Chilean miner Codelco's El Teniente smelter to restart after collapse
The collapse at El Teniente in late July, which killed six workers, is still being investigated.
The shutdown led to a loss of 20,000 to 30,000 metric tons of copper, worth about $300 million, Chairman Maximo Pacheco said on Wednesday.
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Reuters
17 hours ago
- Reuters
Bolivia votes as support for left wanes and inflation is top of mind
LA PAZ, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Voters in Bolivia are gearing up for a general election on Sunday that has been overshadowed by inflation at a four-decade high and the absence of former leftist President Evo Morales, who is barred from running. Leading the race are opposition conservative contenders Samuel Doria Medina, a business magnate, and Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, a former president, but neither commands more than 30% support, opinion polls show, with around a quarter of Bolivians undecided. The August race marks the first time in almost two decades that polling indicates Bolivia's incumbent Movement for Socialism, or MAS, could face defeat. Support for MAS-affiliated and other left-leaning candidates trails the opposition, totaling around 10%, according to the latest August Ipsos CEISMORI survey. If no presidential candidate wins more than 40% support with a 10 percentage point lead, the election will head to a runoff on October 19. Morales, who co-founded MAS and governed the country from 2006 to 2019 under its banner, has been barred from running for another term as president. Ballot stations open on Sunday at 8 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) and close at 4 p.m., with initial results expected after 9 p.m. Full official results are due within seven days. Voters will also elect all 26 senators and 130 deputies, and officials assume office on November 8. With a crowded field and no dominant MAS party candidate, the election marks a "crossroads moment" for Bolivia, said Southern Andes analyst Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche of the International Crisis Group. Bolivia's fragile economy is top-of-mind for voters. Price-rises have surged past other Latin American countries this year, and fuel and dollars have run scarce. Annual inflation doubled to 23% in June, up from 12% in January, with some Bolivians turning to cryptocurrencies as a hedge. Many Bolivians, especially those who work in the informal economy, were now struggling to make ends meet, said economist Roger Lopez. "Prices of the basic food basket are going up fast," said Lopez. "Suddenly the math doesn't add up anymore." They may choose to punish MAS on Sunday, creating a window of opportunity for centrists, the right, or a leftist faction led by Senate President Andronico Rodriguez. "Every year the situation has got worse under this government," said Silvia Morales, 30, from La Paz, who works in retail. A former MAS voter, she said this time she would cast her vote for the center-right. Carlos Blanco Casas, 60, a teacher in La Paz, said he intended to vote for change. "This election feels hopeful. We need a change of direction," he said. Quiroga has promised "radical change" to reverse what he calls "20 lost years" under MAS rule. He supports deep public spending cuts and a shift away from alliances with Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Quiroga was president for a year in 2001-2002 after the then-leader resigned. Doria Medina, meanwhile, offers a more moderate approach, pledging to stabilize the economy within 100 days. On the left, the vote is split between the official MAS party candidate Eduardo del Castillo, who is backed by outgoing President Luis Arce, and Rodriguez, who has distanced himself from the party and is running on his own ticket. Morales, 69, has called for a boycott of the election, but analysts said his influence is waning. "There is widespread support for these elections," said Calanche. "Most Bolivians see them as key to leading the country towards economic recovery."
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
As the economy slows and productivity flatlines, is Australia having another banana republic moment?
When Paul Keating stepped into a noisy kitchen in a Melbourne function centre for an interview with John Laws, he didn't mince his words. It was 14 May 1986 when the then Labor treasurer told Laws that without some serious changes, a collapse in export prices meant our trade-dependent country was living beyond its means and fast on its way to becoming 'a banana republic'. 'If this government cannot get the adjustment, get manufacturing going again and keep moderate wage outcomes and a sensible economic policy, then Australia is basically done for,' Keating told Laws. Sign up: AU Breaking News email It was that sense of urgency – the threat of a 'banana republic' – that helped blow away the cobwebs of complacency and drive the massive reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. Australia in the decades since has prospered. Yet once again we are having similar conversations. The economy doesn't seem to be functioning as it should, and may only be capable of growing at a fraction of the rate it used to. The budget is in structural deficit. The population is ageing, and our demand for government services grows and grows, even as our capacity to fund that extra spending goes the other way. Younger Australians are increasingly resentful about their lot, homes are too expensive and the world outside our shores looks more dangerous than it has in decades. Used to being a standout on the global stage, we are being relegated to the back of the pack. Living standards across the rich world climbed by an average of 22% over the past decade. In comparison, our living standards are up just 1.5%, according to analysis by Chris Richardson, an independent economist. Analysts place a lot of the blame for this on a slowdown on one thing: productivity growth. They point to the fact that our economy is no more productive now than it was in 2016. Over the longer term, productivity growth is the ingredient that delivers higher real wages, generates better-quality goods and helps pay for government services. Technological change can explain a lot of productivity growth over the decades. The promise of artificial intelligence is that it ignites an explosion of new growth as AI embeds itself deeper into the economy and our lives. With so much apparently at stake, Chalmers in a recent interview was asked if flatlining national productivity was a 'crisis'. 'No,' the treasurer said, 'but it's a big challenge'. Australia and Australians have a lot of 'big challenges', and some are regularly referred to as 'crises'. Yet not all are worthy of a three-day economic reform roundtable with 900 submissions and 40 ministerial mini-roundtables leading up to it. At the National Press Club on 18 June, Chalmers declared that the government has 'a responsibility to rebuild confidence in liberal democratic politics and economic institutions – by lifting living standards for working people in particular'. Days out from the start of the roundtable, Chalmers has been at pains to play down the very reform fervour that he fanned. Anthony Albanese appears to have little appetite for spending political capital in pushing through tough economic reforms. The PM has made it clear that there will be – read his lips – no new taxes this term. The treasurer has obediently narrowed the scope of the potential 'deliverables' to regulatory reform to get more homes built, with a side promise of some progress on longstanding policy ideas, like a road user charge. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The lack of a 'crisis' in productivity may make it hard to understand why we have spent nearly six weeks leading up to this talkfest in Canberra. But it does help explain the apparent lack of urgency to solve the issue. So what do economists reckon: do we have a productivity crisis? The answer, Richardson quips, 'depends whether you like rising living standards or not'. Are we a commodity price collapse away from becoming a 21st-century version of Keating's 'banana republic'? Saul Eslake, another independent economist, says no – the economy now is totally transformed. Rather than crisis, Eslake volunteers the word 'malaise'. 'I don't think it would help the debate to call it a productivity crisis,' he adds – that could lead to rushed and short-term measures that might just goose the economy for a year or two. 'There are no magic bullets, no short-term solutions. Nothing that can be done, even with the greatest amount of political will, to lift productivity growth in 12 months' time,' Eslake says. John Hawkins, an economics professor at the University of Canberra, says productivity is not a crisis because it's 'not something that is making people worse off'. Instead: 'It's a lost opportunity to make us better off'. 'We got used to the idea that incomes go up over time. Over the long run most of that increase has come from productivity,' Hawkins says. 'More recently we got away with low productivity growth because commodities were strong, but we need to do something if we want real income growth going forward.' Shadows of the 1980s, then, from which we can expect echoes of that era's reforms.
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Petrobras mulls investment in Raizen to re-enter ethanol market, O Globo reports
SAO PAULO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras is considering an investment in sugar and ethanol producer Raizen ( opens new tab as a way to re-enter the ethanol market, local newspaper O Globo reported on Saturday, citing sources. Petrobras had previously said it was eying a return to the ethanol sector after having announced in its 2017-2021 strategic plan it would no longer produce biofuels, while Raizen is open to a new partner as it faces financial hurdles. Petrobras and Raizen did not immediately respond to requests for comment. O Globo said Petrobras could make a decision by year-end. The oil company is studying several options, including joining Raizen as a partner or buying assets from the firm, the report added. Raizen, the world's largest sugar maker and a leading ethanol producer, is controlled by Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab and Brazilian conglomerate Cosan ( opens new tab. The company also has businesses in the fuel distribution sector. Raizen earlier this week acknowledged the possibility of a new shareholder after reporting weak results, which caused its stock to plunge to a record low. Cosan said bringing in a new partner for the company was "an option we like." Raizen has been facing operational challenges and high debt. Recent measures put in place to reduce leverage included divestitures and shutting down a major mill.
