Global energy crisis bites Japan

News of the day, Friday, April 15

Covid-related supply chain outages in China are likely to cause shipments delays of some Apple products as well as Lenovo and Dell laptops, analysts said. China’s “zero-covid” lockdown policy is jamming highways and ports, closed factories are waiting for the government approval to reopen. Quanta Computer Inc, which produces Apple Macbooks, also stops operations, which can severely impact supplies.

The Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, said the central bank is aiming to achieve the 2% inflation target. He mentioned that the current rising inflation is due to the global spike in crude oil prices and raw material costs. “The Bank of Japan is conducting monetary policy to achieve its 2% inflation target, not to manipulate currency rates. The government hopes the BOJ continues to strive toward achieving its inflation target, with an eye on economic, price and financial developments," he said on Friday.

The price of Brent crude is $111.23, WTI — $106.50, GBP/USD — 1.3067, EUR/USD — 1.0819, and gold costs $1973.50 per ounce.