Global debt dominates as G20 finance chiefs meet

GANDHINAGAR, India—G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs opened talks Monday on debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, as they aim to bolster a sagging global economy.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chair and host of the summit in Gandhinagar, began by telling finance leaders of “the responsibility we have... to steer the global economy towards strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth”.

Key on the two-day agenda will be “facilitating consensus to intractable issues associated with rising indebtedness”, Sitharaman said earlier on Monday, speaking to reporters alongside US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Talks will also focus on “critical global issues such as strengthening the multilateral development banks and taking coordinated climate action”, Sitharaman added.

Yellen said: “The world is looking to the G20 to make progress on key challenges like climate change and pandemics as part of our work to strengthen the global economy.”

She also cited work to tackle debt distress among the world’s poorest countries, noting debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she had discussed when visiting Beijing this month.

‘Go faster’

China, the world’s second-largest economy and a major lender to several stressed, low-income countries in Asia and Africa, has so far resisted a common multilateral understanding on the issue, officials said.

Yellen on Sunday said the Zambia deal had taken “too long to negotiate”, and added she hoped debt treatments for Ghana and Sri Lanka could be “finalized quickly”.

“We should apply the common principles we agreed to in Zambia’s case in other cases, rather than starting at zero every time,” Yellen said. “And we must go faster.”

More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, Yellen added.

A top official from G20 chair India said there had been a “not so encouraging response” from Beijing on shared debt understanding.

Several economies have struggled following the double blow of the coronavirus pandemic and fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine -- which hit global fuel and commodity prices.

China is a major creditor in some of these cases and has faced criticism for its stand on nations’ debt restructuring. Climate finance

The Group of 20 major economies will also discuss multilateral development banks’ reform, cryptocurrency regulations, and making access to financing to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change easier.

“In the Global North, climate change means emissions reductions,” World Bank chief Ajay Banga said in an op-ed ahead of the meeting. AFP economy owing to the low base of comparison with last year’s Covid-depressed performance.

The National Bureau of Statistics also said youth unemployment hit a record 21.3 percent in June and retail sales also missed estimates, adding to months of data highlighting softness in the world’s number-two economy.

“China’s recovery is going from bad to worse,” said Harry Murphy Cruise at Moody’s Analytics.

“After a sugar injection in the opening months of 2023 (following the lifting of zero-Covid measures), the pandemic hangover is plaguing China’s recovery.”

The readings will further stoke calls for authorities to announce more measures to fire growth, having cut interest rates last month. But while officials have pledged to do more, there has been little concrete out of Beijing so far.

“Asia investors have been greeted by a dismal Chinese data dump to start the week,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.

“But... the data will be viewed through the lens of how it will influence the policy decisions made at the upcoming Politburo meeting in late July. With that in mind expectations should grow that Beijing will do major fiscal soon.”

Shanghai fell nearly one percent, and there were also losses in Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Wellington. Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta edged up.

Hong Kong was closed because of a typhoon, while Tokyo was shut for a holiday.

London, Paris and Frankfurt dropped at the open.

The tepid performance Monday came as investors weighed the outlook for US interest rates after last week’s consumer and wholesale price indexes came in be- low forecasts.

The readings were seen as giving the Federal Reserve room to wind down its monetary tightening drive, which has lasted more than a year.

While it is expected to hike again this month, there is debate over whether it will then call it a day or announce one more before the end of the year.

“We think it is premature to declare victory on inflation and expect volatility to remain elevated over the near term,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists led by Phoebe White said.

Still, bets that the Fed is close to the end of its cycle have weighed on the dollar in recent weeks, with other central banks still lifting costs owing to stubbornly sticky inflation prints.

The euro last week touched $1.1248, the highest level since February 2022, while the yen and sterling have also pushed to multi-month highs. With AFP

LONDON—The UK government on Sunday hailed what it said was its biggest trade deal since Brexit, as it formally signed a treaty to join a major Indo-Pacific bloc.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the accession protocol for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in New Zealand.

It makes the United Kingdom the first new member and first European nation to join the bloc since it was created in 2018.

The CPTPP comprises the UK’s fellow G7 members Canada and Japan, plus longstanding allies Australia and New Zealand, alongside Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico,

Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

It has been seen as a bulwark against Chinese dominance in the region, although Beijing has applied to join.

Badenoch said in an interview with Sky News that the deal showed the UK “looking outwards towards the world”.

“We have a seat at the table in the fastestgrowing region, countries are queuing up (to join),” she added.

“I’m really excited that we’ve brought home the biggest trade deal since we left the European Union.”

London has been pushing a “Global Britain” strategy since formally severing nearly 50 years of ties with its nearest neighbors in

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Stockholders' Meeting (ASM) of the aforementioned Corporation will be held virtually or via remote communication on 10 August 2023 at 2:00PM via Zoom webinar. Stockholders can register at https://bit.ly/SoldivoFundsASM2023 Webinar password will be sent via email after registration. The Agenda of the Meeting is as follows:

I. Call to Order

II. Certification of Notice and Quorum

III. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual Shareholders Meeting held on 14 October 2022

IV. Management Report

V. Presentation of the Audited Financial Statements as of 31 December 2022

VI. Ratification of the Corporate Acts of the Board of Directors since the last annual stockholders’ meeting

VII. Election of Directors for 2023 to 2024

VIII. Delegation of Authority to the Board of Directors to Appoint External Auditor for 2023

IX. Other Matters

X. Adjournment the European Union three years ago. Sunday’s signing at a CPTPP meeting in Auckland was the formal confirmation of the agreement for UK membership after nearly two years of talks.

Only holders of issued stocks of record as at the close of business hours on 15 June 2023 and whose status as stockholders on that date has been satisfactorily established in accordance with the corporate records of the Stock and Transfer Agent and the Corporate Secretary of the Company, will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the scheduled stockholders’ meeting.

Given the current circumstances and in order to ensure the safety and welfare of our stockholders in light of the COVID -19 pandemic, the Corporation will dispense with the physical attendance of stockholders at the meeting and will allow attendance only by remote communication and by voting in absentia or voting through the Chairman of the meeting as proxy.

Stockholders who intend to participate in the meeting via remote communication and to exercise their vote in absentia must notify the Corporate Secretary by registering through the Company’s website for the 2023 annual meeting of the stockholders on or before 31 July 2023. All information submitted will be subject to verification and validation by the Corporate Secretary by 03 August 2023. Successful registrants will receive an e-mail with instructions on how to access an online web address which will allow them to join the meeting and cast votes in absentia or by proxy in favor of the Chairman of the meeting.

The procedures for participating in the me eting through remote communication and for casting their votes in absentia are set forth in the Information Statement.

The government said it will cut tariffs for UK exports to CPTPP countries, which with UK membership will have a combined GDP of £12 trillion ($15.7 trillion), and account for 15 percent of global GDP. It will give British businesses trade access to a market of more than 500 million people and access to the wider region, it added.

The agreement is expected to come into force in the second half of next year, after parliamentary scrutiny and legislation. AFP

NOTICE OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Stockholders' Meeting (ASM) of the aforementioned Corporation will be held virtual ly or via remote communication on 10 August 2023 at 3:00PM via Zoom webinar. Stockholders can register at https://bit.ly/SoldivoFundsASM2023 Webinar password will be sent via email after registration. The Agenda of the Meeting is as follows:

I. Call to Order

II. Certification of Notice and Quorum

III. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual Shareholders Meeting held on 14 October 2022

IV. Management Report

V. Presentation of the Audited Financial Statements as of 31 December 2022

VI. Ratification of the Corporate Acts of the Board of Directors since the last annual stockholders’ meeting

VII. Election of Directors for 2023 to 2024

VIII. Delegation of Authority to the Board of Directors to Appoint External Auditor for 2023

IX. Other Matters

X. Adjournment

Only holders of issued stocks of record as at the close of business hours on 15 June 2023 and whose status as stockholders on that date has been satisfactorily established in accordance with the corporate records of the Stock and Transfer Agent and the Corporate Secretary of the Company, will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the scheduled stockholders’ meeting. Given the current circumstances and in order to ensure the safety and welfare of our stockholders in light of the COVID -19 pandemic, the Corporation will dispense with the physical attendance of stockholders at the meeting and will allow attendance only by remote communication and by voting in absentia or voting through the Chairman of the meeting as proxy.

Stockholders who intend to participate in the meeting via remote communication and to exercise their vote in absentia must notify the Corporate Secretary by registering through the Company’s website for the 2023 annual meeting of the stockholders on or before 31 July 2023. All information submitted will be subject to verification and validation by the Corporate Secretary by 03 August 2023. Successful registrants will receive an e-mail with instructions on how to access an online web address which will allow them to join the meeting and cast votes in absentia or by proxy in favor of the Chairman of the meeting.

The procedures for participating in the meeting through remote communication and for casting their votes in absentia are set forth in the Information Statement.

Makati City, Philippines, 19 June 2023