Tag: coronavirus crisis

Complacency, lack of leadership behind COVID-19 crisis, says Raghuram Rajan

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The record surge in COVID-19 infections in India has revealed complacency after last year’s first wave, as well as a “lack of foresight, a lack of leadership,” Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said, Bloomberg reported.

“If you were careful, if you were cautious, you had to recognise that it wasn’t done yet,” Rajan told Bloomberg in the interview. “Anybody paying attention to what was happening in the rest of the world, in Brazil for example, should have recognised the virus does come back and potentially in more virulent forms,” the former RBI governor added.

The faster pace of the spread of the virus has forced lockdowns and curfews in several states. The Centre has sidestepped a total national lockdown so far, as a similar move last year had left the economy reeling.

Complacency has hurt India because of the feeling that the worst had passed, according to Rajan, who added that India’s relative success against the first COVID-19 wave possibly led to it not producing enough vaccines for its own population, the report mentioned.

Rajan highlighted, “There was a sense that we had endured the worst the virus could give us and we had come through and it was time to open up, and that complacency hurt us.”

India is reporting an increasing number of cases almost every day and according to reports the crisis is not show any immediate signs of abating. India has registered 3.57 lakh new cases with 3,449 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to official figures so far.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Airbus re-sells 6 jets built for AirAsia, denting surplus

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Airbus has found homes for six A320neo-family aircraft rejected by one of its largest customers, Malaysia’s AirAsia, as it makes further progress in reducing a surplus of jets left by the coronavirus crisis, industry sources said.

The fate of the jets was under scrutiny as they became an emblem of pandemic-induced problems in the aerospace industry coupled with a chill in ties between two of its major players.

In an unusually semi-public rift as the crisis deepened, Airbus in April placed six jets it had built for AirAsia on sale by tender after the carrier halted taking jets.

It has now found alternative homes, with the last to be handed to its new operator this month, a European industry source told Reuters. Airbus provided no comment.

Airbus has been steadily increasing deliveries as it strikes deals with airlines to reschedule deliveries or store jets.

It said last month it had reduced an overhang of jets that it had been unable to deliver during the crisis by 10 units to 135 jets. The redeployment of AirAsia aircraft is expected to trim the surplus further as deliveries top output in November.

Airbus is seeing strong demand, relative to the rest of the battered sector, for its A321neo jet and the aircraft has broadly sustained its value, the European source said. It is sticking with plans to increase output of the single-aisle jets.

The A321neo competes with the two largest version of the Boeing 737 MAX which won approval last week to re-enter service after a 20-month grounding in the wake of two crashes.

Boeing is expected to sell dozens of 737 MAX whose buyers had walked away during the grounding, raising concerns about price pressure across the industry though Airbus has signalled that it will try to hold the line on the best-selling A321neo.

Doubts however remain over demand for a larger jet, the A330neo, whose largest customer, AirAsia’s long-haul unit Air Asia X, is seeking new funding to survive.

AirAsia said in April it would stop taking deliveries of any Airbus jets this year and review remaining orders.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Catering group Sodexo in talks on job cuts, sees further sales hit

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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French catering and food services group Sodexo said on Thursday it was in talks with employee representatives over its planned 2,083 job cuts, as it forecast a further revenue slump in a sector that was recovering but still hurt by the coronavirus crisis.

The group, one of the world’s biggest catering companies alongside Britain’s Compass, said it planned to propose all possible measures to limit the impact – particularly through voluntary transfers to its other activities in France.
”I hope all the measures we take will be sufficient and will allow us to employ people again when we return to growth,” chief executive Denis Machuel told reporters.

He added that Sodexo – which provides catering for businesses, government agencies, hospitals, schools and events – had already transferred thousands of employees from closed posts such as retirement homes and had identified some 600 open posts in France.

Sodexo announced the job cuts on Tuesday, saying they would represent less than 7 percent of its workforce and mainly affect its corporate services operation. Restructuring costs during its 2020 fiscal year more than quadrupled to 191 million euros as government support schemes across its regions come to an end.

The firm forecast a 20-25 percent revenue slump for the six months ending February 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, as well as a free cash flow hit of 250 million euro ($295.48 million) from restructuring costs, payment delays and reimbursement of Olympic Games hospitality packages.
Sodexo’s core profit fell 50 percent for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31 on 11 percent lower revenue, beating analysts’ expectations.

Machuel said he remained confident in Sodexo’s guidance after France announced a return into lockdown on Wednesday night. Sodexo decided not to propose a dividend for its 2020 fiscal year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US would have saved $10 trillion if it handled COVID-19 ‘as well as Pakistan’, says economist

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Former US treasury secretary, Lawrence ‘Larry’ Summers, hit out at President Donald Trump’s poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economist stated , “[Had] America handled the coronavirus pandemic as well as Pakistan [did], it could have saved trillions of dollars.”

In his interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the distinguished economist appreciated Pakistan’s attempts in handling the outbreak. “America’s failure on COVID-19 is almost unimaginable. Heck, if the US had handled the pandemic as well as Pakistan, we would have saved in the neighbourhood of $10 trillion,” Summers highlighted.

From today’s show: @LHSummers on his estimate of Covid-19’s $16T cost to the US–& why spending more on testing, tracing, & economic relief should be an easy call pic.twitter.com/k0DRtAJpXB

— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) October 18, 2020

Additionally, Summers was quick to condemn the Trump administration on Twitter for alleged irresponsible tackling of the pandemic, which took 200,000 lives in the country.

In one of his tweets, Summers wrote, “The costs of an expanded testing system are trivial compared to the costs of tens of thousands of early deaths. Expanding testing should be a matter of utmost urgency.”

Told @FareedZakaria on GPS @CNN, America’s failure on COVID-19 is almost unimaginable. Heck, if the U.S. had handled the pandemic as well as Pakistan, we would have saved in neighborhood of $10 trillion.

— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 18, 2020

This year in September, the Chief of World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated Pakistan on its efficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed its economy to recover.

In an oped article for The Independent, Tedros wrote, “Community health workers who have been trained to go door-to-door vaccinating children against polio have been redeployed and utilised for surveillance, contact tracing and care.”

Tedros added that Pakistan’s response fortifies the idea that the choice is not between controlling the virus and saving the economy, rather the two go hand-in-hand.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Right policies to help Indian economy recover from coronavirus crisis: IMF official

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian economy, severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, would be well placed to start recovering from the horrible crisis with the government making efforts on both the fiscal and monetary side in addition to putting in place structural elements, a top IMF official has said.

The International Monetary Fund in its annual World Economic Outlook significantly downgrades India’s growth for the fiscal year 2020 to minus 10.3 percent. At the same time, IMF said that India is likely to bounce back with an impressive 8.8 percent growth rate in 2021, but for this New Delhi needs to ramp up its efforts in various fields.

In terms of what can be done going forward, clearly on the fiscal side, the IMF believes there is more that can be done to provide support to households and firms that have been affected by the pandemic, Malhar Shyam Nabar, Division Chief, Research Department, IMF, told reporters on Tuesday at a news conference here on the eve of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

He further said there is a need to tilt the composition of the fiscal support towards more of the direct spending and tax relief measures and to rely slightly less on the liquidity support measures, the credit guarantees, which are clearly important to support the provision of credit in the economy. But if you look at the approach that was taken, there was more of an emphasis on that type of measure. We think that there is room to recalibrate and to provide more direct relief and spending support, which could have a first-order impact on preventing even worse outcomes, Nabar said.

On the monetary policy side, the RBI had come in very aggressively early on, he said. ”It has paused recently with its interest rate cuts, looking through this inflation, the spike in inflation that they have had recently, but we believe there is more that the RBI can do, too, in terms of there is room to cut if needed, and we think that should be done once this inflation spike is more under control,” he added. And together with these efforts, both on the fiscal side and the monetary side, we think that would put India on a path to recovery going forward, Nabar said.

There has also been some efforts recently on the structural side to improve medium-term growth prospects, he said. We have had progress on labour reform bills and the farm bills. We think that this will advance their structural reform agenda in an important way, remove supply-side constraints in the agricultural sector and in the labour market, also allow for a better matching of workers with firms, provide firms with a little bit more flexibility in terms of hiring options, but at the same time also provide more social security and safety net options for workers as well, he said in response to a question.

So, with those structural elements in place as well to reinforce the cyclical support, the Indian economy would be well placed to start recovering from this horrible crisis that it is experiencing right now, Nabar said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IMF official warns coronavirus will weigh on some economies for years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The coronavirus crisis is lasting longer than expected and it will take some countries years to return to growth, the No. 2 official at the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. The Fund has provided some USD 90 billion in total financing to 79 countries, including 20 in Latin America, since the start of the health crisis, an IMF spokeswoman said.

It is continuing to work with member countries on how to contain the pandemic and mitigate its economic impact, First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto told an online event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ”We’re trying to preserve our financial firepower,” Okamoto said. ”We’re talking about a … return to growth that’s going to take a few years, and many countries along the way that are probably going to need assistance.”

Latin American and Caribbean economies are the hardest hit in the world by the pandemic, reporting around 8.4 million coronavirus cases, and more than 314,000 deaths, both figures being the highest of any region.

Okamoto told the event that Fund officials were in talks with the Group of 20 major economies about extending a temporary halt in official bilateral debt service payments by low-income countries under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), and how to kickstart private sector participation.

The G20 initiative approved in April expires at the end of the year, but experts and government officials in many countries have backed extending it into 2021, with a decision expected in coming weeks and months. The issue could come up when finance ministers from the Group of Seven advanced economies meet online on Friday. In August, the ministers agreed to consider extending the DSSI.

United Nations officials and others have urged the G20 to expand their efforts to include middle-income countries and island nations hit by the collapse of tourism. The issue of debt sustainability was ”top of mind” for Fund officials, Okamoto said, noting that many countries in Latin America had debt distress before coronavirus, which had exacerbated those pressures.

The DSSI is giving the IMF more time to assess the full debt picture for these countries, he said. ”It’s lasting longer than we anticipated, and so that is going to change a bit the dynamics of what we think is sustainable in the long run.” He said the Fund was continuing to ask rich countries to fund two specific Fund programs that lend to poor countries.

The United States, the largest shareholder in the IMF, has signalled it hopes to contribute, but no funds have been provided for those programs so far.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Railways to run more special trains, state govts being consulted: Rail Ministry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Railways will run more special trains apart from the 230 plying currently, for which consent has been sought from state governments, an official said. This is to ease passenger movement in high-demand areas.

Railway ministry spokesperson, however, did not say how many trains will be added to the network. Currently, all regular passenger services are suspended due to the coronavirus crisis.

Sources said the announcement for the new trains will be made in a couple of days. “More special trains are being planned. State governments are being consulted,” the railway spokesperson said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How possible successors stack up if Japan PM Abe resigns

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited a Tokyo hospital on Monday, as concerns grew over his ability to continue in his post, because of health issues and fatigue from handling the coronavirus crisis.

If Abe is incapacitated, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as finance minister, would take over temporarily. If Abe resigned, he would stay on until formally replaced, which would require the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to elect a new leader, who would then be formally elected in parliament.

Here are details of some likely contenders to take the helm of the world’s third-largest economy.

TARO ASO

Finance minister Aso, 79, who also doubles as deputy prime minister, has been a core member of Abe’s administration. Without a clear consensus on who should succeed Abe, LDP lawmakers could elect Aso as a temporary leader if Abe resigns.

In 2008, Aso was elected LDP leader and hence, premier, in hopes that he could revive the long-dominant party’s fortunes. Instead, the LDP was ousted in a historic election defeat in 2009, languishing in the opposition for the next three years.

The grandson of a former premier, Aso mixes policy experience with a fondness for manga comics and a tendency towards gaffes.

SHIGERU ISHIBA

A hawkish former defence minister and rare LDP critic of Abe, Ishiba, 63, regularly tops surveys of lawmakers whom voters want to see as the next premier, but is less popular with the party’s lawmakers.

The soft-spoken security maven has also held portfolios for agriculture and reviving local economies. He defeated Abe in the first round of a party presidential election in 2012, thanks to strong grassroots support, but lost in the second round when only MPs could vote. Then, in a 2018 party leadership poll, Ishiba lost heavily to Abe.

He has criticised the Bank of Japan’s ultra-low interest rates for hurting regional banks and called for higher public works spending to remedy growing inequality.

FUMIO KISHIDA

Kishida, 63, served as foreign minister under Abe from 2012 to 2017, but diplomacy remained mainly in the prime minister’s grip.The low-key lawmaker from Hiroshima has been widely seen as Abe’s preferred successor but ranks low in voter surveys.

Kishida hails from one of the party’s more dovish factions and is seen as less keen on revising the post-war constitution’s pacifist Article 9 than Abe, for whom it is a cherished goal. The BOJ’s hyper-easy monetary policy “cannot go on forever,” Kishida has said.

TARO KONO

Defence Minister Taro Kono, 56, has a reputation as a maverick but has toed the line on key Abe policies, including a stern stance in a feud with South Korea over wartime history.

Educated at Georgetown University and a fluent English speaker, he previously served as foreign minister and minister for administrative reform.

He has differentiated his conservative stances from those of his father, former chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono, who authored a landmark 1993 apology to “comfort women”, a euphemism for women forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels.

YOSHIHIDE SUGA

Suga, 71, a self-made politician and loyal lieutenant since Abe’s troubled term as premier in 2006 and 2007, was among a band of allies who pushed Abe to run again for the top post in 2012.

Back in office, Abe tapped Suga as chief cabinet secretary, acting as top government spokesman, coordinating policies and keeping bureaucrats in line.

Talk of Suga as a contender bubbled up in April 2019 after he unveiled the new imperial era name, “Reiwa”, for use on Japanese calendars after the enthronement of the new emperor.

Suga’s clout was dented somewhat by scandals that toppled two cabinet ministers close to him last October.

SHINJIRO KOIZUMI

The name of Koizumi, 39, now environment minister and the son of charismatic former premier Junichiro Koizumi, is often floated as a future premier, but many consider him too young. He shares some of Abe’s conservative views and has paid his respects at Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead.

Koizumi has projected a reforming image on the basis of efforts to cut Japan’s backing for coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, but has typically taken care not to offend party elders.

KATSUNOBU KATO, YASUTOSHI NISHIMURA

As health minister, Kato, 64, was in the limelight in the early days of Japan’s coronavirus outbreak but then Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, 57, a former trade official, emerged as point person on virus policy.

In 2015, Kato, a father of four, was handed the portfolio for boosting Japan’s rock-bottom birth rate, a task that met little success. He is a former official of the finance ministry.

SEIKO NODA

Noda, 59, has made no secret of her desire to become Japan’s first female premier. An Abe critic, the former internal affairs minister, who also held the portfolio for women’s empowerment, fell short of backing to join the race for party leader in 2018.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amid COVID-19 crisis, this e-learning company says will hire 300 professionals in 6 months

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdown seem to be come as a boon for the online learning companies, as this has shifted people’s priority to online mode of learning. After Byju’s, Unacademy, upGrad that announced large-scale recruitment in June; another Edtech company – Great Learning – which provides professional education; today announced that it will hire 300 professional across roles over the next six months.

Some of the key roles Great Learning is looking to fill include Head of Product, Principal Engineer, and Senior Software Engineer.

According to the company, it is not limiting its search to India and is engaging with exceptional professionals from across the globe.

The company expects to touch the 1,000 people mark by the end of the year. It has already hired more than 150 entry and mid-level professionals this year and with this its current strength stands at 650.

Earlier in June, Byju’s had said that it will hire about 4,000 staff in six months. Unacademy, and upGrad had also promised to increase headcount in the coming months.

Great Learning’s revenue was at Rs 325 crores in FY20. The company claimed that it witnessed a 5X growth in its learner base with the launch of Great Learning Academy and Great Learning Corporate Academy earlier this year.

The company has also launched new professional learning programs over the last few months and has struck partnerships with top institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras).

“Access to quality education is a global problem, and the pandemic has put some much-needed macro-transformations on steroids,” said Karthik Gopalan, Director, People Operations at Great Learning.

“We have done extremely well in the past few months on the back of tremendous growth, both in our existing as well as new business initiatives. Our goal is to keep the momentum going, build an impactful team and hire professionals that can help us move into the next orbit of growth.”

Great Learning claimed that it has struck a series of partnerships with world-class institutions, which include The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business (since 2018), followed by Krannert School of Management at Purdue University (since 2019), and Stanford Executive Education in 2019 (since 2019).

Over the last few months, the company launched several new programs and has struck partnerships with top Indian institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Dutch KLM group to cut 4,500-5,000 jobs due to COVID-19 crisis

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Dutch carrier KLM said Friday it will cut between 4,500 and 5,000 jobs because of the coronavirus crisis. The company said in a statement that in addition to 1,500 job losses, some 1,500 temporary contracts won’t be renewed and 2,000 jobs will be suppressed via a voluntary departure scheme. The group also expects natural attrition through retirement” to help cut an extra 500 jobs.

KLM said it does not expect demand to fully recover before 2023 or 2024 and said further staff reductions are possible given the high level of uncertainty.”

Earlier this month, the European Commission approved a bailout package of 3.4 billion euros ( 4 billion) in loans offered by the Dutch government to help the company navigate the crisis.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow