Russia is to create a 300 billion ruble (US$4 billion) anti-crisis fund to try to shield its economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said yesterday.
Moscow has said it might miss its growth targets this year and global markets have been bruised by the impact of the virus.
A sharp drop in the price of oil, Russia’s main export, has left Russia particularly vulnerable, with the rouble sinking to four-year lows against the US dollar.
The Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian central bank have already pledged support to everything from the banking sector to the rouble and the state debt market, and attention is now focused on a key interest rate meeting set for Friday.
New support measures would include tax breaks for tourism companies and airlines, and that Russia would expand its preferential loans program for businesses, Mishustin said.
Andrei Belousov, his first deputy, last week said that Russia might miss its economic growth target this year, originally set at 2 percent, while economists have warned that the country’s economy might turn negative amid low oil prices and slower business activity.
Russia has 63 confirmed COVID-19 cases and is building a new hospital outside Moscow to prepare for a possible increase in numbers. That is in addition to a hospital that was recently converted to treat coronavirus patients only.
There have been no deaths from the virus in Russia so far, authorities say.
Russia is already restricting passenger flights and has halted many trains to Europe.
Russia would close its border with Belarus as well, Mishustin said.
Russia has recommended that institutions of higher education switch to distance learning, while the city of Moscow has made school attendance optional.
There have been some signs of panic buying. Shelves over the weekend in a number of Moscow shops were lacking toilet paper, washing powder and canned products, as well as rice and flour.
soft landing: The US’ rate-setting FOMC finds itself in a difficult situation as it seeks to address inflation through interest rate hikes while avoiding a recession The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday after a summer of mixed economic data, while leaving the door open to another hike if needed. The Fed has raised interest rates 11 times over the past 18 months, lifting its key lending rate to a level not seen for 22 years as it tackles inflation still stubbornly above its long-term target of 2 percent. Analysts and traders broadly expect the US central bank to hold rates steady on Wednesday in order to give policymakers more time to assess the health of the world’s largest economy. “We think
AI TREND: TSMC has been rapidly expanding capacity to meet a spike in demand for advanced packaging services, but still expects supplies to be tight for 18 months Arizona is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) about advanced chip packaging, state Governor Katie Hobbs said yesterday, which is crucial for the manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips. TSMC, which is building a US$40 billion chip factory in the US state, has not announced plans to build facilities for advanced chip packaging in the US. Advanced packaging processes stitch multiple chips together into a single device, lowering the added cost of more powerful computing. “Part of our efforts at building the semiconductor ecosystem is focusing on advanced packaging, so we have several things in the works around that
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
Tailwinds: Blockbuster earnings at Nvidia Corp have sparked hopes of a tech sector boom; Taiwanese chipmakers are hopeful benefits will come to them too The worst could be over for the New Taiwan dollar as China’s economic recovery and a rebound in the chip industry will support the beleaguered currency, analysts said. The NT dollar is on course to weaken for a sixth month, the longest stretch since 2006, after foreign funds turned sour on its technology sector and risk sentiment deteriorated on slower growth in China. The tide seems to be turning now on nascent signs of stabilization in China’s economy — its biggest trading partner — following policy boosts. The yuan emerged as the best-performing Asian currency last week, followed by the Japanese yen
RSS