Powerful quake kills over 1200 people in Turkey, Syria

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 06 February 2023

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ANKARA - A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling buildings and killing at least 1200 people. With thousands injured, the toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched the rubble in cities and towns across the area.

On both sides of the border, residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside on a cold, rainy and snowy winter night, as buildings were flattened and strong aftershocks continued.

Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete.

In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home collapsed. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers tried to reach him, said the resident, journalism student Muhammet Fatih Yavus. Further east in Diyarbakir, cranes and rescue teams rushed people on stretchers out of a mountain of pancaked concrete floors that was once an apartment building.

On the Syrian side of the border, the quake smashed opposition-held regions that are packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of Syria by the country’s long civil war. Many of them live in decrepit conditions with little health care. Rescue workers said hospitals in the area were quickly filled with the injured.

“We fear that the deaths are in the hundreds,” Muheeb Qaddour, a doctor, said by phone from the town of Atmeh, referring to the entire rebel-held area. Raed Salah, the head of the White Helmets, the emergency organisation in opposition areas, said whole neighbourhoods were collapsed in some areas.

The quake, felt as far away as Cairo, struck a region that has been shaped by more than a decade of civil war in Syria. Millions of Syrian refugees live in Turkey. The swath of Syria affected by the quake is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. The quake was centered about 90 kilometers (60 miles) from the Syrian border outside the city of Gaziantep, a major Turkish provincial capital.

At least 20 aftershocks followed, some hours later during daylight, the strongest measuring 6.6, Turkish authorities said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that “search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched” to the areas hit by the quake.

“We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage,” he wrote.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management agency said at least 284 people in seven Turkish provinces. The agency said 440 people were injured. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 237 with more than 630 injured, according to Syrian state media. At least 47 people were reported killed in rebel-held areas.

Buildings were reported collapsed in a cross-border swath extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast.

In Turkey, people trying to leave the quake-stricken regions caused traffic jams, hampering efforts of emergency teams trying to reach the affected areas. Authorities urged residents not to take to the roads. Mosques around the region were being opened up as a shelter for people unable to return to damaged homes amid temperatures that hovered around freezing.

The quake heavily damaged Gaziantep’s most famed landmark, its historic castle perched atop a hill in the center of the city. Parts of the fortresses’ walls and watch towers were leveled and other parts heavily damaged, images from the city showed.

In Diyarbakir, rescue teams called for silence as they tried to listen for survivors under the wreckage of an 11-story building. Rescue workers pulled out one man, carrying him on a stretcher through a dense crowd of hundreds of people anxiously watching the rescue efforts. A gray-haired woman wailed before being escorted away by a man, while a rescue worker wearing a white helmet tried to calm a crying girl, who was also being cuddled by two friends.

In northwest Syria, the quake added new woes to the opposition-held enclave centered on the province of Idlib, which has been under siege for years, with frequent Russian and government airstrikes. The territory depends on a flow of aid from nearby Turkey for everything from food to medical supplies.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense described the situation there as “disastrous” adding that entire buildings have collapsed and people are trapped under the rubble.

In the small Syrian rebel-held town of Azmarin in the mountains by the Turkish border, the bodies of several dead children, wrapped in blankets, were brought to a hospital.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 33 kilometers (20 miles) from Gaziantep. It was centered 18 kilometers (11 miles) deep.

In Damascus, buildings shook and many people went down to the streets in fear. The quake jolted residents in Lebanon from beds, shaking buildings for about 40 seconds. Many residents of Beirut left their homes and took to the streets or drove in their cars away from buildings.

Turkey sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.

The UK as an international financial centre 2022

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 02 February 2023

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LONDON - TheCityUK is the industry-led body representing UK-based financial and related professional services. We champion and support the success of the ecosystem, and thereby our members, promoting policies in the UK, across Europe and internationally that drive competitiveness, support job creation and ensure long-term economic growth.

The industry contributes 12% of the United Kingdom’s (UK) total economic output and employs over 2.2 million people, with two thirds of these jobs outside London. It is UK’s largest net exporting industry and generates a trade surplus exceeding that of all other net exporting industries combined.

It is also the largest taxpayer, and makes a real difference to people in their daily lives, helping them save for the future, buy a home, invest in a business and protect and manage risk.

The central role of UK financial and related professional services

The UK is a major global hub for international wholesale finance, and as such, the financial and related professional services industry is a strategic national asset for the UK. The UK’s financial and related professional services industry employs 2.2 million people across the country, two thirds outside London; generates large tax revenues; and contributes to a major trade surplus in services. It has also secured striking levels of inward investment to the UK, helping to fund businesses across the country, and positioned the UK as a key hub for strategic, forward-looking industries like technology and life sciences.

The leading net exporter of financial services across the world

The UK’s financial services trade surplus totalled $87.2 billion (equivalent to £63.7bn)2 in 2021—slightly higher than that of the US ($85.6bn)3 ; for more information see Figure 1. When the estimated trade surplus for related professional services – legal services, accountancy and management consultancy – is also taken into account, the industry total figure climbs to around $110.9 billion (equivalent to £81 billion).

The UK’s largest trading partners in financial services are the US and EU member states. The US and EU combined account for 63.1% of the UK’s total financial services exports.

The UK has a strong record in managing financial and related professional services business from developed economies. Developing economies also require financial services to achieve further progress in industrial development, infrastructure investment, poverty reduction and promotion of financial inclusion.

The volume of trade with these countries has significant potential for growth due to the rise in the importance of emerging markets to the global economy. The UK has been able to support them through its leading role in many international financial markets.

One of the top-ranked global financial centres

London is generally considered one of only two full-scale international financial services hubs globally—the other being New York. For example, according to Z/Yen’s Global Financial Centres Index7, a widely accepted source for ranking financial centres globally, London currently ranks second as an international financial services centre, after New York. Similarly, the UK ranks second, after the US, in the Global Financial Centres Index published by New Financial.

London’s role as a hub is based in large part on the co-location of banking, insurance, fund management, securities, derivatives, foreign exchange expertise, and skilled labour, along with its developed market infrastructure and clusters of related professional services (legal, accounting and management consulting) excellence.The number of financial centres conducting international business is growing.

While London and New York are long-established international financial centres, Asian centres such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo have evolved into well-developed global and regional hubs with deep and broad markets. Additionally, there are a few relatively broad but smaller international markets such as Frankfurt, Seoul and Washington DC, as well as a number of global specialist markets, such as Dublin and Luxembourg. A well-targeted specialist or regional offer can bring success for emerging international financial centres as they seek to develop niches or provide a particular set of products.

Executive summary

• The UK is one of the world’s leading international financial and related professional services hubs, with London central to this position. This report uses the latest available annual data to highlight a number of measures and markets that demonstrate the UK’s role as an international financial centre.

• TheCityUK estimates the UK’s trade surplus in financial and related professional services to be $110.9 billion (£81 billion). The magnitude of exports relative to imports indicates that the industry is highly competitive globally.

• The UK maintains a globally leading share of a number of financial markets; for example, it had 15% of the global total of cross-border bank lending in the second quarter of 2022. London is a centre for foreign banks, with around 180 foreign banks or branches in the city.

• Around twice as many US dollars are traded on the foreign exchange market in the UK than in the US. Overall, the UK has 38.1% of the global total of foreign-exchange turnover.

• The UK insurance sector is the biggest in Europe and fourth largest in the world. UK insurance premiums represented around one-quarter of premiums in advanced European economies.

• London’s importance as a centre for global equity trading is illustrated by the 333 foreign companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of September 2022 – more than on Euronext, but less than on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange.

• The UK has one of the highest equity market capitalisations in relation to GDP among the largest countries –108.6% at the end of 2021. The LSE had a had a 3.0% share of global equity market capitalisation as of October 2022 (compared with 3.1% as of October 2021).

• London is the world’s second-largest centre for hedge fund management, after New York. The UK had around £350 billion ($480 billion) in assets under management (around 10% of global assets) in the hedge fund sector in 2021.

• The UK private equity market is the most developed in the world outside the US. UK private equity funds invested $37.8 billion (equivalent to £29.5 billion), the largest amount in Europe, in 2021.

• The UK plays a leading role in a number of specialist areas of financial services. Green finance, Islamic finance and maritime financial services are all sectors where the UK has been at the forefront of development.

• London is considered to have the second-best FinTech ecosystem globally, after San Francisco, and as one of the sector leaders, it offers a wealth of talent and expertise. As of 2021, there were 1,600 FinTech companies in the UK, and this number is projected to double by 2030. The UK FinTech sector registered record investment of £27.6bn (equivalent to $38bn) in 2021, seven times more than in 2020.

• The UK is the largest legal services market in Europe and is second only to the US globally. It accounts for a third of Western European legal services fee revenue and around 5% of global legal services fee revenue.

• A range of UK-based organisations provides education and training in financial and related professional services internationally. Three UK universities are part of the global top 10 higher-level institutions specialised in Accounting and Finance course

For the full report, visit: https://www.thecityuk.com/media/wympuijs/key-facts-about-the-uk-as-an-international-financial-centre-2022.pdf?f24_pid=f795cee2-7819-4a19-bb20-463e015a6bff&utm_campaign=International%20key%20facts%20report%202022%20launch%20emaill&utm_source=force24&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink

OECD members public social expenditure update 2023

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 30 January 2023

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PARIS - New OECD data reveal that public social spending in OECD countries was around 21% of GDP on average in 2022. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public social spending-to-GDP ratio increased from 20% of GDP in 2019 to 23% in 2020 across the OECD on average.

At just over 30% of GDP, public spending on areas such as pensions, health care and unemployment benefits is highest in France and Italy, while Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Spain also devote more than a quarter of their GDP to public social support. In contrast, public social spending in countries such as Costa Rica, Ireland, Korea, Mexico and Türkiye accounts for less than 15% of GDP. After accounting for private social expenditure (mainly pensions and health care) and the impact of the tax system, the United States is the second highest spender, at just below 30% of GDP. At almost 8% and 6% of GDP on average across the OECD respectively, pensions and health are the main areas of public social spending.

The rise and fall of public social spending with the COVID-19 pandemic

The public social spending-to-GDP ratios are estimated to have increased by almost 3 percentage points,on average across OECD countries,during the COVID-19 pandemic

The public social spending-to-GDP ratio has increased significantly since the beginning of the pandemic (Figure1).On average, across the OECD,the public social spending-to-GDP ratio increased by almost 3 percentage points (ppt) from about 20% in 2019 to 23% in 2020.

About 2.5 ppts of the 3 ppt change was caused by an increase in public social spending, while 0.5 ppt was related to a decrease in GDP(The “twin-statistics brief” discusses “Private social expenditure and the influence of the tax system”).After the initial rise with the outbreak of the pandemic,spending-to-GDP ratios declined almost as rapidly as they increased:public social spending fell from 23%,on average across the OECD,in 2020 to an estimate of 21% in 2022.

This evolution contrasts starkly with the aftermath of the 2008/09global financial crisis(GFC). The public social spending-to-GDP ratio increased from 17.7% of GDP in 2007 to 20.6%in 2009 across the OECD on average, but in subsequent years, the ratio only decreased to 20% in 2011 and remained at this level until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. These different patterns are largely related to a much stronger economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the global financial crisis(OECD, 2022[1]), and a slowdown in the pace of real public social spending growth after COVID peaked in 2020/21 (Figure1), as inflation picked up strongly in 2022(

Key findings

•With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public social spending-to-GDP ratio increased from 20% of GDP in 2019 to 23% in 2020across the OECD on average. This surge in the spending-to-GDP ratio was largely (over 80%) due to an increase in spending rather than a decline in GDP.

•Individual country experiences differ markedly. Canada,Spain and the United States recorded the highest increases in the public social spending-to-GDP ratio from 2019 to 2020(more than 6 percentage points (ppt)), while Denmark, Hungary and Sweden had the lowest increases(less than 1 ppt).

•The increase in the public social spending-to-GDP ratio in 2020 is largely related to an increase in spending on health, unemployment and active labour market programmes as well as income-tested cash support programmes in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

•Looking back, the Global Financial Crisis led to a peak in the public social spending-to-GDP ratio at 20.6% in 2009, and it took 10 years of continuous economic growth for it to fall to 19.8% of GDP across the OECD on average. By contrast, since the peak in 2020 the average public spending-to-GDP ratio fell rapidly to 22% of GDP in 2021 and was estimated to have been about 21% of GDP in 2022.

•At almost 8% and 6% of GDP on average across the OECD respectively, pensions and health are the main areas of public social spending.

Private social expenditure and the influence of tax systems

Public social expenditure amounted to about 21% of GDP on average across the OECD in 2022(Public social expenditure is discussed in the “twin-statistics brief”: The rise and fall of public social spending with the COVID-19 pandemic”). However, most countries also have private social programmes that deliver social support. The distinction between public and private social expenditure is based on who controls the relevant financial flows; public institutions (different levels of government and social security funds)or private bodies(non-government organisations(NGOs), including charities, employers and private health and pension funds (OECD, 2019[2]).All social benefits not provided by public institutions as defined above are ‘private’.The extent to which private bodies deliver social support varies across countries but on average across the OECD, it amounted to 3.1% GDP in 2019.

Key findings

•Private social spending –mainly health insurance and pensions--is worth about 3.1% of GDP, on average in the OECD; it comes in addition to public social spending which amounts to about 21%on average(OECD, 2023[1]).

•At around 12-13% of GDP, private social spending was highest in the Netherlands and the United States in 2019.

•Mandatory private social spending accounted for about 6% of GDP in Iceland(pension, survivors and incapacity benefits), the Netherlands (health insurance),and the United States (health insurance–“Obamacare”). It is largest in Switzerland at over 10% -health and (survivor) pensions-but this amount includes some voluntary pension spending that cannot be separately identified.

•Private pensions are the main item of voluntary private social expenditure which amounts to 5 to 6%of GDP in Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

•The effect of tax systems on social expenditure is considerable:

o. In 2019, the amount of benefit income clawed back through direct and indirect taxation was highest at 7.6% of GDP in Denmark and exceeded 5% of GDP inAustria, Finland, France, Greece, Italy,the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

o. Those tax breaks with a social purpose (TBSPs)which are similar to cash benefits were close to 1% of GDP in France, Germany, Hungary, Korea, the Netherlands and Türkiye; and amounted to 1.3% in Portugal. TBSPs that can be seen as replacing cash benefits to households often involve tax credits towards dependent children.

o. TBSPs to stimulate provision of "current" private social benefits (often health-related) were largest in the United States at just under 2% of GDP.These TBSPs include tax relief for non-commercial non-government organisations that provide social support and tax advantages for employers and/or individuals towards private health insurance contributions.

•Accounting for private social expenditure and the impact of the tax system gives a total for social expenditure in a country. France is the biggest social spender at over 30% of GDP(it is also the country with most public social spending).The United States spends second most, at just below 30% of GDP, despite having one of the lowest levels of public social expenditure.