Consumers around the globe face higher prices for a wide variety of everyday purchases, as supply chain problems bedevil markets for all manner of goods, and energy prices spike to highs not seen in years. 

That means consumers around the world are paying more for items like food, clothing and household supplies, and for major purchases like cars, appliances and homes. The impact is felt most acutely by low-income families, who find that their limited incomes cover fewer of their immediate needs than before. 

The question on the minds of many economists, however, is whether surging prices really are “transitory,” as senior officials in the United States have been saying for months, or are they the beginning of a period of more sustained price growth than most of the world’s major economies have seen in decades. 

In testimony before Congress last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that “frustrating” global supply chain problems resulting from the end of pandemic lockdowns have extended a period of inflation longer than he and other central bankers had originally expected. But he said he remained confident that they would eventually resolve themselves. 

“The current inflation spike is really a consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand, and that is all associated with the reopening of the economy, which is a process that will have a beginning, a middle and an end,” Powell said. “We see those things resolving. It’s very difficult to say how big those effects will be in the meantime or how long they will last.” 

Inflation concerns

Some economists, however, worry that the Fed is underestimating the forces driving prices on everything from food to automobiles.

“There are very many reasons to think that this inflation is not transitory — that it’s going to be with us for quite a while,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, told VOA. 

On Tuesday, the price of the global benchmark for oil, Brent crude, rose to $82.56 per barrel, hitting a level not seen in three years. Worldwide, prices for food, fuel and consumer goods are on the rise. 

The price of natural gas has more than tripled in Europe and Asia this year, leading to economic slowdowns in much of Europe and power cuts in China. Even in the United States, which normally has a plentiful supply of the fuel, prices are jumping on concern that there may be shortages in the winter months. 

The big picture 

In the United States, a widely watched inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices in order to minimize volatility, has been persistently above an annualized rate of 3.6% since the summer — far higher than the rate of less than 2% in recent years. Housing prices, a major element of inflation indices, are rising sharply. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues to pursue policies that make it cheap to borrow money, which many economists believe is creating more inflationary pressure. 

“When you put the whole picture together, and you consider that the Fed has got its pedal to the metal at the same time as the administration is engaging in a record amount of peacetime budget stimulus, all of this doesn’t look to me like inflation is coming down anytime soon,” said Lachman. 

Central bank tools 

However, not all economists are as concerned as Lachman. 

“In some sense [inflation] does seem a little more than transitory,” Jonathan Wright, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA. “If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have been more confident that this was limited to a few special sectors,” he said. “Now it seems to be something broader, the costs of shipping being a big part of that.”

However, Wright said he agrees with Powell that the eventual resolution of the supply chain bottlenecks, like the current backlog of dozens of container ships off the coast of California and the glut of shipping containers at rail yards in the American Midwest, will address much of the problem. He said he doesn’t anticipate prolonged inflation.

In part, he said, that’s because central banks, like the Fed, have a better understanding of how and when to act against spikes in inflation than they did the last time the U.S. faced a major inflation crisis in the late 1970s. 

“The Fed is very aware of the problem,” he said. “If inflation comes in meaningfully above target next year, the Fed will tighten [monetary policy] quickly towards the end of the year.” 

Inflation expectations 

A question related to the impact of supply chain pressures on inflation is whether rising prices could become a self-reinforcing phenomenon separate and apart from the economic realities driving them.

That could happen if consumers, as a group, come to believe that prices are going to continue to rise at a high rate, and therefore begin making purchases that they might otherwise have postponed. The injection of more spending into the marketplace would create the upward pressure on prices that the consumers were trying to avoid in the first place. 

In a press call on Tuesday, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Karen Dynan, a senior fellow at the organization and a professor of economics at Harvard University, responded to a question from VOA about inflation expectations. 

Dynan said that she didn’t expect a relatively short period of inflation to move public expectations very much. 

“We have had decades in the United States, and in some other rich countries, where inflation has been at 2%. Over the last decade, it’s been kind of hard to keep it that high. So I don’t know that the experience of a few months is going to kind of undo all that,” she said. 

Posen said he believes that the effects of consumer expectations are “exaggerated” and that an aggressive anti-inflationary stance by the Fed, combined with broad international price competition, will help to keep inflationary pressures in check. 

 
…

The U.S. Congress is locked in a standoff that risks triggering a financial and economic meltdown if lawmakers don’t raise a limit on government borrowing before Oct. 18, the day the U.S. Treasury could run out of cash for paying government bills.

The drama’s central players are Senator Mitch McConnell, who leads the Republican minority in the Senate and has vowed to obstruct normal legislative efforts to raise the debt ceiling, and Senator Chuck Schumer, leader of the chamber’s Democratic majority and an ally of President Joe Biden.

Here are some ways the battle might play out in the Senate

Reconciliation 

Schumer has twice tried to win approval of a debt ceiling increase under regular legislative procedures and is set to try again on Wednesday.

Prior attempts were blocked by McConnell’s Republicans, who have used the Senate’s filibuster rule which requires a 60-vote majority to approve most legislation. The 100-member chamber is evenly split and Democrats can only muster 51 votes when Vice President Kamala Harris casts a tie-breaking vote.

If Schumer’s attempt on Wednesday fails, as expected, the Democrat could switch to using an arcane legislative process known as reconciliation. That bypasses the filibuster and Democrats would only need a simple majority to win.

This path carries its own risks, however, as congressional rules would require a lengthy process in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

McConnell relents

McConnell could lift the Republican filibuster blockade in the vote on Wednesday or in subsequent days if Schumer sticks with his current strategy and keeps bringing up the failed bill or a similar one for votes.

Financial market investors have so far been largely sanguine about the risks, betting that Washington won’t manufacture a financial crisis by defaulting on its debt. But as Oct. 18 approaches, markets could swoon, ramping up pressure on McConnell. 

Filibuster reform

Democrats and Republicans have periodically sparred over the debt ceiling, particularly over the last 10 years as Washington has grown more polarized.

In the past, a minority party has often used the debate as leverage to pass other legislative priorities, such as deficit reduction. On Monday, McConnell has said his party has no demands and merely wants Democrats to use the reconciliation process.

Schumer could counter by moving to ban the use of the filibuster on debt ceiling bills, said William Hoagland, a former Republican Senate staffer now at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

There are risks, however. Changing Senate rules would require every vote the Democrats can muster and some prominent members of the party are diehard supporters of the filibuster.

Default

While not seen as a likely scenario, if Washington exhausts the few remaining tools it has for coping with its $28.4 trillion borrowing limit around Oct. 18, it will only have incoming tax receipts for paying its bills.

And because it currently borrows more than 20 cents for every dollar it spends, the Treasury would start missing payments owed to lenders, citizens or both.

Shock waves would ripple through global financial markets. Domestic spending cuts would push the U.S. economy into recession as the government misses payments on everything from Social Security benefits for the elderly to soldiers’ salaries.
…

25 серпня оператор трубопроводу «Північний потік-2» програв судовий розгляд у Німеччині щодо підпорядкування вимогам газової директиви Європейського союзу до трубопроводу
…

Зростання цін у Європі триває вже впродовж тривалого часу: минулого тижня котирування подолали позначку 1000 доларів за тисячу кубометрів.
…

President Joe Biden traveled to Michigan Tuesday to promote his legislative priorities on infrastructure and social spending. The two bills face a stalemate in Congress as members of Biden’s own Democratic Party wrangle over the size and scope of the package. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

Produced by: Barry Unger  
…

Many Nigerians are optimistic as Africa’s largest economy gears up to launch the continent’s first central bank-backed digital currency, the eNaira. Authorities hope to tap into the popularity of cryptocurrency so it can better monitor digital currency transactions, curb black market trading in the paper naira and also help integrate millions of Nigerians into banking. But critics say the digital currency will also give Nigeria’s central bank more control.

The launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, or the eNaira, was initially scheduled for October 1 as part of activities to mark Nigeria’s Independence Day – but was postponed by authorities.

The CBN’s communications director, Osita Nwanisobi, did not disclose the new launch date in a statement released on the bank’s social media handle.

But local reports say the eNaira website recorded more than one million hits in the hours ahead of the initial launch – what blockchain experts like Janet Kaatyo say is a welcome development.

“It is going to make cross border payments easier and it is going to make it easier for the naira to be widely used and accepted,” said Kaatyo. “So, Nigeria is gradually getting to the point where cryptocurrency is seen as an unstoppable force.”

Kaatyo believes the eNaira will promote blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency, which Central Bank authorities banned in back in February, citing its volatility and investment risk for citizens.

The CBN then promised to provide a safer alternative – the eNaira. Authorities and experts say the eNaira will ease monetary transactions and improve long-term value for Nigeria’s currency, compared to its paper counterpart, which has hit its lowest value since 2003.

The CBN also says the eNaira saves on printing and distribution costs for cash.

Digital strategist, Daniel Yerimah says the eNaira will also help address money laundering and corruption.

“Everything built on blockchain is very safe and secure. Another thing again is it’s universal, parts of the benefits they intend to achieve with the eNaira is it will be used for both international and local trade and also it’s going to be to fight corruption,” Yerimah said.

But some experts warn the emergence of the eNaira will cut off roles played by intermediary banks and give the central bank more control over citizens’ financial rights.

However, blockchain analyst Jadel Chidi disagrees.

“There’s a direct link between the Central Bank and the individual who uses the eNaira but that will not put the other banks out of business,” Chidi said. “What I see is that the CBN will eventually create a portal where each eNaira user will be able to access their e-wallet through the database they already have with their bank.”

In recent years Nigeria has seen a move toward cryptocurrencies as citizens looked for alternatives to the weakening naira. 

Now millions are waiting to see if they can benefit from Nigeria’s digital currency.
…

Container ships anchored off the coasts of the United States have been told they could face a four-week delay before being allowed to dock and unload goods consumers are eagerly awaiting and the parts needed by American manufacturers.

Across the Atlantic in Britain, too, empty supermarket shelves, and frustrated drivers forming long lines at gas stations to fill up, tell a similar story of an unprecedented strain on cross-border global supply chains. 

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world’s traditional supply chains. Congestion at ports, factory closures, soaring freight charges and an acute shortage of transport workers is likely to get worse, the International Chamber of Shipping and allied transport groups have warned.

In a letter to the United Nations General Assembly last week, they warned of a “crumbling” global supply chain.

Before the pandemic, synchronized cross-border supply chains could be relied on to move goods, raw materials, and parts just before they were needed by stores and factories.

But the chains are snapping.

The continent of Europe is also facing disrupted supply chains, although not as critical at this stage as Britain, where post-pandemic delivery challenges have been intensified by trade disruption consequences of Brexit.

Labor shortage 

“The logistics sector lacks qualified personnel such as lorry drivers but also trained locomotive drivers, inland navigation workers, terminal workers, as well as management people,” Frank Huster, director of Germany’s main haulage association, told European broadcasters.

The EU transport industry reckons it has a shortfall of more than 300,000 qualified truck drivers.

From Los Angeles to London, Beijing to Berlin, countries are seeing a supply crunch rarely experienced outside wartime. According to the American freight industry the average time it takes now for a package to be sent from Asia to the U.S. has increased by 43% since last year.

The supply crunch is a consequence of a sudden surge in demand for goods, labor and energy as national economies emerge from the slowdown of the pandemic, say economists. That surge has strained the supply chains from assembly to delivery.

Factories in China and other Asian industrial hubs that have been trying to gear up rapidly amid soaring prices for energy, struggling with blackouts as they do so. Stores and supermarkets in Western countries are struggling to find sufficient shop staff. Transport companies are scrambling to find delivery drivers.

Now retailers in America and Europe are warning of increasing shortages as the logjams of container ships are prolonged and amid a labor shortage in the retail, leisure and entertainment sectors.

And the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better, say economists and business owners.

The U.S. and Europe are heading into the high consumer spending months of Thanksgiving and Christmas and retailers are already warning of insufficient supplies of electronic and sporting goods and even of Turkeys and Christmas trees.

Local factors have worsened the crunch in some cases. In America, Republican lawmakers say pandemic-related increases in unemployment benefits have contributed to the lack of workers. Others say low wages have prompted people to rethink their careers and for some approaching retirement age to drop out of the workforce.

Brexit fallout 

In Britain, the impact of Brexit — which has complicated the movement of goods and food between the U.K. and the 27 member states of the European Union — has become a source of contention between government ministers and business leaders.

The latter blame the government for having ill-planned Britain’s departure from the EU. Conservative cabinet ministers blame industry for empty shelves and gas shortages saying businesses should have prepared for a post-Brexit economy. They contend that the country’s supply crunch is a failure of the free market, and not the state. 

“When you talk about some of the supply chain issues, that’s really a function of the world economy, particularly the UK economy, coming back to life after COVID,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Monday. “There is a shortage of lorry drivers actually around the world, from Poland to the United States, and even in China they are short of lorry drivers,” he added.

Local factors aside, though, some logistics experts say a global supply crunch has long been in the offing. They say supply chains, as they have developed, have lacked resilience and were overly vulnerable to economic shocks.

John Manners-Bell, chief executive of Transport Intelligence, a market research company that advises the World Bank and the United Nations on global logistics, says businesses and governments have neglected supply chains and failed to invest enough in them or update them. Transport and freight workers have for too long been poorly paid, he says.

“Whilst all attention is naturally focused on present supply chain disruption, there will be positives to come out of the chaos [hopefully],” he tweeted this week. Among them: “Governments will invest more in transport infrastructure and overhaul outdated working practices [especially in ports and shipping]” and “Companies will invest more in technologies that improve the current [poor] efficiency of transport assets especially trucking.”

He also hopes manufacturers will “recognize that single sourcing from China is not a good idea.” 
…

За словами голови уряду, в підземних сховищах України вже накопичено понад 18,5 мільярдів кубометрів газу, що дасть змогу пройти майбутній опалювальний сезон
…

Зниження акцій соцмережі у ціні призвело до того, що статок самого Цукерберга скоротився до 121,6 мільярда доларів
…

The top United States trade negotiator said China is failing to live up to its trade commitments from last year and that Washington would soon have “frank conversations” with Beijing.  

In a speech Monday in Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, “China made commitments intended to benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, that we must enforce.” 

China committed to adding an extra $200 billion in purchases of U.S. exports as part of the Phase One trade deal negotiated during former President Donald Trump’s administration. 

Tai said China has fallen short of its purchase promises and said she would seek a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, to review the matter. 

“Above all else, we must defend — to the hilt — our economic interests,” Tai said at Monday’s event, hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Continuing Trump’s approach   

William Adams, a senior vice president and senior economist with PNC Financial Services Group, characterized the overall message of Tai’s speech as “one of continuity with the Trump administration’s approach to U.S.-China trade relations.” 

U.S. President Joe Biden has kept the tariffs imposed by Trump in place while Tai conducted a months-long review of U.S. trade policy with China.    

Tai said Monday that going forward, the Biden administration would exclude some Chinese imports from tariffs imposed by Trump. Most previous tariff exclusions expired at the end of last year. 

While she rejected the idea of Phase Two talks, as envisioned by Trump, to discuss China’s domestic subsidies and other matters, she said such issues would still be part of U.S. talks with China going forward.  

U.S. trade groups, which had been pushing the Biden administration to move quickly in laying out its China trade policy, largely welcomed Tai’s remarks.

“We applaud her readiness to engage in discussions with her Chinese counterparts” on trade issues, and “we agree with Ambassador Tai that China must be held accountable for their commitments under the Phase One agreement,” Doug Barry, spokesman for US-China Business Council, told VOA.   

However, Barry said that his organization was still concerned about the possibility of more tariffs and that exclusions to tariffs were particularly important for farmers in the Midwest. 

Tai did not rule out opening new investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which could lead to new sanctions against China.  

‘Zero-Sum Dynamic’

One source of tension is the subsidies China gives to industries including steel, solar and semiconductors which make it harder for U.S. companies to compete on the global market.  

Tai described the situation as a “zero-sum dynamic” where “China’s growth and prosperity come at the expense of workers and economic opportunity here in the U.S. and other market-based democratic economies.” 

In the past, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said it is important to the country’s national security to make Chinese goods essential to global supply chains.  

“The dependence of the international industrial chain on our country has formed a powerful countermeasure and deterrent capability for foreign parties to artificially cut off supply,” Xi said in a speech in 2020. 

In recent weeks as China has cracked down on its tech sector, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He sought to reassure business leaders that government support for industry will continue. “Guidelines and policies for supporting the private economy have not changed… and will not change in the future,” Liu said according to a report from Xinhua news agency. 

‘May Not Change’ 

Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA in an interview that Tai was “very critical” of Chinese subsidies and that her zero-sum view of China is “very much in the thinking of the Trump administration.”   

Tai’s speech also highlighted the Biden’s administration’s goal of working closer with allies to confront China, a difference from the Trump administration’s approach.    

“The core of our strategy is a commitment to ensuring we work with our allies to create fair and open markets,” Tai said.    

Tai said the United States would also focus on investing in U.S. workers and infrastructure across the country to “give American workers and businesses the boost needed to embrace their global competitiveness.” 

She described the U.S.-China trade relationship as “one of profound consequence” and said the objective of engaging with China is “not to inflame trade tensions.” 

“As the two largest economies in the world, how we relate to each other does not just affect our two countries. It impacts the entire world and billions of workers,” she said.  

A senior Biden administration official told reporters Monday that China is “increasingly explicit that it is doubling down on its authoritarian, state-centric approach and is resistant to addressing our structural concerns.”   

The official said, “We recognize that China simply may not change, and that we have to have a strategy that deals with China as it is rather than as we might wish it to be.” 

Yinan Wang, Lin Yang and Forest Cong of the Mandarin Service contributed to this report. 
…

With time ticking down on his term as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell’s reappointment to the post looks less certain than it did just a few weeks ago, as left-leaning Democrats hammer away at a series of scandals involving senior Fed personnel. 

On Monday, Powell’s chief antagonist in Congress, Senator Elizabeth Warren, released a letter to the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the agency to investigate “ethically questionable” securities transactions by the presidents of two of the Federal Reserve’s district banks, and the Fed Board’s vice chairman. 

The letter came less than a week after Warren castigated Powell during a Senate Banking Committee hearing over what she sees as his lax regulatory approach toward large financial institutions.

“Your record gives me grave concerns,” Warren said, addressing Powell directly at the hearing. “Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed. And it’s why I will oppose your renomination.” 

Renomination still likely 

Powell’s four-year term as leader of the U.S. central bank will expire in February, and it has been broadly assumed that President Joe Biden would renominate him to another term. Experts say they still expect Powell to be renominated but feel less certain of that outcome than they did a few weeks ago. 

“I think he’s much more likely than not (to be renominated),” David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, told VOA. “But it did move the needle a little bit, and not in his direction.”

“I still think it’s reasonable to assume that Powell is renominated, because he has enjoyed, for the most part, bipartisan support,” Mark Hamrick, senior analyst and Washington bureau chief for Bankrate.com, told VOA. 

“The Federal Reserve was relatively quick in responding to the dire financial conditions that were created by the pandemic lockdowns, and it fairly effectively and fairly quickly restored order to markets,” he said.

However, the questionable investing by Fed officials on his watch may be eroding what had been substantial support for Powell, even among generally progressive Democrats. 

In a note to clients last week, Karen Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, wrote, “One of Mr. Powell’s strengths in the renomination battle has been divisions among Democratic progressives, making this resonant scandal particularly costly to his otherwise-strong position within the Biden Administration.” 

Questionable trading 

Last month, the Fed announced an investigation of the central bank’s ethics policies after reports surfaced that the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and Dallas had been actively trading in the stock market and in real estate at the same time that they were helping to set the nation’s monetary policies. Both said their investment activities complied with all applicable laws and Fed guidelines, and both announced their retirement on September 27. 

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Richard Clarida bought between $1 million and $5 million in stock the day before Powell made a major speech on efforts to help the U.S. economy recover from the pandemic.

When Bloomberg reported Clarida’s trading activity, the Fed issued a statement sayingthe transactions were part of a “a pre-planned rebalancing to his accounts” that were pre-cleared by the Fed’s ethics officials, and that the timing was coincidental. 

Powell addressed the trading activity of the two bank presidents during congressional hearings last week, noting that while the trading activity was technically within the rules established by the Fed, the appearance of the activity was “just obviously unacceptable.” 

“[T]he problem is that the rules, the practices and the disclosure needs to be improved,” Powell said during congressional testimony, adding, “We will rise to this moment.” 

Investigation demanded 

In her letter to the SEC, Warren called out Powell by name. 

“It is not clear why Chair Powell did not stop these activities, which corrode the trust and effectiveness of the Fed. The Fed officials’ trades clearly run afoul of Fed guidelines stating that officials should ‘avoid any dealings or other conduct that might convey even an appearance of conflict between their personal interests, the interests of the System, and the public interest,'” she said. 

While Warren may not ultimately succeed in derailing a renomination of Powell, a Republican who was appointed to his first term by former President Donald Trump, her efforts may still have a major impact on the Fed. The Biden administration has a number of important central bank appointments to make, in addition to the chair.

‘Personnel is policy’ 

“She’s clearly using this as a way to make it difficult for the administration to reappoint Powell,” Wesel said, adding, “It’s pretty clear that the Biden White House cares a lot about what Elizabeth Warren thinks. And it’s pretty clear that Elizabeth Warren has figured out that personnel is policy.” 

The Federal Reserve Board is made up of seven governors who are appointed by the president and serve overlapping terms of 14 years each. From among the sitting board members, the president also appoints the Fed’s chair, vice chair, and vice chair for supervision to four-year terms. 

There is currently one empty board seat, and another will open up when Clarida’s term expires in January. The four-year-term of the current vice chair for supervision will end October 13. 

Warren and others on the left have made it clear that they would prefer to see sitting Fed Governor Lael Brainard replace Powell as Fed chair. But if Biden were to make her the vice chair for supervision and promise to add more left-leaning members to the board, that might help assuage their concerns about a Powell reappointment, according to analysts.

“There’s going to be some horse trading around this,” said Jesse Van Tol, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “I can still see a scenario where the administration decides it’s in their interest to trade to get a few other Fed governors confirmed and leave Powell in place, if they believe they can trust him and work with him.” 

 
…

World leaders, politicians and pop stars are among the thousands of individuals revealed to be concealing huge wealth through a network of anonymous companies.

The documents, known as the Pandora Papers and published Sunday, are part of a leak of almost 12 million files from the archives of several legal firms, which shed light on the secret world of offshore finance. They are being analyzed by a team of more than 600 journalists.

Among the most startling revelations in the Pandora Papers is the hidden wealth of the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and his family. The leaks show the Aliyevs and their associates traded property in Britain worth $544 million over the past 15 years.

“Since this family took power in 1993, they have taken control of many of the country’s vital industries and its natural resources and used that to amass wealth,” said Rachel Davies Teka, head of advocacy at the anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International UK. “And this is being done at the expense of the people of that country. There are people who are suffering because their leaders are taking resources which should be shared out amongst those countries’ citizens,” Davies Teka told VOA.

Jordanian king’s property empire 

The leaked documents show that King Abdullah II of Jordan has a secret property empire in the United States and Britain worth more than $100 million, using anonymous offshore companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. In a statement, the Jordanian royal palace said that the foreign properties were not disclosed for security and privacy reasons, adding that they were purchased using the monarch’s private wealth. 

During a meeting with tribal elders Monday, Abdullah rejected allegations he had tried to conceal his wealth. “Unfortunately, there is a campaign against Jordan; there are still people who want to sow discord and build doubt between us. There is nothing I have to hide from anyone, but we are stronger than this, and this is not the first time Jordan gets targeted,” the king said. 

Pakistani Cabinet ministers and their families, including close allies of Prime Minister Imran Khan, are revealed to own offshore companies worth millions of dollars. Khan said they would be investigated.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the country’s second-richest person, used anonymous offshore companies to finance the purchase of an $18 million property in France. Babiš is competing in a general election this week. In a televised debate with rival candidates, he defended his actions.

“The money was sent out of a Czech bank. The money was taxed. It was my money and it returned back to the Czech Republic,” he told the television audience in Prague on Sunday. 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and six members of his family are linked to more than a dozen offshore companies, one with assets worth at least $30 million. There is no evidence that the Kenyatta family stole any state assets.

In a statement issued by the office of the president, Kenyatta welcomed the publication of the Pandora Papers. 

“These reports will go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe. The movement of illicit funds, proceeds of crime and corruption thrive in an environment of secrecy and darkness. The Pandora Papers and subsequent follow up audits will lift that veil of secrecy and darkness for those who cannot explain their assets or wealth,” the statement read.

Music stars, including Shakira and Elton John, and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar are also revealed to have set up offshore companies. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing concerning any of their financial activities.

Much of the activity revealed by the Pandora Papers, including use of offshore companies, is legal. Governments must do more to reveal hidden wealth, argues Davies Teka.

“This investigation and what these journalists have uncovered is vital because, unfortunately, governments, particularly in the West, are not doing enough to bring transparency to where all this money is moving to — where this money is being hidden,” she told VOA.

Role of London 

One thread that is common to many of the revelations is London. The capital and the British Overseas Territories linked to it, such as the British Virgin Islands, offer a hidden network of legal structures designed to conceal who really owns the money, says Davies Teka.

“You can buy property anonymously if you use a company that’s registered and formed in an overseas territory where there is currently secrecy. We also have luxury services on offer to the global elite, and, unfortunately, we have a concerning amount of professionals, accountants, lawyers, estate agents who are happy to help corrupt and criminal actors launder and hide and manage their wealth.”

The British government has put forward legislation to prevent individuals from using offshore companies to conceal ownership. “However, for three years now they have hesitated to lay this legislation down in parliament and actually pass it, which raises questions about how serious they really are about tackling this problem,” Davies Teka said. 

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has become embroiled in the accusations after the leaks revealed party donors were linked to alleged corruption. Speaking at the start of the weeklong Conservative Party conference Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected accusations that his party had accepted corrupt money.

“All I can say on that one is that all these donations are vetted in the normal way,” he told reporters.

British Chancellor Rishi Sunak denied that London’s reputation on tax avoidance was “shameful” and said the government had a strong track record on tackling global corruption. 
…