Good Day! Special thoughts to all workers who work long shifts to make public spaces enjoyable, toilets cleaned, trash removed, supermarket shelves refilled, … Often the most important work goes unnoticed.

Innovative Policies

• To combat brain drain, the Spanish Government is introducing a novel taxation policy of reducing considerably the tax burden on young people under the age of 35.

• New taxes on tourists to fund community projects has been a trend since Covid-19. This interesting article from USA Today looks at the success of these taxes. The article reports that a levy introduced in Venice meant to decrease the number of visitors has had little impact according to the locals. Finding the right level of taxation remains a trial and error exercise for many administrations.

• Brazil’s introduced new laws early this year to regulate the gambling market. Those new laws called for gambling operators to sign up to new rules which would, amongst other things, ban under age children from gambling. Months after the introduction of the laws, the Brazilian government has decided to block operators who have not signed up to the new rules. More than 2,000 are to be blocked by the telecom operator. The government estimates that one in nine Brazilians engage in online gambling.

  • Research into gambling policies

• South Africa is changing its pension system in view of encouraging higher savings rate. Despite its flaws, the newly introduced legislation aims to prevent people from entering retirement age in bankruptcy. Since its introduction, more than $1.2 Billion have been withdrawn from the savings pot which accounts for one third of the fund. The Conversation has an interesting take on the policy.

Brewing Tensions

• Tensions are rising in the North-East African Region after Egypt sent more arms to Somalia. This comes on the back of tensions between Ethiopia, Egypt and Somalia after Ethiopia recognised Somaliland. Long standing tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia also date back to disputes on how best to manage the resources of the River Nile.

• Serbia and Kosovo have had a complicated relationship ever since Kosovo declared its independence in 2008. Turkey, which is a major economic partner for both countries, has been playing a difficult balancing act ever since it agreed to sell its drones to Kosovo. During a Balkan tour this week, Turkey’s president announced the possibility of Turkey and Serbia building drones together. Turkey and Serbia have been growing their economic partnership for the past decade. It is clearly in Turkey’s interest to calm tensions. Earlier this month, the Serb government has had harsh words towards its Kosovo counterpart. The EU and NATO have also been doing its best to calm tensions.

• Algeria has banned French companies from bidding to supply the country in Wheat. This comes on the back of growing tensions between the two nations as France made the faux-pas of supporting Morocco on the Western Sahara issue.

Financial Hardship

• After a successful revolution to change regime and call new elections, Bangladesh is facing financial headwinds. It is struggling to find enough funds to service its debt and is seeking $5 Billion in emergency loans to stabilise its economy. Its struggles are due to years of mismanaged monetary policy.

  • Bangladesh GDP stood at $437 Billion in 2023.

  • Its trade balance has improved in 2023 but remains still in the red.

  • Inflation remains stubbornly high at nearly 10% but is projected to come down significantly next year.

Sweet deals

• Adani Energy Solutions has inked a thirty year deal with Kenya to build and operate electric power lines and two power stations. The Kenyan government is also currently in discussion with Africa50 (Partially owned by the African Development Bank) to build new electric structures.

  • The controversy surrounding the announcement is linked to unsuccessful legal efforts for the Kenyan Government to reveal the names and details of other bids received for the tender.

Controversial

• The Malaysia parliament will soon start debate on a bill which proposes to empower religious scholars to give legally binding religious judgements. The bill aims to replace the current religious council with an institution attached to the monarchy which would have considerable power.

• A Japanese court has yet again upheld a law which denies Japanese citizens the right of acquiring another nationality at the risk of losing their Japanese passport.

• Cameroon’s President is missing. The matter has taken such an amplitude that the government has banned national debate on the matter.

Trade barriers

• Turkey has introduced tariffs on Chinese Steel following a growing number of countries in concluding that Chinese producers have been engaging in dumping.

• Indonesia has asked big tech giants from preventing Chinese company Temu from operating in the country. This comes as the government tries to pre-emptively protect local businesses.

Climate Policies

• Japan, Australia & ASEAN have agreed on a common framework to calculate and report greenhouse emissions in addition to a ten year plan to reduce their emissions while acknowledging each country’s unique circumstances.

Agricultural Markets & Policies

• Brazil Sugar production will be hampered by adverse climatic conditions. This will most likely create a supply issue which will negatively impact prices.

• Asian countries are suffering from a lack of supply of ginger which has caused its price to spike in recent months. The issue seems to stem from bacterial issues in several countries.

US vs China

• President Biden has postponed his visit to Angola due to the Hurricane currently hitting the US South Eastern states. DW has an interesting article describing how Angola has become a competing ground. Angola is strategic for both its resources and for its access to the Belt and Road Initiative.