have gotten lifelong consequences. the pandemic is not over. we need to both sustain and maintain momentum on cobra. 19 population, immunity through vaccination. but it also means that we have to assure the vaccination for measles and h. p. v and pneumonia and diarrhea gets back on track urgently. that means catching up, millions of children who have missed their vaccines in 20202021. it also means recovering immunization programs and sustaining that trajectory of essential immunization. ok. let's take a back to saudi arabia where gal fleet is another regional heads of states have been gathering for a summit. u. s. president j bought and is also laying out his trash in the middle east. what we can see there is the saudi crown prince mohammed, bin salmon, who is hosting the event meeting with the could tar of a mayor of guitar to me and. and how might autonomy shake to me lots of meetings

coming up with this is our desert. these your top stories, as we've been reporting you as president joe biden, this meeting latest on the sidelines offer regional summit and saudi arabia where he's been laying out his strategy for the middle east. laser delegates will be discussing issues from security, cooperation to food and energy, bought in arrived in saudi arabia on a friday on the last leg of regional tool. he's been criticized for a fist bump with the saudi crown prince. u. s. intelligence accused of ordering the killing of the journalist, jamal cash or g. the israeli military says it's carried out and asked strike all now hum us target in gaza, all to rockets were fired towards the southern city of asked along. the army says it hit a weapons manufacturing site shall anchors parliament has begun the process of

choosing the next president, prime minister, renelle victim, a single servings acting president until a new leader is in place. should happen within the next 7 days. michelle fernandez has moved from colombo for the protest. is that said they wanted a system change. they wanted a clean sweep of the board of this is not a development they are relishing. they are in fact, really, really angry and frustrated that it has come to this. the irony is that gotta be a roger pock. so once at peak popularity are coming in with the 6900000 volts at that residential election has had to leave in the face of a massive public backlash and a protest. i centered on him while a man who was voted out of parliament did not have a single seat, and now sits in the seat of the acting president of this country. he was authority se they'll request the immediate expedition of

a drug lord counted by mexican forces. raphael kara, can tara was jailed in the 1980s for masterminding, the killing of a u. s. drug enforcement agent. he was released in 2013 and returned to drug trafficking. southwest europe is in the grip of a major heat wave which has sparked devastating while fires. emergency crews have been battling places in portugal, spain and france, counting the coast coming up next. how and why did it become so obsessed? with this law, we were giving them a tool to hold corrupt individuals with human rights abusers accountable. they're gonna rip this deal of hard to take the white house of 2025. what is the world hearing what we're talking about by americans today? your weekly take on us politics and society. that's the bottom line with

kind of air. i'm this dante and this is counting the cost on al jazeera. you're look at the wealth of business and economics this week, energy price, as a soaring on the u. s. once saudi arabia to pump more oil. so could president jo biden's, re engagement with the kingdom, help ease record high prices also this week, and japan, prime minister for me o key should i wins a new mandate, but will he carry on? sions, or all these economic legacy or is a financial policy change on the cards? and in argentina, anger grows over sky high inflation. can the government rain and soaring prices and has the i m f played a role in the countries economic woes? ah, well, from israel to the occupied west bank. and then finally, saudi arabia jo biden's, 1st visit to the middle east as president comes at a critical time for him. when his approval racing is that less than 40 percent

ahead of the midterm elections, the war in ukraine has set off a global energy crisis. and biden, once the kingdom to pump more oil in order to bring down prices for americans. feeling the pinch at the pump. while relations between the traditional allies reached a historic low half to the matter of saudi journalist, democracy in 2018 biden's visit to re add ends to reset these ties and convince opec nations to increase oil production. other issues on the agenda also include security and relations with israel. gas prices in the u. s. hit $5.00 a gallon last month. and global oil prices have dropped slightly just below a $100.00 a barrel. that's largely because while production and refining outputs are struggling to keep pace with the rebounding demand, and supply is disrupted as a result of sanctions imposed on russia over the will in ukraine. the opec plus alliance of world producing countries which includes russia, has agreed to speed up its output increase in july and august,

adding $648000.00 barrels a day. but there are production shortfalls, and many member states, saudi arabia and the u. e. the only members who have significant volumes of spare capacity, they're estimated to have a buffer of about 3000000 barrels a day together. that's around 3 percent of global oil outputs and almost equivalent to the amount that russian oil could be kept off the market at year end. well, to discuss all of that i enjoyed from london by i've met nettie now, and that is a visiting fellow at the oxford institute for energy studies. thanks so much for joining us on that. i know there's been plenty of speculation about potential increases and well production in the coming months. and do you think that that's actually likely to make any kind of an impact on the well difference, especially before the u. s. midterms is biting, presumably high? yes. so i think that at the moment there's a lot of discussion, a lot of moving parts in the oil market right now. and biden's visit has put the

focus on spec capacity, and in particular, saudi production as team. and i think that it's important to say from the forefront to inspect asti has already been falling in, in the case of ostrich last few months and are, you know, open glass have added more to the market. so you know that the wedge of available as t actually is going to drop anyway, and that's been priced in by the market. and where we really reach, reach about to point to 2300000 barrels a day of spec as t by august. as opec plus continue of the increases. so as i said, that's already being priced in. i think the other point a member, remember actually there's a lot of uncertainty on both the demand and the supply side on the demand side of the difference in opec's own forecast or all demand growth this year is, is, you know, is it actually is different by about 2000000 barrels a day to most of the consensus forecasts, you know,

taking into account the demand side risks. and, but i think really the big issue is relate to what the supply side uncertainty in a world where a spare capacity begins to fin. and you have ongoing policy discussions, forgot to sanctions on russian oil with proposals around a price cap and really kind of highlights the confusion that exists at the moment in terms of our you know, what the next steps are. we're look turning point and, and, and even tons of russian supply losses. what the estimates are are also very wide. and you talked about uncertainty around supply. just looking at the numbers. i believe saudi arabia's total capacity stands about $12000000.00 barrels per day. how long can it sustain hunting oil like that and what does it take to to produce that huge amount? saudi really, you know, it's, it's, it's opec plus quarter of august is going to be $11000000.00 barrels day. you know,

they've only really produced that amount briefly towards the end of 2018 and we've seen them reached $12000000.00, i think just for one month in 2020, during the height of a price war of russia are. so really, i think that the debate about can saudi reach, 12000000, you know, and, and question is going to be how sustainable can they, you know, sustainable production as to over time is the issue. however, i think really misses the point. i think what the market, you know, it's what the market leads and the market believes saudi messaging on their took maximum, sustainable cost he at all to $1212.00 and a half. and the question is really, if saudi what the testers would they want to give away that information premium, which really holds strategic value for the kingdom. and, and you have to also take into accounts operational constraints of maintaining that production as t over time. and then obviously the question of spec asti,

as i mentioned with all of these supply side risks that exist in the market, you know, do you want to actually, you know, that there's a trade off that has to be taken into account the market as well. and then any increase in oil production where presumably, or require consensus from opec mendez, how likely is that and, and do you see a future for russia within opec last year? so i think the next meeting focus plus really august's will be an important one because really that's when they'll have an wound. you know that the, the cuts that they announced in the mid 2020 out. and i think really the opec plus is going to look at trying to understand or be know, they'll have to also understand, you know, what the basic, what alice's will look like for the rest of this year. and as i mentioned beginning, there is a big difference of view between opec opec's own view of all the mangrove and those

of other agencies. and, but at the same time, i don't think that russia will be, you know, they'll be a wedge between russia and saudi was another class. the the cycle of thinking is much more long term within opec plus than it, you know, and it's not going to respond to a, any short term political cycle or do political head when that may occur. and they're just taking a bit of a step back here. we're looking at an energy prices that isn't solely driven by opec production. so what are the other challenges that have gotten as to this point? so yes, iraq is an energy crisis. it's not just, you know, it's not just an issue of an oil market in terms of, you know, what's happening with that, you know, i mean, the russia crisis is also highlighting issues with gas. you know, you're seeing the, the, the opening of a new new new front and the conflict with regard to cutting back on contracted

volumes of natural gas applied to europe. the europe european economy is, is closely watching weather our natural gas supply returns from watering, one following after maintenance. and that's having an impact really upon some of the central bank decision making as they decide whether or not to increase interest rates. and likewise refining as t has been a big issue as well. you know, we've seen about 3 to 3 and a half 1000000 barrels a day. we're finding asti shot since co bid started. and that sort of taking place against the background of really, you know, what's going on in china as well. so when china ah, has not been exporting much petroleum products as, as last year. and so really the, you know, you, it's not just an issue in the group market, but also across the energy value chain. so you'll see constraints in the refining

asti system. you'll see record levels of prices for gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. and really that's part of the, the, the coven return demand, and suppliers and been able to catch up. and so really, these bottlenecks and constraints are not just limited to what's happening in the oil market, but there's a more of an interconnection numbers taking place between different fuels and market. so you're seeing a policy intervention, and i think this is what the interesting thing about the situation oil and our markets is the role of government policy and interesting kinds ahead are many there a visiting fellow at the upset institute energy study. thanks so much for joining us here and counting the cost. ah, la japan's upper house elections were seen as a referendum on the prime minister's leadership. and the landslide victory of the

ruling party and its coalition partners has bolstered for me, o key should, are just 2 days after the assassination of shins or abbey. the result means that key should i may now have the power to push fiscal policies, including his so called new form of capitalism, which aims to revive the economy. the agenda includes investing in human resources, science and innovation, increasing the number of start ups and promoting green and digital transformations . but the prime minister has also been under pressure to stick with parts of abe's economic plan. critics, a big spending packages to cushion the impact of the pandemic, an ultra low interest rate policies of sent the n to to decade low as an couldn't even accelerate inflation o r b introduced his economic policy back in 2012 in an attempt to jumpstart japan's economy out of 2 decades of stagnation through the so called 3 arrows of his namesake alban nomics policy. they include an ultra loose monetary policy and a form of negative short term interest rates to make it cheaper for consumers and companies to borrow money and to spend pumping money into the economy by funding

infrastructure projects, for example, or giving incentives to companies like tax breaks and structural reforms adding more women and migrants into the workforce than boosting the country's job market to push economic growth. well, joining us now from singapore is marcelle till yon's. he's a senior japan economist at capital economics. thanks for joining us marcel. that was really quite the landslide victory there. i'm curious. do you think he should are now has a, a free hand to do what he wants in terms of the economy. he already had a pretty strong majority before and he doesn't have the 2 thirds majority term are be hurt to years ago. but yes, yes. i mean, he hasn't elusive parliament. he has a free hand. i think the key it was whether he can overcome vested interests and that the powerful business lobby in terms of pushy through any, any reform attendance. and the evidence so far suggest that the he has said,

he's not willing to offend a lot of people. marcel, this all obviously comes in the wake of the very snappy banded are the nomics policies, and that has had mixed successes. that what do you make of it? and do you think he should, i will depart vastly from that. i think i've been on that that probably the biggest achievement of i been nomics has been both an improvement in, in corporate profit margins, which was triggered by the, the corporate governance reform support been issued by arbor. as well as a shop increase in that i propose, modest patient rates of women and elderly, which ensured that employment actually kept rising to fresh, i could highest to oust about ob, his terms despite the the shrinking of the population. but i think the, the kid a seal off of our been nomics has been a very sluggish productivity roles. and unfortunately, even tailwind from a rise labor force participation rate now seems to be fading. so listen,

elderly people on, on all terms, thinking employment for much longer us and at the same time productivity growth is still very weak and this is no clear policy by the current government to improve that. so i think that the next few years are going to be quite challenging for japan's economy in terms of achieving strong g d. p growth. well, much of oven. and especially when you start talking about the participation in the workforce was also about addressing inequality. i understand there is this talk of some sort of new capitalism and the key shita. do you think that addressing inequality will still be a priority for him? well, he, unfortunately back paddled on plans to raise the tax on capital gains and dividends. that suggests that his, his initial focus has already been bolted down. he has suggested in lifting the minimum wage quite aggressively. but that was something that started on the prime

to stop. we already so it's not a shift in policy. so overall, i would think he's pretty much on he's pretty much stick with the status, or there's not a shift in all this young gent at the moment. well, we are also looking at a very different japanese economy. now, given everything that's happened with the pandemic, given the rising inflation that was saying in the n is now what a 20 year la, do you think inflation is still going to be the focus that it is the key it out that it was the army? unfortunately, it is, the deflation is still a threat. i mean, we are currently seeing pretty rapid price gains, but as it is worth salting, the yen has as depreciated at the the most rapid pace since the early as it's the asian financial crisis. and obviously the, the massive supply shortages out there and even that, which is going to get inflation just above the, the bank of 22 percent target. and with that, with energy inflation already starting to slow, it will fall back below the the 2 said target next years so. so while deflation is

probably not, not the longer major threat, i think that the bank, japan's tube said inflation target will remain on the reach falls for the foreseeable future. ela speaking of different challenges, japan also has huge public debt. the in fact the highest public debt to g d p ratio in the industrialized world. how do you see his approach to that? i think the, the strong facial oversee at the moment is providing a bit of a tail than to the public finances by boosting tax revenue. so we had the, the ministry of finance 0 point just last week. the tax revenue, the previous year, searched by 10 percent to it to a fresh record high. so that gives them to shita a window to repair the public finance is that the key question is how, how willing he is to, to not spend the wind fall. i mean, we saw last year he implemented a huge supplementary budget last year with prudence, about 60 percent of g, d, p. a. he already announced another admits the small supplementary budget at the

very start of the current fiscal year, so that it remains to be seen whether he and he's willing to, to not spend the windfall and flash spending. now that the economy is opened up again after the pandemic. interesting times indeed, marcel tele on the senior japan economist, capital economics. thanks again for sharing your thoughts with us here on out of there. well, while rising inflation didn't seem to discourage japanese versus from supporting the ruling party, the rising cost of living is challenging. argentina's government. thousands of origins marched in the capital last week, urging the government to resign while rejecting i. m. f. loans which come with tough conditions may inflation exceeded 60 percent, and the value of the pacer has fallen after the countries who are in a new economy minister, theresa buy reports now from one is areas it's one of the most challenging jobs in the country. managing argentina's economy in times of trouble would i put you put

about the, the, you know, i was sworn in as economy minister by president of the firm. and this, see who the promising to jumpstart argentina's economy. some of them and feel a little more and we are convinced argentina's direction has to do with our fiscal management following the president's economic program. and of course, boosting argentina's exports and reevaluating our currency, which is achieved with more reserve. i mean mission though that it, but doing so won't be easy, but that keith is replacing marketing of man. he was in charge of the tough negotiations of over $40000000000.00 with the international monetary fund. even though the negotiations prove successful, guzman was constantly attacked by the powerful former president and no vice president christine effort on this occasion, and who did not agree with the handling of economy. i didn't see any problem with a very high inflation around 5 percent among high poverty and exchange rate

controls that have a huge impact in the economy. a changing the ministry of economy generates lots of uncertainty. now, country like argentina, that uncertainty increases the price of the us dollar on the street, and that in most cases means more inflation. arjun times are used to living in crisis. they have survived one every other decade. people on the streets, i watching the latest developments very carefully, which is usually there is a lot of uncertainty. we don't know which direction we are going right or left, whichever. but what and teens need is the direction and saturday. we don't have one pensions have been running high between president went the firm and miss and christina pershing, for months by becky's appointment, is seen as a win for the far left leaning faction in government who are close to the vice president and critical of the agreement with the m f. c. america, but we wanted populism needs money to come,

the people down and there is no money. they have no money to give away. now what if they will give they will have to print, and that will increase inflation even more. we have a huge problem. i don't see a way to make it work for me, but that he has a difficult task ahead. she has to fight inflation, generate jobs, and increase the countries we served without displeasing eigen. tina, the vice president, who for many years has now more power than the president himself. yes it is. i will . i'll just eat when aside if well joining us now on skype from analisia and spain is humana. blanco. she is, the research director and head of america is at risk insights at various maple craft. thanks so much for your time today humana. we're looking at obviously skyrocketing inflation, large and tina. something expect to hit what 80 percent this year. obviously we're seeing inflation become a problem in many different parts of the well, but why specifically, are we seeing such a huge rise in argentina?

well, i mean one of the big problems of orange and see that is that it's been struggling with inflation now for several years. and this is accelerating quite quickly. on the back of 2 things. number one is domestic policy, right? a very expansionary monetary policy. if we just look at the last month between mid june and early july, the central bank added the equivalent to 1.4 percent of g d p in money being printed right. so this is, and this is a huge problem for the country. and of course, we have now the 2nd added issue, which is russia's invasion of ukraine and the impact it's had on a fuel and also in fertilizers, which obviously argentina being a huge agricultural power house is also impacted by. well, given the central banks decisions, how do you even begin to tackle inflation when, where in the situation that we're in now,

one of our agency has main economy pounds is a political one actually, of the reason the political will to tackle the problems the central bank is not independent and the executive is embroiled in a power struggle with in the ruling coalition. so, you know, part of the problem, the policy problem is that there are no policies and the policies that have been announced and repeated this week or no convincing markets that argentina is capable to get its economy back in order. and so really the, the question is, you know, how much worse can the country get out before there is the need for it? some chop measures because unfortunately, you know, argentina is heading for another argentina style crisis. will you talk about this political power struggle is there, then the space for the new economy minister to do what needs to be done at all?

or is there not the autonomy for her to operate and that way? well, i don't think it's even an issue of autonomy because i don't think the previous economy minister has the autonomy either. and one of the key issues with the new appointment is that it wasn't an appointment made out of choice for the, you know, the best economy minister in the country could get. but it was rather the choice based on who could precedent fernandez. and his v p. kirschner agree on. so it was kind of a, you know, the decision was made on a reaching a truce rather than, you know, looking for the economy minister, who could leave the country out of a crisis. and in fact, you know, for anyone who followed the situation in the country, there were several other potential candidates that came before minister by taxi's. so even just but when taking office, she's taking office with an impression that she doesn't have the authority or the

independence to implement even the agreement that argentina has reached with the i m. s. well, i want to turn to the i m f because there's obviously a huge disagreement on how that relationship should be approached even within the road in coalition. so what do you make of that going forward? what should we be looking for? well, i mean, this will be the clear bone of contention between president ford under some vb kirshner. you know, as i mentioned earlier, i don't think that argentina's problem is solely economic, but it's a political one. on the i, m f will be a very useful scapegoat in any crisis that comes next. and you know, the agreement with the i m f itself, the countries already, you know, failing to deliver on it, you know, bringing down the fiscal deficit to 2.5 percent of g d p this year. now, you know, it's the, the stuff of pipe dreams. and the, the reality is that, you know,

the i m f has a limited room for maneuver because argentina problem is the i m f problem and the i m f doesn't want to get burned once again in the region let alone with argentina. but if the government in one osiris is unable to resolve its internal problems, then of course the i m f a is a great candidate to become, becomes the cold bread argentina's neck problems, humana. blanca, there from verisk maple croft. thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us on out there. thank you. all that's our show for this week to get in touch with us by tweeting me and associates a and do use the hash tag, ha, ctc. when you do or drop us an e mail accounting, the cost out there a dot net is our address. there's also more for you online at al jazeera dot com slash ptc. that'll take you straight to our page, which has individual reports,

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