Primary sector growth feeds trade surplus – 21 May 2025 – New Zealand’s merchandise trade surplus in April 2025 was $1.4 billion, compared with a deficit of $12 million in April 2024, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.
“New Zealand has had only four monthly surpluses over $1 billion. The last two were in 2020 and two out of the four were also in April months,” international accounts spokesperson Viki Ward said.
“The overlap of the dairy and fruit industry seasons contributed to this high.”
The goods surplus is calculated by subtracting the value of goods imports from the value of goods exports. New Zealand imported $6.4 billion and exported $7.8 billion of goods in April 2025.
Primary sector growth feeds trade surplus–21 May 2025 –New Zealand’s merchandise trade surplus in April 2025 was $1.4 billion, compared with a deficit of $12 million in April 2024, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.
“New Zealand has had only four monthly surpluses over $1 billion. The last two were in 2020 and two out of the four were also in April months,” international accounts spokesperson Viki Ward said.
“The overlap of the dairy and fruit industry seasons contributed to this high.”
The goods surplus is calculated by subtracting the value of goods imports from the value of goods exports. New Zealand imported $6.4 billion and exported $7.8 billion of goods in April 2025.
Australia’s school system – and whether it is doing its job – is often under the microscope from politicians, experts and parents.
The most recent NAPLAN results in 2024 triggered a wave of heated discussions after about one in three students were not meeting literacy and numeracy benchmarks.
Education Minister Jason Clare is among those who also have serious concerns about rates of students who complete Year 12. In 2024, the retention rate of students between Year 7 and Year 12 was 79.9%. For government school students, it was 74%.
But what do students themselves think about their schooling? Our new study asked recent school leavers about their experiences.
Our research
Our study draws on a 2023 survey as part of the Life Patterns research program, which follows different generations of young Australians after school.
We surveyed more than 4,000 young people recruited from a diverse sample of 100 government, Catholic and independent schools in urban and regional areas of Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.
These young people completed high school in 2023 and were asked to comment on their school experiences.
Students in the study were from public and private schools. pio3/Shutterstock
Students are mostly satisfied, but …
The participants rated their overall impression of school on a five-point scale, from very satisfied to very dissatisfied. About 60% of them were “quite satisfied” or “very satisfied”.
Despite this broadly positive picture, many of them also expressed concerns about their education, feeling its current content did not prepare them for life after school.
As one female student from a capital city told us:
I feel like school doesn’t prepare us for the real world at all and it freaks me out.
This sentiment was echoed by another female student from a regional city:
School seems extremely disconnected from either knowledge or experience that will help with jobs, or life skills that will assist in becoming a good, productive, happy person.
For many, this disconnect between the education on offer and the education they wanted contributed to a disengagement from school. A male student from a regional city said:
I am committed to my education and a dedicated student, but find it hard to connect with some of the information we are learning as it seems outdated and irrelevant. I want to learn things that are going to improve my life.
Students also spoke about schools focusing on issues that do not matter to young people, such as students wearing the “correct” uniform or whether or not they have their phone at school.
As one female student commented:
Focus on more real issues. The debates about phones allowed at school or uniforms at school seem almost irrelevant when you compare them to the everyday common hardships and problems young people face.
Too much stress
A strong theme in young people’s responses was the amount of stress they faced with their studies. These feelings were often linked to heavy workloads (particularly in Year 11 and 12) and the pressure they felt to achieve certain grades.
A male student from a country town said:
[…] the pressure and the expectations to do well in school is so high and caused a lot of stress and anxiety.
Another male student from a capital city also felt:
There is so much pressure on high school and how one exam can change the course of your future which isn’t true.
This echoes other studies that query the focus on a single score (the ATAR) and supports alternative approaches to measuring education outcomes at the end of Year 12.
Students said they faced too much stress in their senior years of school. GillianVann/Shutterstock
More mental health support
Amid ongoing reports of young people struggling with their mental health, mental health also emerged as a major concern in students’ responses.
A male student from a capital city told us young people were “battling every day” and they needed more free, accessible resources and support from school staff.
They also saw a connection between the pressures of schooling and mental health concerns. As one female student told us:
There is too much expected from students at school, leading to burn out and mental illnesses.
What next?
Our study shows many young people care deeply about their education. But they also feel it isn’t working for them or preparing them for life beyond school.
This suggests government institutions and schools need to be doing more to include young people’s perspectives as they design and implement curricula.
By recognising young people as active stakeholders in schools,
education shifts from something happening to them to something happening with them. This approach can foster a stronger sense of belonging, ownership and engagement with learning.
Jun Eric Fu works on the Life Patterns research program, which is funded by the Australian Research Council.
Julia Cook receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Headline: Members discuss possible cotton breakthrough ahead of MC14, World Cotton Day 2025
Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam, who chaired the 43rd Round of Consultations of the Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism for Cotton (DGCFMC), drew members’ attention to the latest meeting of the Steering Committee of the “Partenariat pour le Coton” initiative, which built on a series of national consultations held last year in the Cotton 4+ countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire).
The meeting took place at the headquarters of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Cairo on 28-29 April. Important suggestions were made regarding advancing the cotton development agenda in the C-4+ countries, and there was productive discussion on available financing options, including concrete proposals to support the cotton-textile-clothing value chain.
DDG Paugam stressed that, while it has been projected that US$ 5 billion could be unlocked over the next 10 years under the framework of the “Partenariat pour le Coton”, this would require the C-4+ to act as the driving force and to adopt a regional approach to attract and sustain investment.
A study published in June 2024 highlights the potential of processing 25 per cent of C4+ cotton locally. Although this would require an investment of around US$ 5 billion in facilities and workforce training, it could create 500,000 jobs, especially for women and youth, and would significantly enhance value addition within the region.
Acknowledging previous concerns about implementation, transparency, and commitment to the Evolving Table on Cotton Development Assistance, DDG Paugam called for a dedicated meeting with donors to explore ways to enhance the effectiveness and impact of this tool. The Evolving Table contains project updates by a number of WTO members and by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Chad, the FAO and the International Trade Centre (ITC) jointly announced that the 2025 World Cotton Day will take place on 7 October in Rome, which will coincide with the 80th anniversary of the FAO. The event aims to boost visibility and promote investment in African cotton through the work of the “Partenariat pour le Coton”, as well as to encourage discussion of climate challenges to cotton.
Afreximbank reiterated the importance of a harmonized project submission template for standardization, transparency, collaboration and monitoring of C4+ cotton projects and proposed joint financing initiatives, shared knowledge platforms, capacity-building, risk mitigation strategies and policy advocacy.
Members took the floor to share their experiences of activities within the framework of South-South cooperation. They also expressed support for the cotton industry, focusing on job creation, economic diversification, de-risking investments, tailored cooperation, regional strategies and enabling environments. Delegations also discussed industrialization, global value chain integration, investment clarity and progress on regional development projects in the context of the cotton industry.
On emerging challenges, members learned about the latest developments in cotton-producing countries, as well as new challenges facing the cotton sector in C-4+ countries. The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) shared a presentation about water use in cotton cultivation, which explained that it is a misconception that cotton – a semi-desert crop – requires large quantities of water for cultivation. Nevertheless, ICAC cautioned that climate change is affecting rainfall patterns, and that this is a matter of concern for cotton cultivation.
The DGCFMC also outlined key next steps. A technical online seminar on second-hand and recycling of clothing by Côte d’Ivoire is scheduled for 19 June. Other members were encouraged to coordinate with the WTO Secretariat to propose similar initiatives. A harmonized “Partenariat pour le Coton” project submission template will be created to enable C-4+ countries to present priority projects at an upcoming technical workshop. The WTO will support monitoring, evaluation and engagement with development agencies. Meanwhile, FIFA’s Football for Schools programme will encourage the use of C-4+ cotton for apparel, to produce T-shirts and polo shirts in West Africa and distribute these items globally by the end of 2025.
In conclusion, DDG Paugam underscored the need to sustain and build on the current momentum surrounding cotton, especially given that MC14 is approaching. Progress made, consolidated synergies and promising prospects ahead call for redoubling efforts, he said.
Ambassador Hussain, who facilitated the discussion on addressing the trade aspects of cotton, gave an update on his consultations with members on the way forward for agriculture negotiations, focusing on cotton.
He noted that the C-4+ countries and other members had stressed the importance of cotton within the agricultural negotiations, and that members had highlighted the need to make significant progress on this issue at MC14, as this would resonate positively in Africa and benefit the WTO as a whole.
The C-4+ Group also suggested the possibility of decoupling cotton negotiations from the broader agriculture package to facilitate reaching a standalone decision on cotton at MC14. The Group, along with several other developing members, emphasized the importance of adhering to past ministerial decisions and called for progress to be made to reduce cotton-specific trade-distorting domestic support.
Ambassador Hussain urged members to engage actively in open dialogue, express their concerns clearly, and work together to bridge differences. He proposed to convene a “cotton quad plus” meeting in the coming weeks to facilitate honest and concrete discussions. The “cotton quad plus” forum involves the C-4+ countries and several major cotton players, including Australia, China, Brazil, the European Union, India, Pakistan and the United States.
The ICAC also provided an overview of the global cotton market for the 2024-25 season, forecasting a production increase of approximately 7 per cent compared to the previous season. World cotton consumption is anticipated to rise by 2 per cent in 2024-25, although trade projections have been revised downward to 9.45 million tonnes for the 2024-25 season. This adjustment reflects a decrease from the previous forecast of 9.94 million tonnes, as reported in April 2024. The ICAC also presented findings from a recent analysis on specialty cotton, which grows annually and currently accounts for about 31 per cent of total global cotton lint production. Specialty cotton, as defined by the ICAC, includes any long or extra-long staple varieties, as well as cotton from specific identity programmes encompassing various certification initiatives worldwide, such as “Better Cotton” and “Cotton Made in Africa”.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) provided an update on the ITC Cotton Portal, a joint initiative with the WTO to consolidate cotton-related information. The portal, launched at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in 2017, features three main modules: trade statistics, market information and learning. The ITC reported that the portal has around 3,000-4,000 users annually. Planned improvements include the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), additional languages, and better data on e-commerce and logistics.
The ITC Cotton Portal aggregates cotton-related information from the ICAC, ITC and WTO, as well as other sources. For instance, it features a live data feed from ICAC on cotton production, as well as direct links to essential tools that facilitate cotton trade, such as the Export Potential Map.
The C-4+ agreed concerning the relevance of this tool in contributing to a more efficient cotton trading system by improving transparency and accessibility of trade-related information relevant for cotton producers, traders and policymakers. They called for more training to raise awareness of the platform in Africa and to increase its utilization, as this could help governments in making informed policy decisions. The ITC and the WTO expressed their readiness to pursue discussions with the C-4+ concerning ways to make the portal more accessible and as relevant as possible in developing economies, and especially in Africa.
The WTO Secretariat introduced a revised background paper compiling all cotton-related information available at the WTO, including members’ notifications, replies to a questionnaire on cotton policy developments and information on tariff and non-tariff measures.
As part of Cotton Day at the WTO members attended the opening of an exhibition featuring a data visualization structure that consolidated and presented information on cotton-related activities, telling the story of cotton through interactive maps, infographics, images and dynamic graphics. The exhibition concluded with a reception hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) at WTO headquarters.
Responding to the European Commission’s proposal to amend the ‘safe third country’ concept by allowing EU member states to forcibly send people seeking asylum to countries where they have no connection, without the possibility to appeal from the EU, Olivia Sundberg Diez, Amnesty International’s EU Advocate on Migration and Asylum, said:
“Instead of spending endless time and resources offloading its responsibilities to other countries, the EU should invest in its own asylum systems and let people seeking asylum start rebuilding their lives.
“These proposals are yet another cynical attempt to evade the EU’s refugee protection responsibilities, shifting them to countries with fewer resources and less capacity to offer lasting protection. Sending people to countries to which they have no connection, no support and no prospects, or may have only briefly transited through, is not only chaotic and arbitrary, but also devastating on a human level.
“Let’s be clear: This revision would only further weaken access to asylum in Europe, downgrade people’s rights, and increase the risk of refoulement and of widespread arbitrary detention in third countries – especially in light of the EU’s increasingly evident inability to monitor and uphold respect for human rights in its partner countries.”
Background
The ‘safe third country’ concept allows states to reject an asylum application as inadmissible when it is deemed that an applicant could have sought international protection in a third country. This is an exception to the general practise of international refugee law, by which the country in which a person applies for international protection bears primary responsibility for assessing their application.
Amnesty International has long criticized this concept, which European states have often used to shirk their obligations, even as UNHCR data shows that 71% of refugees worldwide are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.
EU states remain obliged to conduct an individual assessment of whether the third country is safe for that person and to ensure that every applicant can access a fair asylum process, have their case heard, and rebut any evidence from the returning state.
The European Commission’s proposal removes the requirement that a meaningful link exist between the asylum seeker and that third country. Instead, mere transit or the existence of an agreement between the EU member state and the third country would suffice. It also removes the suspensive effect of appeals, meaning that people could still be forcibly transferred to that country before their appeal has been heard. This reform goes hand in hand with the recently proposed Return Regulation. Taken together, these amount to an alarming attempt to externalize refugee protection and migration control far from Europe’s borders.
This proposed amendment to the Asylum Procedures Regulation will now be negotiated and would need to be approved by the European Council and the European Parliament.
COMBINED GENERAL MEETING AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS DATED 20 MAY 2025
Press release
Paris, 20 May 2025
Combined General Meeting
The General Meeting of shareholders of Societe Generale was held on 20 May 2025 at CNIT Forest, 2, Place de la Défense, 92092 Puteaux and was chaired by Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi.
Quorum was established at 64,34% (vs 55.61% in 2024):
687 shareholders participated by attending the General Meeting in person at the place where it was held on 20 May 2025;
1,057 shareholders were represented at the General Meeting by a person other than the Chairman;
13,140 shareholders voted online;
2,400 shareholders voted by post;
8,767 shareholders, including 2,500 online, representing 1.07% of the share capital, gave proxy to the Chairman;
A total of 26 051 shareholders were present or represented and participated in the vote.
The agenda item, with no vote, was an opportunity to present and discuss with shareholders the Group’s climate strategy and social and environmental responsibility.
In addition, 9 shareholders sent 56 written questions prior to the General Meeting. The answers were made public before the General Meeting on the institutional website.
All the resolutions put forward by the Board of Directors were adopted, in particular:
The 2024 annual company accounts and annual consolidated accounts;
The dividend per share was set at EUR 1.09. It shall traded ex-dividend on 26 May 2025 and will be paid from 28 May 2025;
The renewal of two independent directors for 4 years: Mr. William Connelly and Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge;
The appointment of two independent directors for 4 years: Mr. Olivier Klein and Mrs. Ingrid-Helen Arnold;
The renewal of Mr. Sébastien Wetter’s mandate as Director representing the employee shareholders;
The compensation policy for the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, the Deputy Chief Executive Officers and the Directors;
The components composing the total compensation and the benefits of any kind paid or awarded for the 2024 financial year to the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officers;
The authorisation granted to the Board of Directors to purchase ordinary shares of the Company was renewed for 18 months up to 10% of the share capital;
The authorisation for capital increases, enabling the issue of shares in favour of employees under a company or group saving plan, was renewed for 26 months;
The amendments to the Articles of Association to take account of the entry into force of the “Loi Attractivité” (no. 2024-537 dated 13 June 2024).
The detailed voting result is available this day on the Company’s website in the item “Annual General Meeting”.
Board of Directors
Following the renewals and appointments of directors, the Board of Directors is composed of 15 directors, including (i) 2 directors re-elected by the employees in March 2024 and (ii) 1 director representing employee shareholders appointed by the General Meeting and one non-voting director.
Accordingly, the Board of Directors is composed as follows:
Mr. Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Chairman;
Mr. Slawomir Krupa, Director;
Mrs. Ingrid-Helen Arnold, Director;
Mr. William Connelly, Director;
Mr. Jérôme Contamine, Director;
Mrs. Béatrice Cossa-Dumurgier, Director;
Mrs. Diane Côté, Director;
Mrs. Ulrika Ekman, Director;
Mrs. France Houssaye, Director elected by employees;
Mr. Olivier Klein, Director;
Mrs. Annette Messemer, Director;
Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Director;
Mr Johan Praud, Director elected by employees;
Mr. Benoît de Ruffray, Director;
Mr. Sébastien Wetter, Director representing employees shareholders;
Mr. Jean-Bernard Lévy, Non-voting Director (“censeur”).
The Board of Directors is made up of 41,7% women (5/12) and 91,7% independent directors (11/12) if we exclude from the calculations the three directors representing the employees in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article L. 225-23 of the Commercial Code, paragraph 2 of Article L. 225-27 of the Commercial Code and the AFEP-MEDEF code. In order to ensure compliance with a forthcoming legislative change scheduled for mid-2026, the Board of Directors has already decided, for the General Meeting of May 2026, that shareholders will be invited to replace a man director, whose term of office will expire, by a woman director.
The Board of Directors held after the General Meeting has decided that, as of 20 May 2025, the Board committees will be composed as follows:
Audit and Internal Control Committee: Mr. Jérôme Contamine (chairman), Mrs. Diane Côté, Mrs. Ulrika Ekman, Mr. Olivier Klein and Mr. Sébastien Wetter;
Risk Committee: Mr. William Connelly (chairman), Mrs. Ingrid-Helen Arnold, Mrs. Béatrice Cossa Dumurgier, Mrs. Diane Côté, Mrs. Ulrika Ekman, Mr. Olivier Klein and Mrs. Annette Messemer;
Compensation Committee: Mrs. Annette Messemer (chairwoman), Mr. Jerome Contamine, Mr. Benoit de Ruffray and Mrs. France Houssaye;
Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee: Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge (chairman), Mr. William Connelly, Mme Diane Côté and Mr. Benoit de Ruffray.
Biographies
Mr. William Connelly is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington (US). He began his career in 1980 at Chase Manhattan Bank, where he worked for 10 years, before joining Baring Brothers from 1990 to 1995. He then held various executive positions within ING Group NV from 1995 until he became a member of The Management Board, where he was responsible for Wholesale Banking from 2011 to 2016. He was also the CEO of ING Real Estate from 2009 to 2015. In addition to his mandate as an independent director of Societe Generale since 2017, he currently is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amadeus IT Group and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aegon until the second half of 2025. He also served as an independent director of Singular Bank from February 2019 to April 2023. During its session on 10 April 2025, the Societe Generale Board of Directors selected William Connelly for the Chairmanship as of the General Meeting which will be held on 27 May 2026. He will succeed Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who has been Chairman since 2015, and will have completed his third term.
Mr. Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Graduate of École polytechnique, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He began his career in 1992 at the World Bank in Washington D.C. before moving to the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance in 1994. He joined Alstom in 1998 as Head of Investor Relations and was in charge of Management Control. In 2000, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Transmission and Distribution at Alstom, a position he held until 2004. He was Chief Financial Officer of Alstom from 2004 until 2010 and became President of Alstom Grid from 2010 to 2011. On 4 July 2011, he became Chairman of Alstom Transport, before being appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in February 2016, a position he held until June 2024. Since then, he has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of Alstom.
Mr. Olivier Klein, Graduated from the Panthéon‑Sorbonne University in 1978 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, from the National School of Statistics and Economic Administration (ENSAE) in 1980, and from HEC’s graduate course in Finance in 1985. He began his career at the BFCE in 1985 and served as manager of the Foreign Exchange and Rate Risk Management Advisory Department, then as Director of the BFCE’s Investment Bank, and finally as Regional Director of its corporate bank. He joined the Caisse d’Epargne group in 1998 and was Chairman of the Executive Board of the Caisse d’Epargne Ile‑de‑France Ouest from 2000 to 2007 and then of the Caisse d’Epargne Rhône‑Alpes from 2007 to 2009. In January 2010, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Banking and Insurance of the BPCE group until September 2012. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the BRED group from October 2012 to May 2023. He was a Member of the Supervisory Board of BPCE and its Risk Committee between 2019 and May 2023. He is Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Frères Banque SA and Managing Partner since September 2023. Since 1986, He is teaching macroeconomics and monetary policy at HEC. He is a director of Rexécode since 2018.
Mrs. Ingrid-Helen Arnold, Graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Ludwigshafen in 1997 with a master’s degree in economics. She began her career at SAP SE in 1996, where she held various responsibilities related to innovation and digital transformation. In 2014, she was appointed Chief Information Officer and Business Processes and extended Member of the SAPExecutiveCommittee. From 2016 to April 2021, she was President of SAP Business Data Network group in Palo Alto (United States) and SAP SE Walldorf (Germany). In 2021, she joined the Südzucker group as Chief Digital Officer and Information tehcnology and member of the Group’s Executive Committee. She is Chief Executive Officer of KAKO GmbH since June 2024. She was a member of the Supervisory Board and a member of the Heineken group Audit Committee from 2019 to 2023. She is a member of the TUI group Supervisory Board since 2020.
Mr. Sébastien Wetter holds a Master degree in Fundamental Physics and graduated from the Lyons Business School (EM Lyon). He began his career at Societe Generale in 1997 in the Strategy and Marketing Division of Societe Generale’s retail bank. Working in the Group’s Organisation Consulting Department from 2002, he performed a range of roles in the Corporate & Investment Banking arm and helped roll out the Group-wide participatory Innovation programme. As of the end of 2005, he joined the Commodities Market Department as Chief Operating Officer holding a global remit, before becoming Head of Business Development in 2008. From 2010 until 2014, he served as General Secretary in the Group’s General Inspection and Audit Division. In 2014, he joined the Sales Division of the Corporate & Investment Bank arm where he held a number of positions: Head of marketing for major French and international clients, then in 2016, Global Chief Operating Officer responsible for the sales teams covering financial institutions. From 2020 to December 2022, he has been a banker managing Societe Generale’s relationship with international financial institutions. He has been a member of the of the Supervisory Board of the Fonds Commun de Placement d’Entreprise (FCPE) since May 2024.
The regulatory declarations on the absence of conflicts of interest and the absence of convictions mentioned on page 140 of the Universal Registration Document filed by Societe Generale on 12 March 2025 with the French market authority (AMF) under number D.25-00088, relating notably to the three directors whose terms of office are renewed remain valid and the two new directors appointed with effect from the General Meeting of 20 May 2025 have made the same regulatory declarations.
Societe Generale is a top tier European Bank with around 119,000 employees serving more than 26 million clients in 62 countries across the world. We have been supporting the development of our economies for 160 years, providing our corporate, institutional, and individual clients with a wide array of value-added advisory and financial solutions. Our long-lasting and trusted relationships with the clients, our cutting-edge expertise, our unique innovation, our ESG capabilities and leading franchises are part of our DNA and serve our most essential objective – to deliver sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders.
The Group runs three complementary sets of businesses, embedding ESG offerings for all its clients:
French Retail, Private Banking and Insurance, with leading retail bank SG and insurance franchise, premium private banking services, and the leading digital bank BoursoBank.
Global Banking and Investor Solutions, a top tier wholesale bank offering tailored-made solutions with distinctive global leadership in equity derivatives, structured finance and ESG.
Mobility, International Retail Banking and Financial Services, comprising well-established universal banks (in Czech Republic, Romania and several African countries), Ayvens (the new ALD I LeasePlan brand), a global player in sustainable mobility, as well as specialized financing activities.
Committed to building together with its clients a better and sustainable future, Societe Generale aims to be a leading partner in the environmental transition and sustainability overall. The Group is included in the principal socially responsible investment indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, Euronext Vigeo (Europe and Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes, and the MSCI Low Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
In case of doubt regarding the authenticity of this press release, please go to the end of the Group News page on societegenerale.com website where official Press Releases sent by Societe Generale can be certified using blockchain technology. A link will allow you to check the document’s legitimacy directly on the web page.
Unfortunately, our new report highlights a workforce crisis that raises serious questions about the future of the UK screen industry. And Donald Trump’s recent threat to impose tariffs on non-US films adds to the grim situation, throwing the industry’s vulnerability into stark relief.
We carried out extensive interviews with 29 participants from across the sector who painted a bleak picture of overwork, financial instability, discrimination and barriers to career progression.
Charities supporting the sector have already noted that the industry has a longstanding retention problem – the so-called “leaky pipeline”. But our report highlights that economic volatility in the UK and elsewhere is worsening financial and working conditions so much that the film and television industry risks a debilitating loss of its most valuable resource: freelancers.
This article is part of our State of the Arts series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry – and celebrate the wins, too.
Long gaps between jobs are widening, and even experienced freelancers with long careers are struggling to make ends meet. Currently there is no publicly available data on numbers entering and leaving the industry, but companies have reported worsening skills shortages, not due to poor recruitment, but because people are leaving in response to worsening conditions.
As many as two thirds of screen freelancers are considering leaving the industry within the next five years. Since just under 50% of the film production workforce is freelance, such a large-scale exodus would seriously damage our domestic screen industry.
That industry contributes £13.48 billion to the UK economy, and its talent on-screen and behind the cameras is world-renowned, so why is this crisis happening at all?
Boom and bust
The key change has been a reduction in domestic investment by UK-based public service broadcasters in tandem with increased investment from US-based studios and streamers.
While a recent boom in international investment led to a rapid expansion in UK film and TV infrastructure and a corresponding acute shortage of workers, it also inflated the costs of production, which has proved unaffordable to traditional domestic commissioners. Without consistent local productions, the UK market is exposed to international disruptions like never before.
Since the deregulation of the TV sector in the 1990s, the UK’s screen industry has relied on a high proportion of freelance workers. This model provided flexibility in a thriving domestic industry boasting some of the world’s most skilled talent and specialist infrastructure to match.
A shift in the 2000s towards international workflows in production and post-production fuelled by competitive tax incentives transformed the UK film and TV industry into a global operation. Coupled with healthy domestic competition, the UK’s film and TV industry soared.
But more recently, this globalised business model has been tested by an extended period of economic volatility that has left experienced talent out of work.
First came the COVID lockdowns. Then a post-pandemic boom as companies moved to refill their schedules, took UK film and TV production to a record high in 2021.
High inflation – partly caused by the influx of international money – led many domestic companies to slash their commissioning budgets. By the middle of 2024, plans to build new studios in the UK were being put on hold and more than half the workforce were still unemployed.
As one worker told us: “I’ve got friends who’ve been out of work for a year … they’re having to sell their houses and these are experienced, serious producers.” Another contributor told us how: “So many people I know at the moment are looking elsewhere for work completely outside of the industry.”
And another interviewee said: “There have been some unfortunate casualties along the way, some people simply haven’t had the income or the interest to sustain a living and and they’ve got to do what comes first, which is earn a wage that lets them survive.”
Until recently, a healthy domestic broadcasting industry helped provide consistent work opportunities for freelancers. But at the same time as production costs have risen, broadcasters’ revenue from advertising – and for the BBC, from the licence fee – has fallen.
The effect has been a precipitous 22% drop in domestic high-end television commissions in 2024, alongside a 50% decrease in international co-productions. UK broadcasters no longer have the financial capacity to plug the gap in the periods when international investors cut back.
In effect, the domestic industry has become dominated by, and heavily reliant on, a handful of international players led by unpredictable economic interests and global market fluctuations. It’s no coincidence that the two most notable recent British success stories, Adolescence and Baby Reindeer, are produced by Netflix, which has the financial resources British broadcasters lack.
And despite the presence of the streamers, inflated costs are making it harder for producers to make programmes with British subject matter. Patrick Spence, the executive producer of the hugely successful Mr Bates vs. the Post Office, has said he wouldn’t even try to make the show today.
To make matters worse, productions funded by international finance (that might have been funded by UK broadcasters in the past) bring little subscription or licensing profits back to the domestic industry.
As our research shows, this constellation of issues means freelancers face extreme financial insecurity like never before, alongside increasingly poor working practices as production companies try to cut costs and, in some cases, promote too early where experienced staff are missing. It is little wonder that so many are considering leaving the sector.
If significant numbers do leave the sector, there will no longer be a supply of skilled workers to meet the demands of an uptick in productions – and the US firms will go elsewhere, leaving only a depleted domestic industry in financial crisis.
Netflix has already made a thinly veiled threat to seek out more competitive territories in the event of a levy on streamers. We could expect a similar decision if they find that the skilled talent they count on in the UK is no longer available.
The next bust may already be in sight thanks to President Trump’s proposed tariffs on “foreign-made” films. Though such a levy would be difficult to implement and would cause as much harm to the US industry as it would its global partners, it’s not hard to imagine it having a chilling effect on commissioning in the UK.
So what can be done? The introduction of a new programme of tax breaks for productions made in the UK, initiated by the Conservatives and ratified by the Labour government, has been rightly celebrated. However, industry experts predict these will not solve the financial sustainability of a homegrown industry.
MPs have called on the government to go further in its support for the UK independent film and high-end television sectors, to provide a counterbalance to the fluctuations in investment in big budget fare, and to appoint a freelance commissioner to protect workers rights.
We wait to hear whether the government will take up its recommendations, and bring us closer to other countries, such as France, that have protected their domestic workforce by negotiating specific investment agreements with the major US streamers.
In our report, we argue that a minister for self-employed and precarious workers working across government departments is the only way to ensure that the appropriate measures can be achieved to address the challenges freelancers now face.
Better data on freelancer movements will help policy makers and industry to understand the effects of changes to the domestic industry, to help better secure that workforce for future growth as part of the government’s Invest 2035 growth plans.
We also recommend better data for freelancers themselves: a central source of information on taxation, employment rights, training, funding and the other resources they need to thrive in this challenging landscape.
These are only the first steps to lessen the immediate risk of losing a substantial section of the skilled workforce that is the engine of the UK industry, preparing the ground for the much larger structural shifts that are needed. Participants in our research at different stages of their career repeatedly insisted that the industry needs root and branch care to overcome the extreme cycles of feast and famine.
Protecting the cultural value of the UK’s screen industry goes far beyond making economic sense. The sector forms a major part of the country’s diverse national identity and projects a global image that is literally priceless.
Andrew Philip receives funding for his screen industries research from the Arts & Humanities Research Council through the University of Reading’s Impact Acceleration Account programme.
Lisa Purse receives funding for her screen industries research from the Arts & Humanities Research Council through the University of Reading’s Impact Acceleration Account programme.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Megan Bradley, Full Professor, Political Science and International Development Studies, McGill University
The international humanitarian system is in freefall. Following the dramatic funding cuts initiated by Donald Trump’s administration in the United States, deliveries of essential food, medicines and clean water to those in need have halted and stockpiles are dwindling. Aid agencies are scrambling to figure out how to do less with less, even as global needs are mounting.
Those displaced inside their own countries, as a result of conflict or natural disaster, have been particularly hard hit by this upheaval.
Internally displaced persons already fall through the cracks of the humanitarian system, despite dramatically outnumbering those who cross borders as refugees.
Worldwide, there are an estimated 43.7 million refugees, compared to 83.4 million internally displaced people. Yet media coverage still focuses on those fleeing their country as refugees, while internally displaced people remain less visible and beholden to national governments that have the primary responsibility to assist them.
Some governments, such as Ukraine’s, work hard to meet this challenge but need outside support. In countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan, governments are complicit in displacing their own citizens, necessitating stronger international leadership.
The UN’s central role
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established to protect and assist refugees. But from as early as the 1970s — as a result of calls from the UN General Assembly to address displacement crises — it has also become a leading entity in the international response to internally displaced persons.
The danger today is not that the UNHCR and other humanitarian leaders will treat internally displaced people as unimportant or undeserving of help. Instead, ground could be lost through a return to the UNHCR’s traditional, narrow refugee mandate. Responsibility for internally displaced persons could be shirked as many UN agencies are also under stress.
This will further increase the marginalization of internally displaced people and expose them to heightened levels of insecurity, poverty and disease.
The UNHCR is far from the only international organization involved with internally displaced persons. The International Organization for Migration is another important player, particularly in natural disasters, and other agencies, including the UN Development Programme, support longer-term development solutions.
Yet the UNHCR is the core protection agency for those who are forcibly displaced and its leadership is critical to ensuring a comprehensive response to both refugees and those displaced within their own country’s borders.
Difficult choices
In the face of a 30 per cent reduction in operating expenses in its headquarters and regional bureaus, the UNHCR faces some agonizing choices. But these cuts must not produce a competition between internally displaced persons and refugees in humanitarian assistance.
Experience has shown that effective responses must consider displacement dynamics not only across but also within borders — especially since many refugees are internally displaced before they seek safety abroad and many face internal displacement if they return to their countries of origin.
However, the head of the UNHCR has not yet publicly and clearly reaffirmed his agency’s commitment to standing up for internally displaced people alongside refugees in this moment of flux in the humanitarian sector.
The need for strong leadership
As the UNHCR reduces its commitments and shrinks its operations, there could be a void of senior leadership on internal displacement at headquarters and in the field. This means the agency’s response may be determined by regional and country directors with different levels of comfort with and commitment to internally displaced persons.
The irony is that the UNHCR routinely calls for governments dealing with internal displacement crises to clearly allocate responsibility for effective responses. Today’s budget crisis is no excuse for the UNHCR not to walk its own talk.
In the face of declining resources but mounting humanitarian needs, the UNHCR and its donors should prioritize preserving their investment in strengthened, reliable and rights-based responses to internally displaced persons — not only for the sake of these citizens, but also as an integral element of a comprehensive response to refugee situations.
The UNHCR should recognize and insist that refugee response requires an effective response to those displaced internally and vice versa. As a core part of this approach, the agency should also enhance its support for local efforts led by internally displaced people themselves, recognizing they can be, and have been, at the forefront of more effective solutions to their displacement.
The UNHCR’s funding cuts are putting the agency in a pared-down holding pattern until the next high commissioner of the organization is chosen later this year. A key criterion for selecting the next leader should be their vision for sustaining engagement with internally displaced persons alongside refugees in this moment of global turmoil.
Megan Bradley receives funding from SSHRC.
Jennifer Welsh receives funding from the Social Science and Research Council of Canada and the European Research Council.
Provincial Exports Achieved the Third Highest Year on Record, Valued at $45.4 Billion in 2024
Today, the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) released the province’s annual State of Trade report. The report, which outlines provincial trade highlights for 2024, reveals that it was the third-highest export year for Saskatchewan, with the total value of exports reaching $45.4 billion.
“Saskatchewan is providing much needed certainty as we move through a time of global trade shifts,” Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding said. “Our exporters, manufacturers, and producers remain suppliers of choice as we bring food and energy security to countries around the world. This creates jobs, economic opportunities and a high standard of living for all who call our province home.”
Uranium saw impressive growth, with the value of exports increasing by 50 per cent. Total uranium exports reached $2.8 billion, surpassing the Saskatchewan Growth Plan target of $2 billion. Potash also reached a record volume of exports, totaling 22,807,489 metric tonnes.
Saskatchewan continues to be an exporter of choice internationally. Goods from the province reached 161 countries in 2024. India became the province’s third-largest export market behind the U.S. and China, with the value of exports to the country increasing by 12.2 per cent in 2024.
“Amid the unprecedented trade uncertainties in 2024, Saskatchewan demonstrated resilience and growth across key sectors, with many major commodities maintaining or increasing their volumes,” STEP Interim CEO Angela Krauss said. “The province’s export foundation remains strong, and we are committed to diversifying our markets and strengthening essential trade relationships.”
According to the report, the volumes of most major exports maintained or increased from 2023 levels. In terms of volume, exports of canola seed increased 25 per cent from 2023 to 2024. Canola meal exports increased 14 per cent in volume from 2023 to 2024. The top export products for the province include crude petroleum oil, potash, canola seeds and oil, wheat, uranium, lentils and dried peas.
The provincial economy continues to see substantial growth. In 2007, the value of Saskatchewan exports was $19.8 billion, which has since climbed to nearly $50 billion on average over the past three years.
STEP is a membership driven, government/industry partnership, designed to promote the growth of Saskatchewan’s export industry.
Statistics Canada’s latest GDP numbers indicate that Saskatchewan’s 2024 real GDP reached an all-time high of $80.5 billion, increasing by $2.6 billion, or 3.4 per cent from 2023. This places Saskatchewan second in the nation for real GDP growth and above the national average of 1.6 per cent.
For more information on opportunities in Saskatchewan, visit: investSK.ca.
TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2025, TRYX, a leading innovator in high-performance PC hardware, is set to redefine the future of computing with its latest product lineup (Booth: Nangang Exhibition Centre Hall 1, 4F, N1205). Showcasing cutting-edge products spanning cooling solutions, chassis designs, lighting systems, and customization tools, TRYX continues to push boundaries with its user-driven engineering philosophy.
Next-Gen Cooling & Visual Excellence
PANORAMA Series: Where Liquid Cooling Meets Immersive Displays
PANORAMA: The world’s first AIO liquid cooler with an L-shaped 3D AMOLED screen (6.5” 2K @60Hz), powered by 8th-gen Asetek pump and customizable ARGB fans for unmatched performance and aesthetics.
PANORAMA SE: Features a detachable AMOLED display with “Waterfall” animation effects and 280W TDP cooling for extreme workloads.
PANORAMA WB: A modular water block for custom loop enthusiasts, retaining the signature 6.5” AMOLED screen and full KANALI software control.
Visuals That Command Attention: STAGE & ARCVISION
TRYX STAGE 360mm AIO:features L-shape dual screen water block with mini “stage” aesthetics, supporting dynamic visuals via KANALI.
ARCVISION: The first glasses-free 3D chassis with curved glass, blending organic patterns and panoramic views for a futuristic build.
Thermal Mastery: TURRIS & ROTA SL
TURRIS: A dual-tower air cooler with 6 heat pipes, 5” LCD stats display, and tool-free installation for effortless high-end cooling.
ROTA SL: Simplifies cable management with magnetic connectors and vibration-damping pads, ensuring clean, silent operation.
Modular Freedom: LUCA Series & FLOVA
LUCA/LUCA AIR: Built with 6000-series aluminum, featuring X-shaped floating bases and dual 200mm fans (AIR version) for max airflow.
FLOVA: A home-friendly chassis with cross-flow cooling, removable fabric panels, and minimalist design for seamless living space integration.
Ecosystem Synergy: KANALI & LUCIS
KANALI: The ultimate control hub for 3D content, lighting sync, and screen recording across TRYX devices.
2025 marks TRYX’s boldest leap yet—merging hardware with artistry, from 3D displays to silent magnetic fans, every product is designed to inspire creators and gamers alike.”
Visit TRYX’s booth for live demos of KANALI’s real-time content tools and exclusive giveaways. Explore more at or follow **@TRYXGlobal**.
About TRYX Founded in 2023, TRYX is headquartered in Shanghai, specializing in performance-driven PC hardware. With a presence in global market, the brand lives by its motto: “Empowering Possibilities”
Media Contact: Lucius Liu TRYX Global Marketing Email: lucius_liu@tryxzone.com
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
ALLENTOWN, Pa., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CAI, a global services firm, announced today it has been awarded America’s Best Employers for New Grads 2025 by Forbes, an accolade that highlights companies fostering a positive working environment for young professionals. CAI ranked 24th out of 500 companies, across seven industries, that received recognition on this list.
Statista, a leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider, in collaboration with Forbes, conducted an independent survey from over 100,000 U.S. young professionals with less than 10 years of work experience. The survey considered companies employing at least 1,000 people across various industry sectors, evaluating them on multiple dimensions such as Atmosphere & Development, Diversity, Image, Salary/Wage, Workplace, and Working Conditions.
The survey employed both direct evaluations from employees and indirect evaluations from friends, family, and industry peers. The comprehensive scoring model considered personal drivers and public recommendations, ensuring a thorough analysis over a three-year period.
“Being recognized as a top employer for new grads is a testament to our unwavering commitment to cultivating an environment where young talent not only shines but thrives,” said Tammy Harper, chief human resources officer at CAI. “Our Internship eXperience Program (IXP) is intentional on empowering the next generation of professionals. We give our teams the tools and support they need to succeed from day one.”
CAI offers the IXP, providing college interns with real-world experience by working alongside CAI professionals. It equips interns with the first-hand knowledge and skills necessary to transition from an academic environment to the professional working world.
CAI is a global services firm with over 9,000 associates worldwide and a yearly revenue of $1.3 billion+. We have over 40 years of excellence in uniting talent and technology to power the possible for our clients, colleagues, and communities. As a privately held company, we have the freedom and focus to do what’s right—whatever it takes. Our tailor-made solutions create lasting results across the public and commercial sectors, and we are trailblazers in bringing neurodiversity to the enterprise.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Thorsten Barnhofer, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Surrey
For some people, depression is like an unwanted guest who moves in and refuses to leave. Even with therapy and medication, the heavy fog of low mood, exhaustion and hopelessness never fully lifts for long. For around 30% of people with depression, this is a daily reality.
It’s not just a personal burden. Difficult-to-treat depression affects families, workplaces and communities – and carries a huge cost for society.
In England, the NHS Talking Therapies programme is the first place many adults turn when they’re struggling with depression or anxiety. In 2023-24, it supported more than 1.26 million people. Yet, for all its reach, around half of those who complete treatment still feel depressed by the end. And if the therapy hasn’t worked, there are often no further options available.
Most people in this situation are sent back to their GP. A small number may be referred to more specialist mental health services, but those are typically reserved for the most severe cases. That leaves a significant number of people in limbo – still unwell, but without a clear route to further care.
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This is part of a wider problem in mental health services: the so-called “missing middle”. These are people whose needs are too complex for primary (GP) care, but not severe enough for secondary services. As a result, they fall through the cracks.
For many of these people, medication is often the only treatment on offer. But our study, with colleagues, suggests that a different approach, using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), could offer a way forward.
Promising results
We worked with more than 200 patients who had completed NHS Talking Therapies but were still experiencing symptoms of depression. Half were offered an eight-week MBCT course, delivered in small online groups. The others continued with their usual care.
MBCT blends traditional cognitive therapy (which aims to reduce negative thinking patterns) with intensive mindfulness training. Participants learn how to stay present, recognise harmful thought spirals early, and respond to difficult emotions with greater awareness and compassion. Most importantly, they gain skills they can use for the rest of their lives.
The results were promising. People who took part in the mindfulness programme reported bigger improvements in their depressive symptoms than those who didn’t. Six months later, the benefits had not only lasted – they had consolidated and slightly strengthened.
What’s more, those in the MBCT group used fewer health and social care services overall. The programme was also inexpensive to run, costing less than £100 per person. In a time when health systems are under extreme financial pressure, that’s a big deal. Our research suggests MBCT is not just effective, it’s cost-saving too.
When depression doesn’t respond to standard treatment, it can upend lives. People may struggle to work, maintain relationships, or care for their families. Children are especially affected when a parent has long-term depression. Without the right support, things often get worse – and the costs, both personal and financial, continue to grow.
MBCT is already being used for relapse prevention – and there is a trained workforce to deliver it. Consisting of just eight group-based sessions, it is accessible and designed to equip people with practical tools. We believe it can offer hope to those who do not benefit sufficiently from existing services, and should be made available to more people.
Beyond the promise of MBCT itself, this research offers a wider message: we need to invest in psychological therapies for people in the “missing middle”. These are people who are often overlooked but stand to gain the most from targeted, practical support.
In times of tight budgets, the idea that we can improve lives and save money is more than compelling – it’s necessary. This is a clear opportunity to improve outcomes, reduce strain on overstretched services, and help people move forward with their lives.
Thorsten Barnhofer is the author of a book on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). He regularly provides workshops on mindfulness-based interventions. He is co-investigator of a programme grant evaluating an adapted MBCT course for adolescents experiencing depression and is among the investigators for the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit-funded trial described in this article.
Barney Dunn receives funding from the National Institute of Health Research for mental health treatment trials at the University of Exeter, including the Research for Patient Benefit Funding for the RESPOND trial discussed in this article. He co-directs an NHS commissioned psychological therapies service, which delivers Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy.
Clara Strauss is co-lead for Sussex Mindfulness Centre (SMC), part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and has received funding to conduct MBCT research from NIHR and other funders, funding to deliver MBCT courses and funding to train MBCT therapists within SMC.
Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –
Students of the State University of Management won the All-Russian festival-competition of journalists, advertisers and PR people “Life in creative flight!”, which was held at the Voronezh State University.
In total, almost 400 works from students of Russian universities studying in areas of training related to communication technologies were submitted to the competition’s organizing committee.
The jury evaluated projects in 19 nominations of the Mass Media Master competition in the categories of Television and Radio Broadcasting and Press and Internet Publications and 8 nominations of the FROG competition, which includes advertising and PR materials.
Creative projects by students of the Institute of Marketing of the State University of Management became winners and prize winners in several nominations of the festival.
In the nomination “Printed and polygraphic advertising” 1st place was taken by the project of students of the State University of Management “Live here and now”. Authors: Maria Stefani and Violetta Vdovitsa. Supervisor – Alexandra Timokhovich.
“According to VTsIOM statistics, every second Russian is dissatisfied with their lives. One of the reasons is the syndrome of postponed life. In the developed digital layouts of social advertising, we used the technique of analogy with an airport board, where flights with symbolic destinations of “dream”, “success”, “chance”, “love” are postponed and cancelled. Just as flight delays cause anticipation, disappointment, so postponing goals does not allow them to be realized,” Maria Stefani explained the idea of the project.
In the nomination “Radio Advertising” (radio commercial) our students took several prizes at once:
1st place – project “Don’t forget your elders”. Authors: Dmitry Denisov, Pavel Polyakov, Riad Gubatov, Viktor Lozovsky. Leader – Alexandra Timokhovich.
“In modern society, there are frequent situations when representatives of the older generation are left without due attention and care from their relatives. Literally, elderly people are left to their own devices, forced to cope with everyday life, illnesses, and financial difficulties on their own. In the audio clip, we urge you to think about this problem, to become more sensitive and attentive to the elderly,” shared Pavel Polyakov.
2nd place – project “Take your eyes off the screen”. Authors: Maria Bychenkova, Elizaveta Ruzanova, Alena Kladnitskaya. Leader – Alexandra Timokhovich.
3rd place – project “Let’s save food from the trash”. Authors: Yulia Talishevskaya, Ekaterina Tkacheva, Marina Belova. Leader – Alexandra Timokhovich.
3rd place – project “Doxing is the scourge of the modern Internet community”. Author: Anastasia Lilyakova. Leader – Alexandra Timokhovich.
Congratulations to the winners and the head of the student projects! We wish you interesting projects and further victories!
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
New York City, May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Faced with the dual burden of market instability and high hurdles in traditional finance, more and more investors are turning to cloud computing leasing as a stable source of income.
PFMcrypto, a digital computing platform with a presence in 192 countries, recently launched its 1-Day Settlement Profit Plan. Users select a suitable computing power package and see initial returns after just 24 hours – for maximum flexibility and high capital liquidity.
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Growth and User Feedback According to platform statistics, over 9.2 million users are already using the service, and the number of active users is growing by more than 12% annually. PFMcrypto recently introduced an incentive policy for new users. Register now and receive an instant $10 reward.
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Your entry into the Bitcoin ecosystem Whether you are looking for a user-friendly mining solution, want to circumvent the volatility of cryptocurrencies, or want to compare fund structures – PFMcrypto offers the right platform for every risk appetite and knowledge level. The goal is clear: to make Bitcoin mining easier, more flexible, and more secure than ever before.
If you are interested in PFMcrypto’s work and mission, would like to become a partner, or are considering joining their ecosystem, you can find them at pfmcrypto.net. New users can receive a $10 bonus.
For the three months from February to April, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.4%, a rise of 0.2 percentage points compared to the figures for January to March, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.
The underemployment rate also rose from 1.1% to 1.3% during the same period.
Total employment fell by around 15,600 to 3,677,100, while the labour force also dropped by around 9,000 to 3,806,500.
The number of unemployed people increased by around 6,600 to 129,400. Meanwhile, the number of underemployed people rose by around 4,900 to 47,600.
Looking ahead, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun said that various industries in Hong Kong are undergoing a transitional period, adding that their unemployment rates may go upward or downward.
However, he outlined that the recent easing of trade tensions, continued growth in the economy and the Government’s various measures to boost momentum will provide support to the labour market.
Mr Sun said that although Hong Kong has experienced some recent shop closures, there have also been openings of many new shops, suggesting the emergence of new demand and new consumption trends. He also stressed that a significant increase in the number of inbound visitors will bring more opportunities to the labour market.
Current account recorded €51 billion surplus in March 2025, up from €41 billion in previous month
Current account surplus amounted to €438 billion (2.9% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €312 billion (2.1%) one year earlier
In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €698 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €782 billion in the 12 months to March 2025
Chart 1
Euro area current account balance
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; working day and seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €51 billion in March 2025, an increase of €10 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€44 billion), services (€13 billion) and primary income (€7 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€13 billion).
Table 1
Current account of the euro area
Source: ECB.
Note: Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the current account of the euro area
In the 12 months to March 2025, the current account surplus widened to €438 billion (2.9% of euro area GDP), up from a surplus of €312 billion (2.1% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was driven by larger surpluses for goods (up from €324 billion to €386 billion), services (up from €133 billion to €173 billion) and primary income (up from €22 billion to €54 billion). The deficit for secondary income increased from €168 billion to €174 billion.
Chart 2
Selected items of the euro area financial account
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: For assets, a positive (negative) number indicates net purchases (sales) of non-euro area instruments by euro area investors. For liabilities, a positive (negative) number indicates net sales (purchases) of euro area instruments by non-euro area investors.
In direct investment, euro area residents made net investments of €110 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2025, following net disinvestments of €252 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €101 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2025, following net disinvestments of €321 billion one year earlier.
In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €150 billion in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €91 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €548 billion, up from €490 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €408 billion in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €170 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €374 billion, declining from net purchases of €404 billion one year earlier.
Table 2
Financial account of the euro area
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: Decreases in assets and liabilities are shown with a minus sign. Net financial derivatives are reported under assets. “MFIs” stands for monetary financial institutions. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the financial account of the euro area
In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €365 billion in the 12 months to March 2025 (up from €128 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net incurrences of liabilities of €77 billion (following net disposals of €144 billion one year earlier).
Chart 3
Monetary presentation of the balance of payments
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: “MFI net external assets (enhanced)” incorporates an adjustment to the MFI net external assets (as reported in the consolidated MFI balance sheet items statistics) based on information on MFI long-term liabilities held by non-residents, available in b.o.p. statistics. B.o.p. transactions refer only to transactions of non-MFI residents of the euro area. Financial transactions are shown as liabilities net of assets. “Other” includes financial derivatives and statistical discrepancies.
The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs increased by €405 billion in the 12 months to March 2025. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and debt. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.
In March 2025 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,511.0 billion up from €1,478.6 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mainly driven by positive price changes (€48.0 billion), due to an increase in the price of gold, and partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€14.7 billion) and net sales of assets (€0.8 billion).
Table 3
Reserve assets of the euro area
(EUR billions; amounts outstanding at the end of the period, flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: “Other reserve assets” comprises currency and deposits, securities, financial derivatives (net) and other claims. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the reserve assets of the euro area
Data revisions
This press release incorporates revisions to the data for January 2025 and February 2025. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.
Next releases:
Monthly balance of payments: 18 June 2025 (reference data up to April 2025)
Quarterly balance of payments: 03 July 2025 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2025)
For media queries, please contact Benoît Deeg, tel.: +49 172 1683704.
Notes
Current account data are always seasonally and working day-adjusted, unless otherwise indicated, whereas capital and financial account data are neither seasonally nor working day-adjusted.
Hyperlinks in this press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions.
Statistics on Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet published today.
The Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet (SNBS) 2022 presents the Nitrogen Use Efficiencies (NUEs) which are the headline measures of the SNBS and show the percentage of useful nitrogen outputs, for example food, relative to total nitrogen inputs.
In 2022, the whole economy NUE figure was 27%. Although the whole economy figure is dominated by food production, this figure is lower than the NUE for food production due to the inclusion of sources such as transport which produce no useful nitrogen outputs. The NUE for all food production is 33%, with the figure for agriculture ( 33%) being very similar, given that agriculture dominates food production. The 33% figure for all of agriculture comprises values for arable agriculture ( 70%) and livestock based agriculture ( 10%).
The largest component of nitrogen use in Scotland is associated with food production. Overall, out of the 66.9 kt N / yr of total useful nitrogen-containing outputs produced in Scotland, almost 89.5% of these are associated with food production (namely 53.6 kt N / yr of foodstuffs from agriculture, with the remainder from aquaculture and landings from sea fisheries).
The units kt N / yr refers to thousands of tonnes of nitrogen consumed or produced per year.
Livestock based agriculture is inherently less nitrogen efficient than arable agriculture because only a small proportion of the ingested nitrogen by livestock ends up in useful nitrogen-containing produce.
This is the fourth time these data have been compiled.
Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/About
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Unemployment and underemployment statistics for February – April 2025 Comparing February – April 2025 with January – March 2025, the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) increased in many major economic sectors, with more distinct increases observed in the construction sector, accommodation services sector, food and beverage service activities sector, and financing sector. Meanwhile, declines in the unemployment rates were seen in the information and communications sector; insurance sector; and arts, entertainment and recreation sector. As to the underemployment rate, increases were mainly seen in the construction sector and cleaning and similar activities sector.
Total employment decreased by around 15 600 from 3 692 700 in January – March 2025 to 3 677 100 in February – April 2025. Over the same period, the labour force also decreased by around 9 000 from 3 815 500 to 3 806 500.
The number of unemployed persons (not seasonally adjusted) increased by around 6 600 from 122 800 in January – March 2025 to 129 400 in February – April 2025. Over the same period, the number of underemployed persons also increased by around 4 900 from 42 700 to 47 600.
Commentary
Commenting on the latest unemployment figures, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, said, “The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage point from a low level in January – March 2025 to 3.4% in February – April 2025. The underemployment rate went up to 1.3%. The labour force and total employment decreased further to 3 806 500 and 3 677 100 respectively from the preceding three-month period.”
Looking ahead, Mr Chris Sun said, “Various industries in Hong Kong are undergoing a transitional period, and the trends of their unemployment rates may go upward or downward. However, the recent easing of trade tensions, the continued growth in the Mainland economy, the Government’s various measures to boost economic momentum and the continuous positive growth of the overall economy will provide support to the labour market.”
Mr Chris Sun said, “Although we see some recent closures of shops, there have also been openings of many new shops. As at end-2024, the number of companies registered in Hong Kong has reached a record high of 1.46 million, likely against emergence of new demands and new consumption trends. The recent successful organisation of a series of mega events in Hong Kong, coupled with the concerted efforts of the Government in tandem with different industries including tourism, catering, hospitality and retail, has led to a significant increase in the number of inbound visitors, which will bring about more opportunities to the labour market.”
Further information
The unemployment and underemployment statistics were compiled from the findings of the continuous General Household Survey.
In the survey, the definitions used in measuring unemployment and underemployment follow closely those recommended by the International Labour Organization. The employed population covers all employers, self-employed persons, employees (including full-time, part-time, casual workers, etc.) and unpaid family workers. Unemployed persons by industry (or occupation) are classified according to their previous industry (or occupation).
The survey for February – April 2025 covered a sample of some 26 000 households or 68 000 persons, selected in accordance with a scientifically designed sampling scheme to represent the population of Hong Kong. Labour force statistics compiled from this sample represented the situation in the moving three-month period of February to April 2025.
Data on labour force characteristics were obtained from the survey by interviewing each member aged 15 or over in the sampled households.
Current account recorded €51 billion surplus in March 2025, up from €41 billion in previous month
Current account surplus amounted to €438 billion (2.9% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €312 billion (2.1%) one year earlier
In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €698 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €782 billion in the 12 months to March 2025
Chart 1
Euro area current account balance
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; working day and seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €51 billion in March 2025, an increase of €10 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€44 billion), services (€13 billion) and primary income (€7 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€13 billion).
Table 1
Current account of the euro area
Source: ECB.
Note: Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
In the 12 months to March 2025, the current account surplus widened to €438 billion (2.9% of euro area GDP), up from a surplus of €312 billion (2.1% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was driven by larger surpluses for goods (up from €324 billion to €386 billion), services (up from €133 billion to €173 billion) and primary income (up from €22 billion to €54 billion). The deficit for secondary income increased from €168 billion to €174 billion.
Chart 2
Selected items of the euro area financial account
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: For assets, a positive (negative) number indicates net purchases (sales) of non-euro area instruments by euro area investors. For liabilities, a positive (negative) number indicates net sales (purchases) of euro area instruments by non-euro area investors.
In direct investment, euro area residents made net investments of €110 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2025, following net disinvestments of €252 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €101 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2025, following net disinvestments of €321 billion one year earlier.
In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €150 billion in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €91 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €548 billion, up from €490 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €408 billion in the 12 months to March 2025, up from €170 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €374 billion, declining from net purchases of €404 billion one year earlier.
Table 2
Financial account of the euro area
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: Decreases in assets and liabilities are shown with a minus sign. Net financial derivatives are reported under assets. “MFIs” stands for monetary financial institutions. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €365 billion in the 12 months to March 2025 (up from €128 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net incurrences of liabilities of €77 billion (following net disposals of €144 billion one year earlier).
Chart 3
Monetary presentation of the balance of payments
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: “MFI net external assets (enhanced)” incorporates an adjustment to the MFI net external assets (as reported in the consolidated MFI balance sheet items statistics) based on information on MFI long-term liabilities held by non-residents, available in b.o.p. statistics. B.o.p. transactions refer only to transactions of non-MFI residents of the euro area. Financial transactions are shown as liabilities net of assets. “Other” includes financial derivatives and statistical discrepancies.
The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs increased by €405 billion in the 12 months to March 2025. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and debt. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.
In March 2025 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,511.0 billion up from €1,478.6 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mainly driven by positive price changes (€48.0 billion), due to an increase in the price of gold, and partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€14.7 billion) and net sales of assets (€0.8 billion).
Table 3
Reserve assets of the euro area
(EUR billions; amounts outstanding at the end of the period, flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
Notes: “Other reserve assets” comprises currency and deposits, securities, financial derivatives (net) and other claims. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
This press release incorporates revisions to the data for January 2025 and February 2025. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock speaks at a forum during the World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington in April.Jose Luis Magana/AP
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut the official interest rate for the second time this year, as it lowered forecasts for Australian economic growth and pointed to increasing uncertainty in the world economy.
The bank lowered the cash rate target by 0.25%, from 4.1% to 3.85%, saying inflation is expected to remain in the target band.
All the big four banks swiftly passed the cut on to households with mortgages. This will save a household with a $500,000 loan about $80 a month.
Announcing the cut, the Reserve Bank stressed in its accompanying statement it stands ready to reduce rates again if the economic outlook deteriorates sharply.
The Board considered a severe downside scenario and noted that monetary policy is well placed to respond decisively to international developments if they were to have material implications for activity and inflation in Australia.
The Reserve Bank was also comforted by the underlying inflation measure called the “trimmed mean”. This measure excludes items with the largest price movements up or down.
The bank noted that it has returned to the 2–3% target band for the first time since 2021. This suggests inflation is not just temporarily low due to temporary factors such as the electricity price rebates.
In February, Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock conceded the bank had arguably been “late raising interest rates on the way up”. It did not want to be late on the way down.
Perhaps Bullock is being unduly modest. The central bank looks to have judged well the extent of monetary tightening. It did not raise interest rates as much as its peers, but still got inflation back to the target.
Unemployment remains low
Last week, we got an update on the strength of the labour market. Unemployment stayed at 4.1%. It has now been around 4% since late 2023, a remarkable achievement.
This is below the 4.5% the Reserve Bank had regarded as the level consistent with steady inflation (in economic jargon, the NAIRU). But neither prices nor wages have accelerated.
Households and businesses may turn cautious
In its updated forecasts, the bank sees headline inflation dropping to 2.1% by mid-year but going back to 3.0% by the end of the year, as the electricity subsidies are removed. By mid-2027, it will be back near the middle of the 2-3% target.
Underlying inflation is forecast to stay around the middle of the target band throughout.
The Reserve Bank cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.1% by December, down from its previous forecast of 2.4% made in February. It said:
Economic policy uncertainty has increased sharply alongside recent global developments, and this is expected to prompt some households to increase their precautionary savings and some businesses to postpone some investment decisions.
The unemployment rate is expected to increase to 4.3% by the end of the year and remain there through 2026.
Cost of living pressures look set to ease, as real household disposable income grows faster than population.
As the Reserve Bank governor told a media conference on Tuesday:
There’s now a new set of challenges facing the economy, but with inflation declining and the unemployment rate relatively low, we’re well positioned to deal with them. The board remains prepared to take further action if that is required.
Economic and policy ‘unpredictability’
The main uncertainty in the global economy is how the trade war instigated by US President Donald Trump will play out. According to one count, he has announced new or revised tariff policies about 50 times.
“The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated since the February statement. This is due to the adverse impact on global growth from higher tariffs and widespread economic and policy unpredictability,” the bank noted.
The US tariff pauses on the highest rates on China and most other nations are due to be in place for 90 days. But more measures may be announced before then.
This uncertainty is likely to be stifling trade, and even more so investment decisions by companies in the face of rapidly changing policies. And it will weaken the global economy.
In her press conference, Bullock said the board’s judgement was that “global trade developments will overall be disinflationary for Australia”. Not only is the global outlook weaker, but some goods no longer being sold to the US could be diverted to Australia.
Where will interest rates go from here?
The Reserve Bank’s updated forecasts assume interest rates will fall further, to 3.4% by the end of the year.
But this is just a reflection of what financial markets are implying. It is not necessarily what the bank itself expects to do. It is certainty not a promise of what they will do.
But the Reserve Bank still regards its stance as “restrictive”, or weighing on growth. So if it continues to believe inflation will stay within the target band, or the global outlook deteriorates, it will cut rates further.
John Hawkins was formerly a senior economist with the Reserve Bank.
Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Government-owned Kiwirail is supposed to be presiding over the New Zealand Main Trunk (Railway) Line, from Auckland to Invercargill. As such it runs a ferry service (The Interislander) between New Zealand’s North and South Islands.
We are being told by Kiwirail (and see today’s report on Radio NZ) that the only rail-enabled roll-on roll-off ferry – the Aratere – will cease operations in August this year, five years before its putative successor ferries will commence operations.
There is a simple conceptual solution, which covers both the short run and the long-run.
Kiwirail could relocate the Interislander’s South Island terminus to Lyttelton, the rail-accessible port of Christchurch. Indeed this should have become policy after the dramatic 2016 Kaikoura earthquake which destroyed both railway and highway around Kaikoura, halfway between Wellington and Christchurch; both road and rail main trunk. Not only is the present route precarious, but also it is so much ‘greener’ for both road and rail traffic between the North Island and the southern 85% of the South Island (by population) to travel by sea between Wellington and Christchurch. That is, the bulk of interisland vehicle travel undertaken directly by sea is more sustainable than a journey by sea between Wellington and Picton followed by a long 340km Picton to Christchurch land journey.
The suggested solution is that The Interislander should operate out of Lyttelton from about 2030, leaving Bluebridge to service the Wellington Picton route. If that were to happen, then the Aratere could stay in service until 2030; because the new facilities suited to the new ships – at least the South Island facilities – would not have to be on the same site as Picton’s present rail-ship facilities.
Last year I wrote to MPs from all five parties, before it was too late to cancel the shipping order for the cancelled iRex project, including the Labour MP for Lyttelton. Only the Green Party bothered to reply to me. And even they were unenthusiastic about the idea of the Interislander shifting to Lyttelton; their lack of interest came across as more a matter of political priority than as an argument about economics or sustainability.
Maybe I am stupid, and I simply cannot see the obvious reasons why a shift back to Lyttelton cannot happen. But I really think we should have a national conversation about the restoration of ferry services between Wellington and Lyttelton; and with the current consciousness about the future of rail being a very important stimulus to that conversation.
After all, for over 100 years, before 1960, Wellington to Lyttelton was the essential ‘main trunk’ link between the two islands. The change-around happened around 1960 because the previous Wellington to Picton service had become so run-down that something had to be done about it. And that there just happened to be a relatively new railhead at Picton. After 1960, the Lyttelton service was doomed to fail when it became a one-ship service in 1968, after the tragic demise of the then state-of-the-art Wahine.
Why don’t we have national conversations anymore? Everything seems to happen as a fait accompli, narratives driven by unimaginative back-office accountants with short time horizons. And mainstream academics and media simply accept this under-democratic state of affairs.
We are still suffering from the infrastructure backlog that escalated in the early 1990s when Finance Minister Ruth Richardson forced many of New Zealand’s unemployed and underemployed to emigrate, especially to Australia; all in the name of ‘fiscal responsibility’. Some of those people who left for Australia just as its banking crisis was unfolding – especially their children – are drifting back to New Zealand in the 2010s and 2020s as ‘501’ deportees (see Product of Australia, Stuff December 2019, and noting in a chart that more than half of the 501s deported to New Zealand from 2015 to 2019 were aged 26 to 40).
Those young (mainly) men could have been building New Zealand; instead, too many became criminals in Australia. And the New Zealand economy regressed for the best part of ten years (from 1985), while the rest of the world was progressing. That period is the source of the now-entrenched Australia New Zealand differential in living standards.
————-
Keith Rankin (keith at rankin dot nz), trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Riot Games announced Tuesday Jian “Uzi” Zihao as the second-ever inductee into the League of Legends Hall of Legends, recognizing the former star bot laner’s extraordinary contributions to the game and its competitive scene.
Uzi, hailed as one of the greatest players in League of Legends history, made his mark with mechanical brilliance, fearless gameplay, and deep fan engagement. He rose to prominence with Royal Club and later led Royal Never Give Up (RNG) to domestic and international titles, capturing the hearts of millions along the way.
“Uzi’s legacy goes beyond his titles and achievements; he changed the way we view the bot lane role,” said Chris Greeley, Global Head of LoL Esports. “His passion and determination have inspired millions.”
Highlights of Uzi’s career include back-to-back World Championship Final appearances in 2013 and 2014, and a career-defining 2018 season that included multiple titles and international acclaim. He was also part of China’s gold-medal winning team at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games. His Hall of Legends induction follows an overwhelming wave of support from global panelists, underscoring his enduring influence on the sport.
He will also be honored at a special induction ceremony in Shanghai on June 6.
Every year, LoL Esports will induct a pro player into the Hall of Legends to honor their achievements within the sport and game. Players are chosen by an independent voting panel of esports industry veterans and experts from every region who select players based on criteria including international berths, international and regional titles, role specific stats, and overall contributions to the sport.
Five-time world champion Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok of South Korea was the first-ever inductee honored in 2024.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Lindsey, Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, The University of Melbourne
Making Jakarta their first overseas visit has become a set piece for newly elected Australian prime ministers dating back to John Howard in 1996.
So, we should not be surprised that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew to Jakarta soon after his landslide re-election, just as he did in 2022. In fact, it would be very surprising if he did not.
These visits are now an obligation for a newly elected PM. Failing to jump on the plane would be seen in Indonesia as an intentional snub.
The visits follow a familiar pattern. The prime minister offers some sort of paraphrase of Paul Keating’s famous tag, “There is no country more important to Australia than Indonesia”. (Albanese actually quoted Keating word for word.)
There is a carefully planned photo op, such as riding bamboo bikes, visiting a crowded marketplace or, this time around, a golf cart ride at the presidential palace.
The brief visit ends with a joint press conference, where both leaders pledge to “strengthen the relationship”. With occasional exceptions, their announcements are vague and aspirational. Sometimes they just restate what they’ve said before.
In other words, these performative post-election prime ministerial visits have become an essential, symbolic part of Australia’s bilateral relationship with Indonesia, but they too often lack substance.
This is a pity, because Australia needs to work much harder to achieve its key aims with Indonesia, which Albanese defined in Jakarta as closer economic and defence engagement.
To put it bluntly, Australia struggles to get Indonesia’s attention. It is an uncomfortable truth that, from an Indonesian perspective, Australia’s leverage and importance is limited. Jakarta sees Canberra as the junior partner in the relationship.
An Indonesian president is hardly likely to say, “There is no country more important to Indonesia than Australia”, let alone make a post-election visit to Canberra a fixture.
Prabowo’s gesture to Australia
This is not to say Indonesia’s current president, Prabowo Subianto, is hostile to Australia. He is not.
In fact, he made a significant friendly gesture to Australia soon after he was sworn in last year by releasing the remaining five members of the Bali Nine from prison in Indonesia and sending them home for Christmas.
This move was beneficial to Prabowo on multiple fronts.
First, generous acts of clemency of this kind distinguish him from his predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and his hardline “war on drugs” policy. Jokowi endorsed Prabowo in last year’s election, but Prabowo is keen to emerge from his long shadow.
Second, Prabowo is far more cosmopolitan and interested in international affairs than his predecessor. He has ambitions to be a player on the global stage, as witnessed by his (failed) efforts to broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine last year. Freeing foreign prisoners makes him more welcome overseas.
Third, granting clemency helps counter Prabowo’s dark past, and the long-standing and credible allegations of human rights abuses that date back to his time as Soeharto’s son-in-law and a special forces commander.
These allegations are more of a problem internationally than at home, but they are still a nuisance for Prabowo. He likely expected his Bali Five gesture would win him a warm and image-enhancing response from Albanese – and indeed, that proved to be the case.
But while all this suited Prabowo nicely, it did not result in any major developments in the two areas most important to Australia: trade and security.
Lingering mistrust on security matters
There are understandable reasons for this.
Take security, for example. Indonesia is critically important to Australia as its northern defensive shield. It is vital to our interests that we have a strong security partnership with Indonesia. But Australia is less important to Indonesia’s own defences.
We are also not fully trusted. In addition to lingering concerns about the AUKUS deal with the US and UK, Australia’s role in the independence of Timor–Leste in 1999 resulted in Indonesia famously tearing up the sweeping security treaty Keating negotiated with Soeharto in 1995.
Indeed, the loss of Timor–Leste still rankles with some senior Indonesian military figures. Australia and Indonesia have signed new security arrangements since then – the Lombok Treaty, in particular, and the agreement signed last year enabling more complex training exercises between the two militaries. However, none match the scale of the 1995 agreement.
Moreover, our engagement on security is complicated by Indonesia’s long-standing commitment to a non-aligned diplomatic policy – what it calls “free and active”.
Jakarta did stop short of allowing Russia to base long-range aircraft in Papua province, but under its non-aligned stance, it has purchased weapons and fuel from Russia and become the first Southeast Asian country join the BRICS grouping of countries (founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China).
Undercooked on trade and investment
As for the economic relationship, our low profile in Indonesian markets – despite our proximity – severely limits our leverage and influence in Indonesia.
Indonesia has a population approaching 300 million and a huge retail market. But as a trading partner, Australia ranks far behind many other countries, including China, the US, Japan, India, Singapore, and even Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
This is despite signing a free trade agreement with Indonesia in 2019. Although it was many years in the making, the deal did not deliver dramatic changes at the time, and has had limited impact ever since.
Indonesia is open about its hunger for more foreign investment. But, again, we are not a major investor in our near neighbour. In fact, Australia invests more in far-flung tax havens such as Luxembourg and Ireland, as well as in Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and India, than we do in Indonesia. It’s not even in our top 20 investment destinations.
As Albanese said in Jakarta, strengthening investment ties requires government, business and civil society demonstrating greater engagement and ambition when it comes to Indonesia.
This is not easy. Australian businesses remain wary of Indonesia because of bureaucratic red tape and the complexity created by decentralised and sometimes chaotic local governments, as well as serious, widespread corruption.
However, this is true of many other business destinations in Asia and the developing world. It is hard to avoid the impression that Australian businesses have a blind spot regarding Indonesia.
A move that would get Jakarta’s attention
The ambition that Albanese called for is well overdue.
Both China and India have large diasporas in Australia that can offer rich human resources for investors in those countries and help them navigate complex markets. By comparison, the local Indonesian population is tiny, and our education system has failed to fill the gap.
In fact, Indonesian studies is barely hanging on by its fingernails in our schools and universities. The numbers of students studying Indonesian in Year 12 has plunged to minuscule numbers in recent years. And universities drop courses every year, with enrolments falling 63% between 1992 and 2019.
A second-term leader with a gigantic majority, Albanese is ideally positioned to do something about this.
He should take a page from the playbooks of ALP heroes Keating and Kevin Rudd, who funded programs to boost Asian languages in schools. Albanese should allocate serious funding – A$100 million would be good start – over the next decade to revive Indonesian language instruction in Australian schools.
That would help rebuild what was once a level of Indonesia literacy unmatched anywhere else in the world. It would be a big step towards helping Australian businesses summon up the courage to enter complex Indonesian markets where only around 5% of the population have functional English.
And it would be an ambitious announcement that would be guaranteed to get serious attention in Jakarta.
Tim Lindsey receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Riboldi, Lecturer in Social Impact and Social Change, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney
Social media advertising is an increasingly important frontier in election campaigns.
Political parties, candidates and third-party groups – such as trade unions, industry bodies and interest groups – all spend big to push their message high into the algorithms of potential voters.
In the 2025 Australian federal election, this spend has been estimated at around A$40 million across the Meta- and Google-owned digital media platforms.
Based on our analysis of data from the Meta Ad Library – part of a broader research project on third sector groups (not political parties or candidates) during the election – third party groups spent more than $7.5 million advertising on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram from March 28 to May 3 – the date the election was called to polling day.
Understanding which of these groups spent what, and on what, offers insights into the election results and modern political campaigning generally.
Some surprises in the stats
During the election campaign, much media commentary focused on right wing organisation Advance Australia’s digital campaigning.
However, our analysis shows pro-Liberal/National Party groups were outspent on Meta (which owns Facebook) almost 3:1 by anti-Liberal groups.
Much of this was focused on workers’ rights, or in opposition to the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy.
The top 25 spending groups on Meta spent just more than $6 million between them, at a rate of around $6,500 a day. The rate of spending increased steadily during the campaign, with the bulk of the spend (more than $4 million) occurring in the final two weeks.
On May 2, the day before the election, these 25 big spenders paid on average $16,622 to push their message on Meta social media platforms.
Conservative campaign group Advance Australia spent just less than $50,000 on Meta on the final day of the campaign (social media advertising is exempt from the two-day ad-blackout laws affecting traditional media operators).
Advance was the biggest third-party campaigning group on Meta during the election, spending more than $1 million during the campaign’s 37 days.
Advance’s left-wing competitor during the campaign was the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which spent around $475,000 on Meta advertising across the campaign, including more than $52,000 on May 2.
While the ACTU spent less than half of Advance’s spend across Meta during the campaign, it spent three times as much on YouTube/Google advertising. Data from the Google Ad Transparency Center reveals the ACTU spent $928,000 on the platform between March 28 and May 3, whereas Advance spent $296,000 during the same period.
Key battlegrounds: climate and energy
The other two big Meta spenders the day before polling day highlight the key policy contest among third party organisations – the Coalition’s proposal to introduce nuclear powered energy to Australia.
Nuclear for Australia was the biggest spender on Meta on May 2, spending more than $65,000 in one day. Its direct counterpoint, Liberals Against Nuclear, spent a touch more than $32,000 on the same day.
However, during the whole campaign, Liberals Against Nuclear spent more ($246,000 compared to Nuclear for Australia’s $236,000).
An anti-nuclear message was particularly prominent across the top 25 spending groups on Meta. Of the 15 organisations we identified as being explicitly anti-Liberal, nine were climate organisations with an anti-nuclear message.
These nine organisations spent a total of $2.5 million across Meta during the course of the campaign.
The most significant of these was Climate 200, which spent almost $900,000 on Meta during the election campaign.
Another key anti-nuclear nuclear campaigner on Meta was Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), which spent almost $400,000 between March 28 and May 3 across two different Facebook pages, and Hothouse Magazine, which spent almost $300,000 on pro-renewables advertising.
Together, the 15 explicitly anti-Liberal groups spent more than $3.6 million during the election, far eclipsing the two clear pro-Liberal groups, Advance Australia and Nuclear for Australia, which spent around $1.3 million between them.
So, what insights might these findings offer into the election results?
What may the future hold?
There certainly appears to be a correlation between the historic low Coalition vote and the outspending of pro-Liberal entities on Meta.
Outside of Advance and Nuclear for Australia’s Meta campaigning, big-spending right-wing groups such as Australians for Prosperity, Better Australia and Australian Taxpayer’s Alliance seemed more singularly focused on tearing down the Greens and Climate 200-backed independents than on helping the Coalition win government.
In contrast, the anti-Dutton and anti-nuclear focus of the anti-Liberal third party spending has a degree of collective discipline about it, which is probably indicative of the strength of the workers’ rights and climate movements in Australia.
Additionally, the climate movement’s strong anti-nuclear campaign may have presented a message which glossed over Labor’s climate failures during the previous term.
This may have sent some pro-climate voters to Labor rather than to the Greens or Climate 200 independents. For their part, these organisations appeared to campaign more around the opportunities of a possible minority government than on environmental issues.
Civil society actors such as trade unions and industry groups have a long history of involvement in Australian politics.
The increasing non-major party vote, now around a third of all voters, means there are now more voices in our democratic processes.
This in turn creates more opportunities for third party organisations to influence policy debate and election outcomes.
Mark Riboldi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Disability and activity limitations: 2023 Census – 20 May 2025 – Disability and activity limitations: 2023 Census provides information through the release of 52 new Aotearoa Data Explorer tables and a report Using data from the Household Disability Survey and the 2023 Census.
Disability and activity limitation statistics provide important insights about disabled people living in New Zealand. These statistics and insights are used by government agencies, service providers, and community groups to monitor the outcomes of disabled people compared with non-disabled people and to support the development of accessible services.
Activity limitations are measured in the census using the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WGSS). The WGSS asks about six basic activities that a person might have difficulty with: seeing, hearing, walking or climbing stairs, remembering or concentrating, washing all over or dressing, and communicating. A person can have more than one activity limitation and will be counted for each limitation they give as a response.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
An aerial drone photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows a cargo ship navigating at Tianjin Port in north China’s Tianjin. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s economy withstood pressure and maintained stable growth, continuing on a path of positive development amid internal challenges and increasing external shocks, an official of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said at a press conference that the fundamentally positive outlook for China’s economy has not changed, and there are several favorable conditions for sustained economic recovery.
China’s retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country’s consumption strength, expanded 5.1 percent year on year in April to 3.72 trillion yuan (about 517.27 billion U.S. dollars), NBS data showed.
From January to April, the retail sales of consumer goods rose 4.7 percent year on year, accelerating from the 4.6-percent growth in the first three months, according to the NBS.
In the first four months, the index of services production grew by 5.9 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage points faster than that of the first quarter, according to the NBS data.
In April, the total value of goods imports and exports reached 3.84 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.6 percent year on year, the data showed. From January to April, the import and export volume of general trade grew by 0.6 percent year on year, accounting for 64 percent of the total trade value.
In the first four months, private enterprises saw a year-on-year increase of 6.8 percent in imports and exports, representing 56.9 percent of the overall trade volume, an increase of 2.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
China’s fixed-asset investment went up 4 percent year on year in the first four months of 2025 to 14.7 trillion yuan, the latest NBS data showed. Excluding the property sector, the country’s fixed-asset investment grew 8 percent year on year during this period.
During the period, infrastructure investment rose 5.8 percent year on year, while manufacturing investment increased 8.8 percent, the data indicated.
Driven by China’s consumer goods trade-in program, sales of home appliances and audio equipment surged by 38.8 percent last month, and sales of cultural and office goods jumped by 33.5 percent, according to the NBS.
“In April, the combined retail sales of consumer goods related to trade-ins, including household appliances and audio-visual equipment, cultural and office supplies, furniture, communication equipment, and building and decoration materials, contributed to a 1.4 percentage point increase in the total retail sales of consumer goods,” Fu said.
In April, the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 10 percent year on year, surpassing the overall industrial growth rate by 3.9 percentage points.
China’s shift toward intelligent and green development is gaining momentum, said Fu. In April, the added value of the intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing sector surged by 74.2 percent, while the production of new energy vehicles rose by 38.9 percent.
“Breakthroughs in advanced technology fields such as large AI models and humanoid robots will further promote industrial upgrading and development,” Fu said.
Bolstered by multiple favorable factors, China’s economy is expected to maintain stable performance and steady growth momentum, said the spokesperson.
He added that the significant reduction of bilateral tariffs between China and the United States is beneficial for trade growth between the two countries and global economic recovery.
However, the current international environment remains complex and challenging, with a rise in unilateralism and protectionism posing serious challenges to the international economic and trade order and hindering global economic growth, Fu noted.
“But the trend of international cooperation for win-win outcomes will not change, and China’s commitment to expanding its opening up will remain steadfast,” he said.
The country’s efforts to diversify its foreign trade are progressing steadily, with policies aimed at promoting foreign trade development delivering continuous results, Fu said, adding that these measures are expected to continue supporting the stable growth of China’s foreign trade.
Disability and activity limitations: 2023 Census–20 May 2025 –Disability and activity limitations: 2023 Census provides information through the release of 52 new Aotearoa Data Explorer tables and a reportUsing data from the Household Disability Survey and the 2023 Census.
Disability and activity limitation statistics provide important insights about disabled people living in New Zealand. These statistics and insights are used by government agencies, service providers, and community groups to monitor the outcomes of disabled people compared with non-disabled people and to support the development of accessible services.
Activity limitations are measured in the census using theWashington Group Short Set on Functioning (WGSS). The WGSS asks about six basic activities that a person might have difficulty with: seeing, hearing, walking or climbing stairs, remembering or concentrating, washing all over or dressing, and communicating. A person can have more than one activity limitation and will be counted for each limitation they give as a response.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the May 19, 2000, coup led by renegade businessman George Speight.
The deposed Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, says Speight’s motive had less to do with indigenous rights and a lot more to do with power, greed, and access to the millions likely to accrue from Fiji’s mahogany plantation.
On this day 25 years ago, the elected government was held hostage at the barrel of the gun, the Parliament complex started filling up with rebels supporting the takeover, Suva City and other areas in Fiji were looted and burnt, and innocent people were attacked just because of their race.
Chaudhry said indigenous emotions were “deliberately ignited to beat up support for the treasonous actions of the terrorists”.
He said the coup threw the nation into chaos from which it had not fully recovered even to this day.
Chaudhry said using George Speight as a frontman, the “real perpetrators” of the coup, assisted by a group of armed rebels from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), held Chaudhry and members of his government hostage for 56 days as they plundered, looted and terrorised the Indo-Fijian community in various parts of the country.
The Fiji Labour Party leader said that, as with current Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who led the first two coups in 1987, so with Speight in May 2000, that the given reason for the treason and the mayhem that followed was to “protect the rights and interests of the indigenous community”.
Chaudhry said today that it was widely acknowledged that the rights of the indigenous community was not endangered either in 1987 or in 2000.
He added that they were simply used to pursue personal and political agendas.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka with former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry . . . apology accepted during the Girmit Day Thanksgiving and National Reconciliation church service at the Vodafone Arena in Suva. Image: Jonacani Lalakobau/The Fiji Times
The FLP leader said those who benefitted were the elite in Fijian society, not ordinary people.
Chaudhry said this was obvious from current statistics which showed that currently the iTaukei surveyed made up 75 percent of those living in poverty.
He said poverty reports in the early 1990s showed practically a balance in the number of Fijians and Indo-Fijians living in poverty.
Prisoner George Speight speaking to inmates in 2011 . . . he and his rogue gunmen seized then Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government hostage in a 2000 crisis that lasted for 56 days. Image: Fijivillage News/YouTube screenshot
The former prime minister says it was obvious that the coups had done nothing to improve the quality of life of the ordinary indigenous iTaukei.
Instead, he said the coups had had a devastating impact on the entire socio-economic fabric of Fiji’s society, putting the nation decades behind in terms of development.
Chaudhry said the sorry state of Fiji today — “the suffering of our people and continued high rate of poverty, deteriorating health and education services, the failing infrastructure and weakened state of our economy” — were all indicators of how post-coup governments had failed to deliver on the expectations of the people.
He said: “It is time for us to rise above discredited notions of racism and fundamentalism and embrace progressive, liberal thinking.”
Chaudhry added that leaders needed to be judged on their vision and performance and not on their colour and creed.
Republished with permission from FijiVillage News.
2000 attempted coup leader George Speight with a bodyguard and supporters during the siege drama in May 2000. Image: Fijivillage News
In fact, last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers made clear that the priority for the government’s second term will be to boost productivity. This crucial measure of how much we produce for every hour we work rises a little every year. But growth has slowed over the past decade.
As part of this, the federal government has tasked the Productivity Commission with a new strategy to enhance productivity. A draft report is expected in July or August, with implementable ideas across five key pillars.
So far, however, one part of the solution to the productivity slump has received little public attention: boosting support for scientific research.
Productivity relies on science
Science can help boost national economic productivity in many ways.
For one, scientific innovation and creativity can create high value goods and services for both Australian and international markets. And translating this research into real-world economic benefits builds a workforce that combines science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills with business skills.
This is important because it fosters technological innovation and supports evidence-based decision making. It also empowers individuals to solve complex problems in the face of technological change. This ultimately drives productivity growth.
Australian scientific solutions will also need to be at the fore if the Future Made in Australia agenda is to realise its goal of stronger public-private sector relationships and a more resilient economy.
The so-called fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, refers to the rapid digitisation and automation of manufacturing industry technologies and processes. It not only relies on science to realise the enormous opportunities of digital technologies, but also to ensure they are harnessed sustainably.
The government seems to recognise the role scientific research and innovation can play in boosting productivity.
For example, in 2024 it fully launched the Australian Economic Accelerator, which was announced by the former Coalition government two years earlier. This scheme is designed to foster and build productivity by supporting university research in Australia that has the potential for commercialisation.
But there are still some fundamental problems in the world of science that are limiting productivity growth in Australia.
A widening gap
One of these problems relates to research and development – or R&D – funding.
Australia’s investment in R&D as a percentage of gross domestic product has been declining for many years. It has dropped from 2.25% in 2008–9 to 1.68% in 2021–22. At the same time, other advanced economies have increased their R&D spending, leading to a widening gap. The OECD average is 2.7%.
Multiple leading bodies have called out this decline as a threat to Australia’s long-term productivity. That’s because R&D spending in science fosters innovation and creativity – two major factors in productivity growth.
Another problem is the declining support for fundamental science which isn’t done with any application in mind, but can be equally important in the long term to enhancing productivity.
Consider the discovery of penicillin. Or of the double helix structure of DNA. These are just some scientific breakthroughs that were not initially focused on practical applications, but ultimately proved transformative.
This kind of scientific research requires sustained support, allowing knowledge to grow. We have seen the results of this in action and its impact even more recently. Scientists had worked on mRNA vaccines for decades before the vaccine breakthrough achieved during the COVID pandemic.
A nation at a crossroads
Australia is at a crossroads. Simply increasing funding in the short term through measures such as Australia’s Economic Accelerator is, at best, a band-aid solution. What’s needed to properly tackle the problem is thoughtful reform and long-term, strategic planning to secure the nation’s prosperity for decades to come.
There is some hope for this, thanks to the government’s comprehensive review of the R&D sector. This review aims to align R&D with national priorities, maximise the value of existing investments, harness public-private partnerships, and strengthen collaboration between research and industry.
By implementing robust R&D reforms and driving productivity across all sectors, Australia can set itself up for sustained growth and international influence.
Deanna D’Alessandro receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
Kate Harrison Brennan was an Advisor to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and is a member of the Australian Labor Party.
Minister of Health Simeon Brown claimed earlier this year that health funding in New Zealand has never been higher and that suggestions of underfunding are “fake news”.
On the bare statistics, Brown isn’t wrong. The allocation to Vote Health has indeed increased from NZ$18.2 billion in 2018-19 to $29.6 billion in the 2024-25 budget.
Yet for many working in the publicly-funded health system things have never seemed so bad, with daily stories of under-staffing and increasing levels of stress.
So, how much should the government be spending on health? Any answer needs to factor in the broader context of the health system, and where we sit historically and comparatively.
The health system is subject to significant cost pressures, few of which are unique to New Zealand. People are generally living longer, but more of that longer life span is spent in ill health.
Technological advances, on balance, drive up health expenditure – more is possible, so more is expected. And compared with other parts of the economy, health services are labour-intensive.
Around two thirds of health expenditure is on staff, and health workforce shortages are a global problem (again, driven by demographic change). All these factors mean health costs rise faster than inflation.
Taking all of this into account, a recent health economics analysis calculated that to continue to deliver the same level of service in the United Kingdom (which has very similar health system characteristics to New Zealand), public spending on health would need to increase by 2.8% in real terms (above inflation) each year.
Then we need to factor in population growth, which has recently been between 1.5% and 2% per year in New Zealand. In this context, a 4-5% increase in Vote Health amounts to merely standing still.
People are living longer, but more of that longer life is spent in ill health. Getty Images
Long-term deterioration
We also need to put our current situation in historical and international context.
The most appropriate indicator for international comparison is “publicly mandated health expenditure” (PMHE) as a percentage of GDP, as this excludes private expenditure (private health insurance and “out of pocket” payments).
Total health spending typically constitutes 10-12% of GDP in high-income countries, and PMHE is typically around 8%. In the 2010s, however, New Zealand’s PMHE dropped from 7.8% (2012) to 7% of GDP (2017). Meanwhile, Australia, Canada and the UK all remained at or above 8% during that time.
This represents a significant long-term deterioration which heightened the stress on our health system before and after the COVID pandemic.
Even when our PMHE as a percentage of GDP is comparable to Australia and other countries, our per-capita health expenditure is significantly less because our GDP per-capita is lower.
The most significant budget boost in recent years was in 2022. But this was largely soaked up by pay rises for health professionals that resulted from underfunding during the 2010s.
The current government finds itself in a very tight spot. This is partly because of international economic conditions and demographic trends, but also due to self-imposed constraints.
Even in such a large budget, there’ll be little room for major initiatives in health unless savings are found from existing areas. That is rarely feasible in health. As is true in most years, there could be up to three big-ticket items. If so, what should they be?
What Budget 2025 should include
First, the government needs to boost capital expenditure in health. A recent analysis by the UK Institute for Government shows that public service productivity, including in the health sector, fell sharply during and after the COVID pandemic. The New Zealand treasury reported similar productivity declines.
The UK report concluded these declines were primarily due to physical capacity constraints – clinical staff can’t be more productive when there is not enough physical space and diagnostic equipment.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a $400 million increase in the annual capital allowance across all of government. Let’s see how much of the total $4 billion capital allowance is channelled into health.
A second priority should be primary healthcare. Here, the health minister has already announced a range of initiatives, headlined by $285 million of additional performance-based funding over three years. This is a welcome commitment, and the most significant boost in primary care funding since the mid-2000s.
However, it’s unlikely this will redress erosion over the past 20 years of primary care “capitation” funding (the amount a GP practice receives per enrolled patient).
This funding formula also needs to be modernised to better reflect where needs are highest and account for rising acuity and complexity of conditions in primary healthcare. This would relieve some pressures on hospital emergency departments and medical wards.
Third, investment to retain and attract health workers across the whole sector is vital. Given the demographic and epidemiological changes, proactively preparing for a mid-21st-century health workforce will require funding to support emerging models of health services, particularly in primary and community settings, including programmes such as Access and Choice and comprehensive primary and community care teams.
These priorities, and any government commitment to them in Budget 2025, must be understood against the backdrop of sustained historical underfunding.
The government is likely to claim health is a big winner in Budget 2025. Unless increases are significantly greater than 5%, such a claim will bring little respite to the health sector.
In any case, the race that counts is a marathon, not a sprint. New Zealand is well back in the field, struggling not to lose further ground.
Tim Tenbensel receives funding from the New Zealand Health Research Council.
