Money Talks

Rising price levels are unleashing a slew of challenges, particularly for the world's poorest economies. The World Bank has warned that food and fuel shortages may spark unrest in several African countries. And Oxfam is calling on international lenders to do more to address rising poverty and hunger.

We spoke to Nabil Ahmed, the head of executive strategy and communications at Oxfam in Nairobi. He says governments should take action to reduce the impact of the Russia-Ukraine tensions on vulnerable communities.

#Poverty #FoodShortage #Oxfam

Oil prices have jumped on speculation that European nations are going ahead with banning Russian crude shipments, albeit gradually. According to the New York Times, the phased approach by the European Union will give members such as Germany time to find alternative suppliers. Already, private companies are shunning Russian oil voluntarily as sanctions mount over the attacks in Ukraine.

The International Energy Agency says that could cut global supplies by 3M barrels a day.

For more on the story Osama Rizvi joined us. He's an energy and economic analyst at Primary Vision in Lahore, Pakistan.

#RussiaAttacksUkraine #RussiaEnergyExport #RussiaOilExport

The world's richest man Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter. The Tesla and SpaceX boss already owns 9% of the company. That's more than anyone else. Now he wants to be Twitter's sole stockholder, and he's offering existing investors $54.20 for each of their shares. That's a 38% premium from the firm's share price on April the 1st, the day before Musk made his stake public.

For more on the story, OANDA senior market analyst Craig Erlam joined us from London.

#ElonMusk #Twitter #HostileTakeover

Asian and European stocks are trading higher, as investors reacted to central banks in those regions tightening their monetary policies. Authorities are raising the cost of borrowing to keep inflation in check. But they're also doing so to keep up with the US, which is hiking interest rates, making dollar-denominated assets more profitable, and therefore, more attractive to fund managers. Meanwhile, China is moving in the opposite direction. The central bank in Beijing is expected to announce a move to increase the amount of cash circulating in the Chinese economy.

Ryan Payne is the president of Payne Capital Management in New York. He talked about the rally in US stocks on Wall Street overnight, saying it's a signal that prospects for the world's largest economy are brighter than many expect.

#StockMarkets #InterestRates #CentralBanks

Consumer prices in the US, world's largest economy rose 8.5% in March. Last month's reading was slightly higher than expected, and represents the biggest blow to household budgets in 40 years. That increases pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue raising borrowing costs - a move that could choke economic output. Rising inflation is tied to the cost of oil, which has gone up due to Western-led sanctions on crude exporter Russia. To ease the burden on consumers, the White House is easing regulations on ethanol.

For more, Exinity group chief market analyst Han Tan joined us from Abu Dhabi.

#UnitedStates #Inflation #FederalReserve

Italy has signed a new deal to buy more natural gas from the North African nation of Algeria. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi says the agreement is a significant step to reducing his country's reliance on Russian gas. Details of the deal were not immediately available. Algeria is the EU's third-largest gas supplier, behind Russia and Norway. The Algerian state energy company Sonatrach says Europe is the 'natural market of choice' for Algerian gas, which accounts for around 11% of Europe's gas imports.

#Italy #Algeria #NaturalGasDeal

Sri Lanka has suspended all payments of foreign loans and is warning of an imminent default on international debt. The country's foreign currency reserves have plunged to less than $500M. That leaves the import-dependent economy gasping for food and fuel shipments. And as Tayyibe Aydin reports, that's building pressure on the government, to step down.

For more on the story, Chayu Damsinghe joined us from Colombo. He's an economist at Frontier Research.

#SriLanka #SriLankaEconomy #SriLankaForeignReserves

Shares in Asia are mixed while European markets are down, as investors wait for a string of reports on rising prices in several major economies. The most closely watched data will come out of the US later on Tuesday. The Labour department in Washington is expected to report that inflation surged past 8% in March. That would be the fastest in 40 years.

Danni Hewson joined us on the programme. She is a financial analyst at AJ Bell in the UK.

#Inflation #ConsumerPrices #GlobalMarkets

Chinese stocks are off to a bad start this week as the country deals with its worst outbreak of COVID-19 in two years. Shares on both the mainland and the financial hub Hong Kong are down more than 2%. That's after the government reported more than 27,000 new coronavirus infections in one day. Factories have been forced to close because of the rising cases and investors fear officials will keep millions of people under lockdown, to curb the spread of the disease at the expense of consumer spending.

Business groups representing companies from the US and Europe that do business in China say extended lockdowns in major cities like Shanghai could have a lasting effect on the country's economic prospects.

#ChinaLockdown #COVID-19 #PandemicRestrictions

Rising restrictions on Russia and the destruction of Ukraine's infrastructure are impeding the global trade of fuel, food and other products. The widening imbalances between global demand and supply are creating challenges - as well as opportunities - for other economies. One such country is Mongolia. Its straddled between Russia and China, and relies on its neighbours for oil, gas, fertiliser and other goods. On the other hand, it has vast reserves of natural resources like copper and lithium, which are also getting more expensive. We spoke to Mongolia's Finance Minister, Boldin Javkhlan, about how the government is dealing with rising inflation and diversifying its industry.

#MongoliaEconomy #MongoliaGDP #MongoliaTrade