Main events by the morning: March 19
March, 19 2024
- The European Union is considering the possibility of redirecting income from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine by July. It is planned to levy a tax on profits from these funds in order to finance arms supplies to Kiev and support the Ukrainian defense industry.
- Donald Trump promises to resolve the Ukrainian crisis through negotiations if he wins the upcoming elections. The former US president claims that he has important messages for Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, while criticizing the Biden administration's approach to the conflict and pointing to the influence of the «evil» environment of the current president.
- The central bank of Japan raised the interest rate to 0% from -0.10% for the first time in 17 years, moving away from the policy of negative rates. This step is aimed at solving the problem of low inflation and ensuring sustainable wage growth.
- In the near future, the European Commission plans to impose a duty of 95 euros per ton on grain imports from Russia and Belarus. It is expected that this decision will lead to a significant increase in grain prices within the block and a reduction in demand.
- Microsoft has decided not to block access to cloud services for individuals in Russia. On the night of March 20-21, access will be closed only for corporate clients who are registered in Russia. Such measures are a consequence of the 12th package of EU sanctions. The list of products to disable: Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Azure, Office 365, SQL Server, System Center. The list is still under discussion and may be changed.
