Archive for ‘set to’

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23/04/2020

McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway among foreign firms set to test China’s digital currency

  • Test in Xiong’an, the new city being built south of Beijing, will focus on everyday goods and services for the first time
  • American food outlets to be included in the digital currency tests, conducting small transactions with local firms
American chains Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway were named on the People’s Bank of China’s list of firms that will test the digital currency in small transactions with 19 local businesses. Photo: Bloomberg
American chains Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway were named on the People’s Bank of China’s list of firms that will test the digital currency in small transactions with 19 local businesses. Photo: Bloomberg

China’s central bank has accelerated the testing of its new sovereign digital currency and, for the first time, will include some foreign consumer brands in the programme.

American chains Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway were named on the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)’s list of firms that will test the digital currency in small transactions with 19 local businesses.
The global names will be joined by local hotels, convenience stores, a stuffed bun shop, a bakery, a bookstore and a gym, according to details revealed at a promotional event in the Xiong’an New Area, a city being built south of Beijing, news portal Sina.com reported.
The inclusion of businesses providing everyday goods and services marks an expansion of the PBOC’s testing. It follows a previous disclosure that last week in Suzhou the digital currency was used to pay half public sector workers’ travel subsidies for May.
Is China a currency manipulator?
Wednesday’s promotional event was organised by the local branch of the National Development and Reform Commission, the powerful planning agency, and attended by representatives of the Big Four state-owned banks and two of the country’s internet giants – Alibaba and Tencent.

China has not released a timetable for launching the digital yuan, but last week’s reports on new testing have fanned speculation that it could be imminent.

The tests were reportedly accelerated after Facebook launched its Libra project in June last year, an attempt to create a global digital currency pegged to a basket of currencies and backed by global commercial giants.

The Libra Association, the consortium managing the project, announced changes last week in an attempt to win regulatory approval and pave the way for an official launch sometime later this year. The consortium said it would create multiple digital units tied to existing currencies such as the US dollar or the euro, rather than a single token based on a basket of currencies.

China’s official digital currency, known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), came into the public spotlight last week when a screenshot of a test version of an app developed by the Agricultural Bank of China circulated online.

The digital currency app has several basic functions, similarly to other Chinese online payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay – the country’s two most popular online payment tools – allowing users to make and receive payments, and transfer money.

“It’s certain that the DCEP is now in its final testing stage and should be officially launched,” BlockVC, an investment firm, said in a research note.

The PBOC’s digital currency research institute confirmed last Friday that testing was being conducted in four cities: Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an and Chengdu. In addition, venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and Zhangjiakou will join the testing programme in the future.

What is the Hong Kong Dollar Peg?
The institute, which was inaugurated in 2017, said that the test versions and applications of the currency had not been finalised.

The project testing is based on two principles: the central bank issues the virtual money to commercial banks who then pass it on to consumers, and that is aimed at replacing cash in all transactions.

China is the first major economy to publicly announce plans for a sovereign digital currency, aiming to better control the rapid rise of digital payments worldwide.

The PBOC has, however, cracked down on the trading of other digital currencies and banned banks from accepting cryptocurrencies, which it views as a risk to financial stability.

Source: SCMP

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19/10/2019

After parliamentary win, India’s BJP set to sweep state elections-poll

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to sweep two state polls next week, the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landslide win in a parliamentary election in May, a leading pollster said.

The BJP is set to comfortably win elections in the western state of Maharashtra and the northern state of Haryana, leaving the main opposition Congress party trailing, according to a survey by polling agency CVoter released on Friday.

CVoter estimates that a BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra will pick up 194 of the 288 seats on offer. In Haryana, the party is predicted to win 83 of the state’s 90 seats, leaving just three for Congress.

Voting in the elections will be held on Monday with the results expected to be announced on Thursday.

Several Congress party officials conceded they had all but given up hope of posing a serious challenge to Modi and the BJP.

In particular, the resignation of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in July, after weeks of drama following the loss to the BJP in the general election, has sown internal confusion, triggering infighting and exits, two party officials in New Delhi said.

“It’s going to be a rout, and it will deflate morale even further,” one of the officials said, referring to the state elections. “It’s like a slow-moving disaster.”

They requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Pranav Jha, the secretary in charge of Congress’s communication department, said the party was undergoing a period of “cleansing and churning” and remained committed to taking on the BJP.

“The people of India…can see through the diversionary drama of the ruling party, and realise that jobs, economy and issues of farmers can only be put on track by the Congress party,” Jha told Reuters.

Modi, analysts say, has moved decisively, including withdrawing special rights for Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state, and consolidating the BJP’s hold over India’s Hindu-majority electorate.

INFIGHTING, INDIFFERENCE

In Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialised states which includes Mumbai, two Congress officials said the top leadership’s relative indifference and infighting had hurt their already weak campaign.

Congress’s state wing had asked for Gandhi, his mother and current party chief Sonia Gandhi, and his charismatic sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to join the campaign, one of the two officials said.

But only Rahul Gandhi came and spoke at a handful of rallies.

“Senior leaders from BJP have covered every district. They have been visiting Maharashtra for the last two months to build momentum,” said one Congress official, who is contesting the upcoming poll.

“There wasn’t any concrete effort from Congress leaders in New Delhi to give energy to our cadre,” he said.

The list of recent resignations from the party include Ashok Tanwar, Congress’s former chief in Haryana who quit earlier this month and is now campaigning against his old party.

“The state of affairs in the Congress party is so dire that the decision makers can’t win an election themselves, while the soldiers on ground who stay in touch with the masses are neglected,” Tanwar wrote in his resignation letter.

The situation has even riled Congress allies. Two leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party, which is in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra, said their partner was slack.

“It looks like Congress is not very serious about the state elections,” one of the leaders said. “Congress is not in the picture. Congress leaders are not attacking the ruling party the way we expected.”

In New Delhi, Congress officials said there was a sense of inertia at the party headquarters, without any understanding of who will become president after Sonia Gandhi, who is only holding charge temporarily.

“Without a clear leadership, nothing is going to change,” one of the officials said, “If it continues like this, the party will fade away.”

Source:Reuters

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