Labourers work at a garment factory in Bac Giang province, near Hanoi October 21, 2015. Vietnam’s textiles and footwear would gain strongly from the TPP, after exports of $31 billion last year for brands such as Nike, Adidas, H&M, Gap, Zara, Armani and Lacoste. REUTERS/Kham
Summary
Companies
Vietnam apparel worst hit by U.S. curbs, data show
Apparel suppliers to big brands depend on Chinese input
Blow to apparel exports hurts Vietnam’s growth
HANOI, April 27 (Reuters) – Tighter U.S. rules to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang are compounding pressure on Vietnam’s apparel and footwear makers, hitting a sector that has already shed nearly 90,000 jobs since October in the global manufacturing hub as demand slowed.
Among garment exporters, Vietnam has faced the worst hit from the the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA), a Reuters review of official U.S. data showed. The law, in place since June, requires companies to prove that they do not use raw material or components produced with Xinjiang’s forced labor.
Sri Lanka continues to face the brunt of the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, with depleted foreign reserves resulting in acute fuel shortages nationwide.
The shortages and limited rations are affecting conservation efforts, including the timely treatment of wild animals, regular patrolling to thwart poaching, and mitigation actions to limit human-elephant conflict.
Fuel allocations for the wildlife conservation department have been halved, and both wildlife and forest officials say this has made operations extremely difficult.
The threat of forest fires also looms as the dry season gets underway, which typically calls for more patrols to prevent burning by poachers and forest encroachers.
COLOMBO — Anyone who’d ever seen Maheshakya in the wildernesses of Kebithigollewa in Sri Lanka’s North Central province agreed that, as elephants went, he was an exemplary specimen with large tusks. Earlier this year, he got into a fight with another elephant, which left Maheshakya seriously wounded. As he lay in pain, still alive and conscious, a poacher cut off one of his tusks. Twenty days later, Maheshakya was dead.
In the time since Maheshakya had suffered his injuries during the fight, veterinarians from the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) were able to check on him just twice. Before this year, Maheshakya would have received many more visits, possibly preventing the loss of his tusk and subsequent death. But Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, the worst in the country’s history, meant that was not to be.
“If we had more opportunity to treat the elephant and visit frequently, there was a chance of saving his life. But we did not have fuel in our vehicles to make this journey regularly,” said Chandana Jayasinghe, a wildlife veterinary surgeon at the DWC.
Sri Lanka has declared bankruptcy and lacks foreign reserves to import essential goods for its people, such as medicine, fuel and gas. Kilometers-long lines at gas stations have become a permanent scene throughout the country, and although a rationing system is helping shorten the wait times, what little fuel is available isn’t enough for wildlife officials to do their regular work. This leaves response teams, like the one Jayasinghe works on, often unable to go out on rescue missions.
The Attidiya Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Colombo receives several calls a day regarding injured animals, but has been forced to reduce operations due to fuel being in short supply. Image courtesy of the Attidiya Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister says the island nation’s debt-laden economy has “collapsed” as it runs out of money to pay for food and fuel.
Short of cash to pay for imports of such necessities and already defaulting on its debt, the country is seeking help from neighbouring India and China and from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office in May, has emphasised the monumental task he faces in turning around an economy he said was headed for “rock bottom”.
Sri Lankans are skipping meals as they endure shortages and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel.
It’s a harsh reality for a country whose economy had been growing quickly, with a growing and comfortable middle class, until the latest crisis deepened.
How serious is this crisis?
Sri Lankan auto rickshaw drivers queue up to buy petrol in Colombo. (AP: Eranga Jayawardena)
The government owes $US51 billion ($73.9 billion) and is unable to make interest payments on its loans, let alone put a dent in the amount borrowed.
Tourism, an important part of economic growth, has sputtered because of the pandemic and concerns about safety after terror attacks in 2019.
Companies report billions in losses and decreased value of assets, but still plan to expand oil and gas production going forward.
JUL 31, 2020
Oil companies have lost billions since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to new earnings reports. Credit: David McNew/Getty Images
The world’s leading oil and gas giants this week revealed the scale of the damage inflicted on the industry by the coronavirus pandemic, with top American companies reporting billions in losses while some European companies were able to eke out small profits.
Shell and Total, based in the Netherlands and France, respectively, said a dimming outlook on the long-term demand for oil and gas had forced them to cut the value of their assets by a collective $25 billion. The two companies attributed that lowered outlook to the effects of the pandemic, but also to an accelerating global transition to clean energy
ExxonMobil and Chevron, based in Texas and California, reported large losses as a result of the coronavirus, but made no mention of an energy transition or a looming peak in oil demand.
The U.S. approach has problems that go deeper a lack of funding.
A closed sign is posted in the window of a store because of the coronavirus, in an outdoor mall, in Dedham, Mass. (Steven Senne)
By Anke Hassel and Kathleen Thelen
April 24, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. GMT+7
For the first time, the U.S. government is subsidizing companies to hold on to their workers. However, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that Congress passed to fight unemployment in the coronavirus economic crisis is having trouble delivering benefits. Its first round of funds was quickly exhausted.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2020 — Global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown. The projected fall, which would be the sharpest decline in recent history, is largely due to a fall in the wages and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be more vulnerable to loss of employment and wages during an economic crisis in a host country. Remittances to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to fall by 19.7 percent to $445 billion, representing a loss of a crucial financing lifeline for many vulnerable households. Tiếp tục đọc “World Bank Predicts Sharpest Decline of Remittances in Recent History”→
CVD 