- OPEC+ Delays Meeting
- Unemployment Claims In The U.S. Hit The Lowest Level
- 130 Countries Back Global Tax Deal
OPEC+ Delays Meeting
The OPEC+ meeting, which was planned to be held yesterday, was postponed to today after the United Arab Emirates did not accept the new proposal.
The meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its cooperating countries (OPEC+) was scheduled to be held yesterday. However, after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) did not accept the proposal to loosen the production cuts and extend it until 2022 immediately, it was postponed until today.
OPEC+ sources said that Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two countries with the highest production levels in the organization, reached a preliminary agreement to increase oil production by 0.4 million barrels per day in August-December this year.
Moscow and Riyadh had also proposed extending the duration of cuts until the end of 2022 to avoid a new glut next year.
But the UAE, which has ambitious oil output growth targets, objected to the proposal during the meeting, sources said, adding that it asked OPEC+ to change the baseline for cuts – a level of initial output from which reductions are calculated.
Last year, there was a serious decrease in oil demand due to the coronavirus epidemic, and OPEC+ agreed to cut production by 10 million barrels a day from May last year. While the cuts are planned to decrease until April 2022, the cuts are currently at 5.8 million barrels per day.
Unemployment Claims In The U.S. Hit The Lowest Level
The positive impact of the relaxation of restrictions and vaccination performance on the employment market in the USA continues.
First-time jobless claims totaled 364,000 for the week ended June 26, compared with the 390,000 Dow Jones estimate. That marked a new pandemic-era low and a decline of 51,000 from the previous week.
The last time there were fewer claims was the week of March 14, 2020, just before the worst of the economic damage hit.
On the other hand, ongoing applications exceeded expectations as 3 million 469 thousand in the week of June 25. The anticipation of economists regarding this data was 3 million 340 thousand.
The first indicators for the labor market for the whole of June pointed to a positive atmosphere.
U.S. private-sector employment increased by 692 thousand in June, more than expected. The median expectation of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was that employment would increase by 600 thousand in May.
U.S. private-sector employment posted the most significant rise in the last seven months in May, with vaccination efforts and business reopening. The employment increase in May was revised from 978 thousand to 886 thousand with the June data announced.
According to data from the ADP Research Institute, the number of new hires at companies increased by 742,000 in April, after an increase of 565,000 in March.
130 Countries Back Global Tax Deal
OECD reported that 130 countries have agreed to tax multinational companies at least 15 percent in countries where they operate.
According to the agreement, multinational companies will be able to pay taxes where they operate and generate profits. In addition, this practice will add legal certainty and stability to the international tax system.
The distribution of profits and taxes between the countries of the largest multinational companies, including companies operating in the digital field, will be carried out fairly.
Some rights to multinational tax companies will be allocated from the host country where the companies conduct business and generate profits. A fair competition environment will be prepared for corporate tax. For this, a global minimum corporate tax rate will be introduced.
Besides, multinational companies will be subject to a corporate tax of at least 15 percent in each country they operate.
At this rate, annual tax revenue of 150 billion dollars will be generated globally.
The agreement is expected to prevent digital platforms and large firms in particular from avoiding paying taxes through various applications.
It was noteworthy that the European Union (E.U.) members Ireland and Hungary did not join the agreement.
“Setting a minimum value for global corporate income tax undermines economic growth. The planned 15 percent tax rate is too high and should not be applied to the real economy,” said Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga, adding that Hungary’s proposals in the OECD talks were ignored.
The technical details of the tax agreement are expected to be finalized by October, and the plan to be implemented in 2023.
