is a clear night sky, then look out of the window and you might be able to see the biggest and brightest moon of the year. it is called a super blue moon and it's the closest. it's been this year as it moves around its orbit. despite the name the moon won't actually appear blue. instead it's a reference to just how rare or the phenomenon is whether for this or carol leg has more. this once in a blue moon and is once in a super blue moon. and that's what we have here. i'm joined by some aster photographers, as well as spacing through is yes, and we've been using these telescopes to get a closer look at the moon. this one is rigged up to a laptop. it's giving us a very precise image of the moon. it's that it's brightest and biggest that it has been so far this year and a half to say it's pretty spectacular, even to the naked eye. now it's called a blue moon because it's the 2nd, the full moon of the month. we have the 1st one at the beginning of the month that was cool, discharge, and moon. and this one has come at the end of the month. they called super moons

because they were the closest on the moon's rotation to the us. and so we can see them a lot lighter and a lot bigger. now the next time we will get to see a phenomenon like this will be about 2037. so you better get out and see it because as i say, it only happens once in a blue moon. the, your headlines on houses 0 this, our crowds have taken to the streets across gabon to celebrate the military's takeover. military leaders have named general bristol, leaky and gamma as transitional leader. the african union and friends have condemned the cook. there's in about 40 didn't, did not please general bruce eliquis. and grandma has been unanimously appointed president of the committee for the transition and restoration of institutions. the transitional president, the general league in gramma orders the reconnection of the internet and the re establishment of international television and radio broad costs in gabon.

additionally, the transitional president insists on the maintenance of peace and calm and our beautiful country. the agenda has placed the deposed leader under house arrest. eli bongo has appealed for help from his supporters and from the international community. us or canada, elliot has weakened into a tropical storm as it moves north over the state of georgia. millions in georgia and florida do remain. however, under warnings of a life threatening storm surge floods and high winds. at least 2 people have died in road crashes related to the storm. president joe biden says the government is helping with relief efforts. and that does if you are headlines, then use continues here on alpha 0 after counting the cost. so due date, stay tuned and will be back at the top of the hour with more news. the. the

challenges with the hello am 0 venue. this is counting the cost on ells as your weekly look at the world of business and economics. this week. reading new life into bricks, the group of emerging economies is expanding and aims to challenge the dollars dominance. can the blog, we balance the world order. also this we'd be global self is pending on breaks. we'll be taking a look at why developing countries are increasingly interested in joining the club and an olive oil prices growing. it could affect almost every household in southern

europe, but at least for nations, see a business opportunity they are diverse growing economies. we began bishop bricks, nations, brazil, russia, india, china, and south africa have long complained about western influence over global financial institutions and trade. and they want to counter that dominance, championing developing nations in order they say, to re balance the world order in a push to strengthen its global power. the bricks group agreed to add new members to the alliance during its annual summits. in south africa, the group invites and 6 nations, saudi arabia, u e. ron, and egypt, ethiopia, and argentina, to join brakes. the brick summit was held after the us, japan and south korea agreed to expand security and economic ties. before we go any further, a refresher course on what is brakes? the acronym was coined by former goldman sachs chief economist jim o'neil,

back in 2001. it started actually as brick, which grouped together for the largest and fastest growing economies at the time. brazil, russia, india, and china. while the quartet ran with the idea later they invited south africa to join and that's when brick became bricks. the grouping relies on the combined economic power of its members to counter wait west and form such as the g 7. the group of 7 to advance nations brooks nations represents 42 percent of the world's population, just above a quarter of global gross domestic product. and a 5th of all trade. their total g, d, p, and purchasing power parity terms is actually bigger than that of the g. 7 brooks represents 32 percent of global g d p compared to just under 30 percent for the g 7 . and despite that breaks gets only a fraction of the voting power at the international monetary fund. brooks nations wants to change that in balance by creating an alternative to us lead financial

institutions. they have founded the new development back, which has approved more than $30000000000.00 in loans since it was set up in 2015. compare that to the world bank, which committed more than a $100000000.00. in 2022 alone bricks also aims to reduce reliance on the us dollar member countries. a worry that washington could weaponized the dollar through the sanctions. so bricks members are increasing trade in their own currencies. they've even considered creating a bricks common currency. but the critics say that the groups internal differences could hamper its plans. example, india and china have a simmering border conflict. and while badging and russia or arrivals to the us, well, you've got india, south africa and brazil, which all want warm relations with the west. let's talk about all of this with our guests or from barcelona, flavio comedian joins us. you are an economist and associate professor of economy

at the ramon you'll university from shanghai is corinne costa, vasquez, a non resident senior fellow at the center for china and globalization. welcome to the program to both of you a 5 year. let's start with you. of the bricks organization has often been criticized is just a talk shop and somewhat in effective, right? that criticism is out there, but they've just taking a big step and agreed to expand to quite a few to quite a number of countries. a saudi arabia is on the list. argentina is on the list. we'll talk about them more specifically, a little later iran as well egypt. what do you think still in effective? um what, what i would say is dent nowadays, and especially after this last meeting, we can see much more political drive to breaks. then we have seen before, it has always been there, it must be said, but in terms of the money and we have to follow the money. what we have seen is

that the police go intentions. they are moving a hat of the economic intentions. so there has been some collaboration, there are some plans we have the banks uh at the breaks bank and there are some initiatives, but in terms of the economic potential of the countries when we see the kind of vanity use that kind of feed, use the, the managing well, they're not terribly impressive, i would say so. but politically because different countries they have different political demands. uh, in this kind of global discussion. so what is sort of fulfilling its prom is and i would say that now more than apple car in your thoughts on bricks expansion of this i may certainly would like to challenge you requested in your initial question and then uh follow up with the right thoughts on the expense and

my sense is that uh, the brakes had delivered quite a few uh, initiatives. and actually if we look over these past 15 years and 10 of them, ive been living and working with many of these countries, we actually see some very concrete initiatives that have been delivered and. and just to mention a few, the new development bank, the contingent reserve agreement, or are some of them. it's true though, that over the past 4 years, 5 years. the brakes as a blog has found itself in a difficult situation in the stalemate because of the political and economic changes was in the countries was in countries in the block and worse not, not to mention the geo political context that drove the block into, into his tail made or paralysis, so to speak. and therefore many criticisms over the effectiveness of the blog. a

rose and, and these are very legitimate up. but my sense is that as we close the 3rd 5 years time, cool up to briggs and are about to begin a new one. what we see is that the brakes has reached maturity over this 15 years. and the expansion is an example of it, of expansion not only to bring new members to give traction. so many of these initiatives, including those that i've mentioned, but also to strengthen the, the, the, the, the main demand from the brakes and which actually, uh, gave uh, motivated the, the, the, the creation of the block back in 2009. that it's precisely cri leading a more representative, a more just most collateral system. so as we, this is next step forward, initiate another 5 years cycle with a,

as we call the larger breaks family. i think we are now ready to, to gain a new impetus. and enter a new momentum at a different level. okay, so let me take it back to slide view then because you were suggesting hinting flavio, that the bricks and your, if you had been a little disappointing and an effective since they were launched. the fact is that there are an increasing number of countries from the global south that wants to join them as we've just seen. so how do you explain that? but 1st to, to emphasize my point, texting. oh, breaks they have very serious social challenges. we, we, we cannot ignore that even china, although it's progress has been remarkable in terms of over to reduction still doesn't have any quality issues there. and what can we talk about?

what can we say about india, although they are celebrating going to the moon. now, if we use some and p, i move to donation over teen dates. so roughly half of the population would still be classified as poor. and in terms of presume that remains a structural challenge in south africa is just the same. so i think one thing is what kind of development we are promoting terms of briggs. i think the illusion that they can only grow by bringing together markets that might solve the problem. this has been fall, criticized for at least the last 50 years. and we have plenty of evidence to look at the situation on the scenario we some um, suspicion. on the other hand it's to death. many countries are interested in joining the group, perhaps with the whole the data might facilitate some access to resources. may know

if this countries they don't have much to look forward in terms of new promises for development. so perhaps believing that come with markets and whatever can be facilitated in terms of the deals and agreements might provide a fresh start for them. so we could consider that the main motivation, different countries, they might have different motivations, all but, but anyway, so one shouldn't be create to go off what the concept of development is driving the initiative. let's talk a little bit about the specific issue of d dollarization because this has been a big push by breaks countries. so let's look at the numbers. the share of the chinese yun and gone in trade. finance has more than doubled since russia invaded ukraine. so look at the numbers. it rose from less than 2 percent back in february 2022 when the war started and ukraine to 4.5 percent a year later in comparison,

the euro accounts for 6 percent, the japanese yen less than 2 percent. but one of the greenbacks a dollar remains king. 8484 percent of trade is done in dollars. its share of global reserves is following the guy, imap says that it was at 59 percent in 2022. that is the lowest point since data was 1st available in 1995. right, let's go back to our guess camera. do you think the danger is in any, be i beg your pardon? the dollar is in any danger of losing its spots as the king currency. my 1st point is that we've, we've seen separately can nomic cycles. the us power is just one monetary standard that we have. we had the, the power and we had to go back a back in time. so i think the, the ones turned into is that, that, that we have is that at some point, another currency or basket of currencies,

or some otter, a product or a will be a, will become the new a pattern. right? so so, so this is, this is my 1st point. my 2nd point is that the brakes were not pushing forward to the organization for reduction in the influence of the us dollar, or any odd returns, think in the road. uh, as i pointed in my, in my 1st uh, answer uh, i think the, the whole motivation for treating the brakes is offering options. okay. we're looking at the 2 different sides of the coins. but the incisions a say a lot of water, the main motivations drive me, the forces of woods in these countries and for the brakes. uh, one of the options here seeking was a local turns transaction. and local currencies is precisely to facilitate trade to

reduce trade cost increase access to markets, to reduce exposure to exchange rate volatility and taking green. flavio standby, i want to inject something else into this conversation. the brazilian president has criticized the i m f saying that it is suffocating economies. we want to have a look at the case of origin, tina, which is among countries invited to join the breaks group. it has recently paid it's, i'm a debt and you on after currency swap, deal with china. the country is facing is the worst economic crisis in decades with an inflation rate topping a 100 percent and a growing poverty rate. the front runner far right presidential candidates and argentina, heavier mulay wants to change how his nation does business. since and monahan reports of the anger and frustration with argentina's political class runs high. and when the salaries ratio is a retiree, he says is $200.00 a month pension isn't enough to live on the work one we cannot buy, we cannot

h aquinos to tell you. so it was a sweet potato tomorrow. so is an affordable. how do we live? we cannot live like the said worse, if you're retired. i know people who line up and bangs too big for a loan. that said, inflation has been over 120 percent this past year. people are demanding solutions that will bring stability to the economy. the economy minister sergio mazda is running for president. he believes the answer may be moving closer to china. argentina apply for membership of the bricks block, which seeks to move away from the domination of the dollar. added recently paid just international debts and you on after a currency swap, deal with china. and vancho that important to you know, yet we haven't met, you know, the chinese people's bank decided to expand the use of the swap that origin tina has with the chinese government to allowing us an additional one point $7000000000.00 to complete today's payment of $2700000000.00 at the same time. but

this challenger has different vision. have your mealy pulls themselves a libertarian. he wants to drastically downsize the government and fully linked the economy to the us dollar. politicians are not the solution. they are the problem and they don't want to apply the solution of the ideas of freedom because it is against their interests. so if they don't want to change, let's get them out for good. mulay has benefited from disillusionment with the establishment. his supporters hope you can turn the country around. what the me. i went and bought a $100.00 yesterday so i could seen and nobody can save us. so i sold them again. i hope there was change. come on really. you, i'm only they argentina's voters wants inflation under control and a more stable economy. but will they choose to move away from the dollar for embrace? it completely finished and bother him for counting the cost a tower. and what do you make of the argentina case on the surface level,

it does seem to suggest the, the, the dependence that the world still has on the us dollar. it's a clear example of, of the options that the brakes might offer to urgency to, to help the country overcome some of these challenges, right? i'm not saying the brakes is a silver bullet. it will fix all the problems of origin seen it. but certainly it has uh, some very concrete platforms that can be extended to argentina now as a, as a, as a member of the block starting next year to help overcome. and the 1st one is the, the new development bank. uh well, considering that urgency, you know, will formerly apply to joining the bank as a member of the brakes bank. it could take infrastructure investments to help and lock some of the bottlenecks infrastructure bottlenecks, of breaking on the gross. if we take uh, a not or breaks platform, the contingent reserve agreement that was created in the same year as the n g b argentina to take a resources to help address uh, the,

the liquidity issues out that it has been facing the contingent reserve agreement with a what's created actually to function in a very similar way as the i m f term with us. and i think a 3rd platform which has it's being just cost and has been approved by the brakes countries as this years. the creation of mechanisms to saddled transactions in local currencies and possibly even the creation of a unit of account uh, using the the currency is up to 5 original members and such payment system. if, if it's launched, it could be another option for origin tina to settle its commercial transactions without the need for, for dollars. so. so these are some of the very concrete ways, how a membership to, to the block could potentially help origin see not beyond otter a spears outer than the political a, sorry other than deacon nomic. rena. okay,

that's really interesting. so in that case, we'll wrap up this conversation with you, flavio we've, we've talked about all of this expansion d dollarization. these alternatives that karen has mentioned, where is the sum total of all of this is what's as relates to the brakes. where do you think this leaves the brakes? i think it leads the brakes to play an important role in terms off do politics and important role in terms off putting together different demands for international relevance that countries have. it's true that some of these institutions put in place and some of these may countries might help countries in some specific issues. but the bigger issues, which i would say they have development, the issues issues related to forward to the tween their quality to um, to fixing even socially the social

t issue or some of these countries such as the case of ident, tina. i don't see how, how breaks wouldn't be a solution for so many countries. they might get something out of there. yeah, this is true, but this is a long way, long run for, for this country. so what i would say is that is off more police to go relevance, then also economic relevant, sadly, and even economically, economically, these will not seek some of the problems that we have seen, such as in argentina or many other countries that want to joint breaks. flavio come in carrying cost of vasquez? thank you so much for joining us on counting the cost today and for your expertise on this bricks topic. really appreciate your time. thank you. the olive oil is a top choice to many ships and home cooks, but the staple is not just an essential component of the mediterranean diet. it is

as much culture as food and a symbol of regional identity, particularly in southern europe. however, due to unusually dry weather and sky high prices, olive oil lovers may have to start pouring less of it into the pin, scorching temperatures in spain, italy in portugal, which are all leading producers. parched olive groves last year and the harvest season is expected to be slashed this year as well. the shortage is likely to push prices further up. they've already hidden all time high of $8500.00 per metric ton earlier this month. that's almost 10 times a metric ton of crude oil. european producers turn to middle eastern countries to fill the gap. she nicea the, our world's biggest olive oil producer, and lebanon. jordan to k, a are among nations, seeing unprecedented demand, and course suspended the exports of olive oil until the harvest season in november to help ease prices at home. it's also rolled out a tax of $0.20 for every kilo exported abroad. the joining is from london is kyla

holland, he is oil sees and vegetable oils analyst at mid tech. kyle, how bad is this for europe's olive oil industry? so i think to kind of ascertaining, kind of as the question you probably need to bind to to 2022, a little bit lab across the key growing favorites. the toiletries, it was extremely dry and refrain much a lot. so much job and the trees began to suffer significant. they um the trees, patrice bonus, no fruits or less fruits and some cases. and this is a key issue in spain that by ship, that use an exported volleyball author into the key areas of the training and as well. so looking at that effectively that size was being stopped to. so take it down with technical as much as b, 2 into the spice from was 96 and get 10000 metric tons compared to usually 1.3 to

1500000 metric tons. roughly decrease if you said you and you how much higher do you expect prices could go? that's a difficult question. and the, the current situation is that because of the adoption and to draw it down to the bottom of the season, stay mention to keep use exclusive level is running very low indeed on thought each less before the before the new harvest. so then it always seems buying stops with me, september october. i brought in since the southern yes i will see ends february, march. i'm with the current supply in the hands of manufacturers is possible looking to pull up, your not takes you at the drop down and continue. this thing runs off the bottle completely. there is nobody 4 left in the state, not just the qualities, but hold on a whole. so as a consumer of olive oil has so many of us are including spanish olive oil, i listen to you and i think, well, maybe i should start courting and other people who listen to you will probably

think the same thing. but that would only make things worse. yes, i think that's that can be the case. the, the spanish plays and plays more candidate, i think, to lease it to a white context cannot see, i think going to as a place to see the product. and this is not, and usually if the, if the tires, think spice processing on the supply chain museum or all of these fund areas to key as well. but the problem in spain has been so significant. the problems produced the volumes of not to show prophecies and that even got into these areas. this been a massive because the projects that, that he only took to shuffle rock and all that has gone up as well. so too easy. and so the concern is that with it, the full obviously could come look to sustain, but why do you that he's probably gonna continue that that's, that's to be concerned that there's no one off. this is not continuation of

a for august that some say we speak to the company for counseling again. so far, those countries that you mentioned, whether it's turkey, a morocco changes. you haven't been as badly affected spain, how come they have a slightly different breed of all the tree from what we understand. so he said, list the policy state to drought and is not quite as impacted as some of the spanish treat. and to ask a bit of context. i think that many people we speak to think that the supplies in the buying from these nations could be significantly high, but we see that she is not, as i mentioned it's. so thing that we do see quite often this does happen, but explain keep producing life findings and again, you know, you don't have done this oh, despise hospice. so i'm saying the 70000, that metric tons much use they think they drove down and that they could continue effectively. and these actually completed outlets that your p maki because what we

understand. so it was funny because he's actually very good some say comparable even that spanish article like kind of a holland. uh, thank you so much for your expertise today. you are oil seats and vegetables and list at mid tech. we appreciate you coming on the show. associates, i appreciate it, and that's our show for this week to get in touch with us on x, formerly known as twitter venue 80 is my handle. do use the hash tag a j c t c. when you do or drop us an e mail, counting the cost at al serra dot net is the address. but there's more for you online at alpha 0 dot com slash c t c. that will take you straight to our page, which has individual reports, links, an entire episode, speed catch up. all right, that's it for this edition of counting the cost. i'm several then yay! from the whole team here in doha. thank you for joining us. the news announcer 0 is next.

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a just either the it is the floods in your legions, ticket bones, new interim leader to the president is overthrown in the military. cool, the time serial venue. it's great to have you with this. this is elza 0 live from doha . also coming up in the program, assessing the aftermath the clean up begins of the tropical storm. he dalia hits the us state of florida. remembering those last, surely as president launch is a nationwide search for the remain.