The Day at a Glance | February 17 2022

The Top

· Ukraine`s government and separatists accuse each other of firing across ceasefire line in the Donbas region.

· Markets take into account 6 interest rate increases in the United States after the FED`s meeting minutes were made public.

· The U.S. Department of Agriculture will suspend the importation of avocados from Michoacán after its inspectors received threats.

· IMF warns the E.U. that production chain issues could persist until 2023, which poses challenges for the ECB`s monetary policy.

Economic environment

Tensions increase in Ukraine. According to news reports, artillery shots were fired in the Donbas region in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government`s forces and separatists backed by Moscow accused each other of breaching a ceasefire agreement, which had been in place since 2014. Members of the Ukrainian army even confirmed that two civilians had been inured due to the exchange, while the railway company Ukrzaliznytsia reported that one of its deposits were hit by shots. Tensions in Ukraine continue to escalate and United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated that Moscow continues to move towards invading Ukraine. The U.S. government has assured that there is no evidence of a withdrawal of Russian troops from the border and even reported that 7 thousand troops had been added to the area. For its part, Russia has continued to describe these declarations as Western “hysteria”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov affirmed that they will reply to U.S. security requests today; while the Russian Minister of Defense spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, reiterated that troops will start to withdraw from Belarus once military exercises come to an end, scheduled to occur on February 20th. NATO`s ministers of defense have gathered in Brussels, and European leaders are expected to meet to discuss the conflict today.

U.S. suspends the exportation of avocados from Michoacán. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it will suspend all avocado exports for “as long as necessary” after a U.S. supervisors received a threatening call in Uruapan last week. Since February 11th, the government agency has suspended the exportation of avocados and will leave restrictions in place until the security of U.S. inspectors working in Mexico can be guaranteed. Inspectors had said that avocados had been coming from Puebla, while the U.S. only allowed avocados to be exported exclusively from Michoacán. One of the inspectors was threatened because he/she reported that avocados from Puebla were in an export shipment. The presence of organized crime in the region increases fears that the security of U.S. government officials has been compromised (close to 30 inspectors).