2025-09-04 08:51

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British firms' expectations of inflation over the next year in the overall economy rose to 3.3%, up by 0.1 percentage points, in the three months to August, a Bank of England survey showed on Thursday. The survey also showed firms' expectations for employment growth over the next year have weakened, falling by 0.3 percentage points to 0.2% in the three months to August. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/british-firms-report-slight-rise-uk-year-ahead-inflation-expectations-boe-survey-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 08:38

Former head of EM debt sees tell-tale signs of crisis Urges next government to act swiftly IMF wants end of fuel subsidies, dollar peg LONDON/NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The former head of emerging-market debt at asset manager BlackRock and grandson of one of Bolivia's most famous presidents is offering to help the winner of next month's presidential election fix the country's debt problems. The October 19 runoff is between centrist Rodrigo Paz and right-wing former President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who has said the country needs to renegotiate its $14 billion of external borrowings. Sign up here. Sergio Trigo Paz, who at BlackRock was involved in some of the world's largest sovereign defaults from Argentina to Ukraine, told Reuters that Bolivia's woes meant "the vultures" - distressed debt investors - were now circling. With the economy in disarray and barely enough foreign exchange reserves to cover two months of imports, the crunch could come in March when the new government faces roughly $380 million worth of debt payments, he said in a telephone interview from Bolivia on Wednesday. "This is exactly the environment where distressed-debt funds thrive," said Trigo Paz, who returned to Bolivia this year after working in London for two decades. "They buy (bonds) at cents on the dollar, litigate for recovery and wait." The country's 7.5% bond maturing in 2030 has been trading just below 80 cents on the dollar after a rally on a poor showing by the ruling socialist party in the August 17 first-round voting. Trigo Paz said there has also been a short squeeze caused by local pension funds, which has caused distortion. "The macro challenges are not insurmountable ... But at current levels, 80 cents on the dollar would be pricing in perfection," he said. The election debate is whether the country needs the kind of chainsaw-style reforms Javier Milei has adopted in neighbouring Argentina, or can afford a more gradual approach. The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Bolivia phase out costly fuel subsidies, ditch its U.S. dollar currency peg and lift capital controls, all measures Trigo Paz backs. "What is most important is to get ready for what is coming," he said, urging the new government to act swiftly. "Once the IMF are on the other side of the table you are not in control of the steering wheel." EXPERIENCE Given Bolivia's history of economic crises and public protests, veterans warn the painful fixes now required will test the resolve of the new government. Trigo Paz said he would be willing to help tackle the debt problems in a technocrat capacity, though has not been in contact about the possibility with either Rodrigo Paz - a distant cousin - or Quiroga. He stipulated too that: "It would depend on the willingness to truly address the imbalances". His grandfather, Victor Paz Estenssoro, towered over Bolivian politics for half a century and in 1985, during his last term in charge, introduced sweeping free-market reforms that helped vanquish hyperinflation and stabilise the economy. With Bolivia back on the brink again, he said, equally bold actions were now needed. "Gradualism is not something that I believe is going to work." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/former-blackrock-debt-head-warns-vultures-circling-bolivia-crisis-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:45

MANGAREDJIPA, Congo, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Maman Soki is among a small group of Congolese women undertaking heavy mining work for survival after escaping a deadly attack on her village by Islamic State-alligned rebels that killed her daughter and her sister. In April, the 49-year-old widow left her home in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo with her son, grandson and her sister's children to flee the jihadists - one of many armed groups in the mineral-rich region. Sign up here. Soki now works alongside two other women at Pangoyi gold mine, lugging 30 kg sacks of debris up a muddy slope for a few dollars a day to feed the four children in her care. "Sometimes we want to enter the pits to dig, but we're told women aren't allowed," Soki said in an interview. "That's why we always carry the already-dug sand for processing." A photograph of her lost sibling is among the few reminders of the life Soki left behind. Soki now cares for her sister's two small children, as well as her orphaned grandson. Soki's 12-year-old son Muhindo Obed looks after his three adopted siblings while Soki is at work. In Congo, mining is traditionally dominated by men, but women are often driven to undertake the back-breaking work to survive. Women in mining often face discrimination and harassment by male colleagues, and perform lower-paying tasks, according to the national association RENAFEM, a Western-funded group that aims to protect the rights of female workers. Soki hopes to save enough to open a small food store and leave mining behind, but there is little left over after paying for the children's food, school fees and expenses. "We worry for her safety when she goes to Pangoyi," her son Obed said. In July Islamic State-backed rebels killed at least 43 worshippers in a church in Komanda, and in August they killed at least 52 civilians in the Beni and Lubero areas of eastern Congo, UN and local officials said. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congolese-women-turn-mining-survival-after-jihadist-attacks-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:34

COPENHAGEN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Swedish green steel company Stegra is seeking to raise additional cash to complete its flagship investment in northern Sweden, business daily Dagens Industri reported on Thursday. A company spokesperson told Reuters Stegra was considering options including public funding, equity and debt. Sign up here. Stegra, formerly H2 Green Steel, secured 6.5 billion euros ($7.61 billion) in funding in January 2024 for its flagship green steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden, which uses hydrogen produced from renewable electricity. Sweden has led Europe's efforts to shift from fossil-fuel based industries to non-polluting energy, driven by cheap, carbon-free electricity, but its green transition also faces headwinds, such as the bankruptcy of battery maker Northvolt. Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. ($1 = 0.8542 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/swedens-stegra-seeks-more-funds-green-steel-project-business-daily-di-reports-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:30

Central bank rates too high - Sberbank CEO Gref Gref says the economy is stagnating Gref says growth was close to zero in August and July Russia cut growth forecast for 2025 VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Sberbank CEO German Gref, one of Russia's most powerful bankers, warned on Thursday that the economy was stagnating and that unless the central bank slashed interest rates then the country would fall into recession. Russia's war economy grew at 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024, far faster than G7 countries, despite multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but it is slowing sharply under high interest rates. Sign up here. Russia's highest military spending since the Cold War has stoked inflation, which prompted the central bank to raise its key interest rate to 21% in October, the highest level since the early years of President Vladimir Putin's rule in 2003. The central bank cut to 20% in June and then to 18% in July, but there have been a series of warnings from senior officials about the fate of the economy which they say is still shackled by the crippling cost of credit. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok, Gref, a former economy minister, said that in the second quarter, the economy looked as if it was in "technical stagnation". Gref said that the expected cut in rates to 14% by year end from the current 18% was not enough to revive the economy - and suggested that only if the rates were cut to 12% would the economy recover. "It is important to move out of this period of controlled cooling of the economy so that it does not turn into stagnation, because reviving the economy will be much more difficult than cooling it down," he said. Gref said that data from banks - which was received faster than state statistics - showed a sharp slowdown and that there were signs that growth was close to zero in July and August. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Putin last week that Russia's economic growth is expected to slow to 1.5% in 2025, far below the earlier 2.5% forecast, as high interest rates imposed to reduce inflation have stifled borrowing. Pressure is mounting on the central bank - run by Gref's former colleague Elvira Nabiullina - to cut rates at its Sept. 12 meeting with a slew of warnings from senior officials and influential business chiefs about the impact of high rates. RATE DECISION Gref said that he hoped the central bank would heed the warnings and avoid a recession. "At current inflation levels, the rate at which we can hope for economic recovery is 12% or lower. So somewhere around these levels, we will most likely see economic recovery." Nabiullina's deputy, Alexei Zabotkin, said on Tuesday that Russia had made substantial progress in fighting inflation but that the central bank was exercising caution in its assessments of inflation reduction to ensure they are not overly premature or overly optimistic. Reuters in January reported exclusively that President Vladimir Putin had grown increasingly concerned about distortions in Russia's wartime economy, particularly with a cut to investment by major companies due to high interest rates. "The latest data suggests that the economy is cooling down faster than expected," said Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, whose staffers are finalising the latest set of macroeconomic forecasts for the next year's budget. During Putin's first two terms as president from 2000 to 2008, the size of Russia's economy soared to $1.7 trillion from less than $200 billion in 1999. But Russia's nominal GDP is now just $2.2 trillion, about the same level it was in 2013, the year before Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/sberbank-ceo-gref-warns-russian-recession-if-rates-are-not-slashed-2025-09-04/

2025-09-04 07:27

NICOSIA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - European prosecutors are investigating possible criminal offences relating to a 1.9 billion euro ($2.12 billion) EU-financed project to build a subsea electric cable linking Europe to the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus's president said. Greek power grid operator IPTO is building the Great Sea Interconnector cable to link European and Cypriot transmission networks and later stretch to Israel through the Mediterranean Sea. Sign up here. The project has been hit with multiple delays, and Nicosia has sought clarifications on its cost, viability and liabilities. Greece in March reaffirmed its commitment to the project after reports it had been halted over financial and geopolitical concerns. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters late on Wednesday he had been informed that the European Public Prosecutor's Office had opened an inquiry for "possible criminal offences in relation to this particular project" after receiving complaints. Asked who was targeted in the probe, Christodoulides said: "It does not refer to whom." The EPPO did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. In Athens, IPTO declined to comment. On completion, project promoters say the link would be "the world's longest" high-voltage cable at 1,240 km (770.5 miles) and also the deepest at 3,000 metres. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/european-prosecutors-probe-east-med-cable-project-says-cyprus-2025-09-04/