WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she will form a bipartisan select committee on the coronavirus crisis to oversee the spending of $2.3 trillion that Congress has approved to respond to the pandemic. In ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – With the euro zone economy in need of help from the coronavirus pandemic, officials have until April 9 to design a package that satisfies members with completely opposing views: those calling for joint debt issuance and those fiercely agai... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Monday the relaxation of the euro zone’s fiscal rules and support from the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism is critical to a strong regional response to the coronavirus pa... More »
BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve has offered more than $3 trillion in loans and asset purchases in recent weeks to stop the U.S. financial system from seizing up, but it has not yet directly helped large swaths of the real economy: companies, ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Olympic delay has upended years of careful planning by organizers and spawned costly headaches for small businesses, hotels and even pro baseball teams, compounding a $12 billion price tag. The Tokyo Games were postponed until 2021 la... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Major U.S. airlines asked the U.S. Treasury to move quickly to release up to $58 billion in government grants and loans and recommended a formula to divide up the money. In a letter dated Saturday and seen by Reuters, carriers wrote that... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fresh partisan divisions flared on Sunday on the next steps for the U.S. Congress in dealing with the coronavirus crisis, with the top House of Representatives Republican casting doubt on the need for more economic stimulus legislation w... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – The main Polish opposition candidate running for president called on Sunday for a boycott of the country’s May election due to the coronavirus and completely suspended her campaign, adding to doubts about whether the vote will go ahead as pl... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday the House will set up a panel to oversee expenditures under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law. Pelosi made the comment in an MSNBC interview when asked about a stat... More »
(Reuters) – A massive federal spending bill aimed at deflecting the economic harm caused by the spreading coronavirus does not address the billions of tax dollars U.S. states stand to lose as major parts of the nation have shut down. While the $2.2 trillion bi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some lower-paid U.S. workers could effectively get a short-term raise if they lose their jobs during the coronavirus crisis, thanks to government computer systems that rely on 1950s-era technology. Aging state mainframes do not have the ... More »
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde asked euro zone finance ministers during a videoconference on Tuesday evening to seriously consider a one-off joint debt issue of “coronabonds” to help fight the coronavirus pandemic,... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury secretary and the Senate Democratic leader voiced confidence late on Monday for a deal to be reached soon on a far-reaching coronavirus economic stimulus package that had been stalled in the U.S. Senate as lawmakers hag... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the coronavirus pandemic in the United States intensifying, Senate Democrats and Republicans will scramble on Monday to come to an agreement on a far-reaching $1 trillion-plus coronavirus stimulus package after a procedural vote to ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone governments should “get their acts together” and respond to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout in a bold and coordinated way now that the ECB has secured cheap financing for it, two ECB rate-setters said on Friday... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Thursday opened the door to a radical shift in the U.S. government’s relationship to private industry as the coronavirus outbreak upends the nation’s economy, saying he would back the government taking stakes in... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Republican proposal introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would grant up to $58 billion in secured loans to help passenger and cargo airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis, but bar cash grants and could result in the government get... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday urged Congress to move quickly to pass a $1 trillion economic relief measure by early next week, saying he expects bipartisan support for the bill to get cash payments to Americans durin... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank launched 750 billion euro emergency bond purchase scheme in a bid to stop a pandemic-induced financial rout from shredding the euro zone’s economy and raising fresh concerns about the currency bloc’s viability. W... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s new bond purchase scheme will help reduce the risk of fragmentation between euro zone states, France’s finance minister said on Thursday. “The plan that the European Central Bank announced is the right one,” Bruno ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Borrowing costs in the United States, euro zone, Britain and Japan surged on Wednesday after two days in which governments across the globe announced trillions of dollars of spending to support locked-down economies frozen by the coronavirus... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s southern state of Bavaria on Monday announced a fund worth up to 10 billion euros ($11.21 billion) to help the region withstand the coronavirus outbreak, its premier said, declaring a state of emergency as the number of new cases c... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German economy ministry said it no longer expected an economic upswing in the first quarter because of the impact of the coronavirus on growth, with the economy unlikely to stabilize before the third quarter at the earliest. The economy ... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – If the European Central Bank sees the need for further stimulus in the area of government bonds to help countries tackle the coronavirus impact, it is ready to do so, European Central Bank policymaker Robert Holzmann said on Monday. “If ther... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia is considering a second round of economic stimulus, three sources familiar with the deliberations told Reuters, as Canberra accelerated efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has now killed five people in the country... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday officials will have a better idea this week of the total cost of a coronavirus aid package, but predicted it will likely be “significant but not huge.” Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany must do all it can to avoid an economic crisis over the coronavirus and should emulate an ex-European Central Bank president who was key in containing the euro zone debt crisis, a senior ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thurs... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sovereign wealth fund investment in venture capital deals slipped to its lowest level in six years in 2019, with the drop-off deepening in the months after WeWork’s planned share sale failed, data showed on Friday. Sovereign wealth-backed ve... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – European Central Bank policymaker Robert Holzmann said he would not support an interest rate cut to insulate the euro zone from the effects of the coronavirus epidemic but he could consider giving firms ultra cheap loans. When asked if targe... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday the central bank will take necessary steps to stabilize markets jolted by the coronavirus outbreak, bolstering speculation about coordinated global policy action. Kuroda’s comments, made i... More »
MIDDLESBROUGH, England (Reuters) – Looming over the skyline of Teesside in northeast England stands the rusting hulk of what used to be Europe’s largest blast furnace, which shut in 2015 with the loss of more than 2,200 jobs. Attempts to bring investment and e... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s government appointed a new director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on Thursday, as the ruling nationalists face accusations of politicizing museums to reflect their view of history. POLIN, which opened its main ex... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Italy and other euro zone countries hit by the coronavirus outbreak are expected to benefit from waivers under EU fiscal rules that will allow them to spend more to tackle the emergency, the bloc’s economics commissioner said on Wednesday.... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s local governments will suffer an “interim impact” on fiscal revenue and expenditure from the virus epidemic that the country has so far allocated 99.5 billion yuan ($14.16 billion) to fight, a finance ministry official said on Monda... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s new finance minister Rishi Sunak will have to raise taxes rather than rely on tweaks to budget rules if he wants to really ramp up spending in a first post-Brexit budget next month, the Resolution Foundation, a think-tank, said. Su... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Failure to reach a global deal on where and how much to tax digital giants such as Google (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) or Facebook (FB.O) would result in many digital tax regimes emerging all over the world, France’s Finance Minister said on S... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – U.S. satellite broadband provider Hughes Network Systems may have to shut its Indian operations due to unpaid levies owed to the government, which could put thousands of banking services at risk, a company letter seen by Reuters showed. I... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers discussed ways to pursue a more growth-friendly fiscal policy mix on Monday, in a potential nudge to Germany and the Netherlands to spend more as fears of a downturn grow in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic.... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are set to discuss on Monday a document that calls for a more growth-friendly fiscal policy, a move that could lead to Germany’s spending more amid fears of a downturn. The 19-country euro zone has for years stu... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart are among online retailers demanding that India scale back a proposed tax on third-party sellers on their platforms, saying the burden of compliance will hurt the fledgling industry, according to documents se... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday asked Congress for $25.2 billion for NASA in 2021, the agency’s biggest budget in decades, calling for steady increases over five years to meet President Donald Trump’s goal of landing astronauts on the moon and... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s parliament will soon begin debating a sweeping new bill that proposes corporate tax cuts and seeks to make internet giants pay more taxes, as part of a wider plan to simplify laws and boost investments in Southeast Asia’s bigges... More »
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – With residents and courts ringing the alarm about depleted water supplies in Chile’s Atacama salt flat, the world’s top lithium miner Albemarle (ALB.N) quietly filed a proposal in December for a network to monitor flows beneath the parched... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will propose on Monday a 21% cut in foreign aid and slashes to social safety-net programs in his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2021, according to senior administration officials. The budget would sp... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will propose cutting billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid in his fiscal 2021 budget while seeking an increase in funds to counter developing economic threats from China and Russia, senior administration official... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Tuesday front parliament for the first time in three months as he seeks to repair his standing with voters angry by his response to the country’s bushfire crisis and a scandal over sports fun... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Nine years after a devastating crash in property prices catapulted the party of Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to power, a housing market recovery too rapid for many threatens to dump it into opposition at this week’s general election. Th... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – New York state’s top pension fund official said it was reviewing whether to divest from 27 coal companies and could make decisions on $98 million in holdings within two months. The reviews by the third-largest U.S. state pension system, with... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Sovereign wealth funds’ investment moves are becoming more closely aligned with the global asset management industry as they mature, and their growing size makes it harder for them to make contrarian bets, a report showed. But the move to mo... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said its financial debt fell less than 0.1% in 2019 from the prior year to some $34.5 billion, though it remained in default on its bonds as sanctions freeze it out of the global banking system. PDVSA... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund estimates that Kuwait’s financing needs will amount to some $180 billion over the next six years given the Gulf state’s “modest” fiscal measures and expectations of lower oil prices. Kuwait said earlier this mo... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s finance ministry and National Health Commission have extended 60.33 billion yuan ($8.74 billion) to help contain a spreading virus, according to a statement on the ministry’s website. The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak ro... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – A coalition of trade unions will mobilize thousands of people next week to block the Indonesian government’s plan to relax restrictive labor rules, as President Joko Widodo’s administration is set to hand over a bill to parliament. The prot... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tear gas engulfed central Beirut as security forces chased protesters near Lebanon’s parliament on Sunday in a second night of street clashes that wounded dozens of people. Protesters had returned despite a fierce crackdown by security force... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson will welcome 109 new Conservative lawmakers to parliament on Monday, promising to honour his election pledges to get Brexit done as soon as possible and boost funding to the state health service. After winning a ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Four branches of France’s hardline CGT union, including railway and transport workers, threatened on Sunday to step up protests unless the government withdraws its pension reform proposal this week. In a major overhaul of France’s complex pen... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for talk on climate, the EU’s long-term budget, Brexit, the euro zone and Russia sanctions, among others. Here are comments made by them on Thursday ahead of the summit.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to the heartlands of Brexit Britain in a final campaign blitz ahead of Thursday’s election, as he seeks to secure the parliamentary majority he needs to take the country out of the European Union. “We... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African Airways (SAA) had to be placed on “business rescue” because there was no other viable and financially workable option to secure a credible future for the state-owned airline, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday. SAA ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told parliament on Monday a contested reform of the euro zone’s bailout fund was in Italy’s national interest, but that it should only be adopted as a package alongside other measures. A reform of the European Sta... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Olaf Scholz will carry on for now as finance minister despite losing a bid to lead his Social Democratic Party because he sees it as his duty not to sink the ruling coalition, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Scholz ... More »
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s parliament on Monday formally asked President Ilham Aliyev to dissolve it and to schedule new parliamentary elections. The next election is not due until November 2021, but the president has the right to dissolve the parliament an... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A wave of social unrest across developing countries this year has caught many investors off-guard and is challenging models designed to gauge political risk for investors, prompting some to pull money out. That has led to worries that a with... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The coalition deal forming the basis of Germany’s ruling alliance is not up for renegotiation and the new leaders of the Social Democrats (SDP) must decide whether or not they want to stay in government, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s protegee s... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Proposals to reform the euro zone’s bailout fund are creating a political storm in Italy, where parties and institutions are battling over whether Rome should try to block the reform at the EU level. A draft of the reform was agreed by euro zo... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s cabinet has given ‘in-principle’ approval for the sale of strategic stakes in 28 state-run companies including state carrier Air India [AIN.UL], junior finance minister Anurag Singh Thakur told lawmakers on Monday. The government ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Demonstrations against Lebanon’s ruling elite have plunged the country into political turmoil at a time of acute economic crisis, driven by deepening anger at sectarian politicians who have dominated the government since the 1975-90 civil wa... More »
ROME (Reuters) – ArcelorMittal (MT.AS) is drafting a plan to re-commit to the 2018 deal, under which it bought the troubled Ilva steel plant in southern Italy, on three conditions, Il Messaggero daily reported on Monday. After withdrawing from the contract, th... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Socialist party pledged on Monday to act fast to form a government after its leader and acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez gambled on a repeat election that on Sunday night resulted in no clear winner but a surge for the far right. ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank sees some room to further cut its key rate, First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudayeva said on Monday. “…in principle, we currently see certain room for a further reduction, but we have to follow the situation very closely, ... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The Congolese central bank expects the economy to grow 4.6% in 2019, after revising down an earlier estimate of 5.1% during a policy meeting on Friday. The new figure is more in line with a forecast from the International Monetary Fund, wh... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Lebanese bank employees’ union called on bank staff to go on strike from Tuesday because of safety concerns, the president of the Federation of Syndicates of Banks Employees said. George al Hajj said the decision had been taken on Monday a... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Protesters blocked roads in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon on Monday, pressing a wave of demonstrations against the ruling elite that have plunged the country into political turmoil at a time of acute economic crisis. The nationwide prote... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. presidential contender Elizabeth Warren’s $20.5 trillion plan to provide healthcare for all Americans was attacked on the weekend by Republicans and fellow Democrats and parodied on “Saturday Night Live,” the long-running network te... More »
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Friday proposed a $20.5 trillion Medicare for All plan that she said would not require raising middle-class taxes “one penny,” answering critics who had attacked her for... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s plan for universal healthcare rests on an assumption she can radically change an industry the size of Germany’s entire economy without new costs for the average taxpayer. On paper, the... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it is assessing an emergency reform package announced by Lebanon’s government last week and stressed reforms should be implemented urgently given the country’s high debt levels and fiscal deficits. L... More »
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) – Argentina’s farmers have some questions for President-elect Alberto Fernandez, after the center-left Peronist won a decisive election on Sunday, ousting business-friendly leader Mauricio Macri. Across the country’s fertile P... More »
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s central bank announced early Monday morning it would sharply cut the amount of dollars individuals could buy, amid concerns over outflows of foreign exchange reserves accelerating after President Mauricio Macri was voted ou... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri agreed on Sunday a package of reforms with government partners to ease an economic crisis that has sparked protests aimed at ousting a ruling elite seen as riddled with corruption and cronyism. Official... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s cabinet will convene on Monday at the Baabda palace, the National News Agency said as protests grip the country in the biggest show of dissent against the ruling elite in decades. Officials told Reuters on Sunday that Prime Ministe... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China’s top central banker said on Saturday that potential escalation of trade tensions and policy uncertainty were the major risk factors facing the world economy, and market forces were keeping China’s yuan at an appropriate level. Yi ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O), facing growing skepticism about its digital currency project Libra, on Sunday said the initiative could use cryptocurrencies based on national currencies such as the dollar, instead of the synthetic one it initially ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union has hit science funding to the tune of almost half a billion euros and is putting off international researchers from coming to Britain, a leading institution said on Wednesday. A... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s approval rating has jumped sharply as voters back his government’s approach on Brexit ahead of a parliamentary election he wants to hold in May, a poll showed on Tuesday. However, the surge in Varadkar’s p... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s acting government trimmed its growth forecasts on Tuesday as part of draft budgetary plans submitted to the European Commission and raised a deficit estimate, at a time when political gridlock prevents Madrid from having much margin ... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian tax officials are pushing back against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new faceless tax assessment program, complaining about a lack of consultation and inadequate resources to implement the changes, a letter reviewed by Reuters shows.... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch central bank said on Tuesday it would require banks to retain 3 billion euros ($3.31 billion) in additional capital to compensate for risks posed by mortgage portfolios. In its autumn report on financial stability, De Nederlands... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German industrial orders fell more than expected in August on weaker domestic demand, data showed on Monday, adding to signs that a manufacturing slump is pushing Europe’s largest economy into recession. Contracts for ‘Made in Germany’ goods... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway plans to spend less money next year from its $1.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, as economic growth remains strong and unemployment declines, the center-right majority government said on Monday. “The Norwegian econ... More »
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – The United Kingdom will leave the European Union on Oct. 31, hopefully with a deal, finance minister Sajid Javid said on Monday. “Hopefully we leave with a deal,” Javid told ITV. “If we cannot strike a deal, I think it is import... More »
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – British finance minister Sajid Javid said on Monday the country could take advantage of record low interest rates to borrow to invest in infrastructure. Javid will later use his speech at the governing Conservative Party’s annua... More »
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s embattled President Mauricio Macri took to the streets on Saturday with a defiant message: “Yes we can,” he told crowds of supporters in Buenos Aires as he looks to launch an unlikely comeback ahead of general elections nex... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union commissioners-designate said the bloc should agree on a digital tax if no deal on the matter was reached at a global level by the end of next year, ramping up pressure on multinationals accused of paying too little. In writt... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone governments must reform their economies and use appropriate fiscal policies to ensure that the European Central Bank is not overburdened, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday. Speaking at an event in Frankfurt, home ... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – France and Germany said on Friday that Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) Libra currency posed risks to the financial sector that could block its authorization in Europe, and backed the development of an alternative public cryptocurrency. The criticism... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) revealed lofty plans to establish a cryptocurrency called Libra in June, but the project quickly ran into trouble with skeptical regulators around the world. Opposition deepened on Friday, when both France... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German economy will slide into a recession in the current quarter, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) said on Wednesday as it slashed its growth forecasts for Europe’s biggest economy due to trade disputes and Brexit uncertai... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks rose for the sixth straight day on Wednesday and bond prices fell as investors continued to unwind safety bets, encouraged by hopes of a resolution to the Sino-U.S. trade standoff and signs Europe may be preparing to ease budget... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday there was still every chance for Britain’s divorce from the European Union to take place with a deal although Berlin is prepared for a disorderly Brexit in case that does not happen. British ... More »
