"Tidbits From TNT" Monday AM 10-17-2022
TNT:
Harambe: Zimbabwe engaging with World Bank, IMF on clearing IFI debt, says finance minister
10-17-22
Zimbabwe is engaging with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on how to clear its debts with international financial institutions, finance minister Mthuli Ncube said at an IMF press conference on Saturday.
He said Zimbabwe had begun issuing bonds with maturities of between two and 20 years in order to honour its debt to creditors and was looking at how they can be traded, while it was also looking to issue bonds to compensate white former farmers over time.
Zimbabwe, which has suffered bouts of hyperinflation in the past 15 years, has over $10 billion in external debt, mostly in arrears. It has not received funding from lenders like the IMF and World Bank for more than two decades as a result.
“We’ve begun to make token payments to the World Bank, the AfDB (African Development Bank), European Investment Bank,” Ncube said. “And all the Paris Club creditors, 17 of them, we will be making token payments to show that we want to be a good debtor.”
He said IMF staff would visit Zimbabwe in December and then discuss a staff-monitored programme in the first and second quarter of 2023.
That, he said, would enable access to “resources from a sponsor who will help us with bridge funding in order to clear the arrears” to international lenders and after that to restructure its debt to bilateral Paris Club creditors.
Inflation in Zimbabwe fell in September to 280.4% annually and 3.5% month on month, from 285% and 12.5% in August.
Ncube said that the country would consider cutting interest rates after three to four months of monthly inflation at 3%, though he would prefer 1%.
In September, Zimbabwe’s central bank held its main interest rate at 200%, having hiked the rate from 80% in June.
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Harambe: Vietnam Central Bank Widens Currency Trading Band Amid Slump | Bloomberg
10/17/22
Vietnam’s central bank widened the dong’s trading band, signaling authorities are willing to tolerate more weakness in the currency.
The State Bank of Vietnam widened the dong’s daily trading range to 5% on either side of the fixing rate from 3%, effective Monday, it said in a statement on its website on the same day. The dong dropped as much as 0.8% to 24,310 per dollar to set a new record low.
“This is a signal to the market that it’s tolerating more FX weakness and volatility,” said Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong. “It suggests the central bank is less willing to use reserves to defend the dong.”
The US dollar’s relentless climb higher is forcing central banks to step up intervention, with emerging nations at risk of exhausting their dollar reserves too soon. Vietnam’s decision underscores the path that some nations may take to conserve their firepower, in contrast to others like China which is keeping a tight leash on the yuan.
Proactive
The adjustment was made “in order to proactively cope with unpredictable developments in the international market” and monetary policy tightening by global central banks, SBV said. The move came three weeks after the monetary authority surprised with a 100-basis-point interest-rate hike.
Vietnam’s foreign reserves held near a record $109.6 billion in February, according to International Monetary Fund data. The nation doesn’t regularly release reserves data.
The central bank also said it will “closely monitor market developments, coordinate monetary policy tools, and be ready to sell foreign currencies to stabilize the market.” It set the dong reference rate at a record low of 23,586 per dollar on Monday.
The dong has room to weaken further to 24,700 per dollar, Natixis’ Trinh said.
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Annie68: Do we dare hope for the RV this week???
JimB49: I dare hope it happens. It beats hoping it doesn’t happen
Yada: annie,,,I believe! With all we've come to understand about the process, we can surmise based on what we've seen happen, the government is formed. The release is upon us.
RVAlready: If the RV wasn’t needed, the UN wouldn’t have gone to the security council, and threatened drastic action…. Iraq is sitting with the IMF right now, talking over implementation details.
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Tishwash: Officially.. the new Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid takes office
Today, Monday, the new Iraqi President, Abdul Latif Rashid, assumed his duties during his inauguration ceremony at the Republican Palace in the capital, Baghdad.
In his speech, Rashid said that "the previous stage was difficult for everyone," stressing that "it is close to announcing his program to manage the next stage."
He added, "I am seeking to establish strong relations with neighboring countries and the international community," hoping "the formation of the new government quickly to meet the citizens' demands." He stressed that he is committed to protecting the constitution and the sovereignty of Iraq and solving internal problems.
Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, born in Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, on August 10, 1944, is married and has 3 children: Asuz (40 years), Sarah (35 years), and Zakros (34 years).
Rashid speaks 3 languages which are Arabic, Kurdish and English.
Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid’s political history began in the sixties of the last century, when he joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party and became a member of it, then a leader in the Kurdish Student Association in Europe, and participated in meetings and meetings for the formation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which emerged from the Democratic Party, and joined it Abdel Latif after its formation.
He was chosen to be the PUK's delegate in Britain and its representative in a number of European countries. He had a prominent role in this party since its founding in 1975 under the leadership of the late Jalal Talabani. link
Mot: It's that time of the week again..........
Mot: ........ HUH!!??? ~~~~~
