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hello and welcome. president macron s government is set to announce a major reform in france s pension system later today in a move that could prove very unpopular with the majority of its people. when the proposals were first mooted before the pandemic, large nationwide strikes paralysed the country and hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets to protest. france has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world, and at 14% of economic output, its pension system also costs more than most other countries. under the proposals being announced later, the current system for calculating pensions and the retirement age of 62, will be changed. joining me now is tomasz michalski, economics professor at hec paris. welcome and thank you for being with us. how important is it for president macron to get these proposals past? it is for president macron to get these proposals past? it is a very important these proposals past? it is a very important thing - these proposals pa ....
we begin with the turmoil on financial markets today, the pound sterling continues to languish against the us dollar and several other currencies. the slide in its value was triggered by last week s mini budget, with its controversial package of tax cuts. let s get historical for a moment. we have records for sterling against the dollar going back through history, and in the early hours of monday morning it reached an all time low that is since the creation of the us currency in 1792. let s take a closer look at the past few days the dollar has been strong but this further drop down is about sterling weakness, with a bit of a recovery and then falling back again. you can see this dramatic few days, sterling weakness with a little bit of recovery before it fell back again. on friday and monday there were massive moves within a day, which for a currency like sterling is rare. and one of the impacts of a low pound means that we import inflation, oil and gas is more e ....
the french president, emmanuel macron, has suffered a serious setback after losing his majority in parliament. his party, ensemble, is still the biggest in the national assembly, but it lost around 100 seats in yesterday s elections. there were big gains for marine le pen s far right party, and a new left wing alliance, led by the hard left leader, jean luc melenchon. this means issues such as macron s plans to raise the retirement age and changes to low income support could face more obstacles. joining me now is tomasz michalski, economics professor, at the business school, hec paris. professor, welcome. where does this result leave macron s mandate to govern the world s sixth largest economy? the first thing is the question is whether the party of macron will be able to make a coalition with the right wing party, that support them on the issue you just mentioned, raising the retirement age and various other reforms. if such a coalition cannot be, whether implicit or e ....
Is expected to confirm the National Living wage will be raised to at least £11 an hourfrom next april. When pressed about the pressure on the government to cut taxes, mr sunak said his priority is curbing inflation to ease living costs. Change may be difficult but i believe the country wants chain and i am going to do things definitely to bring about the change. You saw that last summer when i came to this question. It is about bringing inflation down. Inflation is making people feel poorer. The quicker we bring inflation down, the better it is that is why it is right priority. Rishi sunak there talking to laura kuensberg. Lets unpack this further withjustin urquhart stewart, founder of the Investment Platform regionally. Good morning, justin. Lovely to see betty as well as per usual. Now, interesting to see some of the headlines this morning. The metraux just says, wi ....
we begin in france today, where a third national lockdown looms large, but the french government is insisting it s doing everything possible to avert more restrictions that could be devastating for the economy. a year ago to the day, president macron appeared on television confirming the closure of schools and the stay at home order that led to the country s first lockdown. officials say the paris region may be forced to lock down soon, as patients with new covid 19 variants fill up hospitals intensive care wards, with special medical planes taking patients from the paris area to less saturated regions over the weekend. france currently has a 6pm nationwide curfew in place with weekend lockdowns in two regions, but it is still seeing a rise in case numbers. joining me now is tomasz michalski, economics professor, hec paris. good to see you again. first, do you think a third nationwide lockdown is inevitable as macro unfortunately, the lockdown of some sorts might appea ....