Sept. 21, 2020 Funding for Congo Republic economy A group of banks has agreed more than $545 million worth of funding to boost Congo Republic’s long-suffering economy, officials said, marketscreener. 5 com reported. Global Economy

Turkish agriculture sector ECB to discuss the creation of digital euro grows steadily, minister says

he European Central Bank (ECB) is considering the option of creat- Ting a Union’s proper digital euro with study results to be revealed in the coming weeks. Further analysis and like- lihood of the project are subject of public discussion, said Lagarde, ECB’s presi- dent. “The Eurosystem has so far not made a decision on whether to introduce a digital euro. But, like many other central banks around the world, we are exploring the benefits, risks and operational challenges hurriyetdailynews.com of doing so,” Lagarde said. “The findings of a Eurosystem task force are expected The Turkish agriculture sector’s annual average growth rate is to be presented to the public in the com- much higher than its Organization for Economic Cooperation ing weeks, followed by the launch of a and Development (OECD) and EU peers, with 2.7 percent in public consultation”, according to crypto- the last 10 years, the treasury and finance minister has said. reporter.com. “Our agricultural export figure has increased to $19.4 bil- Gathering in Berlin last week, top of- lion from $3.7 billion in 2002. Red meat production has in- ficials representing the block’s biggest creased from 366,658 tons to 1,201,469 tons,” Berat Albayrak economies reiterated the message that said in a tweet, hurriyetdailynews.com reported. the ECB will be the only institution to is- “Our yearly growth rate of 2.7 in the agricultural sector is sue currencies, while any other activities well ahead of the OECD and EU countries,” he added. should not be allowed if they compromise Albayrak also shared a video comparing the developments the integrity of the financial system. in Turkey’s agricultural sector in the last 10 years. “This point is something that cannot be The video shows that the average agricultural growth rates jeopardized or weakened by any kind of among the OECD and EU countries are 1.3 percent and 0.5 project including the so-called Libra proj- percent, respectively. ect,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le In the last 17 years, white meat production has also in- Maire said on the matter. creased from 905,220 tons to nearly 2.2 million tons. The ministers are also concerned about The total number of tractors used in Turkey was up by lagging behind on the Central Bank DANIEL ROLAND/AFP/GETTY IMAGES 350,000, hitting 1.35 million in the same period. Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany. As a self-sufficient country in agriculture and food, Turkey and vowed to discuss the benefits and exports 1,827 different agricultural products to 193 countries. challenges of the project in the nearest president made it clear that the agency stander approach, to respond to urgent de- she underscored that the private market- The total export amount of agricultural exports in a year is future. Back in January in an interview was seeking an active role in the field of mand for quicker and cheaper payments, led solutions for faster and efficient retail around $18 billion. with “Challenges” magazine the ECB’s cryptocurrency, rather than taking a by- especially cross-border transactions. Yet payments should not be discouraged. The virus is putting Britain’s next industrial revolution on ice

In the country that pioneered the world’s But then COVID struck. Business in- to employ people because you have to first industrial revolution in the 18th vestment plunged more than 30 percent worry about social distancing, you have century, its latest one is looking very as a nationwide lockdown shuttered to worry about safety equipment, you much on hold. firms, kept employees out of workplaces have to worry about testing and trac- The global shift toward robotics and and broke international supply chains. ing,” said McKinsey’s Allas. “COVID artificial intelligence across advanced itself has massively changed the play- economies is currently in a go-slow Not enough action ing field between capital and labor.” phase in the UK — where both COV- Guildhawk, a company which pro- ID-19 and Brexit have hampered prog- Since then, the virus has created a vides translation and content man- ress, according to Bloomberg. new incentive for businesses to shift agement systems for companies like away from human employment, and KPMG and Hitachi, is confident that Robot revolution find more reliable workers and process- Britain’s fourth industrial revolution Vincent Yu/Associated Press es that can’t succumb to illness. won’t stay on hold for long. The com- Three typhoons buffeted China’s main Corn Belt in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and the Inner That threatens to harm Britain’s com- But that has yet to translate into new pany has unveiled two new products Mongolia region in August and September. petitiveness against rival economies orders for Brian Palmer, the chief exec- since the coronavirus struck — includ- which are already retooling more ag- utive officer of Tharsus. His company ing one which automates the process of gressively to be more productive. It creates and commercializes robots for checking and correcting large volumes China’s corn crop hurt by storms, could also mean greater long-term pain in the UK labor market, delaying the inevitable adjustment for workers who may raise US import purchases need to retrain as jobs in industries from manufacturing to retail become obsolete. China’s corn crop is expected to fall “But the cost of harvest will rise the show, Trump suggested Beijing “Eventually, businesses will have to au- by up to 10 million metric tons, or and there is increasing risk that the was now buying record amounts of tomate because it is just cheaper and better nearly four percent, from the latest corn crops would lose their test weight US corn, soybeans and beef because — better for employees as well,” said Tera government estimates after heavy while getting moldy,” said Meng, Chinese leaders knew he was “very, Allas, director of research and economics wind and rains toppled crops in ma- who gave an initial estimate that corn very unhappy” about their handling of at McKinsey. “In sectors that are com- jor production areas in the northeast- output in the northeastern region will the coronavirus pandemic. petitive, either we automate them and we ern corn belt recently. drop by about five million metric tons. China’s crop losses come just as de- continue to be competitive, or someone Expected production losses have With domestic output falling, China mand strengthens from a fast recover- else automates them and we ship in those pushed Chinese corn futures to a re- is expected to import more from major ing meat-production industry, fanning goods from some other country.” cord high and stoked worries over suppliers such as the United States. concerns about potential feed-sector Britain has long been a somewhat supply shortages in the world’s sec- “We would need to buy more shortages. slow mover in the so-called “fourth ond-largest consumer of the grain af- [corn],” said an executive with a state- China’s agriculture ministry lowered industrial revolution” harnessing the ter it ran down once-mammoth state owned agriculture trading company. its forecast for 2020-21 corn output by potential of robots and artificial intelli- stockpiles and boosted imports, ac- Overseas corn “is cheap so it makes 1.8 million metric tons to 265 million gence. That was the conclusion of a re- cording to startribune.com. sense to buy. We don’t have enough metric tons, on impact of the typhoons, port by lawmakers last year calling on elintransigente.com “We think that corn output in the feed grains but can just buy,” said the but the figures were still up from its es- the government to develop a strategy to northeastern region would fall 5 to executive, who declined to be named timate for the 2019-20 output. accelerate that shift. clients such as online grocery giant of translated text. 10 million tons this [crop] year,” said as he was not authorized to speak to Heilongjiang, top corn producer in In manufacturing, for example, the Ocado Group Plc and jet-engine maker “Now we can see what technology Zhang Dalong, analyst with Chinese the media. the country, said that the typhoons did UK has just 89 robots per 10,000 work- Rolls Royce Holdings Plc. can do for us, people are really push- state-owned food processing holding US Department of Agriculture data flatten crops in some fields, increasing ers, compared to over 900 in Singapore, “People are still trying to figure out ing forward,” said founder Jurga Zi- company (COFCO) futures, referring to show that China already has commit- farm loss and harvest costs. according to the International Federa- what this new normal looks like,” he linskiene. “Instead of looking at tech the latest output estimate from the Min- ted to buying around nine million met- The impact on grain production in tion of Robotics. That’s the lowest level said. “There’s more interest, but is there as some kind of monster to take away istry of Agriculture for the 2019-20 crop ric tons of corn from the United States the region, however, was limited as of any major economy. investment and action? Not yet.” your job, now the tech is the hero.” year of 260.7 million metric tons. for the 2020-21 marketing year, which rescue measures such as drying and Such news might come as a faint Still, the risk if businesses don’t re- “Impact on output and quality of would be a record if it all gets shipped. draining were made in time, the pro- Sigh, robot relief for millions of UK employees spond to the shifting landscape is that the grain will be felt over the longer During 2019-20, China imported vincial government said on its official already facing the threat of layoffs as the UK will lag further behind peers term,” Zhang said. 2.1 million metric tons of corn from WeChat account. One reason for that is subdued in- government wage support winds down. when it comes sowing the seeds of fu- Three typhoons buffeted China’s the US The acreage hit was quite small, vestment provoked by Brexit uncer- The advent of automation and robotics ture growth by adopting technology to main corn belt of the provinces of China vowed to import $36.5 bil- while the damage was mild, it added. tainty and the redefining of Britain’s has long been a specter hanging over boost poor productivity. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and the lion of US agricultural goods annually Betting on higher prices, grain trad- trading relationship with the European labor markets that could displace as That could not only delay the labor Inner Mongolia region in late August as part of a trade deal signed in Janu- ers in northeastern China have expand- Union. much as 50 percent of the global work- market’s adjustment to the new reality, and early September, flattening plants ary. Chinese purchases through the ed storage capacity while farmers plan The transition in place when the UK force, Bank of England Chief Econo- but also curtail work prospects for fu- and flooding fields just as the corn first seven months of the year totaled to hold off sales this year, according to did finally leave the EU in January pro- mist Andy Haldane said in 2018. ture generations of employees. crop reached maturity. just $8.6 billion, according to US Cen- Cofeed, an agriculture consultancy. vided some encouragement — with That respite may not last forever. In a “The UK have missed the opportuni- “Flattened crops are not equal to no sus Bureau trade data. Production losses in Heilongjiang, spending intentions on plants and ma- survey of European business leaders by ties to invest in automation over a long harvest, and you might recover some During an ABC News town hall China’s top corn-producing province, chinery rising to a two-year high, accord- EY, more than 80 percent said the shift time,” said Susanne Bieller, general output if the crops get handled prop- event on television last week, Presi- could be up to 20 percent, Cofeed said ing to a Confederation of British Industry to automation technology will probably secretary of the IFR. “If you don’t use erly later,” said Meng Jinhui, senior dent Donald Trump continued to back in a report, citing findings from a crop survey. Robot orders reached the highest accelerate because of the pandemic. robots, why would you create the skills analyst with Shengda Futures. the trade deal signed in January. On tour earlier this month. since 2012, another study showed. “It is now just much more expensive around them?”