Two cargo ships were hit by drones on October 13 off the Bulgarian coast

International News via Reuters:

Bulgaria expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by the end of October, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Wednesday, a day after a drone attack sank a cargo vessel off the country’s Black Sea coast for the second time in a week.

The attacks have highlighted the growing threat that drone warfare linked to the Russia-Ukraine war poses to commercial shipping near NATO’s southeastern flank, prompting Bulgaria to push for stronger alliance defences in the Black Sea.    

“Bulgaria will be part of this project as soon as possible. Expectations are that by October 30, we will already be part of the project,” local media quoted Stoyanov as telling a parliamentary hearing. 

Two cargo ships were hit by drones on October 13 off the Bulgarian coast. One of them, identified as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo vessel HS Dignity, sank, leaving 11 sailors missing at sea and prompting Sofia to summon Russia’s ambassador. Drones struck two other cargo ships in the same waters on October 6.

Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry announced on Wednesday afternoon that it had halted rescue operations for the missing sailors, citing strong wind, reduced visibility and waves.

Bulgaria has stopped short of explicitly accusing Russia of carrying out the attacks but Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Tuesday their outcome “benefits the Russian Federation”.

Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said she had no information from the Russian Defence Ministry about attacks on commercial vessels but did not rule out they could be a provocation by a third party, Bulgaria’s government said.

Russia has been bombing Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, forcing Kyiv to rely increasingly on river ports on the Danube and shipping routes close to the coasts of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania.

Ukraine, for its part, has increasingly targeted Russian grain-exporting ships in other parts of the Black Sea and near the mouth of the Don River in the Sea of Azov.

Reporting by Stoyan Nenov, Writing by Angeliki KoutantouEditing by Gareth Jones

Georgieva admonished the world’s two largest economies to make painful policy changes to reduce growing fiscal and trade imbalances

International News via Reuters:

The United States cannot grow its way out of mounting public debt without tax or spending adjustments, while China must pivot from export-led growth towards more domestic consumption, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday.

Georgieva admonished the world’s two largest economies to make painful policy changes to reduce growing fiscal and trade imbalances, as her fiscal affairs chief said inflation, high debt levels and rising yields had heightened the urgency for fiscal consolidation around the globe.

Speaking at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Georgieva singled out advanced economies, namely the US and European countries, as the “worst offenders” on excessive debts, with higher benchmark yields spilling over to low-income countries that have already been forced by financial markets to rein in debts.

Asked at a press conference whether the US needs tighter fiscal policy, Georgieva said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recognizes that US deficit and debt levels are too high and need to be made more sustainable.

“The authorities very much rely on strong growth in the United States” to help reduce debt, Georgieva said.

“At the Fund, we believe that growth of course helps, but it cannot deliver fast enough the necessary adjustments. So, some (fiscal) measures would be necessary.”

The call for more action to reduce debt was echoed in the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor report on Wednesday, which warned that delays in an era of higher borrowing costs would only make the job harder in coming years.

While that message is a perennial one from the IMF, Rodrigo Valdes, the head of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs department, said the surge in bond yields had left governments with little fiscal room to manoeuvre.

“We dialled up the urgency of our message,” he added.   

BESSENT NO-SHOW

Bessent is not attending the annual meetings in Bangkok, despite this year’s US presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, instead favouring domestic engagements as the US midterm election campaign heats up.

He has acted as a chief spokesman for President Donald Trump’s economic policies, particularly touting the deep tax cuts passed last year by Republicans now trying to maintain control of the US Congress.

G20 finance ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of the Bangkok meetings on Thursday. The US has used its G20 presidency to try to rally allies to take stronger action to counter China’s “non-market” economic policies that have led to excess industrial capacity and a flood of global exports.

Asked about imbalances emanating from China, on a day when data showed it was on track to post a record trade surplus, Georgieva repeated longstanding advice to Beijing: “For surplus countries, what they need to do is increase domestic consumption. That clearly applies to China’s growth model. Shift from export more toward domestic consumption.”

Deficit countries need to save more and spend less, while Europe needs to invest more in competitiveness, she said.

“To put it very simply, China needs to spend more, the US has to save more, and Europe has to invest more,” Georgieva added.

CALL FOR AID TO POOR COUNTRIES  

This week’s meetings have been dominated by worries about growing debt and rising bond yields and risks from the artificial intelligence boom.

Regarding the growing divergence between advanced countries benefiting from AI investment and those bypassed by it, highlighted in Tuesday’s IMF economic forecasts, Georgieva also urged IMF member countries to fully fund IMF facilities for low-income and vulnerable countries.

These include the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which provides low- and zero-interest loans to low-income countries, and the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, a fund that provides grants for debt-service relief and cancellation to the poorest and most vulnerable member countries, she said.

These countries, too, were being squeezed by higher bond yields, with average debt service costs that have increased to 14% of revenue from 6% a decade ago, even as overall debt burdens have eased, she said.

“The risk of divergence is most dangerous for those that are already further behind,” Georgieva added.

Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Editing by John Mair and Shri Navaratnam

The rules, due to take effect on January 1, ​2027, would have required foreign oil and gas suppliers to the EU to monitor and ​report methane, a potent greenhouse gas

International News via Reuters:

The European Commission proposed a one-year delay to the EU’s methane emissions rules for oil and gas imports on Wednesday, after pressure from governments including France and the United States.

The rules, due to take effect on January 1, ​2027, would have required foreign oil and gas suppliers to the EU to monitor and ​report methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Under the proposed changes, importers of oil and gas would have until 31 May 2029 to prove that their oil, gas and coal imports during 2028 complied with methane monitoring and reporting rules equivalent to those of the EU – meaning that their foreign suppliers of these fuels would need to provide the information.

“This one-year postponement of the import-related provisions is designed to help avoid additional pressures on the security of supply of imported fossil fuels in the current geopolitical context,” the Commission said in a statement.

Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change, after carbon dioxide.

The world-first EU law was designed to tackle those emissions, which leach into the atmosphere from leaky oil and gas infrastructure around the world. But the law has ​faced growing political pressure after the Iran war disrupted global energy supplies and heightened concerns about fuel availability this winter.

The United States, Europe’s biggest liquefied natural gas supplier, warned the EU in June that the methane law could disrupt fuel deliveries, a stance backed by ‌companies including oil ⁠major ExxonMobil.

The Commission moved ahead with the delay after French ​President Emmanuel Macron last month wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to request it, and warn the rules could create legal risks for Europe’s fuel importers.

Those seeking a delay say that foreign oil and gas companies are not ready to comply with the EU rules and would avoid sending LNG cargoes to Europe because of the risk of fines or legal issues.

EU countries and the European Parliament must negotiate and approve the delay.

Some EU lawmakers and countries, including Czechia and Italy, have demanded a longer three-year delay and may attempt to win this in the final negotiations.

Reporting by Kate Abnett, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Louise Heavens