G20 extends debt moratorium
The Group of 20 (G20) on Wednesday announced that it would extend its Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) by six months until the end of 2021.
The group further asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to create a proposal for a new Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation of $650 billion to aid global recovery.
The move comes after World Bank President David Malpass urged the G20 to extend the debt interest payments moratorium earlier this week.
IMF doesn’t see a systemic debt crisis
Meanwhile, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said that the fund currently doesn’t see a systemic debt crisis and the organization intends to keep it that way.
She urged policymakers to “act fast” towards creating an inclusive global economy adding that the initiative should go through three complementary processes – ramping up production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, especially funding the COVAX facility, providing targeted fiscal and policy measures as well as increasing public investments in green projects and digitalization.
Europe
Germany
Germany’s statistical office says the country in 2020 posted the first yearly deficit since 2013 and the highest ever recorded since the country’s reunification in 1990.
Germany’s public expenditures rose 12.1% compared to 2019 to stand at €1.67 trillion, while revenue fell 3.5% to €1.49 trillion. This led to a €189 billion deficit, compared to a surplus of €45.2 in the prior year. The shortfall can be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
BMW Earnings
BMW on Thursday released its earnings with sales for the first quarter of 2021 rising 33.5% to reach a record for the January-to-March period. The company delivered a total of 636,606 vehicles with sales showing annual growth in all major regions of the world.
“Our sales performance was boosted by strong demand for our electrified vehicles, in particular. In the past three months, we doubled our global sales of electrified vehicles compared to the same period last year. This puts us on track to deliver more than 100,000 fully-electric vehicles this year, with at least a million electrified vehicles on the roads in total by the end of this year,” Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG said in a statement.
Deliveroo IPO
A new report by the Financial Times notes that Investment Bank Goldman Sachs bought about £75m in Deliveroo shares to prop up trading in the UK food delivery group after investors shunned its market debut.
The share purchase would have reportedly translated to profits for Goldman Sachs due to the overallotment option it held and despite Deliveroo making its London Stock Exchange debut at a price 30% lower than the bottom of its IPO target range.
Canada’s Ontario to enter 4-week lockdown
Canada’s province of Ontario is set to enter a four-week coronavirus-related lockdown on April 8 under which all non-essential stores will be closed.
According to a statement released by authorities on Wednesday, the decision to declare the state of emergency was brought due to the alarming surge of newly registered COVID-19 cases.
Asia
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Arabia’s energy giant Aramco is planning to sell up to 49% of its stake in oil pipelines to a group of American, Chinese and local investors in a deal valued at up to $15 billion. Reports indicate that Aramco decided to sell the minority stake in efforts to attract foreign investors and help Saudi Arabia raise money to fund projects in technology, tourism and other industries.
The Wall Street Journal, the deal could be officially announced by the end of the week.
Samsung Q1
Samsung Electronics Co. said on Wednesday it expects its first-quarter operating profit to stand at 9.3 trillion won ($8.3 billion).
South Korean tech giant also noted the estimated numbers show the company’s profit for three months ending with March is likely to the market consensus, rising by 44.2 percentage points year-on-year.
