Midday announcement Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins and Ministry of Health director general Ashley Bloomfield are scheduled to hold a midday news conference to announce a move into phase 3 of the government’s omicron response. This will mean only household contacts of positive cases will need to self-isolate and Rapid Antigen Tests will become available at GPs, pharmacies and testing centres for people who are symptomatic.
Fresh sanctions The European Union and the United States announced fresh financial sanctions on Russia overnight, including a ban on secondary market trading of Russian government bonds issued after March 1. However, it is seen having little immediate effect, given Russia’s government is running a budget surplus thanks to the oil price being close to US$100 per barrel. Russia has also built up over US$630b of foreign reserves to prepare for a repeat of sanctions imposed in 2014 when it invaded Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Those sanctions caused a financial crisis in Russia and badly affected its economy, but this time Russia’s banks and Government have reduced their reliance on foreign investors.
Markets steady European and US stock markets were relatively calm and only slightly weaker this morning on investor relief that sanctions against Russia had yet to cut off Russia’s connections to the SWIFT system for international payments and there was no suggestion of sanctions of oil exports or technology. US and EU officials said overnight, however, they had a second wave of sanctions ready to go if Russia extended its occupation beyond the ‘breakaway’ eastern provinces of Ukraine that are not controlled by the Ukraine government.
‘Tax the rich’ The IMF called overnight for the British government to impose higher income and wealth taxes on richer taxpayers to slow down inflation and help the Bank of England fight a surge in inflation.
Genius knows genius In an interview former US President Donald Trump described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine as a ‘genius’ move by a ‘very savvy guy’ who he knew ‘very, very well.’
Fresh on BusinessDesk this morning
Peter Griffin writes his weekly column about the growth of new social media platforms for extreme right users.
Henry Burrell reports Jarden’s Ari Dekker saying Spark Sport was ‘not that important’ to Spark in the wake of its losing of UK football rights to Sky TV.
Brent Melville reports St Peter’s School near Cambridge plans to sell 32ha of land attached to its dairy farm for 320 upmarket homes.
