- US to Buy 500 Million Doses of Vaccine for Low-Income Countries
- Bank of China Predicted that the Annual CPI Increase Would Remain Below 2%
- France Expects Billions of Euros in Minimum Tax
US to Buy 500 Million Doses of Vaccine for Low-Income Countries
Officials speaking to the American press stated that Biden will receive 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be shared with low-income countries within the scope of COVAX, and that the distribution of these vaccines will be completed within the next year.
The donations will go through the COVAX vaccine program that distributes COVID-19 shots to low- and middle-income countries. The program is led by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
According to sources, 200 million doses of the said 500 million doses of vaccine will be completed within this year.
The US administration aims to distribute 80 million vaccines to the world by the end of June, 55 million of which are from AstraZeneca and 25 million from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson.
Biden announced the details of the sharing program of 25 million doses of vaccine, which they will share with the world on June 3, saying, “At least 75 % of these doses (approximately 19 million) will be shared via COVAX. 6 million doses of this will be sent to Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 7 million to South and Southeast Asia, about 5 million will go to Africa.”
“This action sends an incredibly powerful message about America’s commitment to helping the world fight this pandemic,” said Tom Hart, acting chief executive of The ONE Campaign, a nonprofit working to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030.
Bank of China Predicted that the Annual CPI Increase Would Remain Below 2%
China’s Central Bank Governor Yi Gang stated that price trends are generally under control and that they expect the average CPI increase to remain below 2% for the whole of this year.
In his statement, the Chairman of the CBT of China stated that monetary policy should focus on the impact of structural changes on prices, while emphasizing that the Chinese economy is still moving within a reasonable range.
In his speech, Yi Gang also argued that the potential economic growth rate of China has decreased to a certain level and stated that he expects the GDP growth to be close to this potential growth rate this year.
“Given the aging population trend, China’s economic growth model based on investment and labor will be difficult to sustain,” Yi said.
Stating that there are uncertainties about the effects of the ongoing pandemic abroad on the economic recovery and macro policies, Yi said, “We cannot ignore the inflation or deflation pressures coming from the outside.” Yi also stressed that interest rates in China are at an appropriate level.
Explaining that the Bank of China will actively use the structural monetary policy tools for the green transformation of the economy, Yi Gang said, “We will encourage financial institutions to increase financial support for the green industry. We will work on supporting tools to help low carbon emissions in the real economy. We will direct them to reduce the risks,” he added.
France Expects Billions of Euros in Minimum Tax
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that they expect the global minimum tax rate to generate billions of euros in extra income with France.
Under the new regime, outlined in a subversive communiqué, the plan is to launch a race to the top in corporate taxation. How high can we go? “This is a starting point,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire following the weekend G7 meeting of ministers in London. “In the coming months we will fight to ensure that this minimum corporate tax rate is as high as possible.”
Le Maire and his counterparts from the Group of Seven powers agreed on Saturday to support a minimum rate of at least 15% in talks under way at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on rewriting the rules of cross-border taxation among 139 countries.
Asked on BFM TV how much the minimum tax would yield in France, Le Maire said: “It’s still a bit hard to evaluate, but it’s several billion euros per year.”
Le Maire said that, under this pillar, France could expect to see 500 million to 1 billion euros in extra tax revenue whereas its existing digital services tax, which Paris has promised to repeal once there is an international deal, generates about 450 million euros per year.
Because Amazon’s entire operating margin is less than the qualifying criterion of 10%, some European governments were concerned that it would fall outside the plans for taxing “super-profits.’’ However, it was stated that G7 countries had found a way to accommodate Amazon by focusing on its more profitable cloud computing division.
“I would like us to segment out Amazon’s activities so that what is highly profitable is subject to this digital taxation,” Le Maire said. “Amazon must pay this tax.”
