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    Omicron spoiling US holiday economic comeback

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – Holiday events have been scrapped in droves, thousands of flights cancelled, cruises are now off limits: the Omicron variant has wreaked havoc in the United States (US), and the new year could see more issues exacerbating the worker shortage and price increases.

    “We are starting to see some initial signs that Omicron is having an impact on the economy, mainly in the sectors where face to face interactions are most important,” in particular service sector businesses like bars and restaurants, Oren Klachkin of Oxford Economics told AFP in an interview.

    The world’s largest economy had been poised to put Covid in the rearview mirror, but on the eve of the new year, the virus is once again playing the spoiler.

    The highly contagious Omicron variant, which appeared a month ago, is causing the number of new cases to skyrocket to record levels during the holiday travel season.

    After 5,013 cases were reported in US territorial waters between December 15 and 29, compared to just 162 in the prior two weeks, health authorities warned Americans to avoid cruise travel, even for the fully vaccinated.

    The cruise industry called the decision by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disappointing. The warning was “particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard – far fewer than on land – and the majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature,” the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement.

    The Carnival Vista cruise ship sails during a Super Pink Full Moon in Miami Beach, Florida in April 2021. PHOTO: AFP

    Economists say it is difficult to quantify the economic consequences of this new variant.

    Moody’s analysts lowered their growth forecast for the first quarter because of Omicron, cutting it to around two per cent rather than the five per cent previously expected.

    MAGNIFIED BY OMICRON

    The fear of contagion that is causing events to be cancelled and the decline in restaurant reservations “are only part of the equation,” Grant Thornton economist Diane Swonk warned in a tweet, noting that employers face worsening manpower issues due to the rise in infections.

    “This is not new, just magnified by Omicron,” she said. Rising case counts mean more workers in quarantine due to a positive Covid-19 test or contact with an infected person, and the resulting personnel shortage could paralyse a large part of the economy.

    “We have already seen the beginning of what I – and clearly the CDC fears will be a surge in those out sick and unable to keep even vital services going,” Swonk said.

    The most visible impact was the thousands of flights cancelled over the holiday as airlines struggled to get enough flight crews on planes.

    In an effort to ease the strain of long quarantine requirements, US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday cut the recommended isolation period in half to five days for infections without symptoms.

    Even before the latest strain appeared, businesses nationwide had been struggling to fill open positions, amid a wave of retirements and growing reluctance to return to in-person work amid the pandemic.

    ‘MODEST’ INFLATION IMPACT

    The unemployment rate in November dropped to 4.2 per cent, but participation in the workforce remains well below the pre-pandemic level.

    The government will release the closely-watched December jobs report on January 7.

    Oxford Economics expects hiring to continue and the economy to add 400,000 jobs a month in 2022, but “that doesn’t mean there won’t be shortages in some sectors”, economist Nancy Vanden Houten cautioned.

    Some economists also fear inflation, which has soared to the highest rate in nearly four decades, will worsen if the variant further disrupts manufacturing and transport worldwide. “Inflation in many services and energy prices could abate, at least temporarily but there is the real risk that variants are now more inflationary than disinflationary,” Swonk said.

    But Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi said he expects the price impact of the new variant to be “modest”, unlike the Delta strain “which significantly fanned inflation”.

    Supply bottlenecks have eased and “while more workers will get sick with Omicron than Delta, they should get back on the job more quickly.”

    NYE’s fireworks kill men in Germany, Austria

    BERLIN (AP) – Exploding fireworks killed two men on New Year’s Eve, one in Germany and the other in Austria, local media reported yesterday.

    A 37-year-old man died in Hennef near Germany’s western city of Bonn. A 39-year-old was severely injured in the same incident and taken to the hospital.

    In Austria, a 23-year-old man died southwest of Vienna and three other people were injured. Several other people were injured in other mishaps involving fireworks in the German cities of Leipzig and Hamburg, German news agency dpa reported.

    The sale of fireworks for personal use was banned in Germany this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some Germans bought illegal fireworks or built their own, increasing the risk of accidents.

    Spectators at the boulevard Unter den Linden watch fireworks as they celebrate the New Year near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. PHOTO: AP

    Expectations run high as nation welcomes new year

    Azlan Othman

    As the country ushers in 2022, the desire to return to stability and prosperity burns brighter than ever after a gloomy end to 2021.

    Businesses and the public are looking forward to the new year with hope and eagerly looking for change and betterment. The previous year was wrought with COVID-19 causing considerable damage in terms of lives lost and a dwindling economy.

    In an interview with the Bulletin, Deputy Secretary General of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brunei Darussalam (NCCIBD) Haji Halim bin Saim said, “With the whole-of-nation approach and towards a dynamic economic vision, we trust that the turn of the year, we shall Insya Allah overcome COVID-19.

    “The public and private sectors should work together to ensure the economic synergy runs smoothly and meets Brunei Vision 2035. Perhaps a micro small and medium sized entreprenuers (MSMEs) centre can be built with proper management and supervision.

    “Shophouses are mushrooming in the country. We must reinvent leadership skills and team as well as restructure business strategies to the new normal,” he added.

    Members of the public at a shop in Gadong. PHOTO: BAHYIAH BAKIR

    Meanwhile, K Goh from SONAX Brunei said, “I am looking forward to a bright new year ahead. We need to leave the past behind and have a better tomorrow.”

    Eco Nadi Agrobiz Agroprenuer Haji Ayub bin Haji Suhaili said he will focus on online
    business.

    “The usual brick and mortar shops are having it tough in today’s world. I need to produce more agricultural products with a good technique and receive a grant to develop my agricultural business,” he said.

    Haji Ayub added, “Nowadays, it is costly to bring in goods from overseas due to the pandemic. For example, red chilies are expensive locally due to restrictions in Malaysian states like Sabah. The price is determined by the market.”

    A proprietor in a textile business told the Bulletin that business is slowly picking up during the Endemic Phase with parents purchasing fabric for their children’s school uniform.

    “The same applies for stationery shops as parents are preparing for the new school term,” he said.

    Meanwhile, entrepreneur Rina hopes that 2022 will be a better year for the business environment. “It’s been a tough year, but we made it through. Let’s welcome a better new year where the country is safe and continues to strive to recover from COVID-19.”

    Businesses to enjoy tariff waivers from RCEP

    SINGAPORE (CNA) – The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade agreement involving 15 countries including Singapore, entered into force yesterday.

    The RCEP will “provide a boost to the trade and business ties between Singapore and the RCEP parties”, said Singaporean Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong.

    “We are heartened that many Singapore businesses indicated that they were keen to explore utilising the RCEP Agreement when it enters info force during outreach events,” he added.

    Yesterday, businesses were able to enjoy tariff elimination of about 92 per cent for goods traded amongst signatory parties for which the agreement has entered into force, the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said.

    The agreement was signed in November 2020. Countries that have ratified the agreement so far include Singapore, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.

    The agreement will enter into force for the other participating countries 60 days after they have deposited their instrument of ratification with the Depositary.

    Businesses will also benefit from additional preferential market access for specific products including mineral fuels, plastics, other chemical products, miscellaneous food preparations and beverages in selected RCEP markets such as China and Japan, said MTI.

    “With streamlined rules of origin and regional cumulation provisions, businesses will have greater flexibility to tap on these preferential market access benefits and be able to take advantage of regional supply chains.”

    Businesses could also benefit from enhanced commitments above existing ASEAN Plus One free trade agreements in some sectors, it said, adding that investors may benefit from commitments to prohibit performance requirements and provisions that lock in future relaxation of measures.

    Fun activities for the hearing impaired

    Lyna Mohamad

    Some 50 individuals from the National Hearing Impaired (OKP) Association were treated to a recreational activity at Tasek Tang Salangan in Kampong Tungku Katok yesterday.

    The activity, organised by the Brunei Muara Scouts Association (PPDBM), marked the Day of Action (DOA) celebration and commemorated People with Disability International Day.

    It also served as a community outreach programme of PPDBM in caring for special needs’ individuals as well as a community drive activity of the PPDBM, while marking the curtain raiser for the association’s activity calendar for the community programme.

    Community Development Department (JAPEM) Acting Director at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Mohammad Khairul Shahrul bin Haji Duahim was the guest of honour.

    The two-hour event featured recreational activities such as kayaking and tour of the Tang Salangan farm. The event’s highlight was the releasing of fish into a pond and planting of calamansi saplings.

    ABOVE & BELOW: JAPEM Acting Director Mohammad Khairul Shahrul bin Haji Duahim delivers his remarks; and participants kayaking. PHOTOS: LYNA MOHAMAD

    Euro marks 20 eventful years

    PARIS (AFP) – The euro yesterday marked 20 years since people began to use the single European currency, overcoming initial doubts, price concerns and a debt crisis to spread across the region.

    Euro banknotes and coins came into circulation in 12 countries on January 1, 2002, greeted by a mix of enthusiasm and scepticism from citizens who had to trade in their Deutsche marks, French francs, pesetas and liras.

    The euro is now used by 340 million people in 19 nations, from Ireland to Germany to Slovakia.

    Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are next in line to join the eurozone in the next few years – though people are divided over the benefits of abandoning their national currencies.

    The idea of creating the euro first emerged in the 1970s as a way to deepen European integration, make trade more simple between member nations and give the continent a currency to compete with the mighty dollar.

    “Clearly, Europe and the euro have become inseparable,” European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde wrote in a blog post.

    In the euro’s initial days, consumers were concerned that its emergence had caused prices to rise as countries had to convert to the new currency.

    Though some products – such as coffee at cafes – slightly increased as businesses rounded up their conversions, official statistics have shown that the euro has brought more stable inflation.

    The price of a baguette in France, for example, rose from 66 cents in 2001 to 90 cents today – an increase in line with pre-euro inflation.

    More expensive goods have not increased in price, and dropped in some cases. Nevertheless, the belief that the euro has made everything more expensive persists.

    Cockroach race and Bagpipes Day

    THE STAR – From Ocean Day on June 8 to International Peace Day on September 21 to Human Rights Day on December 10: the United Nations (UN) has designated well over 100 international days since its inception.

    UN International Days “mark important aspects of human life and history” and offer us the chance to organise activities related to the theme of the day, said UNESCO.

    With just the UN’s list, you’d have your calendar well filled. But as the website www.daysoftheyear.com shows, that this is by no means all. National holidays and celebrations are spread throughout the year. From Thesaurus Day on January 18 to Taco Day October 4, most days have multiple reasons to celebrate.

    Here are a few of the days that will help make the time between January and March more special.

    JANUARY 20: INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM SELFIE DAY

    This day is thanks to digital enthusiast Mar Dixon, an influencer specialising in culture and who founded Museum Selfie Day in 2014.

    Since then, it has been celebrated every third Wednesday in January. Anyone can take part, from visitors to curators.

    Dixon’s idea is to help museums get more visibility online by prompting people to post pictures of themselves from the museum using the hashtag #museumselfie and note the image rights.

    Started as a Twitter campaign, it has now also expanded onto Instagram with more than 95,000 museum selfies from all over the world.

    With her project, Mar Dixon has created a platform with which art and culture can receive the attention they deserve, especially during the pandemic – and not just on January 19.

    But especially on this day, it’s worth searching your own smartphone gallery for old holiday treasures to share with the world and support museums.

    JAN 26: AUSTRALIA DAY COCKROACH RACES

    The national day Australia is observed in January, with the programme including community barbecues, parades and the legendary Australia Day Regatta in Sydney Harbour. Meanwhile, Perth puts on the nation’s largest fireworks display.

    In Brisbane’s Story Bridge Hotel, however, things are rather more peculiar: the 39th Cockroach Racing Gold Cup will take place there this year. While the Aussies generally treat their ubiquitous cockroaches and life in general with “no worries”, the date of Australia Day is controversial. It marks the arrival of the First Fleet and raising of the British flag by Arthur Philipp on January 26, 1788, which began the oppression, successive extermination and expropriation of the indigenous population.

    Aboriginal groups refer to January 26 as Survival Day. Even if this dark chapter is reflected upon on Australia Day, it is inextricably linked with May 26, National Sorry Day. The annual event commemorates the mistreatment of Aborigines and the Stolen Generations. Children were removed from their biological families and forcibly adopted up until the 1970s – a human rights crime for which the Australian government officially apologised for the first time in 2008.

    MARCH 1: PLAN A SOLO VACATION DAY

    With the end to lockdown measures possibly coming soon, what could be nicer than being able to make travel plans again. This includes solo trips, which are celebrated every year on March 1.

    There are many good reasons for travelling solo. Blogger Sven Giese names one of them based on his own experience. “Instead of staying in your own social bubble, you are literally forced to approach others.” Statistics prove that the trend shows no signs of stopping, including for female travellers.

    MARCH 10: INTERNATIONAL BAGPIPE DAY

    A great day for a great instrument: in 2012 the British Bagpipe Society declared March 10 to be International Bagpipe Day.

    What some people may not realise is that the sounds of the bagpipes don’t just drift across the Scottish Highlands. Nor was it the Scots who invented them; the peculiar woodwind instrument only reached Scotland in the 14th Century. Predecessors probably existed in ancient times. Nowadays, bagpipes are played all over the world.

    A feast for the ears with a competitive atmosphere can be found in Glasgow, where the World Bagpipe Championships have been held over several days every summer for about 40 years.

    More than 200 international bands compete against each other. If you’re inspired to learn to play the bagpipes yourself, you can take online lessons from experts, for example from the Glasgow National Piping Centre. Or why not put Scotland on your personal bucket list for 2022?

    Brunei records 17 new COVID cases

    Adib Noor

    Brunei recorded 17 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 15,491, according to the Ministry of Health.

    Thirteen local and four imported cases were detected through 1,297 laboratory tests conducted in the past 24 hours, with the rate of positive cases at 1.3 per cent.

    Meanwhile, two cases have recovered, bringing the number of active cases to 111, while the bed occupancy rate at isolation centres nationwide is 2.6 per cent. One case in Category 5 is being treated at the intensive care unit and requires artificial ventilation assistance.

    As of December 31, 94.5 per cent of the total population had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 93.3 per cent had received two doses and 21.4 per cent three doses.

    An individual has her temperature taken prior to being vaccinated. PHOTO: MUIZ MATDANI

    Jaguar released in Argentina to help endangered species

    BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – A jaguar named Jatobazinho was released into a national park in Argentina on Friday as part of a programme to boost the numbers of this endangered species.

    This was the eighth jaguar freed this year into Ibera National Park but the first adult male, said the environmental group Rewilding Argentina, which is behind the project.

    Jatobazinho weighs about 90 kilogrammes and has brown fur peppered with black spots.

    He first appeared at a rural school in 2018 in Brazil, looking skinny and weak after crossing a river from Paraguay.

    The big cat spent a year in an animal refuge in Brazil until he was sent to a jaguar reintroduction centre operating since 2012 in Argentina’s northeast Corrientes province, where the species had been extinct for 70 years.

    Biologist with Rewilding Argentina Sebastian Di Martino said that as the jaguar needed to be nice and relaxed as it left its enclosure and entered the wild.

    “If the animal is stressed it can become disoriented and end up anywhere,” he said.

    He said these jaguars were fed live prey while in captivity because they have to know how to hunt.

    In the Ibera park, there is plenty of wildlife for them to feed on such as deer.

    The jaguars are tracked with a GPS device they wear.

    There are plans now to release a female that was born at the reintroduction centre.

    The park is also awaiting the arrival of three wild jaguars from Paraguay, and two more raised in captivity in Uruguay and Brazil.

    Jaguars are native to the Americas.

    It is estimated there were more than 100,000 jaguars when Europeans arrived in the 15th Century, their habitat ranging from semi-desert areas of North America to the tropical forests of South America.

    Conservation groups said the jaguar population of South America has fallen by up to 25 per cent over the past 20 years as deforestation eats up their habitat.

    Food disruptions feared in UK as new Brexit rules kick in

    LONDON (AP) – New post-Brexit custom rules for goods arriving from the European Union to Britain took effect yesterday, and a leading food industry body has warned that the new border controls could lead to food shortages.

    Beginning yesterday, importers must make a full customs declaration on goods entering the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) or other countries. Businesses will no longer be allowed to delay completing full import customs declarations for up to 175 days – a measure that was introduced to cope with the disruption of Brexit.

    The British Frozen Food Federation said this week the new restrictions on animal and plant products from the EU could result in major delays at ports in the New Year because some in the supply chain – especially logistics companies on the EU side – may not be prepared for the changes.

    “We are concerned that not enough planning has been done to ensure the new requirements are understood by everyone in the food supply chain,” said the federation’s chief executive Richard Harro.

    “With only days to go before the new rules, we remain concerned that January could be a fraught month for our members,” he said. The new measures require businesses to complete the correct paperwork at least four hours before goods can arrive at UK borders, or they risk being turned back at the border.

    Animal and plant-based products must also have statements of origin certificates.

    While drivers must declare their goods and origin certificates, checks are expected to be minimal until the rules ramp up beginning in July 2022, when much stricter checks are expected to come into force.

    The UK imports five times the amount of food it exports to the EU.

    Britain left the EU’s single market and customs union on December 31, 2020.

    The new rules take effect six months after they were originally scheduled because of the impacts of the pandemic and businesses said they needed more time to prepare.

    Northern Ireland and Ireland are exempt from the changes as political leaders continue negotiating the Northern Ireland protocol.

    Lorries queue at check-in at a port in Dover. PHOTO: AP
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    Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

    © 2013 Borneo Bulletin Online - The Independent Newspaper in Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Sarawak