Kazinform news agency cited Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov as saying on 19 May that Kazakhstan is now fully stocked with required food products.

At the end of March, the government announced it was introducing a total ban on the export of a number of staple goods, including flour, buckwheat, sugar, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbages and sunflower oil. Shortly afterward, authorities buckled under pressure from domestic producers, who complained that they were at risk of losing access to foreign markets, so they instead introduced a quota on the export of flour, wheat and certain types of vegetables.

Omarov also announced the launch of a state-sponsored campaign spearheaded by President Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev for the guaranteed purchase of 365,000 tons of agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, sunflower and buckwheat, from domestic farmers.

The state plans to then provide these raw materials to the domestic market for the production of what are termed “socially significant food products” in order to contain prices. The government has earmarked 24.5 billion tenge ($59 million) for this initiative.

“Today we will start drawing up the rules for forward-buying. All the groundwork has been done. Today and tomorrow we will start accepting applications [from farmers],” the minister said. 

In other support mechanisms, the government is rolling out preferential loans to agricultural producers at rates of 6 percent and devising a program of repayment deferrals on outstanding credit and leases for equipment.

In an overview of the current state of the industry in Forbes.kz, economist Murat Temirkhanov noted how the crisis had again prompted talk in the government on the “need for agriculture to replace the oil industry and become the new driver of the economy.”

Temirkhanov said that while agriculture is the largest recipient of state aid in Kazakhstan, there has been little evident effect to date, however.

“Enormous efforts and government money have been expended, but the share of agriculture in export and in the country’s economy is very small, and there are no prospects of it growing rapidly,” Temirkhanov said, pointing out that the share of the agricultural industry in the tax revenues accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the total.

At the 17th Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), China Broadband Development Alliance, Altice Portugal, and Huawei have jointly launched the Fifth Generation Fixed Network (F5G) industry initiative. The new organization is inviting global fixed network industry players, both upstream and downstream companies, to join the F5G industry organization, to drive development in the industry.

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Category: A Frontpage, China, coronavirus, Coronavirus face masks, Coronavirus Global Response, COVID-19, EU, Huawei, PPE, World

Travelling freely in the EU was until two months ago a given for most Europeans, but restrictions introduced to halt the spread of the coronavirus meant the closing of internal borders in most parts of Europe. As the epidemiological situation improves and with the summer holidays in sight, countries are gradually restoring freedom of movement. MEPs demand that the passport-free Schengen zone returns to its full functioning as soon as possible.

Schengen in lockdown

“Member states were acting alone and it is now high time the EU steps in before it is too late and irreparable damage to Schengen has been done,” said MEP Tanja Fajon, The chair of the civil liberties committee’s working group on Schengen scrutiny. “The Commission should take on a key role in restoring freedom of movement and firstly for crucial categories such as cross-border workers. European co-ordination is therefore essential.”

According to the current Schengen rules, EU countries can – for a limited period – introduce border checks at their internal borders if there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security. They must notify the European commission of such closures. The Commission currently keeps an overview of national COVID-19 restriction measures by country.

EU guidance: how to reopen borders

In a package of proposals to enable travelling to resume safely in the EU, the Commission proposed on 13 May to countries that are part of the Schengen zone to gradually reopen their internal borders. The emphasis is on coordination and respect of common criteria based on guidance by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The phased system of lifting restrictions could start between regions or countries with similar epidemic levels, but there should be no discrimination based on nationality. The goal is to eventually open all borders throughout the EU to allow for smooth and safe travel for both professional and personal reasons. However, there is no set timetable as it depends on the epidemiological situation and member state decisions.

Border management and reintroduction of controls is a member state prerogative, but.since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Commission has been facilitating common guidelines to make sure that workers in critical sectors as well as deliveries of goods and services in the single market are guaranteed. It also facilitated the repatriations of almost 600,000 Europeans stranded abroad and proposed restricting entry of non-EU nationals into the EU, with an extension until 15 June.

Find out more on what the EU is doing to fight the coronavirus.

Check out the timeline of EU action against Covid-19

Parliament’s position

MEPs are pressing for the restoration of borderless free movement for people, goods and services in the Schengen area. They want stronger EU cooperation to guarantee that there is no discrimination against any EU citizen.

In a debate on the state of Schengen by the civil liberties committee on 12 May, Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia) recalled the closures introduced in the midst of the migration crisis in 2015. Some countries maintained those controls for years, which Parliament criticized as unjustified.

“If we fail to restore the integrity of Schengen, we would seriously endanger the European project,” Fajon said. MEPs therefore want to ensure that any future internal borders controls remain truly exceptional and very limited in time.

The civil liberties committee is preparing a resolution on the situation in the Schengen zone, which MEPs are likely to vote on during June’s plenary session.

Read more how Parliament is strengthening the Schengen system and improving border security.

The KBC Bank consumer sentiment index climbed to 52.3 from 42.6 in April, its largest month-on-month improvement since January 2015, but remained far below the 77.3 recorded in early March.

The April fall was the sharpest month-on-month decline in the survey’s 24-year history and May’s level is within the lowest 5% of readings recorded, the authors said.

“While the improvement … should be seen as encouraging, the level of the May sentiment survey remains comparable with responses seen through the more difficult moments of the financial crisis (a decade ago),” Austin Hughes, chief economist at KBC Ireland, said.

Ireland in March shut bars, restaurants and non-essential retail outlets and ordered people to stay at home, measures that will be gradually relaxed during the coming three months, starting this week.

The damage to the economy has been severe, with the unemployment rate, including those receiving emergency COVID-19-related jobless benefits, shooting up to 28.2% from 4.8% in two months.

The survey’s authors linked the improvement to a slowing of the spread of the disease in recent weeks combined with the beginning of the phased easing of the lockdown.

But eight out of 10 consumers still expected the economy to weaken in the following 12 months down from nine in 10 in May.

The survey found that 86% of consumers expected the Irish government to introduce cutbacks in public spending or tax increases within the next two to three years.

The threat of a return to austerity “could translate into an economic ‘second wave’”, Hughes said.