resolve competition concerns about Boeing's purchase of the world's biggest aerostructures supplier. Sign up here. The deal splits up the financially struggling and problem-plagued Spirit, which was part of Boeing until 2005. Boeing is reacquiring the bulk of Spirit, which makes 737 fuselages, while Airbus will take over facilities in North Carolina and Belfast, Northern Ireland. The total transaction, including Airbus' portion and other pieces, is valued at $8.3 billion. Spirit has been cited as one source of delays on several programs, including Boeing's 737 and Airbus' A350 and A220. The FTC's order requires the divestments to Airbus, as well as the sale of Spirit’s Subang, Malaysia, operations, which supplies components for both Airbus and Boeing. A sale to Composites Technology Research Malaysia was negotiated earlier this year. The order also requires Spirit to continue as a supplier to Boeing's competitors vying for future military aircraft programs. Boeing's defense division won the contract for the U.S. military's first sixth-generation fighter, the F-47, earlier this year, and it is competing for the U.S. Navy's F/A-XX fighter contract. The FTC's proposed order would add further regulatory oversight to the implementation of the merger with appointments of two monitors - one for the FTC and another representing the Pentagon. The divestments would address the FTC's concerns that the merger would allow Boeing to unfairly control Airbus' supply chain and box out competitors in the defense industry. “We welcome the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s approval of our acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems," a Boeing spokesperson said. "While the transaction has not yet fully closed, we are committed to completing the remaining steps necessary to finalize the acquisition.” A Spirit spokesman confirmed that the deal is expected to close by the end of December. Reducing manufacturing quality problems at Spirit has been a key focus for Boeing in its efforts to stabilize 737 production. The deal gives Airbus direct control of the struggling Belfast plant. The historic former Short Brothers facilities posted a loss of roughly $670 million in 2024. The Belfast operation warned in a July filing that it needed additional funds to remain afloat to meet upcoming liabilities. The deal includes a $439 million cash-out to Airbus to make up for the losses it will have to absorb. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-ftc-says-boeing-must-divest-spirit-aerosystems-assets-proceed-with-merger-2025-12-03/

2025-12-03 20:02

BRUSSELS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Over two-thirds of the member states of NATO have committed to the weapons for Ukraine through the so-called Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), which has received commitments worth $4 billion so far, the alliance's secretary general Mark Rutte said on Wednesday. "We heard from Australia and New Zealand who will also contribute to PURL, the first NATO partners to do so. And this means that allies and partners have already committed now really over 4 billion," Rutte told reporters on Wednesday in Brussels. Sign up here. (This story has been corrected to say 'over two-thirds' instead of 'two-thirds' in the headline and paragraph 1) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/two-thirds-nato-member-states-committed-purl-rutte-says-2025-12-03/

2025-12-03 19:52

SANTIAGO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Chile's state-run copper producer Codelco (COBRE.UL) and Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab, a Swiss trader and miner, have signed an initial agreement to collaborate on a smelter project in Chile, the companies said on Wednesday. The deal calls for Codelco to provide copper concentrate and for Glencore to build the smelter in the key mining region of Antofagasta, in northern Chile, with capacity to process about 1.5 million metric tons a year. Sign up here. Industry experts say a project of this size would likely require a $1.5 billion to $2 billion investment. Glencore will now carry out a pre-feasibility study, with the companies aiming to finalize their agreement in the first half of next year. If the project moves forward, it would start construction in 2030 and begin operations between 2032 and 2033, the companies said. Codelco added that it selected Glencore after a competitive bidding process. It agreed to offer Glencore up to 800,000 metric tons of concentrate annually for at least a decade as part of the deal. Chile accounts for just 6% of global smelting capacity, and sends much of its copper for processing to China, which holds half the world's copper smelting capacity. With China's highly efficient smelters competing for limited concentrate, treatment charges - the fees paid by miners to convert concentrate into metal - have fallen below zero and forced some overseas smelters out of business. Chile is aiming to increase its own smelting capacity, including a $1.7 billion smelter modernization led by state-run mining company ENAMI. Codelco Chairman Maximo Pacheco said the Glencore smelter's location in the Antofagasta region, where most of Chile's copper is mined, is intended to allow for logistical benefits, and would be built with strong operational and environmental standards. He added that increasing Chile's smelting capacity was intended to benefit Codelco as well as help with "strengthening Chile's sovereignty and strategic security." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/codelco-signs-agreement-with-glencore-chilean-smelter-project-2025-12-03/

2025-12-03 19:47

SAO PAULO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's state of Para has delayed the deadline for the introduction of tracking devices in its cattle herds, a blow to environmental efforts to introduce a regional policy that advocates say is key in preventing deforestation. According to a decision published in the state's official gazette on Wednesday, Governor Helder Barbalho has allowed the identification of bovine and buffalo to be completed by December 31, 2030. Sign up here. Previously, Para cattle ranchers had until January 1, 2026 to identify the herd with ear tags, provided they had their animal transit records in order. The final deadline for identifying and tracking all of the state's animals was January 1, 2027. Improvements in cattle traceability efforts would be a powerful tool to choke off ranching in illegally deforested farms in Brazil, the world's largest beef exporter, according to environmentalists. In a statement, non-profit Imaflora said the extension of the compliance deadline in the Amazonian state is a response to ranchers' requests regarding what they see as "challenges" of putting the measure into practice. "The ambitious deadline originally set was in line with the urgency imposed by climate change and created a favorable environment for generating innovative public policy solutions," Imaflora said. Para has a herd of 26 million head, nearly the same size as Australia's, and is Brazil's second-biggest cattle-herding state after Mato Grosso. Implementation of Brazil's national cattle tracking program will be in four stages, according to a Ministry of Agriculture norm issued this year. Under the norm, the federal government will ban all movement of cattle and buffalo that are not individually identified and registered in the official system from January 1, 2033. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/brazil-amazonian-state-postpones-cattle-tracking-key-preventing-deforestation-2025-12-03/