{"id":557670,"date":"2021-09-28T04:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/09\/28\/this-morning-oil-prices-at-three-year-high-high-stakes-negotiations-on-capitol-hill-china-power-crisis\/"},"modified":"2021-09-28T04:00:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T04:00:42","slug":"this-morning-oil-prices-at-three-year-high-high-stakes-negotiations-on-capitol-hill-china-power-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/09\/28\/this-morning-oil-prices-at-three-year-high-high-stakes-negotiations-on-capitol-hill-china-power-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: Oil prices at three-year high; High-stakes negotiations on Capitol Hill; China power crisis;"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to a Hump Day issue <\/strong>that feels a lot like the (relative) calm before the storm. It\u2019s a brisk but not hectic news morning, with the biggest story being covid, covid and still more covid: walk-in vaccination clinics are real, digital vaccination records are coming to Egypt, and university students can now get jabbed within 24 hours of registering.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also lots of interesting news from planet startup<\/strong>, where Cairo-headquartered Flat6Labs has hit second close on its Tunisia fund and state-owned banks have announced the launch of an EGP 1 bn fintech fund.<\/p>\n

Expect the news cycle to pick up pace today through Thursday <\/strong>as companies look to get news out before the House of Representatives comes back into session \u2014 and starts dominating newsflow \u2014 this weekend.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORIES TODAY are all abroad<\/strong>, where we note that EM bonds are seeing outflows thanks to events in China \u2014 where, incidentally, a looming power crisis threatens an even more interesting winter for a world waking up to the notion that supply shortages are going to be more than a transient thing.<\/p>\n

We have more on all of these stories below.<\/p>\n

BIG STORY #1- As expected, Republican lawmakers in the US are pushing the <\/strong>government towards <\/strong>default<\/strong>, last night refusing to back a Democratic bill that would have raised the debt ceiling and prevented a government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins on 1 October. If Congress can\u2019t agree to raise the debt ceiling by Thursday, the government will enter a partial shutdown and be on its way to default as soon as mid October, threatening a financial catastrophe as the country\u2019s economy recovers from the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The Federal Reserve is weighing in:<\/strong> Two Fed officials warned yesterday<\/a> that the central bank would be powerless to prevent an \u201cextreme kind of reaction in markets\u201d<\/strong> that would be triggered by a shutdown and called for bipartisanship to raise the debt ceiling. Everyone from Reuters<\/a> and the AP<\/a> to the Wall Street Journal<\/a> and the New York Times<\/a> has this on their front pages this morning.<\/p>\n

BIG STORY #2- Straight to voicemail: <\/strong>US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has not returned calls from IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg<\/a>, amid accusations that Georgieva pressured staff to manipulate data in order to boost China\u2019s business-climate rating. An IMF ethics committee is reviewing the allegations, which Georgieva has strongly denied<\/a>. The results of the review will likely be decisive for the IMF head\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n

Is Georgieva the victim of \u201canti-Beijing hysteria\u201d?<\/strong> That\u2019s the contention of US economist Jeffrey Sachs, who in a Financial Times<\/a> opinion piece describes her treatment by US officials and lawmakers as \u201cMcCarthyite\u201d and implores the IMF not to \u201ccapitulate\u201d by forcing her out.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens, it\u2019s going to make for an awkward atmosphere at the IMF and World Bank meetings<\/strong> next week.<\/p>\n

BIG STORY #3- WATCH THIS SPACE- What happens when the world\u2019s largest <\/strong>manufacturer has a power <\/strong>crisis at the height of a global supply crunch?<\/strong> Nothing good, we\u2019d bet. But this is what we\u2019re now faced with, as power shortages in China shutter factories across the country, Reuters<\/a> reports. Manufacturers supplying some of the world\u2019s biggest companies \u2014 including Apple and Tesla \u2014 are having to wind down production as surging coal prices leaves the country facing a shortfall in electricity. The news isn\u2019t good for China, but it could be worse for the rest of the world, which was already facing supply shortages of a growing list of goods \u2014 all at the same time as rising inflation, trade disruptions, and rising post-lockdown demand put pressure on global supply chains.<\/p>\n

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** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT<\/strong> in yesterday\u2019s edition of EnterprisePM<\/strong>:<\/p>\n