European and Asian economic recovery plans are announced, while big tech might help Asia move forward
by Bethan Rees
In an interview with Les Echos, France's junior minister for European affairs, Clément Beaune, has announced the EU’s plan for an initial €10bn bond issue as part of its €750bn pandemic recovery package, according to Reuters.
The debt issuance process and securities were set to launch on Tuesday 1 June, calling on big European and international banks. Proceeds from the issuance will be spent from July. In the interview, Beaune said that more than €100bn would be injected into the European economy by the end of this year to finance the recovery of EU member states: "The market appetite should be very major and the interest rates very favourable."
Reuters article
Ireland's recovery plan
The Irish government has announced a €3.6bn package of spending supports and measures as part of its pandemic recovery plan, according to Jack Horgan-Jones, Cliff Taylor and Pat Leahy for The Irish Times.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is quoted as saying, "I believe that with this plan our economy is going to take off like a rocket in the months ahead", while Taoiseach Micheál Martin says the plan would allow for a "jobs-led recovery".
One of the components of the plan is a "series of reductions to support payments for employees and a focus on the provision of retraining and education places for people whose jobs have been destroyed by the pandemic". Under the recovery plan, there will be more than 50,000 training scheme places on digital and green job initiatives.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), which has been supporting those who have lost all their employment due to the pandemic, will be closed to new entrants from July 2021 and a reduction in rates is planned for September. The article says there will be further reductions "staggered across three phases over the following months". The highest rate of €350 per week will be cut to €300, and those currently receiving €300 per week will be cut to €250. "The lowest rate, €250 per week, will come into line with the jobseekers’ allowance of €203".
Other changes include an extension to the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector until September 2022, which was due to expire at the end of 2021, and new loan guarantee schemes that will give "homeowners low-interest loans to retrofit their homes". The plan also includes the introduction of a pilot basic income guarantee scheme for artists, with a view to rolling out the trial in January 2022.
The Irish Times article
Asia's recovery through big tech
"Asia has been living with the impact of Covid-19 the longest, and parts of the region have been first to climb out of the slump," writes Ahmed Mazhari, president at Microsoft Asia, in an article for the World Economic Forum. "If we combine our region’s deep digital ecosystems and longstanding culture of innovation with the entrepreneurialism of our start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we will be able to lead the world in the post-pandemic economic recovery," he writes.
Big tech companies in particular (private and public) can help accomplish this, says Mazhari, by:
- having easy access to digital infrastructure for start-ups and SMEs
- upskilling people to thrive in the digital economy, expanding the talent pool
- creating a strong start-up culture that sets up entrepreneurs for success and turns their companies into job-creation engines.
According to Mazhari, start-ups and SMEs are "critical engines of growth", and account for more than 97% of all businesses across Asia-Pacific economies. Start-ups are often the creators of new technologies, but they and SMEs don't usually have the scale or funding needed to train people "with the right digital skills", he says. "By building digital skills, we boost both individual prosperity and Asia’s economic recovery."
Mazhari says over the next five years or so, "there will be an estimated 149 million new technology-oriented jobs globally", so "closing the skills gap for job seekers to grasp these opportunities is absolutely vital".
Supporting entrepreneurship can lead to more innovation, and "tech leaders can support the great ideas of students and start-ups by offering them springboards in the form of development programmes and platforms for exposure", he writes. Big tech has an important role to play in "investing in start-ups, entrepreneurs and SMEs, creating opportunities for critical skills training, and applying trusted technology to drive innovation".
World Economic Forum article