In the wake of the widespread surge in energy prices, Paris committed to protecting households by capping an increase in regulated tariffs for 2022 at only 4% in February. However, prices are rising, and the tax cut on energy costs that was supposed to limit the increase is no longer enough. https://www.rt.com/business/545386-france-energy-spike-elections-kazakhstan/

China- The official digital yuan wallet app that was released as a pilot version to be used in select cities has still managed to top app store charts in its first week. Developed by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the app became available for download on Chinese Android and Apple app stores last Tuesday. https://cointelegraph.com/news/cbdc-wallet-tops-mobile-app-store-charts-in-china

Thailand - Authorities confirmed the detection of African Swine Fever (ASF) in a surface swab sample collected at a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom province, marking the country’s first official confirmation of the disease. The situation comes at a time when Thailand has suspended exports of live pigs until April 5 to boost domestic supplies. Authorities estimated Thailand will have just 13 million pigs this year, fewer than the 19 million it usually produces. https://www.pigprogress.net/Health/Articles/2022/1/ASF-Thailand-First-case-reported-in-slaughterhouse-840611E/

Japanese tech giant Panasonic has confirmed that hackers accessed personal information belonging to job candidates and interns during a November cyberattack. At the time of the data breach, which the company first confirmed on November 26, the company was unable to say whether hackers had accessed any sensitive information. However, in an update published on January 7, Panasonic said some personal information relating to candidates who applied for employment or participated in internships at certain divisions of the company was accessed during the incident. https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/10/panasonic-breach-data-stolen/

India - Ordering food on platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato will likely get more expensive this year as both restaurants and cloud kitchens, which prepare food for delivery at the customer’s doorstep, seek to increase prices. “Brands and restaurants are looking at doing a price rise on account of high food inflation and cost of raw materials (rising) up by up to 12%,”. https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/online-food-delivery-to-get-costlier-amid-rising-inflation-discount-demands/ar-AASE88R

The Netherlands' inflation climbed further in December to reach its highest level since 1982, driven by higher prices for energy and food. The consumer price index rose 5.7 percent year-on-year following a 5.2 percent increase in November. The inflation rate was the highest since August 1982, when it was 5.9 percent. For the full year 2021, inflation was 2.7 percent versus 1.2 percent in 2020. A higher inflation figure was last seen in 2002, when it was 3.4 percent. Energy inflation shot up to 74.9 percent in December from 57.4 percent in the previous month. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/interestrates/dutch-inflation-highest-since-1982-1031093237

US - Fertilizer prices have risen quickly, and the National Corn Growers Association is warning that new tariffs on imports could make the situation even worse for farmers. The International Trade Commission ruled last summer that imports of urea ammonium nitrate solutions (UAN) – another nitrogen fertilizer – from Russia and Trinidad and Tobago are injuring domestic producers. The decision meant the Commerce Department would continue to conduct a separate investigation into whether Russia and Trinidad and Tobago are unfairly subsidizing exports of the fertilizer. https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17062-ncga-tariffs-will-drive-fertilizer-prices-above-already-high-levels

Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village. Visitors will be able to acquire, store and use the CBDC in an app or on a physical card or hard wallet, while athletes and coaches will be eligible for wristbands that support contactless payments in digital yuan and will be able to convert foreign banknotes into the digital currency at self-service machines. https://www.nfcw.com/whats-new-in-payments/china-to-let-visiting-athletes-and-spectators-use-digital-yuan-at-beijing-winter-olympics/

Italians, the world’s biggest consumers of pasta, face surging prices for the staple food used in dishes from lasagne to spaghetti. Higher costs are forcing producers to increase the wholesale price of dry pasta, Vincenzo Divella, chief executive officer of Italian pasta company Divella. Average prices charged to supermarkets could climb to 1.52 euros ($1.73) a kilogram by the end of January, a 38% jump from September, the CEO said. Italians, who on average consume 23 kilograms of pasta a year, are bracing for more pain after inflation accelerated to the highest in more than a decade in December. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/italians-face-more-expensive-spaghetti-after-pasta-costs-soar

Visa is collaborating with the blockchain software company ConsenSys to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program to test retail applications like cards and wallets. Both companies will first hold talks with an estimated 30 central banks regarding what the monetary authorities expect to achieve with government-backed digital currencies. The pilot is anticipated to launch in the spring of this year. The move comes as regulators worldwide continue to grapple with how best to approach CBDCs in an evolving financial landscape overgrown with cryptocurrencies. https://www.pymnts.com/cbdc/2022/visa-teams-with-consensys-for-central-bank-digital-currency-pilot/

As farmers furiously try to price and source fertilizer ahead of the spring rush, a new report from the Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) shows supply chain disruptions are wreaking havoc on nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous prices, costing feedgrain farms the most. Under FAPRI’s August 2021 baseline outlook, nitrogen prices were expected to increase about 10% in 2022. Based on current spot market prices, it appears as though fertilizer prices will increase in excess of 80% for the 2022 planting season. https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/corn/50-surge-fertilizer-prices-adds-128000-farm-costs-2022-finds-texas-am-study

Switzerland's central bank has successfully used digital currency to settle transactions involving five commercial banks, the Swiss National Bank said on Thursday, the latest trial of the technology in wholesale markets. The trial, called Project Helvetia, could bring the introduction of central bank digital currencies a step nearer in Switzerland, which has conducted some of the most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiments in Europe. Under Helvetia, named after the symbol for Switzerland, the SNB integrated CBDCs into payment systems and used them in simulated transactions in the experiment which involved UBS, Credit Suisse Goldman Sachs Citigroup and Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. The scheme showed it was possible to instantaneously execute payments, which ranged in size from 100,000 to 5 million Swiss francs ($109,469 to $5.47 million), eliminating counter-party risk. https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2022-01-13/switzerland-tests-digital-currency-payments-with-top-investment-banks

US - Maryland officials confirmed that the state's Department of Health is dealing with a devastating ransomware attack, which has left hospitals struggling amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. "We have paid no extortion demands, and my recommendation -- after consulting with our vendors and state and federal law enforcement -- continues to be that we do not pay any such demand. Some people dealing with HIV could no longer access the daily medication they need and some hospitals were unable to access bank accounts to cover the cost of basic necessities. https://www.zdnet.com/article/maryland-officials-confirm-ransomware-attack-shut-down-department-of-health/

Paraguay's Agriculture Ministry has announced between 6 and 7 million tons of soybeans were to be harvested this season against the original projections of 10 million due to the unprecedented weather conditions. The current drought had led Paraguayan authorities to recalculate their projections, which has resulted in a 40% drop when compared to previous estimates. Paraguay is the world's fourth largest exporter of soybeans, which may affect the international price of the product, it was reported. https://en.mercopress.com/2022/01/13/paraguay-lowers-expectations-on-soy-due-to-drought

Brazilian consumers could see another round of stiff rises in food prices this year as meatpackers grapple with higher costs due to a drought hurting the crops used to feed livestock. Private analysts are slashing their crop forecasts due to hot, dry weather in Brazil's southern states, while state crop agency Conab has been conservative, trimming its outlook but projecting a larger soy and corn crop than last year. Meat prices in Brazil rose 8.45% in 2021, contributing to overall food inflation of 7.94% and fuelling a 10.06% rise in the benchmark consumer price index, the highest for a calendar year since 2015. https://www.thepigsite.com/news/2022/01/brazil-faces-another-year-of-high-food-inflation

A ransomware attack locked down a US jail, knocking out security cameras and leaving inmates confined to their cells. Cyber attackers hacked into the computer system that controls servers and internet access at the prison in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. For a short time, the jail's automatic door system was knocked out, meaning staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) had to manually unlock each cell. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-news-us-prison-lockdown-us-prison-in-new-mexico-locks-down-due-to-a-ransomware-attack-2705793

Social-media sites are full of photographs of empty grocery-store shelves, and the head of one of the biggest U.S. supermarket chains says the situation will take weeks to improve. Port congestion and winter weather in parts of the country aren’t helping, either. Online searches are surging for basic products, reflecting consumer anxiety over supplies. As of Tuesday afternoon, the list includes chicken, potatoes, spinach, pasta, meat, lettuce, eggs, cream cheese and cat food. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-06/omicron-s-spread-means-more-food-outages-at-u-s-grocery-stores

European Union governments will launch later this week a large-scale simulation of cyberattacks against multiple member states. Participants will be confronted with attacks on their supply chains and some spillover socio-economic effects in other member states, before having to coordinate public communications and a diplomatic response. The exercise will be structured around a gradual escalation toward a major crisis that culminates in an attack that could qualify as an armed aggression under the United Nations Charter. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-11/eu-to-stage-large-scale-cyberattack-exercise-on-supply-chains

Hong Kong’s catering sector is bracing itself for a shortage of Japanese seafood, especially sashimi, as tightened Covid-19 quarantine rules for cargo aircrew are expected to drastically restrict the supply of goods into the city. Experts have warned that the reduced capacity will hurt the city’s status as a global cargo hub, if the stringent rules on such aircrew – requiring them to isolate in a designated hotel for seven days upon returning – continue. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3163314/no-more-sashimi-hongkongers-favourite-japanese

Israeli policymakers have broadened the scope of their research into launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the Bank of Israel scrambles to avoid falling behind other countries. The bank has begun talking about the risks and benefits of a CBDC with various stakeholders. “Right now, we are increasing the resources devoted to the digital shekel project, both in terms of finances and people. https://www.pymnts.com/cbdc/2022/bank-of-israel-studies-potential-of-digital-shekel/

Housing, utilities and food costs have pushed Spanish inflation to its highest since 1992 in December. Spanish consumer prices rose 6.5% year-on-year in December accelerating the upward trend to hit the fastest inflation rate since May 1992. Prices of housing and utilities jumped 23.3% year-on-year, mainly driven by soaring electricity prices. Electricity prices had risen 72% from a year ago. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/housing-food-costs-push-spanish-end-2021-inflation-to-6-5-highest-since-1992/ar-AASLYas