Citigroup Inc. has warned that Botswana may be forced to devalue its currency again as the country grapples with falling diamond revenues, the backbone of its economy. Earlier this month, the Bank of Botswana revised its exchange rate policy, allowing the pula to depreciate by up to 2.76% against a basket of currencies in 2024, […]
Bitcoin is up. Ether is up. And the dollar is up—a little. These things might be related if you believe, as many in the cryptocurrency world do, that the Trump Administration’s regulatory support for crypto will revolutionize digital payments. Bitcoin was up 1.27% this morning at just under $119K per coin. ETH rose sharply by nearly 12% over […]
China appears to be positioning Africa as a testing ground for internationalization of the yuan as it seeks to expand the currency’s global use and break the dominance of the US dollar. During a recent meeting in Cairo, the central banks of China and Egypt signed a series of agreements to promote the use of the yuan in […]
U.S. efforts to break China’s dominance of the rare earths market and to drive investment in its own industry have moved up a gear with a Washington-backed plan to create a separate, higher pricing system. The West has struggled to weaken China’s grip on 90% of the supply of rare earths, in part because low […]
Oil prices saw an upswing on Wednesday, driven by expectations of robust summer demand from the world’s two largest consumers, the United States and China. However, these gains were tempered by analysts’ caution regarding the broader economic landscape. Prices have fluctuated within a narrow range as indications of steady demand, fueled by increased travel during […]
Chinese exporters like Huang Yongxing are desperate for some straight answers so they can start making and shipping goods from their factories in either China or Southeast Asia. And the answers – or at least updates – that Huang does get, he shares on his social media account via weekly updates that have gained traction […]
Major U.S. trading partners hurried over the weekend to secure trade deals or lobby for extra time, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that some countries lacking an agreement by the deadline Wednesday will have the option of a three-week extension to negotiate. In interviews with two programs Sunday, Bessent signaled that letters U.S. President […]
U.S. supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron, Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina, and other companies from the two countries are expected to sign later on Monday a memorandum of understanding for commodity purchases by Indonesia for a massive $34 billion. Apart from energy deals and investments, the memorandum will include Indonesian pledges to buy U.S. soybeans, corn, […]
China’s Ministry of Finance announced on Sunday that it will restrict government purchases of European Union-made medical devices exceeding 45 million yuan (USD 6.3 million), in direct response to the EU’s recent decision to bar Chinese firms from participating in large-scale medical device tenders. The move marks a sharp escalation in trade tensions between Beijing […]
The BRICS group of developing nations is set to announce a new guarantee fund backed by the New Development Bank (NDB) to lower financing costs and boost investment, said by two people familiar with the matter The initiative, modeled on the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), aims to address global investment shifts amid […]