Transcripts For ALJAZ Counting The Cost 20240711

Which sought to exclude millions of mail in ballots. In the states, a scathing ruling handed down by the judge says the lawsuit failed to provide evidence of voter fraud. By can i reports from washington . But this very significance because its a ruling by a federal charge and also significant because of the extremely scathing language he used. He likened the trump appeal to a frankenstein monster which had been put together haphazardly. He made very clear that he believed there was no grounds for the trump claim whatsoever. And this makes it very unlikely that it can go on an appeal given that there are no grounds. Nevertheless, trumps lawyers, his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, who argued the case before the judge says he wants to take it to the next level, the 3rd district and from there to the supreme court. U. S. Health officials are urging people not to travel for the thanksgiving holiday as this week that says the country supports this 12000000 active cases. Meanwhile, the u. S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency approval for were generals. Antibody therapy. Police have clashed with antigovernment protesters in guatemala, after hundreds stormed the Congress Building there and set it on fire. Officers fired tear gas to clear the demonstration, which was led by University Students after a violent nationwide demonstrations are taking place. In chile protesters there demanding the release of hundreds of people arrested during demonstrations for social reform. Over the past year, the United Nations says a full scale humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in the ethiopian, the u. S. Has called on warring sides to halt fighting, so that more aid can be delivered to others. The headlines, these continues here on out, is there after counting the cost. Thanks. The keno fast. So is heading toward elections, but spiraling insecurity is overshadowing the boats. Hundreds of thousands can register and much of the country is off limits, thanks to roaming armed groups. So what real change can these elections bring . Join us as we assess the out in the form of africas most troubled states. Hello, im adrian from again, this is counting the cost on aljazeera a look at the world of business and economics this week. As the cost of the pandemic pile up zambia defaults on its debts as china and private investors wangle over who should take losses on their loans. And the debt tsunami means that Central Banks are considering the unthinkable negative Interest Rates. But are investors prepared to pay governments for the privilege of lending to brazil is no longer one of the worlds top 10 economies. Many brazilians face a painful financial future. With soaring food prices and house prices. The g 20 Rich Countries Club struck an historic agreement on restructuring debt for some of the worlds poorest nations. The move goes beyond the current deal to freeze dep repayments until june next year. That is significant because it includes china. Beijing has been reluctant to sign up to any deal that would cancel or restructure debts, which china accounts for 63 percent of overall debt owed to g. 20 nations in 2019. Its not exactly how much money china is owed, but various estimates say the country has given out loans worth 1. 00 trillion to 5 trillion dollars in the past 20 years. And thats a problem. The United States and many western private lenders have been unwilling to discuss restructuring debt for the poorest nations because they dont want to bail out beijing. China has gone as far as classifying state lenders as private institutions to avoid scrutiny. Most of the money has been spent on rolling out its belton Road Initiative to build infrastructure and increase its influence in mostly developing nations. Its law gess has come a huge cost for many of the 138 patients who have signed up to the program. Despite that historic g 20 deal, a number of countries, a close to defaulting on their debts. As the pandemic decimates economies, zambia became the 1st african default or the covert 19 era. It has the backing of many empty debt campaigners who are encouraging more nations to join zambia in threatening default. Zambias problems predate the pandemic. Its africas 2nd biggest comp exporter. And as copper prices tanked, it found it more difficult to meet its payments. Its thought the country has 11000000000. 00 worth of debt. Negotiations have hit a wall because of debts. It has to china. Its thought that zambia owes china about 3000000000 dollars, but china wont offer debt relief unless it gets 200000000. 00 in a river is paid 1st. Private lenders arent willing to give zambia new money, the fear that it will be used to pay off china and not without good reason. Zambia said it may draw down 700000000000. 00 worth of chinese debt. Zambia has also been in talks with the International Monetary fund for a 1300000000. 00 loan. Lets get more on what could be a gathering storm if more countries to fold on their debts from london by skype are joined by elisa strobel, senior economist for Subsaharan Africa at i. H. S. Market. Lisa, good to have you with us, our earth to zambia get into such a financial mess. Yes. Economic mismanagement and a lack of Fiscal Consolidation over recent years, underlines some aspirin actual difficulty. Additionally, in the quote transparency over debt on the chinese lenders, including alleged off balance sheet, chinese loans to state owned and of prices. And the fact that some, if they were stuck restructuring over i. M. F. And ajman add to the debt and the simian authorities have been under them to secure an i. M. F. Support Program Since late 2017. That would more concessional financing, leaving told it like sterile duck. Therefore, to increase sharply and also inhibiting the governments ability to secure to agree on a short term fiscal imbalance of payments funding from other multilateral institutions such as the African Development bank. What is that theyve been doing with the money that it but its borrowed there are allegations that the government might have been spending it on winning elections rather than helping the economy. Yes. While some parts of the borrowed money went into recurrent expenditure, including salaries. Well, other parts went into Infrastructure Projects including millisecond and 1. 01 trying to 1000000000 u. S. 1. 00 project. However, there were concerns raised over allegations of art if she pushed Price Inflation and some of the Infrastructure Projects. As i mentioned, a list 2nd dollar a project. Also there are various direction allegations that support the retore of mismanagement of funds. As a result, in september 2018, some donor foreigners have a suspended their donor 8 support for are the some government bacha it here by in particular the financing of the cash and spare programs as well as the Agricultural Sector where particular negatively impacted by these suspensions. And is that why china is reluctant to offer any debt relief . Well, china, mainland state backed lenders are very unlikely to pursue full scale in depth relief, an up or a debt for structuring in stat. This is because Debt Forgiveness can set an undesirable exxon mobil to other doctor seek more favorable treatment on chinese loans. Especially if this will be politically currently difficult to justify given china manus economy beginning to recover from the impact of the covert 19 virus outbreak. In step china, mainland, likely to provide direct relief on a case by case basis, which may include, for instance, extending the payment period. A temporary waiving of interest payments. If lending is not already on concessional terms, offering for the credit to default or marginally forgiving debt by either reducing projects, scope or depth to act or to agreements for some of the commodity rich countries in particular. Like and go lower. You mention i go to other any other countries in a similar situation to zambia . How many more zambias are there out there . Yes, we see for verity of countries next year to see the Debt Service Burden to build up sharply such as force of vatican amid, if you know, and kenya, kenya as government as refusal to access relief under the g 20 debts of a Suspension Initiative heightens fiscal risks beyond their receiving of the emergency code 19 funding for the majority of african countries. However, debt initiatives by the g 20 and the i. M. F. Occur and we have around 34 countries, african countries that have received emergency funding by the i. M. F. These packages have east external liquidity pressure somewhat. And the extension of these initiatives lorson on payment risk somewhat currently until mid next year. Are other concerns that be a could be heading the what the same way as in bob wait. Yes, yes, because we do not see any near term improvement in this regard. Some enough, the artist will have to prove to private lenders as well as the i am math, that Government Debt will be placed on a more sustainable half and a show of policy credibility in order to unlock emergency funding. That is so necessary. However, because of the Upcoming Elections next year, that would and will fire spending. We expect i. M. F. And gauge meant for the unlucky prior to that. Also, the i. M. F. Warned that some guess replacement of its Central Bank Governor last august led to an increase in the political control of a Monetary Policy resulting in a weakening of some b. S. Policy credibility. And thus delaying discussions with the i. M. F. For the basis for really good to talk to your county because many thanks indeed for being with us. My good question. Thank you. The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged brazils economy, which is predicted to contract by about 5 percent this year. Economic Analysis Shows the south american nation is no longer ranked among the worlds top 10 economies. Many brazilians face a painful financial future with soaring food and house prices now is a serious market. Yaquis have reports now from rio. d its tea time in this slum in rio de janeiro. C c baker sounds his horn to announce fresh buns for sale, but they cost 50 percent more than in january. Prices in general have become absurdly expensive since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic unemployment is at a 14 percent record high. And many here are surviving on the government emergency aid, which will only last until the end of the year. For brazil, spore the future looks bleak. But investors are also worried. The country is no longer part of the worlds top 10 economies. Brazilians used to boast the 9th largest g. D. P. Now they ranked 12 on the list. According to a report based on data from the International Monetary fund, brazils productivity has been declining, sees 2015, with the pandemic, the economy will shrink an additional 5 percent. Besides that Political Uncertainty has helped the body, the brazilian reale, make it one of the worlds most worst performing currencies. A weak currency favors exports, but the Silver Lining is that double edged sword. With less food being sold on the domestic market, prices have gone up. Most brazilians, like a shooting up at the wrong, are not interested in the countrys international ranking. Theyre worried that staple foods like rice and black beans are 20 percent more expensive. Its not only fuel prices that went up Construction Material is also more expensive. These rigs, for example, cost 30 percent more than before. The pandemic lost his job as a truck driver and moved his belongings from an apartment or neighborhood to a shack. And uses my palate to have a roof over my head. In this movie, garden of economy minister paul again just says brazil, bro, once the pandemic is over and he can finally implement market friendly reforms. But for most here, what matters now is putting food on the table. Economic recovery promised by the government still sounds like a long, hard, uphill battle money and i kept, ill just sirrah, rio de janeiro. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures south of the financial crisis in 2008, Central Banks poured trillions of dollars into buying up Government Debts to make sure the cost of borrowing didnt get out of hand. Quantitative easing also helped grease the financial infrastructure, making sure that banks could continue to learn money to businesses. Central banks are very much at the limit of what they can do to keep economies motoring, but there is a new tool that has and is about to be deployed. Negative Interest Rates, simply put, that would mean investors would pay the government to hold bombs. Consumers may have to pay banks to hold their money, and borrowers pay less back on the mortgages that they have. The bank of england, which is set rates of north point one percent, could be the next to introduce negative rates. Ok, lets bring in our regular contributor bill, ill have fees, chief executive of the macro highest bilawal. What are negative Interest Rates . And whats got us to the point that were thinking about using such unconventional tools. Now thats a very good, good question. I mean, mix of rates really does sound like were in some kind of fantasy world. Thats essentially where when somebody takes out a loan rather than paying interest, they receive interest. And so this is something Central Banks have started to engage in of the last 45 years. Why as an investor, what would i, would i pay a bank for their, for their debt . And why as a saver, what i, what i pay a bank to hold it. Now thats a very good question and i think theres a few answers too to that question. You know, one is theres still a convenience factor whereby the alternative is to hold your, your money in cash, which would return require you to store the money in your house or under the mattress or in a safe or Something Like that. And this is not just going to vigils, but this also applies to companies as well. Companies would have to store all of their cash in a physical location. And that, you know, would be quite onerous than that there would be costs associated with that. So the thinking is that theres a level of. d interest that somebody would be willing to pay for a bank to hold their their money. And so in that way, there is scope for negative rates simply to be a charge for holding your money. Now if the next rates are too negative, then there would be much more of a move for people to store cash themselves physically in some way. But at the moment the rates, while they are negative, they arent sufficiently negs. If the people to make that switch they have been used before, its, weve been in particular has made as it has it helped economies where its been used to the price. The trouble here is that many of the countries that did introduce negative rates like sweden and euro zone, they also introduced lots of other measures that the same time as well. So for example, these countries in gauged in quantitative easing, which meant that the governments also started to buy government bonds, which push down long term Interest Rates in those countries and push down Mortgage Rates those countries. So at one level, its hard to disentangle the 2 in general, what you can say is that after these countries did introduce negative rates, you did see these economies start to improve economically, their growth did pick up. However, inflation, which is the thing that the Central Banks really wanted to increase didnt really increase that much at all. So it does seem like after 34 years of Central Banks doing this, you know, there is some reluctance to push this too much further. It seems like most Central Banks now have decided not to really go down the route of pushing rates even more negative. But what about wealth inequality just does it . Does it encourage households to take on on more debt that they cant afford . Yet there is a real possibility that that could happen. The, there are a couple of different issues here. One is that if you do have negative rates, people are more reluctant to put their money into savings accounts. So instead they may start to save in more risky investments, so they may go into equities or high yielding corporate bonds. So there is that possibility. But then the other side is also that, you know, are these negative rates passed on to households for them to be able to borrow and make to raise themselves . And thats less clear what we have seen is that the negative rates and also the quantitative easing have pushed down Interest Rates in general, which is then had allowed people to get say, for example, lower Mortgage Rates and through lower Mortgage Rates, people have been buying houses a lot more so in that sense, there has been this increase in asset prices and not everybody owns a house. It tends to be, you know, richer people that own houses and able to buy it with ease. And so you are seeing there is this inequality that has been building since we have seen the introduction of next year rates bill, im going to completely change the subject. Now a massive trading block is coming into force covering a 3rd of the worlds population. And a 3rd of the worlds economy. Do you think that the u. S. Is going to counter chinas influence in this, this new trade pact with its own Trans Pacific trading pact . I think they will. I mean, its been quite evident that you know, under the trumpet ministration the us started to withdraw from various multilateral agreements, you know, with asia, with europe and so on. And this allowed china and other Asian Countries to form their own trading blocks. And so they, they had their own version of p. P. P. , and more recently now the r. C. E. P. , which has china in that trading block. So what youve seen as, as the u. S. Is withdrawn from the world from these multilateral organizations. The rest of the world has started to form their own trading blocks. Now this will be an issue for the u. S. The u. S. Does have a new administration well, so it seems at least with president biden, and the noise were getting from the u. S. Side is that they are, they are very much motivated to reengage in multilateral agreements. So my sense is they will try to enter some kind of or some new version of g. D. P. With Asian Countries. The challenge for them is that these agreements in asia have already started to be formed, you know, with this new china trade agreement. So that challenge for the u. S. Will be to somehow enter into this stage where all these agreements have already, started to be formed. So it will be a bit of a challenge for the u. S. , but i do think they will try to launch their own asia u. S. Trade agreement. But as always, good to talk to you many thanks indeed for being with us. Thank you very much. Climate change and overfishing are endangering many species in the rich waters around antarctica. The major threats are top priority at a conference in chile, where scientists, a pushing for a protected marine park around the antarctic peninsula. A latin america editor lucien newman reports from santiago to waters around the antarctic peninsula and not only home to unique marine animals but also to their means of survival. They eat krill, a key species in the southern oceans eco system. But all this is in danger of extinction because of overfishing around the antarctic peninsula, which is why the commission for the conservation of antarctic Marine Resources is being asked to approve a proposal for the creation of a marine protected area around the peninsula with science thats been showing the biggest particularly deadly cave, but also very important for the whole world. Why are you saying that antarctica sort of into the rest of the world . This current called the humble current is actually a current that comes from the antarctica. And it brings all this call rich water on by also very thin oxygen because its cold. So the current also create huge amount of life for a mass bigger area. The definite article. The only way to actually have more fish, even in the future or to have life in this planet is likely to but they some of those places that are key for the balance of the planet. For the 3rd year in a row chile and argentina, jointly asking the annual meeting of the commission to declare parts of the peninsula, off limits to commercial fishing in the southern oceans. Unique environment support species that cant be found anywhere else on the planet. So the idea is to manage in a different way fishery and activities that are occurring in the area by and in this that includes areas calmly called non take sols, where the fishery will not be allowed. But there is resistance, particularly from russia and china. Argentina says theres no time to lose and intimated to me and he said, argentina and chile have taken the initiative because if something is not done soon, it will be all of humanity that will be damaged. We ask the countries that are considering vetoing this proposal not to do so because we need this. Humanity needs is. His plea for the rational use of Marine Resources is backed by all the best available science. Which in the past has been the Guiding Light for the 26 commission members. But for some countries, that may not be enough to see in you an aljazeera sent the album out 0 has obtained recordings of one of the worlds most wanted men trying to negotiate immunity. From prosecution, the billionaire financier, joel lowe, is wanted for his role in malaysias multibillion 1. 01, m d b fraud scandal. Marion jolly has our exclusive report. Just a warning, it contains some flashing lights. He was once 2 tourists for his digs and lifestyle luxury. Real estate and super yacht all boarded with one aim to be money. But today, the malaysian finance ia job is on the run. Wanted by the r. T. C. In the United States and malaysia in recordings of taint exclusively by 0000, is heard for the 1st time trying to college deal with mojave among hammonds government, soon after 8 historic election win in may 28th. Just on the phone jolo protests since the missile used the office to return all the assets purchased with one m. To be found. I think used to lucia, not former f. B. I. Special agent. Deborah love provocateur, worked on the agencys initial one m. T. B. Investigation. You know, its like the bank robber who gets caught it is like, well if i return the money, then i dont want to be charged with robbing the bank. Well, you still robbed the bank, and in this case, you are robbed of the development fund. And theres strong evidence he deed, according to the man who led the f. B. I. Is one m. T. B. Investigation until recently. And i think were very confident that we will be able to prove involvement and his position in this scheme. In july this year, joes coconspirator, malaysias former prime minister, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in jail, subject to an appeal for crimes related to one day be back in 2018. Jolo put all the blame on him, but breed the fugitive to justice has proved challenging. Despite 2, interpol red notices against him and multiple passports canceled, he continues to evade authorities and travel. The only way theyre going to happen is through corruption and through the full resources of one or more governments. But according to the fugitive life on the run is not easy. 2 years on and hes still paying millions of dollars to noise and p. R. Firms around the world. Marianne jolie elegies in around and thats our show for this week. If youd like to comment on anything that weve seen, you can get in touch with us tweet me. Im at a figure on twitter use the hashtag a j. C to see what you do, drop us ally and counting the cost of aljazeera doc. That is our email address. As always, theres plenty more few online at aljazeera dot com slash c. T. C. That takes you straight to a page. And a you can catch up on past shows. But thats it for this edition of counting the cost. Im adrian for the good for the whole team here in doha, thanks for being with us. But news on aljazeera is next. Setting the discussions. Millions of americans feel disaffected by phone political party. Examining the headlines, this group of activists and relatives are marxist and clinton right now where theyre calling for more distant planet earth, an expert, or an abundance of world class programming, designed to inform why is child the only solution for a child as young as 10, motivate and inspire you to see the weld from a different perspective on aljazeera covert, 19 is indiscriminate, but it quickly found the racial divisions in american society. The cold pandemic is a would be alert of americas true blood in the racially segregated city of chicago. The majority of deaths have been black and latino residents fault lines asks why i think its become entirely clear that if such a thing as structural racism, the great divide covered 19 and race in chicago. On aljazeera, france once had, a vast empire spanning several continents. But by the 1940, s. , the french were forced to confront reality and to moms from dependence. And a fast part of a new documentary series, aljazeera looks at how the colonial unrest conflict in our geria and full scale war in indochina blood into his french to colonize ation on aljazeera. Be the hero, the world needs washing another swing at a mess for the truck campaign. As a judge throws out his latest lawsuit this one challenging pennsylvanias postal votes. Hello, im adrian so they get. This is 0. Life also coming up. The u. S. Approves an antibody drug for corona virus, as the number of cases surges past 12000000 across the country. Protesters toltz the Congress Building in guatemala as anger grows of the budget