In March, Premier Li Keqiang named semiconductors as the top priority of the 10 industries China wants to foster in its “Made in China 2025” initiative. But China’s ambitions were already clear in 2014 when it launched the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund — better known as the Big Fund — in 2014 with 138 billion yuan ($21.9 billion) in seed capital, which it hoped would turbocharge investment from local governments and the private sector. Source Asian Review
The United States and Germany reached an agreement on Wednesday on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, ending a longstanding dispute between the allies, the Washington Post reported. Source Reuters
Turkish annual inflation has jumped to a two-year high of 17.53 percent in June, exceeding a forecast of 17 percent and continuing an extended rise after a brief dip, potentially delaying any interest rate cuts to later in the year. Source AL Jazeera
The federal government will be swimming in $3 trillion of red ink by the end of fiscal 2021, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate released Thursday that swelled 33% from the last forecast.
As a result of multiple stimulus measures aimed at combating the pandemic’s economic impact, Congress will run a budgetary shortfall this year equivalent to 13.4% of GDP, the second-largest level since 1945 and exceeded only by the 2020 spending. Source CNBC
