Emerging Markets Daily - August 23
Saudi Arabia Seeks 11 Free Trade Agreements, Iron Ore Prices Tank, India's Third Covid Wave?, Amazon Deforestation Rises, Indonesian and Thai Hotels
The Top 5 Stories from Global Media Shaping Emerging Markets - August 23
Saudi Arabia Looks for Free Trade Agreement with 11 Countries
Arab News
“Saudi Arabia is looking for more trading partners under free trade agreements as the country aims at increasing non-oil exports share in GDP. The kingdom is resuming negotiations for free trade agreements with 11 countries, Okaz paper reported, citing a circular by the Federal of Saudi Chambers (FSC) to all chambers of commerce operating in the Kingdom, based on a directions of the General Authority for Foreign Trade (GAFT). Target countries are China, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the United States of America.”
“The Kingdom aims to export services including transport, distribution, professional and financial services, communication services, postal services as well as express mail, media, hotel, construction and contracting, education and training, travel and tourism, environmental, and entertainment.” Jana Salloum reports
Iron Ore Prices Tank as China Steel Output Slows
Wall Street Journal
“One of this year’s hottest commodities is flaming out.”
“The price of iron ore has fallen roughly 40% since mid-July on concerns about demand from China, which makes more than half of the world’s steel. The downturn has dealt a blow to producing countries, notably Australia and Brazil, that are battling to protect fragile economic recoveries from outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus…”
“Other commodities including oil and copper have been falling on worries that rising Covid-19 cases might hobble the global recovery, but not at such a rapid pace. Iron ore hasn’t fallen this far this fast since spot prices were established for the commodity roughly 13 years ago, Morgan Stanley said…” Rhiannon Hoyle reports.
Notable Quotable - Afghanistan - Ahmad Massoud
Ahmad Massoud is the son of the late mujahideen leader and military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, dubbed the Lion of the Panjshir, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda on September 9, 2011
“I am in my stronghold Panjshir valley, the people of Panjshir valley are very much united and they want to defend, they want to fight, they want to resist against any totalitarian regime.”
“The people here are just a small portion of the people of Afghanistan and the geography of Panjshir is the smallest province in the whole Afghanistan, but what we are standing for right now is for the whole country, its for sovereignty, its for peace, its for people, its for inclusivity and tolerance.”
India Facing Third Covid Wave Unless Vaccinations Accelerate: Study
Bloomberg
“India may record an unprecedented 600,000 new infections a day if the country fails to boost the pace of vaccination and avert a third coronavirus wave, according to a new study.”
“The National Institute of Disaster Management -- which falls under the interior ministry -- predicts a surge in cases as early as October. Daily infections could reduce to 200,000 if the government executes its 10-million-a-day vaccination plan, the report stated, citing a study by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Energy University and Nirma University.”
“The NIDM advises organizing hospital beds and and vaccinating the vulnerable to avert the devastation of the second wave that peaked in May, after killing more than 250,000 residents. Other forecasters have also predicted a new wave in coming weeks, though most see it as weaker than the previous surge.”
“The handling of the second wave led to widespread criticism of the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity fell to 24% in August from 66% a year ago, the India Today survey showed. India has fully vaccinated only 9% of its population.” Archana Chaudhary reports.
Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon Hits Highest Annual Level in a Decade
The Guardian
“Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade, a new report has shown, despite increasing global concern over the accelerating devastation since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.”
“Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10,476 square kilometers – an area nearly seven times bigger than greater London and 13 times the size of New York City, according to data released by Imazon, a Brazilian research institute that has been tracking the Amazon deforestation since 2008. The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012.”
“‘Deforestation is still out of control,” Carlos Souza, a researcher at Imazon said. ‘Brazil is going against the global climate agenda that is seeking to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions.’” Flávia Milhorance reports
Indonesian and Thai Hotels Rethink the Resort Experience
Nikkei Asia
“Hotel operators just about everywhere have had a tough time during the pandemic, but perhaps nowhere more so than in the tourist-dependent economies of Southeast Asia.”
“…Now, many of those that reopened have been dragged into price wars to lure domestic travelers but overall numbers fall far short of recovery. Occupancy rates in Indonesia's Bali, for example, averaged 10% in the first four months of this year, while a recent survey by The Nation newspaper in Thailand found 47% of hotels in that country have just enough cash to last about three months.”
“…A small number of hotels are innovating anyway, not by throwing money at things as they did in the past but with creative ideas aligned to sustainability principles or emerging tech.” Ian Lloyd Neubauer reports
What We’re Also Reading….
African Languages to get more Bespoke Scientific Terms
Nature.com
“There’s no original isiZulu word for dinosaur. Germs are called amagciwane, but there are no separate words for viruses or bacteria. A quark is ikhwakhi (pronounced kwa-ki); there is no term for red shift. And researchers and science communicators using the language, which is spoken by more than 14 million people in southern Africa, struggle to agree on words for evolution.”
“IsiZulu is one of approximately 2,000 languages spoken in Africa. Modern science has ignored the overwhelming majority of these languages, but now a team of researchers from Africa wants to change that.”
“…The lack of scientific terms in African languages has real-world consequences, particularly in education. In South Africa, for example, less than 10% of citizens speak English as their home language, but it is the main teaching language in schools — something that scholars say is an obstacle to learning science and mathematics.”
“African languages are being left behind in the online revolution, says Kathleen Siminyu, a specialist in machine learning and natural language processing for African languages based in Kenya. ‘African languages are seen as something you speak at home, not in the classroom, not showing up in the business setting. It is the same thing for science,’ she says.” Sarah Wild reports
Taiwan Rolls Out First Domestic Shots to Bypass Vaccine Woes
Bloomberg
“Taiwan begins administering its first domestically developed Covid-19 vaccines Monday as it seeks to rely more on local options after struggling to secure sufficient supply of the major international shots.”
“President Tsai Ing-wen was among the first on Monday to get the vaccine developed by Taipei-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation. The company is yet to complete phase-3 trials for its vaccine but has been granted an emergency use authorization to begin inoculations.”
“The move to accelerate its domestic vaccine rollout comes as the economy remains depressed after the government enforced a soft lockdown in May to counter the island’s worst outbreak since the novel coronavirus first emerged.”
“Buying enough vaccines for its 23.5 million population has proven a challenge, and only 3% of the population was fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control -- one of the lowest rates among developed economies worldwide. Just under 40% of the public has received one dose.” Samson Ellis and Betty Hou report