News in Brief
World food prices up
Reuters – The United Nations food agency’s world price index rose in April for the first time in a year, but is still some 20% down on a record high hit in March 2022.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 127.2 points last month against 126.5 for March, the agency said on Friday. The March reading was originally given as 126.9.
German recession fears rise
AFP – Industrial orders at German factories saw their biggest fall in March since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in 2020, data showed Friday, the latest sign that Europe’s biggest economy is facing a steep downturn.
New orders, which give a foretaste of industrial output, dropped a surprise 10.7 percent from the previous month, according to provisional figures from federal statistics authority Destatis.
It was the biggest decline since April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic snarled the global economy amid lockdowns and border closures.
Vietnam to more than double power generation
Reuters – Vietnam aims to more than double its power generation capacity by 2030, but has slightly lowered its target for offshore wind and will heavily rely on coal until the end of the decade, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
Total installed power generation capacity in the Southeast Asian country is projected to reach 158 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, more than previously estimated and up from 69 GW in 2020, according to the document which detailed government’s plans discussed with foreign investors and diplomats.