Economy

Germany is the biggest economy in Europe. What if it shifts left? – CNN

Published

3 years ago

September 25, 2021

London (CNN Business)Angela Merkel is about to bow out as chancellor of Germany after 16 years, marking the start of a new era for Europe’s largest economy.

The results of Sunday’s election are hard to predict, and the formation of a government could take weeks or months to play out. But when the dust settles, polls indicate that the new chancellor could be the left-leaning Social Democratic Party’s Olaf Scholz, who steered Germany’s economy through the pandemic as finance minister in a coalition with Merkel. Meanwhile, the Greens could more than double their number of seats in parliament.

Scholz’s SPD and the Greens could partner with the pro-business Free Democratic Party, gaining enough power to shift the country’s economic agenda to the left. Taxation and spending could increase as political leaders double down on digitization and climate policy, while wariness about rising government debt may take a back seat.

“Greens and liberals in a coalition would bring the freshest innovative forces that we have had in a while in a German government,” said Carsten Brzeski, ING’s global head of macro research.

Spend more, worry later?

Global banks say that the eventual outcome of post-election jockeying among the parties is far from certain, while advising investors to prepare for two potential results: a coalition of the SPD, Green Party and the FDP, or a narrow victory for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, led by Armin Laschet, which would also likely need to team up with the Greens and FDP.

The former option would mark a move to the left, but would be less dramatic than an alliance between the SPD, Greens and hard-left Die Linke. This result, which could produce much more ambitious efforts to redistribute wealth and levy taxes, has been downplayed by analysts, and would likely take investors by surprise.

Whichever combination takes charge will have to manage the ongoing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Germany’s economy is on track to grow by 2.9% this year and 4.6% next year after contracting by 4.9% in 2020, according to the latest projections from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Yet recent data indicates momentum could be slipping. The Ifo index, which tracks the country’s business climate, fell for the third month in a row in September, according to data released Friday. Slower growth in China, snarled supply chains and surging gas prices are likely to be taking a toll.

This pullback could add to pressure on the country’s new leaders to scrap Germany’s notoriously strict fiscal rules so they can keep spending on the domestic economy.

The country enshrined a so-called “debt brake” in the constitution in 2009, severely limiting public borrowing after the financial crisis with few exceptions. Because of the pandemic, debt rules were suspended until 2023. That allowed German borrowing to jump, with the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio climbing sharply to 70% in 2020.

Though such a ratio pales in comparison with the United States, where debt is now projected to exceed annual GDP, Germany’s centrist parties have been eager to get the country’s public finances back under control. The Greens, meanwhile, want more permanent easing of debt rules.

UBS strategists Dean Turner and Maximilian Kunkel think the debt brake — which has become a key tenet of German fiscal conservatism — is likely to remain in place, since overturning it would require a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Still, they expect Germany’s new leaders will find other ways to increase spending to address the climate crisis, an issue that gained even greater prominence after devastating flooding hit the country in July.

“The one common area of agreement for all parties is the need to tackle climate change,” Turner and Kunkel wrote in a recent research note. Whatever coalition emerges, they continued, green investment “will rise.”

Tackling the climate crisis

Brzeski expects that the incoming governing coalition, no matter its makeup, will create a special investment vehicle to circumvent the debt brake, allowing money to flow to green initiatives.

With a more liberal coalition government, however, some timelines could be moved up.

“[The Greens] would likely push for an acceleration of the green transition of the German economy as a pre-condition for entering government,” Goldman Sachs said in a recent note to clients.

The Green Party has called for a 70% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2030, compared to the current government goal of 65%. It also wants coal plants shuttered by the end of this decade, rather than by 2038, and for new cars to be emissions-free by that point, too.

This could set up a clash with Germany’s most powerful businesses. In its latest strategy update, Volkswagen (VLKAF) said it wanted 50% of sales to come from electric cars by 2030, rising to almost 100% in 2040.

How much the state should intervene could generate friction between coalition members.

“The biggest controversy will be: How do you change people’s behavior?” Brzeski said. “Do you do this by incentives, and by educating people, or do you do this by [increasing] prices and costs?”

A left-leaning government in Germany could also lead to an increase in taxes for the wealthiest Germans, with the SPD proposing a new wealth tax on the super-rich.

But banks are emphasizing that it remains hugely unclear how the election will play out — and the more conservative CDU could still prevail, keeping Germany more firmly on its current fiscal and economic path.

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Business

A timeline of events in the bread price-fixing scandal

Published

7 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.

Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.

Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.

Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.

Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.

Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).

Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.

June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.

Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”

Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.

July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.

Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)

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Economy

S&P/TSX composite up more than 250 points, U.S. stock markets also higher

Published

7 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 250 points in late-morning trading, led by strength in the base metal and technology sectors, while U.S. stock markets also charged higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 254.62 points at 23,847.22.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 432.77 points at 41,935.87. The S&P 500 index was up 96.38 points at 5,714.64, while the Nasdaq composite was up 486.12 points at 18,059.42.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.68 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was up 89 cents at US$70.77 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down a penny at US2.27 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,608.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.33 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

Construction wraps on indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs in Vancouver

Published

21 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Anne Joseph

VANCOUVER – Supervised injection sites are saving the lives of drug users everyday, but the same support is not being offered to people who inhale illicit drugs, the head of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS says.

Dr. Julio Montaner said the construction of Vancouver’s first indoor supervised site for people who inhale drugs comes as the percentage of people who die from smoking drugs continues to climb.

The location in the Downtown Eastside at the Hope to Health Research and Innovation Centre was unveiled Wednesday after construction was complete, and Montaner said people could start using the specialized rooms in a matter of weeks after final approvals from the city and federal government.

“If we don’t create mechanisms for these individuals to be able to use safely and engage with the medical system, and generate points of entry into the medical system, we will never be able to solve the problem,” he said.

“Now, I’m not here to tell you that we will fix it tomorrow, but denying it or ignoring it, or throw it under the bus, or under the carpet is no way to fix it, so we need to take proactive action.”

Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2023 came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, often outdoors, in a tent.

The centre has been running a supervised injection site for years which sees more than a thousand people monthly and last month resuscitated five people who were overdosing.

The new facilities offer indoor, individual, negative-pressure rooms that allow fresh air to circulate and can clear out smoke in 30 to 60 seconds while users are monitored by trained nurses.

Advocates calling for more supervised inhalation sites have previously said the rules for setting up sites are overly complicated at a time when the province is facing an overdose crisis.

More than 15,000 people have died of overdoses since the public health emergency was declared in B.C. in April 2016.

Kate Salters, a senior researcher at the centre, said they worked with mechanical and chemical engineers to make sure the site is up to code and abidies by the highest standard of occupational health and safety.

“This is just another tool in our tool box to make sure that we’re offering life-saving services to those who are using drugs,” she said.

Montaner acknowledged the process to get the site up and running took “an inordinate amount of time,” but said the centre worked hard to follow all regulations.

“We feel that doing this right, with appropriate scientific background, in a medically supervised environment, etc, etc, allows us to derive the data that ultimately will be sufficiently convincing for not just our leaders, but also the leaders across the country and across the world, to embrace the strategies that we are trying to develop.” he said.

Montaner said building the facility was possible thanks to a single $4-million donation from a longtime supporter.

Construction finished with less than a week before the launch of the next provincial election campaign and within a year of the next federal election.

Montaner said he is concerned about “some of the things that have been said publicly by some of the political leaders in the province and in the country.”

“We want to bring awareness to the people that this is a serious undertaking. This is a very massive investment, and we need to protect it for the benefit of people who are unfortunately drug dependent.” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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