2024-04-20 18:34

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The United States needs to raise revenues to bring down high budget deficits even though they are helping to fuel global growth by stoking domestic U.S. demand, International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said on Saturday. Gopinath told a fiscal forum at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings that U.S. deficits are projected to rise for years with one of the world's steepest curves for debt. "The high levels of deficits are also supporting growth and demand in the U.S. that have positive spillover to the rest of the world," Gopinath said. "But along with that growth, you're getting higher interest rates and a stronger dollar and the second two are creating more complications for the world." The IMF's fiscal monitor estimates that the U.S. deficit for 2024 will reach 6.67% of GDP, rising to 7.06% in 2025 - double the 3.5% in 2015. Gopinath said that the IMF's annual "Article IV" review of U.S. economic policies in coming weeks will again recommend that the U.S. raise tax revenues and reform its costly Social Security and Medicare programs for older Americans to bring down deficits. The review will largely repeat its U.S. policy prescriptions from last year, when the U.S. Congress was in the throes of a standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling, which threatened a potential default that would have roiled global financial markets. Gopinath said the IMF would again recommend that the U.S. find a way to approve government funding without debt ceiling brinkmanship. "It is certainly a risk nobody needs to have to deal with," Gopinath said. "This happens every year. There has to be a way to resolve this brinkmanship." Asked about the prospects for a widespread debt crisis in developing countries, Gopinath said: "We don't see a systemic debt crisis happening any time soon." Although there are still a number of low-income countries that are facing debt distress, she said financial market conditions have improved somewhat, with some frontier market countries recently returning to markets to borrow. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/imfs-gopinath-says-high-us-demand-fueling-growth-higher-interest-rates-2024-04-20/

2024-04-20 17:19

RABAT, April 20 (Reuters) - Crop Trust, which works to preserve crop bio-diversity, needs to more than double its $300 million endowment fund to be able to support seed banks across the world, Executive Director Stefan Schmitz said. The non-profit organisation jointly operates the Svalbard Global Seed Vault with Norwegian authorities and offers financial and technical support to smaller seed banks, also known as gene banks, in collecting, preserving and breeding crop varieties. Amid a surge in conflicts and adverse impacts of climate change "there is an absolutely great sense of urgency to make sure that the entire gene pool of crops is conserved," Schmitz told Reuters. Speaking on the sidelines of an International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) conference, in Rabat, Morocco, he said increased funding would enable Crop Trust to fully fund ICARDA's gene banks. The centre made the first seed withdrawal from the Svalbard vault in 2015, after the Syrian war disrupted the operation of a gene bank in Aleppo. The surge in conflicts stresses "the urgency to have the global biodiversity preserved in order for mankind to continue to have access to what they need to sustain life on earth," ICARDA's director general Aly Abousabaa said. Extreme environmental events, such as this week's torrential rains in Dubai, "have literally washed some of the experiments we had on the ground," he said. ICARDA operates in 16 dry countries, of which 50% facing conflict. It draws on old crop varieties to breed seeds that are resilient to harsh climates. In Morocco, the centre's researchers led the development of strains of drought-resisting wheat varieties that "have done extremely well at 200mml of rain, compared to what you would normally receive at between 350mml and 400mml of rain," Abousobaa said. "We have not yet fully exploited the capacity of science," he said, urging steady funding "because science cannot afford the ups and downs". Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/crop-trust-seeks-more-funding-protect-global-seed-diversity-2024-04-20/

2024-04-20 14:40

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The steering committee for both International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Saturday emphasized the need for broader accountability as the institutions implemented reforms to help countries grapple with climate change and other shocks. "We must hold ourselves accountable more broadly as we become a better and bigger bank," said Mohammed bin Hadi Al Husseini, the United Arab Emirates' minister of state for finance, who heads the joint Development Committee this year. Al Husseini issued a chair's statement, rather than a communique, amid disagreements over wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, but referenced economic risks posed by the conflicts. The statement came as this week's meetings of the IMF and World Bank drew to a close. Governors of the institutions urged the World Bank to continue to bolster global and regional partnerships, and asked its management to push ahead with country engagement reforms and enhanced country diagnostics. They also encouraged further collaboration between the World Bank and IMF to help countries mobilize more revenues at home, and on issues such as climate change and pandemic preparedness, as well as debt sustainability. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/imf-world-bank-steering-committee-stresses-accountability-reforms-advance-2024-04-20/

2024-04-20 12:25

KYIV, April 20 (Reuters) - Ukraine attacked eight Russian regions with dozens of long-range strike drones, setting ablaze a fuel depot and hitting three power substations in a major attack early on Saturday, an intelligence source in Kyiv told Reuters. The overnight attack, which was confirmed by the defence ministry in Moscow, comes amid a Russian airstrike campaign that has battered Ukraine's energy system and pounded its cities in recent weeks. Facing mounting pressure on the battlefield more than two years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has tried to find a pressure point against the Kremlin by targeting oil refineries and energy facilities inside Russia using drones. "At least three electrical substations and a fuel storage base were hit, where fires ignited," the Ukrainian source said, citing social media videos showing fires raging at different locations. The source said the facilities were targeted for supporting Russian military industrial production. Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 50 Ukrainian drones, including 26 in the Belgorod region, 10 in the Bryansk region, eight in Kursk region, two in Tula region as well as one in each of the regions of Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga and Moscow. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, said two civilians were killed as a result of the attack. The strike targeted a fuel energy facility in the western Smolensk region's Kardym district, hitting a reservoir with fuel and oil lubricants, the local governor confirmed. "As a result of the work of air defence forces, the aircraft were shot down. However, as a result of falling debris, a tank with fuel and oil lubricants caught fire," he said, adding that firefighters were battling to put out the blaze. It was not clear if anyone had been hurt, he said. ALL EYES ON AID BILL On Saturday, Ukrainians waited in anticipation for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives that could finally help unlock more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine that has been held up for months. The governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, said a Russian attack killed a man near the city of Dnipro while Russian artillery hit areas near Nikopol, a frequent target opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In southern Odesa region, Governor Oleh Kiper said a missile attack on the port city injured three people, including a child. A military statement said three missiles had been intercepted. Reuters could not verify independently battlefield accounts from either side. Almost 26 months since the 2022 invasion, Russia is slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and has ramped up its bombardments of cities and towns behind the front lines. Just this year, Ukraine had been attacked by almost 1,200 missiles, more than 1,500 drones and 8,500 guided bombs amid a slowdown in Western military assistance, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday. Unable to rapidly produce long-range missiles and with limited access to those made by Western allies, Kyiv has focused on developing long-range strike drones to hit back. Russia has a sprawling arsenal of missiles and drones. The overnight drone attack was a joint operation conducted by the Ukraine's SBU security service, the GUR military intelligence agency and the Special Operations Forces, the source said. Coming soon: Get the latest news and expert analysis about the state of the global economy with Reuters Econ World. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-drone-attack-sets-ablaze-russian-fuel-depot-hits-susbtations-kyiv-source-2024-04-20/

2024-04-20 10:56

RIYADH, April 20 (Reuters) - Dubai's flagship carrier Emirates and sister airline flydubai have restored normal operations after heavy rains caused severe flooding across the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, the airlines said on Saturday. Emirates cancelled nearly 400 flights and delayed many more as a result of a record storm that hit the desert city of Dubai on Tuesday, said a statement released by the airline's president, Tim Clark. Due to the impact of the storm, the airline suspended check-in for passengers departing from Dubai and halted its transit operations through Dubai International Airport, a major global travel hub, leaving thousands of travellers stranded. The airport has struggled to return to normal operations after the storm flooded taxiways, forcing flight diversions, delays and cancellations. Flydubai also returned to its full flight schedule from the airport's Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 on Saturday following the weather-related disruption, a spokesperson for the airline said. Clark said Emirates had provided 12,000 hotel rooms and 250,000 meal vouchers to customers who were affected. He added it would take days to clear the backlog of rebooked passengers. The UAE has suffered the impact of the flooding for days, with roads between the city and Abu Dhabi still partially under water as of Saturday. In Abu Dhabi, some supermarkets and restaurants faced product shortages, unable to receive deliveries from Dubai. Researchers have linked extreme weather events such as Tuesday's storm to climate change and anticipate that global warming will lead to higher temperatures, increased humidity and a greater risk of flooding in parts of the Gulf region. A lack of drainage infrastructure to cope with heavy rains in countries such as the UAE can put them at particular risk of flooding. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/emirates-flydubai-resume-normal-operations-after-dubai-floods-2024-04-20/

2024-04-20 10:02

MOSCOW, April 20 (Reuters) - Authorities in the region of Kurgan in Russia's Urals mountains ordered an evacuation from several districts on Saturday due to rising river levels, after large snowfalls melted and heavy rain fell on ground already waterlogged before winter. Russia's Urals region and northern Kazakhstan often suffer flooding at this time of year but are seeing the worst in memory this year and authorities in Kurgan said the level of the Tobol river had already exceeded the highest level since 1994. "Now is the time to collect things and documents and find a place for pets," authorities said on the Telegram messaging app, while urging people to leave the dangerous areas. Kurgan is home to a key part of Russia's military-industrial complex - a giant factory that produces infantry fighting vehicles for the army, in high demand in Ukraine where Russian forces are on the offensive in some areas. There were no reports that the factory, Kurganmashzavod, had so far been affected. TASS news agency, citing emergency services, said the water level in the Tobol is expected to peak in the next two to three days. In Orenburg, another region affected by floods, water levels have been receding, according to authorities there. On Friday, the Orsk oil refinery, which had halted output due to the flooding, resumed fuel production. The refinery, located in the region, had previously declared force majeure on fuel supplies from April 8. Coming soon: Get the latest news and expert analysis about the state of the global economy with Reuters Econ World. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-kurgan-orders-evacuation-some-districts-floodwaters-rise-2024-04-20/