🔹The new Bank of Japan's 🇯🇵 (BoJ) governor Kazuo Ueda is likely to set the stage for the inevitable end to a decade of ultra-low interest rates, that punished domestic savers and sent a wall of money 💴 overseas. . This flow reversal, risks sending shockwaves through the global economy.

🔹Japanese investors are the biggest foreign holders of US 🇺🇸 gov't bonds and own everything from Brazilian debt to European power stations to bundles of risky loans stateside. Japanese investors sold a record amount of overseas debt last year as local yields rose on speculation that the BOJ would normalize policy.

🔹The BoJ reduces the minimum size of its planned Japanese gov't bond purchases for all maturities over the next three months.

🔹The IMF proposed to the BoJ to allow for more flexibility in long-term Japanese gov't bond yields that have been kept at depressed levels amid the "costly" side-effects of prolonged monetary easing.

🔹Japan is stepping up efforts toward issuing a digital yen (CBDC) with the creation of a gov't advisory panel and the launch of a pilot programme.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 The 🇯🇵 BOJ made massive unscheduled bond purchases after it announced a widening of the range in which the 10-year yield can trade to about 0.5% from 0.25%.

Video courtesy Fox Business & FCCJ

🔹An official meeting of all The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 🇧🇳 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 🇱🇦🇲🇾 🇲🇲 🇵🇭 🇸🇬 🇹🇭 🇻🇳 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors took place in Indonesia. Top of the agenda were discussions to reduce dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies.

🔹This would be done through the Local Currency Transaction scheme. This is an extension of the previous Local Currency Settlement scheme that has already begun to be implemented between ASEAN members. Of the ASEAN nations, just Singapore (US ally) has enforced sanctions on Russia, while all other ASEAN nations continue to trade with the country.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Cambodian 🇰🇭 PM Hun Sen at the ASEAN Summits, said, there is progress with negotiations over the South China Sea.

💠 Over the past decade, the Chinese 🇨🇳 side initiated more than 130 cooperative proposals or projects under the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation framework and most of them had been implemented.

💠 Russia’s 🇷🇺 FM Lavrov warned that NATO is now claiming that they’ll play a leading role [in the Asia-Pacific region] & are already shifting the so-called defensive line to the South China Sea. They are promoting an 'Indo-Pacific Strategy' to contain China & Russia.

Video courtesy Shanghai Eye

🔹Hungary's 🇭🇺 FM Péter Szijjártó, said Hungary respected the re-election of Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s presidential troika. He rejected the US 🇺🇸 State Department’s latest report on Bosnia-Herzegovina, by saying it was “outrageous that they should make statements about other countries’ internal affairs and situation”.

🔹Hungary is the only EU member state & Türkiye 🇹🇷 the only NATO member state without an invite to the US's Summit for Democracy. Leaders from 121 countries were invited to the mixed virtual and in-person summit in Washington.

🔹Hungarian businesses have now been forced to leave Russia. Hungarian co.'s that continued to do business in Russia 🇷🇺 were facing discrimination in Ukraine 🇺🇦. Authorities in Kiev banned the sale of medication produced by Hungarian pharmaceutical firms Gedeon Richter and Egis, and of called for a boycott of energy company MOL.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 USAID 🇺🇸 chief, S. Power accuses Hungary of eroding relations with the US.

💠 Hungary believes that the UN 🇺🇳 should give the framework for the investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

💠 Hungary 🇭🇺 accused of purging NATO officers from it's military.

💠 Hungary supports Türkiye 🇹🇷 in a call for negotiations with Russia.

💠 Hungary claim Germany 🇩🇪 is blocking the upgrade of Hungary's Paks nuclear facility by Russia.

💠 Ukraine 🇺🇦 disproportionately conscripting ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

💠 The EU 🇪🇺 withholds both Hungary's budgeted & post-pandemic recovery funds as punishment.

Video courtesy About Hungary

🔹The PM's of Poland 🇵🇱, Slovakia 🇸🇰, Hungary🇭🇺, Romania🇷🇴, and Bulgaria 🇧🇬 sent a letter to the European Commission and its President Ursula von der Leyen, noting that the channels intended to deliver Ukrainian products to their destinations are not working as expected.

🔹The gov'ts of these countries are facing pressure and growing protests from farmers who are concerned about falling prices and a lack of storage facilities for this year's harvest due to an overabundance of Ukrainian 🇺🇦grains. Mounting anger & protests in the Polish (video) countryside over an influx of Ukrainian grain poses a major headache for Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party in an election year.

🔹These PM's conveyed that tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports may need to be reintroduced if an influx of products that is pushing down prices in EU 🇪🇺 markets cannot be stopped by other means. Logistical bottlenecks mean large quantities of Ukrainian grains, which are cheaper than those produced in the EU, have ended up in central European states, hitting prices and sales of local farmers.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Russia 🇷🇺 renews grain deal that ensures Ukrainian grain is shipped through the Black Sea to the world.

💠 Most grain from Ukraine goes to the EU for animal feed at dumping prices, not to the poorest countries.

💠 Ukraine pursuing agreements with Lithuania, Latvia, & Poland to help ship wheat using their ports.

💠 Grain 🌾 deal hypocrisy by western countries, exposed. Alternative routes other than the Black Sea not mentioned by the West.

Video from one of the rural Polish farmers protests in Szczecinie, Poland on 23 Mar. 2023. Courtesy @kubabuchajczyk

🔹 Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 will voluntarily reduce its oil production by 500,000 bpd from May until the end of 2023 in coordination with other OPEC members. Russia 🇷🇺 would extend a voluntary cut of 500,000 bpd until the end of 2023. The UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Algeria said they would voluntarily cut output over the same time period.

🔹Kurdistan’s crude oil exports, around 400,000 bpd were halted recently by Iraq 🇮🇶 during a dispute against Turkey 🇹🇷 over crude flows from Kurdistan.

🔹Crude oil production from OPEC declined by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Mar. compared to Feb.

🔹Crude oil production in the US 🇺🇸 rebounded in January to the highest level the US has seen since March of 2020.

🔹Despite a new export tax, Brazilian 🇧🇷 oil exports have jumped to a monthly record-high in March.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Saudi Arabia will not sell oil 🛢 to any country that imposes a price cap on its supply.

💠 Russia 🇷🇺 started exporting diesel to Saudi Arabia, which could be refined further & re-exported.

💠 Russia now supplies around 35% of India’s 🇮🇳 total oil imports.

💠 Russia cuts oil 📉 production in March by 500,000 bpd.

💠 The Biden 🇺🇸 admin plans to sell 26 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR.

🔹India's 🇮🇳 new foreign trade policy, adopted this month, will take steps to support international trade using the rupee currency, as it looks to boost exports amid slowing global trade 🚢. India is prepared to trade in rupees with nations facing a shortage of dollars 💵 so as to "disaster-proof" them and effectively boost its exports.

🔹India is also launching a new amnesty scheme for one-time settlement of defaults on export obligations & will run until September 2023.

🔹 Bangladesh's 🇧🇩 ministry of commerce has placed a written recommendation at the last cabinet meeting regarding the possibility and opportunity of using rupee instead of the US dollar.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 India opens 60 special rupee vostro accounts in 18 countries to facilitate rupee payments.

💠 More Asian countries, such as Indonesia 🇮🇩 & the UAE 🇦🇪, are showing interest in using the Indian Rupee as a trading unit.

💠 Indian refiners have begun paying for most of their Russian 🇷🇺 oil purchased via Dubai-based traders in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 India 🇮🇳 has been exploring a rupee trade settlement mechanism with Russia.

💠 India & Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 discuss the feasibility of institutionalising Rupee-Riyal trade, & introduction UPI & Rupay cards in the kingdom.

Video - Dr. Ankit Shah

🔹Russia's 🇷🇺 largest oil producer Rosneft and India's top refiner Indian 🇮🇳 Oil Corp agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai 🇦🇪 oil price benchmark in their latest deal to deliver Russian oil to India.

🔹The decision by the two state-controlled companies to abandon the Europe-dominated Brent benchmark is part of a shift of Russia's oil sales towards Asia after Europe shunned Russian oil.

🔹Both benchmarks are denominated in dollars 💵 and set by S&P Platts, a unit of U.S.-based S&P Global Inc, but Brent is mostly used by European oil majors and traders, whereas Dubai is heavily influenced by Asian and Middle Eastern oil trading.

🔹A new contract includes Urals crude 🛢, shipped from Russia's European ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk, and Sokol oil exported from Sakhalin which will be sold at a discount of $8-$10 per barrel to Dubai quotes on a delivered basis.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Indian refiners have begun paying for most of their Russian oil purchased via Dubai-based traders in UAE dirhams instead of USD.

💠 The UAE 🇦🇪shows interest in using the Indian Rupee as a trading unit.

💠 India opens 60 special rupee vostro accounts in 18 countries, including Russia 🇷🇺 to facilitate rupee payments.

💠 India's Oil Min. - "India is not obligated to buy Russian oil at rates below the price cap imposed by the G7 & other Western nations".

💠 Russia now supplies around 35% of India’s 🇮🇳 total oil imports, it was at 1% before Feb. 2022.

💠 India buying thirty-three (33) times more 📈 Russian oil than a year earlier.

🔹The EU 🇪🇺 has been looking into the 'legal' options for using Russia's 🇷🇺 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of foreign reserves frozen in the bloc, including investing them to generate returns. The European Commission expects to generate returns of around 2.6% from investing assets belonging to Russia’s central bank frozen under EU sanctions.

🔹Such an unprecedented attempt raises legal, political and economic questions, and EU countries last month set up a working group to look into what can be done. In accordance with international law, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves are protected by sovereign immunity, and the involvement of oligarchs in the Kremlin's criminal regime still needs to be proven in court.

🔹A trio of US 🇺🇸 political & legal experts has argued that moral logic and existing international law is sufficient for the US, EU and G7 to confiscate the frozen funds and give them to Ukraine 🇺🇦.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 The EU disregards that assets of private entities are considered foreign investments, which enjoy protection against expropriation without compensation & a right to fair & equitable treatment under international treaties that Russia has with a lot of EU countries.

💠The US/EU has undermined ‘Lex Mercatoria’ (Latin – ‘Merchant Law’). The autonomous legal order of international economic relations for trade & rules for settling disputes. The west has now now destroyed, how money & currencies function in relationship to trade & private property rights.

Video courtesy Geopolitics & Empire. Former South African 🇿🇦 President Thabo Mbeki.

🔹President Kais Saied of Tunisia 🇹🇳 instructed the country’s FM Nabil Ammar to initiate procedures that would appoint a new ambassador to Syria 🇸🇾. This is the latest move towards Arab states' normalisation with the gov't of Bashar al-Assad.

🔹Tunisia was among several Arab countries that severed their ties with Assad a decade ago, but Tunis returned a limited diplomatic mission to Syria in 2017. Saied had previously announced that Tunisia would strengthen ties with Syria, & in February he decided to raise the level of Tunisian diplomatic representation in Damascus.

🔹Meanwhile, Egypt 🇪🇬 is working with Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 to facilitate Damascus’ return to the Arab League. On Saturday, Syria's FM met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo for the first such visit in more than a decade.

🔹US 🇺🇸 Assistant Secretary of State said to Arab countries that they should 'get something in return' from Syria for normalisation.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 UAE 🇦🇪 President M. bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited by Syrian Preisident B. Assad. UAE calls for Damascus to be reintegrated into the wider Arab region.

💠 President Assad visited Russia 🇷🇺 to discuss political/economic issues on the Syrian crisis.

💠 Türkiye 🇹🇷 has agreed to fully withdraw its troops from northern Syria following tripartite talks involving Moscow, Ankara and Damascus.

💠 US sanctions on Syria restrict international aid arriving in Syria during the aftermath of recent earthquakes.

💠 Türkiye believes the presence of Iran in ongoing talks between Türkiye, Syria, & Russia is beneficial for resolving the conflict in Syria.

Video courtesy The Cradle: UN spokesperson unaware of US soldiers in Syria, unable to say if it violates international law.

🔹Israeli 🇮🇱 forces brutally assaulted dozens of Palestinian worshippers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque 🕌 in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday (4th April) night and forcibly removed them from the site where they were observing the holy month of Ramadan.

🔹Dozens of heavily armed officers stormed the site before firing tear gas and stun grenades into the Qibli prayer hall - the building with the silver dome - where hundreds of men, women, elderly people and children were staying overnight to pray.

🔹Israeli officers then beat worshippers with batons and riot guns, wounding many, before arresting them. Their conditions were not immediately made clear. Israeli police released a statement saying it detained dozens of "rioters" from Al-Aqsa Mosque to restore order at the site.

🔹Jordan 🇯🇴, which acts as custodian of Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim holy sites under a status quo arrangement in place since the 1967 war, condemned Israel’s “flagrant” storming of the compound. Egypt 🇪🇬 called for an immediate halt to Israel’s “blatant assault on worshippers”.

🔹Palestinians 🇵🇸 are also worried about far-right Israeli movements that want to demolish the Islamic structures in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and build a Jewish temple in their place.

Video courtesy Maajid Nawaz & Husam Zomlot

🔹 China 🇨🇳 is open to talks with Malaysia 🇲🇾 on forming an Asian Monetary Fund, said PM Anwar Ibrahim, reviving a decades old proposal to reduce reliance on the US dollar, despite ongoing issues of disputes over the South China Sea which could drive a wedge between the countries.

🔹 PM A. Ibrahim told the Malaysian parliament, “...there is no reason for Malaysia to continue depending on the dollar,”. Malaysia’s central bank is already working on enabling the two nations to negotiate on trade matters using the ringgit and renminbi.

🔹PM A. Ibrahim made a big splash of his maiden bilateral visit to China last week, when he oversaw the signing of 170 billion ringgit (US$38.6 billion) worth of investment commitments by Chinese firms in various sectors. It was a record figure spread across 19 separate deals signed between Chinese and Malaysian businesses.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 An official meeting of all ASEAN nations' 🇧🇳 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 🇱🇦🇲🇾 🇲🇲 🇵🇭 🇸🇬 🇹🇭 🇻🇳 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors was held to discuss reduced dependence on the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies.

💠 India 🇮🇳 has given approval for opening 60 special rupee vostro accounts (SRVA) in 18 countries including Malaysia for settling payments in Indian rupees.

💠 The US 🇺🇸 sanctioned Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers and subsidiaries in Malaysia.

💠 Malaysia accused of helping sell Russia’s 🇷🇺 crude using new “shadow” shipping & financing infrastructure, resulting in Malaysia exporting twice as much crude to China it can produce.

Video courtesy RT

🔹Belarusian 🇧🇾 President A. Lukashenko visited the Russian Federation 🇷🇺 for a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

🔹The Security Councils of Belarus and Russia have been instructed to begin work on the Union State security concept. The Military Doctrine of the Union State has been recently adopted. “We have repeatedly stressed that the western borders of Russia and Belarus, as the states united by the Union State Treaty, should be reliably protected.

🔹President Lukashenko stated that the failed attempts at an economic blockade were followed by military blackmail in the form of a consistent build-up of NATO forces and means near the Union State border, especially around Kaliningrad Oblast.

🔹During a trip to China, France's 🇫🇷 President E. Macron noted that no country can deploy nuclear weapons in the territory of another country. President Lukashenko was asked to comment on that. The Belarusian leader responded by saying: “I agree with him. This is why Americans should remove all the nuclear weapons from five or six countries where they are deployed.

🔹During the years of its existence the Union State has implemented more than 60 joint scientific and technical programs in various areas, including space exploration, information technologies, agriculture, production of materials and devices.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 President Putin visits Belarus with delegation to discuss economic, military, & energy cooperation as Belarus now has the rotating presidency of the Collective Security Treaty Organization 🇧🇾🇦🇲🇰🇿🇰🇬🇹🇯🇷🇺.

Video courtesy Intel Republic

🔹Iran 🇮🇷 and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 will exchange technical delegations within the next few days to make preparations for the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh as well as their respective consulates. Both countries' foreign ministers signed a joint statement after holding talks in Beijing 🇨🇳 today.

🔹The two ministers also pledged to continue reengagement in other areas, including direct flights, issuing travel visas, commerce, and security cooperation. Iran and Saudi Arabia were described as “brotherly nations” in the statement. The ministers thanked China for hosting them and Switzerland 🇨🇭for its role in representing the interests of the two nations.

🔹“The two sides have agreed to promote cooperation in any field that could ensure regional security and stability and fulfill the interests of its nations and countries,”.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Saudi Arabia & Iran agreed to resume diplomatic ties mediated by China.

💠 Iran welcomes Saudi investments into it's oil 🛢and gas industry.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹 The Shanghai 🇨🇳 Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) made history by announcing the first-ever deal on importing 65,000 tons of LNG from the UAE 🇦🇪, settled in the Chinese yuan. China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and French 🇫🇷 TotalEnergies finalized the transaction, and TotalEnergies confirmed that the LNG imported was from the Persian Gulf state.

🔹 The chairman of the SHPGX, Guo Xu said that the deal is “a meaningful attempt to promote multi-currency pricing, settlement and cross-border payment in international LNG 🚢 trading. It also provides a new channel for international players to participate in the Chinese market, helping to build a new pattern of dual circulation in China.”

🔹So far the CNOOC-Total deal is a standalone, and US 🇺🇸 officials hope to keep it that way. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, among others, argues that the yuan is no threat to the dollar. Subject to capital controls, the yuan can’t match the global liquidity of the dollar without a radical change in Chinese monetary policy.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 China 🇨🇳 signed a 27-year landmark $60 billion agreement for purchases of LNG from Qatar 🇶🇦.

💠 Russia's oil sold to India will be priced in the UAE's 🇦🇪 Dubai oil price benchmark.

💠Gazprom 🇷🇺 move payments for gas exports to China away from USD/Euros & shift to rubles & yuan.

💠 The share of trade between Russia & China in national currencies has reached roughly half of turnover (yuan- ruble).

Video courtesy Sean Foo

🔹Russian 🇷🇺 FM S. Lavrov met on April 6th-7th with his Turkish 🇹🇷 counterpart M. Cavusoglu at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. The grain deal extension was discussed, FM Lavrov spoke about no progress by the West to fulfill their side of the deal.

🔹Disconnection from the SWIFT system, the obstacles to insure and reinsure cargo under normal conditions, the restrictions for Russian ships 🚢 to enter ports and foreign ships to enter Russian ports have not been addressed. FM Lavrov assured countries in need of Russian grain, that a workaround will be done to deliver if they do not extend the deal.

🔹Moscow and Ankara share the view that the unstable geopolitical situation confirms the necessity to create a gas hub in Türkiye to transport Russian gas.

🔹Türkiye's balanced policy has made it possible to prevent an escalation of the war in Ukraine and keep it from spilling over into their country. Türkiye continues to push for negotiations between the two countries. Ankara also believes that a peace agreement between Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 and Armenia 🇦🇲needs to be concluded as soon as possible.

🔹The Russian, Iranian, Syrian 🇸🇾 and Turkish foreign ministers are in preparations to hold a meeting on the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus. A possibility exists that a meeting between the Turkish and Syrian presidents would take place before Türkiye's elections.

🔹Moscow will continue to provide assistance to Ankara in the reconstruction of its earthquake-ruined infrastructure, FM Lavrov said. He used the meeting to express his deepest condolences to the Turkish people over the tragedy.

Video courtesy Euronews

🔹Officials from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 were in Yemen’s 🇾🇪 capital on April 9th for talks with the Iran 🇮🇷-backed Houthi rebels, as part of international efforts to find a negotiated settlement to Yemen’s nine-year war. The Saudi delegation, chaired by the kingdom’s ambassador to Yemen, met with the head of the Houthi’s supreme political council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen.

🔹An Omani 🇴🇲 delegation, which arrived in Sanaa on April 8th, joined the talks. Hans Grundberg, the U.N. envoy for Yemen, described the ongoing efforts as “the closest Yemen has been to real progress towards lasting peace” since the war began.

🔹The Saudi-Houthi talks are focused on a full reopening of Houthi-controlled ports and 🇾🇪 Sanaa airport, payment of wages for public servants, rebuilding efforts and a timeline for foreign forces to exit the country. The Houthis on April 8th had received 13 detainees released by Saudi Arabia in exchange for a Saudi detainee freed earlier, ahead of a wider prisoner exchange agreed by the warring sides.

🔹At talks in Switzerland🇨🇭last month attended by the UN 🇺🇳 and Red Cross, the Yemeni gov't and the Houthis agreed to free 887 detainees. The 13 prisoners are part of that agreement. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis reached a draft deal last month to revive a cease-fire that expired in October.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Iran and Saudi Arabia make preparations for the reopening of embassies in Tehran and Riyadh. This comes after both countries agreed to resume diplomatic ties mediated by China 🇨🇳.

Video courtesy PressTV

🔹 Germany 🇩🇪 has retaliated, by ordering Chad's 🇹🇩 ambassador to leave the country, today (April 11th) responding to the central African nation's expulsion of the German ambassador on April 8th. Chad's gov't gave German Ambassador Gordon Kricke 48 hours to leave, citing his “discourteous attitude” and accusing him of failing to respect diplomatic customs. Germany still has lower-ranking diplomats in Chad's capital N'Djamena.

🔹A Chadian gov't official told AFP anonymously that N'Djamena blamed the diplomat for "interfering too much" in the "governance of the country", as well as "remarks tending to divide the Chadians".

🔹Chadian 🇹🇩 sources said Ambassador 🇩🇪 Gordon Kricke had criticised delays in holding elections, and a ruling last year that will allow interim military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby to run in elections in 2024.

🔹Military leaders of Chad originally promised an 18-month transition to elections when Deby seized power after his father, President Idriss Deby, was killed on the battlefield during a conflict with rebels.

🔹But last year, the military gov't extended the timeline by two years, delaying elections until October 2024, sparking protests in which dozens of civilians were killed, and worrying regional powers and the US who have warned against extending military rule.

Last reported on this channel:

💠 Chad's Authorities nationalized all oil/gas assets of a subsidiary of 🇺🇸 Exxonmobil due to Exxon's conflicting terms.

💠 Chad & other African presidents agreed to step up military coordination in their countries' war against Boko Haram & ISIS terrorists, who are now receiving weapons from Ukraine 🇺🇦.

💠 In 2022, Chad declared a national food emergency as a third of the population needs food aid.

Video courtesy AfrikaNow AfrikaTomorrow