Business Maverick: From Fear in Wuhan to Oil Crash: Six Months in Emerging Markets

  • 📰 dailymaverick
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 29 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 15%
  • Publisher: 84%

United Kingdom News News

United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News,United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines

Emerging markets endured a tumultuous first half as the Covid-19 outbreak made the start of 2020 one of the most unpredictable in decades.

The collapse of anbetween the OPEC cartel and Russia that had underpinned oil markets for three years led to a historic crash of crude prices to below zero in March. The slump exacerbated economic stresses in countries such as Russia and Indonesia that were already weak from the coronavirus fallout. An agreement to reduce production was reached in April and producers extended it in June. Even with the deal, the Russian ruble slumped more than 10% in the first half.

Latin America became the fastest-growing region in terms of virus cases in the second quarter, deepening humanitarian and economic challenges facing the region. Brazil surpassed 1.3 million infections to trail only the U.S. in total numbers. Peru and Chile, after being initially lauded for taking preventative action, also came to rank among the worst-affected nations.

Government spending to fight the pandemic pushed a number of emerging-market nations to the brink of default. Those with high foreign-currency debt were hit the hardest, with

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in UK

United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

SAA business rescue practitioners 'faffing around' for six months: judgeSAA’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) received harsh criticism from judge Dennis Davis for “faffing around” for six months during an appeal on Tuesday against a labour court ruling in May ordering them to halt planned retrenchments at the airline.
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »

SAA business rescue practitioners 'faffing around' for six months: judgeSAA’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) received harsh criticism from judge Dennis Davis for “faffing around” for six months during an appeal on Tuesday against a labour court ruling in May ordering them to halt planned retrenchments at the airline.
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK OP-ED: The tentative case for a future PIC investment in Eskom 2.0Is there in fact a case to be made for a debt-to-equity deal to be done by the Public Investment Corporation in Eskom? Or perhaps the question is the opposite: Is there any other real option? And if so, what should it look like?
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Gold price near eight-year highs as pandemic boosts safe-haven appealThe Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures to contain it and the policies taken to stimulate reeling economies have boosted the fortunes of gold. The precious metal may hold its newfound glitter for the remainder of the year, but a collapse in demand from jewellers, industry and central banks could contain gains.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Moody’s casts doubts on South Africa’s bid to stabilise debtRating agency Moody’s said late last week that South Africa’s goal to bring its surging debt load under control ‘will be very difficult to achieve’ and ‘unlikely’. That may seem like a statement of the obvious, but it is telling that it was made by Moody’s. If the rating agencies are not convinced by Treasury’s plans, more downgrades could be in the offing, which in turn will make the goal of debt stabilisation even more elusive.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »