The Day at a Glance | February 22 2021

The Top

· Democrats will begin final steps to approve President Biden`s fiscal package this week.

· Russia and Saudi Arabia differ on the permanence of crude oil production cuts before OPEC+ meeting next week.

· Markets start to take higher interest rates in the US into consideration; halfway through 2023.

· Germany considers increasing government spending in 61 billion euros to aid the economy`s recovery.

Economic environment

The United States House of Representatives plans to vote on President Biden`s proposed 1.9 trillion dollar fiscal package on Friday. Democratic lawmakers in US Congress will begin final steps for the approval of Biden`s fiscal package, which was proposed at the start of 2021. The Budget Committee will vote on the bill today and it`s expected to be voted on in full respect in the House of Representatives on Friday. This would open up space for the Senate to carry out discussions beginning next week. Democrats seek for the bill to come into force before March 14th, date when unemployment aid programs in the previous package come to an end. It`s still unclear whether or not an increase in minimum wage (to 15 dollars an hour) will be part of the bill as it`s one of the most opposed propositions, even among some Democrat lawmakers; the size of unemployment aid will also be debated on and the criteria for the granting of credit to businesses will be changed – in favor of smaller businesses. Republicans have once again expressed that the bill is too large and re-stated their intentions of voting against it, even though Democratic control over Congress could give the President`s party a decisive advantage to move forward with the bill despite the opposition.