Businesses unable to file compensation from insurance, due to the riot classification by the government

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam spoke at the Joint Business Community Luncheon on October 31. She said that Hong Kong government will maintain Hong Kong’s competitive power and emphasised that government will take the role of being coordinator and facilitator. However, Hong Kong is facing many difficulties internally and externally, such as U.S. - China Trade War and Brexit. She feels pessimistic towards the city's third quarter GDP and extremely worried the internal situation like violence over past four months. Protestors beaten up political dissident, destroyed MTR and shops which seriously damaged the economy, spread out fear and led to social unrest. The impact on travel industry and catering sector are extremely obvious.

The Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, has announced several relief measures while some are still pending from the Legislative Council’s approval. She emphasised that government has the ability to bear the expenditure of relevant measures and government will not hesitate to assist the business sector. She invited the attendees to share their opinions and call for business sectors to united and stop the violence.

A young entrepreneur said his retail shops in North Point and other regions always affected by tear gas. He criticised the government labeled the demonstration as a riot which caused him unable to file compensation from the insurance company. He also commented the entry requirement of applying government’s several Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Fund are too high. Even fulfilled requirement, the long processing time makes SMEs could not benefit from the scheme. Carrie Lam replies that government has sufficient resources and they will simplify the procedures.

Source: Apple Daily https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/realtime/article/20191031/60215863?utm_campaign=hkad_social_hk.nextmedia&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=link_post

#PoliceState #economy #TooLittleTooLate

Why the new coronavirus will hit the world economy harder than SARS

- Qualcomm’s exposure in 2003 was limited to $310 million in sales of chips and telecom products to China. That’s 48% of the San Diego firm’s total revenue, reflecting China’s spectacular rise as a global manufacturing power.

- China’s economy today is 8½ times larger than it was in 2003. Trade with the U.S. is nearly four times bigger.

- China’s large and growing middle class has made the country the biggest source of travelers and a voracious buyer of luxury brands.

- China today is the largest market for cars, cellphones, computers and many other goods. As Chinese consumers cut back, U.S. corporate profits could take a dive, which could hammer stocks and in turn weaken consumer spending.

- But global crude prices have sunk in recent days amid China’s expected pullback in oil demand, prompting Saudi Arabia to push for production cuts. Lower oil prices could weaken drilling activity and investments in the United States.

Full Article: LA Times (04-Feb)
https://lat.ms/2OYND7F

Further reading:
Coronavirus/China stocks: supply chain reaction
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/17342

#Economy #WuhanPneumonia

SARS Stung the Global Economy. The Coronavirus Is a Greater Menace.
In the nearly 20 years since SARS, China’s importance in the global economy has grown exponentially.

(3 Feb) In 2002, when SARS emerged China’s factories were mostly churning out low-cost goods like T-shirts and sneakers for customers around the world. Seventeen years later, WARS is spreading rapidly through China, but China has evolved into a principal element of the global economy, making the epidemic a substantially more potent threat to fortunes.

//International companies that rely on Chinese factories to make their products and depend on Chinese consumers for sales are already warning of costly problems.

Full Article: New York Times
https://nyti.ms/31Zv9cz

#Economy #WuhanPneumonia

#Newspaper

China, Global Oil Markets and Coronavirus Outbreak

The coronavirus had a severe impact on the travel industry, air travel and the oil, gas and copper markets, as the outbreak continues spreading, its effect is bound to increase.

According to Reuters, a source from the oil industry revealed that the sales of jet fuel in China has dropped by a quarter in the last week of January.

Meanwhile, the slowdown in China’s industrial activity and the shutdown of factories is also causing the worst shock to oil demand since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, according to Goldman Sachs.

Chinese refiners—from Asia's biggest refiner, Sinopec, to the independent refiners in Shandong—are cutting refinery runs, while commodity trading houses and oil majors are scrambling to find spot buyers for crude oil outside China.

Natural Gas Intel reported thst U.S. LNG plants might be forced to shut down if the price trend continues as it would make their product harder to sell in its top markets: Europe and Asia, mainly China; however, China, for its part, is still enforcing 25-percent tariffs on U.S. LNG imports.

On Feb 6, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has declared force majeure, meaning it won’t take delivery of some LNG cargoes.

According to Fortune, China is even attempting to sell millions of barrels of West African crude it had already purchased. By Monday, copper had seen a 12% drop in price.

Economists in Beijing think Q1 growth rates could drop a percentage point or more. International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement after the G20 meeting on Feb 24: "The COVID-19 virus -- a global health emergency -- has disrupted economic activity in China and could put the recovery at risk."

Source: Reuters; Bloomberg; AFP; Fortune; oilprice.com
https://is.gd/Pq6yfa
https://is.gd/vDVb6t
https://is.gd/6eWFUV
https://is.gd/GTXTOU
https://is.gd/2rLwcp

#Economy #WuhanPneumonia

#IMF cuts global growth outlook amid US, #China slowdowns

//Surging inflation and severe slowdowns in the United States and China prompted the IMF Tuesday [July 26, 2022] to downgrade its outlook for the global economy this year and next, while warning that the situation could get much worse...

"The outlook has darkened significantly since April," said IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. "The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one."

"The world's three largest economies, the United States, China and the euro area are stalling with important consequences for the global outlook," he said at a briefing.

...China's economy is expected to slow dramatically in 2022, expanding just 3.3 percent -- the lowest in more than four decades other than the 2020 pandemic crisis -- due to Covid concerns and the "worsening crisis" in the property sector, the report said.

"The slowdown in China has global consequences: lockdowns added to global supply chain disruptions and the decline in domestic spending are reducing demand for goods and services from China's trade partners," the report said.//

Read more:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220726-imf-cuts-global-growth-outlook-amid-us-china-slowdowns

Source: France 24 #Jul26

#Economy #Pandemic #Covid19