評論
打印
The world this week
本周國際要聞
Business
商業板塊
The American Senate began debate on Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill, after it passed the House of Representatives. Mr Biden will need the support of all 50 Democratic senators if it is to succeed. In one setback, the Senate’s parliamentarian said that a measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour could not be included in the legislation under the procedure by which the Democrats have introduced the bill.
在眾議院通過拜登1.9萬億美元的刺激法案后，參議院開始就該法案進行辯論。如果想要獲得通過，拜登將需要得到所有50名民主黨參議員的支持。在一次法案受阻時，參議院議員表示，根據民主黨提出該法案的程序，將最低工資提高到每小時15美元的措施不能納入立法。
Spend now, pay later
先花后付
In Britain the government’s budget provided yet more spending on workers and businesses to cushion the blow of the pandemic. The furlough scheme, which pays staff wages and has been in place for a year, was extended to September. Fiscal support for the pandemic now totals 407bn pounds ($570bn). To pay for all this the government set out tax increases, including a rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% in 2023. Before that there will be a two-year tax break for companies intended to spur investment.
在英國，政府的預算為工人和企業提供了更多的支出，以緩解疫情的沖擊。給員工發工資的休假計劃在實施了一年后，將被延長到9月份。英國為抗擊疫情提供的財政支持目前總計4070億英鎊(合5700億美元)。為了支付這些費用，政府開始增加稅收，包括在2023年將公司稅從19%提高到25%。在此之前，政府將對有意刺激投資的企業實行兩年的稅收減免。
India’s economy pulled out of recession in the last three months of 2020, but only just. GDP expanded by 0.4% in the quarter, year on year.
印度經濟在2020年的最后三個月走出了衰退，但也僅僅是剛走出的狀態。第三季度GDP同比增長0.4%。
A huge stimulus package helped Brazil limit the pandemic’s damage to its GDP, which shrank by 4.1% last year, a better performance than economies of similar size.
一項龐大的經濟刺激計劃幫助巴西限制了新冠疫情對其GDP的損害，巴西的GDP去年縮水了4.1%，這已經是同等規模下的經濟體相對好一點的表現了。
February was a record month for the value of SPACs, shell companies that list on a stock exchange with the intent of merging with an existing company, and so avoid the rigours of an IPO. spacs struck 50 merger deals last month, totalling almost $109bn.
2月份是研究特殊目的收購公司(SPAC)價值創紀錄的一個月。特殊目的收購公司是指在證券交易所上市的空殼公司，目的是與現有公司合并，從而避免IPO的嚴苛條件。上月，全球特殊目的收購公司達成了50筆合并交易，總額近1090億美元。
Rio Tinto’s chairman decided to step down within a year because of the mining company’s demolition of a sacred Aboriginal cave in Australia in May 2020. Australian pension funds had pressed Rio’s board to hold senior executives to account for the destruction.
2020年5月，由于力拓礦業公司拆除了澳大利亞土著居民的一處神圣的洞穴，該公司董事長決定在一年內辭職。澳大利亞養老基金曾向力拓礦業公司董事會施壓，要求其高管對此次拆除事件負責。
Another week and another carmaker announced an ambitious electrification strategy, as Volvo said it would phase out all petrol-powered cars, including hybrids, by 2030, and sell only fully electric ones. It also plans to disrupt the established way of selling cars by ditching dealerships and making its new cars available only online.
又過了一周，又有一家汽車制造商宣布了一項雄心勃勃的電動化戰略。沃爾沃表示，到2030年，它將逐步淘汰包括混合動力車在內的所有汽油動力汽車，只銷售全電動汽車。該公司還計劃打破現有的汽車銷售方式，取消經銷商，只在線上銷售新車。
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