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HAVANA — Cuba is undergoing a paradigm shift: After decades of tight, centralised control, the government is opening up the bulk of its economy to the private sector.

While economic decline and spiralling unemployment are the main drivers, analysts say the liberalisation measures can also be seen as an overture to a new US president.

"It is definitely a strong signal at a crucial moment when the US administration has said it is revising the policies of [Donald] Trump towards Cuba," said Ricardo Torres, an economist at the University of Habana.

Six decades of US sanctions, toughened during Trump's term in office, have claimed a heavy toll on Cuba's economy, worsened by the coronavirus crisis and a steep drop in tourism, a critical sector.

Last month, Havana said Trump's sanctions cost the country some $20 billion, adding that "the damage to the bilateral relationship during this time has been considerable."

The Cuban economy shrank 11 per cent in 2020, and exports declined by 40 per cent.

At the weekend, the government in Havana announced it would authorise private enterprise in a bid to boost its economy and create jobs, though limited to individual entrepreneurs for now, not businesses.

The number of authorised private activities would grow from 127 to over 2,000, but excludes 124 sectors including the press, health and education, which remain in government hands.

The reform represents a major ideological shift in a country where the government and its affiliate companies have monopolised most of the economy since 1961.

'Long overdue' 

Cuba began timidly opening up to private capital in the 1990s before fuller authorisation in 2010, followed by a boom after the historic warming of ties with Cold War rival the United States in 2014 under then-president Barack Obama.

Today, about 600,000 Cubans — some 13 per cent of the workforce — are employed in the private sector.

Most work in hotels, restaurants, transportation and tourist accommodation.

Millions of people work for the government, but the exact number is not known.

Trump reversed many of Obama's moves to ease tensions with Cuba.

He banned American cruise ships stopping over on the island, blacklisted a range of Cuban companies and bosses, prosecuted foreign companies doing business there, and made it difficult for Cubans working abroad to send money home.

The new US President, Joe Biden, has promised to bring back some of Obama's policies to normalise ties, while also paying attention to human rights concerns in the country of some 11.2 million people.

Some in the United States have welcomed Cuba's policy shift, which will for the first time see private salary earners in sectors such as agriculture, construction and IT.

"This is long overdue, it's welcome news. And the United States should affirm that the embargo was never intended, and will not be used, to penalise private enterprise in #Cuba," US Senator Patrick Leahy said on Twitter.

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted the announcement was "a big step forward for Cubans and a welcome signal. The Biden Administration can make this more beneficial for the Cuban people by resuming the opening to Cuba as soon as possible."

Scepticism 

For many of Cuba's leaders, the change may be difficult to swallow.

"There is still a lot of scepticism regarding the word 'private'," which many see "as people who can conspire against power," said Cuban economist Omar Everleny Perez.

But politicians appear to have read the writing on the wall just like in Vietnam in the 1980s, where the Communist Party managed to stay in power by heavily liberalising the economy. 

"We are still a little far from that, but [the Cuban leaders] have it in mind," said Perez of the Vietnam example.

The southeast Asian country, too, was under US sanctions, lifted in 1994 after rapprochement with Washington.

"So from a geopolitical point of view, there is a lesson that is important to recognise," said Perez.

For his part, Torres said Vietnam's economy was smaller and the country more rural, making change easier.

But there is a lesson to be learnt from the fellow Communist country's experience: "If you want to create jobs, you have no choice but to create a framework for the private sector to grow."

John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said the Cuban government must now convince the Biden administration that it is serious about restructuring the economy.

"If the Biden administration believes the [President Miguel] Diaz-Canel administration is prepared to do what is difficult, maintain the processes despite challenges, then far easier for Washington to create opportunities for engagement," he said.

LONDON — Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell declared on Thursday that its oil output is locked in decline after peaking in 2019 as it outlined green plans to switch away from fossil fuels.

Shell said in a statement that it will invest up to $6.0 billion (4.9 billion euros) per year in green energy projects developing and promoting biofuels, electric car charging and renewables.

More than half the amount could end up being spent on marketing, Shell said.

In addition, Shell plans to still invest $8 billion annually on new oil and gas exploration.

The London-listed company nevertheless said that it anticipates a "gradual reduction" in oil output of 1.0-2.0 percent each year, including divestments.

Total carbon emissions for the company peaked in 2018, it added.

The global oil sector, nursing vast losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is accelerating plans to switch into greener energy and slash carbon emissions in the face of with intensifying climate change fears.

"Our accelerated strategy will drive down carbon emissions and will deliver value for our shareholders, our customers and wider society," Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in Thursday's statement.

"We must give our customers the products and services they want and need -- products that have the lowest environmental impact.

"At the same time, we will... make the transition to be a net-zero emissions business in step with society" by 2050, van Beurden added.

Shell is matching a commitment by rival BP as the Anglo-Dutch group's update sparked more accusations of corporate "green washing" from environmental campaigners.

"Shell... brazenly says it will dodge oil production cuts and will simply let output dwindle," noted Mel Evans, head of Greenpeace UK's oil campaign.

"Without commitments to reduce absolute emissions by making actual oil production cuts, this new strategy cannot succeed nor can it be taken seriously."

The sector's transition demands big investments at a time when oil majors are looking to make sizeable savings and axe thousands of jobs.

Thursday's update came one week after Shell posted huge annual losses as the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand and prices in 2020. 

After lockdowns began to spread towards the end of last year's first quarter, oil prices dropped off a cliff, even briefly turning negative.

Prices have rebounded sharply however to 13-month highs, levels last seen just before the pandemic took hold.

Profits evaporate 

Shell dived into a net loss of $21.7 billion (18.1 billion euros) last year as factories shut and planes were grounded.

The loss compared with a net profit of $15.8 billion in 2019.

Shell is axing up to 9,000 jobs in a cost-cutting drive to combat the turmoil, which is mirrored elsewhere in the sector. 

British rival BP, which is cutting around 10,000 positions, reported a 2020 net loss of $20.3 billion.

US giant Exxon Mobil suffered an annual loss of $22.4 billion. 

French peer Total on Tuesday said it was changing its name to TotalEnergies to reflect a move away from fossil fuels, alongside news it had posted a $7.2-billion net loss last year.

Gigantic sector-wide losses have sparked concern over plunging tax revenues for countries across the world leading to a major shortfall in budgets.

Oil and gas producing countries face up to nine trillion dollars in lost income as the world accelerates the transition to renewables, according to research published Thursday by the Carbon Tracker industry watchdog.

PARIS — The French government has decided to cancel a planned expansion of the country's biggest airport, Paris's Charles de Gaulle, a minister said in remarks published on Thursday.

Barbara Pompili, France's environment minister, told Le Monde newspaper that boosting the airport's capacity was not in keeping with efforts to fight global warming.

The government had therefore asked airport operator ADP, in which it owns a majority stake, to scrap the current project "and present a new one, more consistent with its objectives concerning climate change and the protection of the environment".

ADP said the move was "one of the outcomes of the Covid-19 crisis" and said it would now begin "a period of reflection" about the airport's future role. 

The decision comes a week after a court held the state had failed to take sufficient measures to halt climate change, a first in France.

The now defunct plan called for the construction of a fourth terminal by 2037 to boost the airport's capacity by 40 million passengers per year.

Pompili called the project "obsolete" because it no longer corresponded to the government's environmental policy and the needs of "a sector in full transformation towards the green aircraft of the future".

'Idiotic project' 

The plan, with an estimated cost of between seven and nine billion euros ($7.5-10.9 billion), had already run into resistance from environmental activists and local politicians as well as from the national environmental agency which said it fell short in terms of climate protection.

Le Monde said the government did not want the next project to focus on any extension of capacity.

"We will always need planes, but we must move towards a more reasonable use of air travel, and reach a reduction in the sector's greenhouse gas emissions," Pompili said.

A sharp fall in air passenger numbers following Covid-19 restrictions worldwide recently prompted Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari to say that boosting the airport's capacity now seemed like "an audacious bet".

Pompili's announcement was welcomed by France's Green party, with its head Julien Bayou saying it was "a great victory for environmentalists" against what he called "an idiotic project".

He added, however, that the cancellation was "the least the government could do", saying France needed a more forward-looking policy to fight climate change than just "giving up projects".

Audrey Pulvar, a Socialist candidate for upcoming elections in the Paris region, said the government's decision was "logical and necessary", while rival leftist politician Clementine Autain said she worried about preserving jobs at the airport "during this terrible crisis" due to Covid.

The head of France's employers' association Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, said, however, that the outright cancellation of the expansion plans was "premature". 

A group of NGOs, including Greenpeace France, meanwhile demanded "legal guarantees" that any new plan for the project does not include an expansion after all.

Charles de Gaulle airport, which opened in 1974, handled more than 76 million passengers in 2019, making it the second-busiest airport in Europe after London Heathrow.

TOKYO — Toyota said on Wednesday that its net profit soared 50 per cent in the third quarter and upgraded its full-year forecasts as the global auto industry gradually recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

The world's top carmaker said it made 838.7 billion yen ($8 billion) in the three months to December, compared with 559.3 billion yen a year earlier, and revised up full-year forecasts for the second straight quarter.

Net profit was at 1.90 trillion yen for the fiscal year to March, compared with its earlier estimate of 1.42 trillion yen.

Sales are now seen at 26.5 trillion yen, compared with the 26 trillion yen previously forecast.

Last year, the firm overtook Volkswagen as the world's top carmaker for the first time in five years.

Analysts said it was bouncing back quicker than competitors from the effects of the global economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

"In a tough business environment, Toyota is outperforming its rivals," Satoru Takada, auto analyst Tokyo-based research and consulting firm TIW, told AFP before the announcement.

The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the global auto sector but demand recovered swiftly in the second half of last year, most notably in the US and China.

"Japan's auto industry showed a steady performance as major markets are recovering from the negative impact of the new coronavirus globally," Takada said.

"But we should not be too optimistic as the current shortage of semiconductors is forcing carmakers to cut back production."

On Tuesday, Toyota's smaller rival Nissan upgraded its full-year profit forecast, beating market expectations to return an operating profit for the first time in four quarters.

Honda also revised upward its full-year outlook as net profit more than doubled in the third quarter.

But Nissan and Honda downgraded their sales forecasts for the current fiscal year, citing in part the chip shortage.

Reclaiming top spot 

Toyota said the shortage was not causing output reductions, and sales for the third quarter increased in Japan, North America and Europe.

It upgraded its global sales forecast to 9.73 million units for the fiscal year.

Operating Officer Kenta Kon said the firm was aware it could eventually face shortages that would force output reductions "so we are closely communicating with suppliers and manufacturers”.

"The chip shortage has hit wide-ranging industries around the world and is expected to last at least until the end of March," Yasuo Imanaka, chief analyst at Rakuten Securities, said.

"But the impact on Toyota appears limited, compared to those on its rivals and other companies," Imanaka added.

Bloomberg Intelligence auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida said Toyota production is "not volatile" compared to some rivals. 

"Toyota always give very precise indications of its orders far in advance," he noted.

Toyota shares, which have surged more than 35 per cent since mid-March last year, gained 1.70 per cent to close at 8,130 yen as investors largely welcomed the results.

Toyota reclaimed the title of world top-selling automaker last year, selling 9.53 million vehicles around the world, overtaking the 9.3 million sold by German rival Volkswagen (VW).

The Japanese giant took the lead despite a decline in global sales of more than 10 per cent as the auto industry suffered the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Toyota said it had benefited from a jump in sales in China, which were up over 10 per cent year-on-year, and a better-than-expected performance globally in the October-December quarter.

The last time Toyota held the top spot was in 2015, with VW edging it out in the following years.

Analysts say the firm has successfully pursued a strategy of quality over quantity in North America and China.

It has also benefited from improved ties with China's government, which is interested in Toyota's green tech, as well as brand-building in China by Japanese automakers more generally, expert say.

TOKYO — Japan's benchmark Nikkei index climbed to a new 30-year high on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street gains on hopes for additional stimulus.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.40 per cent, or 117.43 points, to close at 29,505.93, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.08 per cent, or 1.59 points, to 1,925.54. 

"The Nikkei index struggled to grow after investors became cautious about overheating, but it steadily hovered around the 29,500 level," Okasan Online Securities said.

Analysts said hopes for further US economic stimulus and the positive effect of Japan's own virus rescue package supported the market, as well as progress on vaccine rollouts.

Japan hopes to begin vaccinating selected healthcare workers against COVID-19 next week.

In Tokyo trading, SoftBank Group jumped 3.40 per cent to 9,808 yen after it said net profit rocketed to $11.1 billion in the third quarter, as stock rallies and asset sales helped solidify its recovery.

Renesas rallied 1.74 per cent to 1,224 yen after it confirmed late Monday it will acquire its German-British competitor Dialog, a semiconductor specialist and Apple supplier, in a $5.9 billion deal.

Uniqlo casual wear operator Fast Retailing climbed 1.60 per cent to 95,130 yen while Sony dropped 2.23 per cent to 11,825 yen.

Honda fell 1.19 per cent to 2,977 yen before the company announced it is upgrading its full-year net profit forecast to 465 billion yen.

Nissan was flat at 629.5 yen ahead of the release of its financial results, while Toyota, whose results come on Wednesday, dipped 0.53 per cent to 7,994 yen.

The dollar fetched 104.87 yen in Asian trade, against 105.22 yen in New York.

LONDON — Bitcoin hit a record-high near $45,000 on Monday after Elon Musk's electric carmaker Tesla invested $1.5 billion in the digital currency.

Meanwhile, the benchmark oil contract Brent North Sea rose above $60 per barrel to hit the highest level since the coronavirus pandemic began to spread globally almost a year ago.

Shortly after news broke of Tesla's investment Bitcoin hit $44,795.20 before pulling back slightly.

The cryptocurrency is up by around 50 per cent since the start of the year.

"This is probably one of the biggest developments for the cryptocurrency industry," noted Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets.

"Tesla is going to be a major player in the auto industry and if it starts accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, it will give the digital currency further legitimacy."

Tesla's announcement, in a US Securities and Exchange Commission document, is a sign of confidence in the cryptocurrency that regulators are concerned could be used for illegal transactions.

"As more and more companies start accepting Bitcoin, this will only lead to further increases in demand in a market which is limited in supply," Razaqzada added. 

Tesla's move comes after CEO Musk last week changed his Twitter bio to read simply "#bitcoin".

Just 12 years old, bitcoin has been on a meteoric rise since March, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would allow account holders to use cryptocurrency.

The climb in Brent above $60 has come owing to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies cutting output after the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand, according to analysts.

"It is worth reminding oneself that OPEC+ is the single most important reason for why the oil price reached $60" on Monday, noted Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Research. 

"It is because of large cuts by OPEC+... since May," he added.

Brent crude hit $60.27 per barrel on Monday, the first time it has exceeded $60 since February 2020.

Crude and other assets are winning support also from the prospect of a $1.9 trillion US stimulus package. 

European and Asian stock markets climbed on Monday, with Wall Street also rising at the open of trading.

The dollar gained in value against other major currencies.

Adding to the upbeat mood is data showing new COVID infection rates, with last week seeing the lowest level since October, while governments begin to get to grips with inoculation programmes. 

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday that the US job market is "stalling" and might not recover for years without the support promised by President Joe Biden's pandemic relief package.

Citing employment figures from Friday, when the economy added an anemic 49,000 jobs, she told CBS's "Face the Nation", "We're in a deep hole with respect to the job market, and a long way to dig out." 

But in a separate interview with CNN, Yellen predicted that if Biden's $1.9 trillion package is passed, "we would get back to full employment next year".

Without that support, she said, "the unemployment rate is going to stay elevated for years", perhaps not again reaching 4 per cent until 2025.

In the meantime, Yellen said, million of Americans are going hungry or risk losing their homes.

"We need a big package, and we need to get this done quickly," she told CNN.

Responding to a key concern of Republicans — that many well-to-do Americans received money from last year's stimulus payments, driving up the price of the package — Yellen said there would be "more targeted relief" this time, while adding that Biden was still ironing out the details with lawmakers. 

"I don't have specifics for you today," she told CBS. "These are matters that President Biden is discussing with members of Congress and is open to doing what is appropriate."

As to another risk raised by both Republicans and some economists — that the huge spending package could spark inflation — she told CNN that "that's also a risk", but added, "We have the tools to deal with that risk”.

Yellen, the first female Treasury secretary in US history, noted that women — and especially women of colour — had been particularly hard hit as the coronavirus pandemic forces them to balance jobs and childcare responsibilities.

She said the relief package would help them by providing funds to safely reopen schools and provide paid family leave. 

Regarding the recent trading frenzy on Wall Street centred on shares in the GameStop video game retailer, Yellen said US regulators were closely studying the matter.

But she said "the core infrastructure of the markets, the plumbing, ability to trade, clearing settlement, those infrastructures performed well."

SAN FRANCISCO — Electronics giant Samsung is considering the US state of Texas as a possible location for a new $17 billion chip-making plant, according to filings with state officials.

The project would involve building a huge new semiconductor factory on a 258 hectares site in the city of Austin already owned by Samsung, and result in the creation of at least 1,800 high-paying jobs, documents available on Friday indicated.

A Samsung subsidiary cautioned in the filings that the project is "highly competitive" and that the company is also considering sites in Arizona, New York, and in South Korea, where its parent company is based.

If Austin is selected, construction would likely begin by the middle of this year and be operating by the end of 2023, according to Samsung.

"Because of its strong ties to the local community and the successful past 25 years of manufacturing in Texas, Samsung Austin Semiconductor would like to continue to invest in the city and the state," the company said in filings.

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, recently reported fourth-quarter net profits were up by more than a quarter year-on-year with coronavirus-driven working from home boosting demand for devices powered by its chips.

It said profits were lifted by its display and memory chip businesses.

The global chip-manufacturing industry is expected to see record revenue this year, with the stay-at-home economy persisting because of the pandemic, according to Taipei-based market tracker TrendForce.

Samsung has aggressively stepped up its investments in semiconductors in recent years.

While US-based Intel remains one of the world's leading chip companies, it has lagged behind rivals in the fast-growing segment of mobile devices, and its chips are being phased out by Apple, which is developing its own microprocessors for its Mac computers.

WASHINGTON — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will hold a meeting on Thursday with top financial market regulators to discuss recent trading volatility that saw shares like GameStop soar last week.

Yellen said officials will be "looking carefully at these events."

The volatility was created following a social-media-fueled buying frenzy over shares in video game store GameStop and other stocks shorted by hedge funds. These shares surged over 400 per cent before falling sharply.

This week, Yellen called for the meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to review the volatility.

"We really need to make sure that our financial markets are functioning properly, efficiently and that investors are protected," she said in her first television interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday.

"We're going to discuss these recent events and discuss whether or not the recent events warrant further action."

The events under review erupted when a group of small-time investors on Reddit joined forces, boosting the share prices of struggling companies, including GameStop and movie theater brand AMC Entertainment, to try to thwart hedge funds that bet the shares would fall.

The moves led to some retail investor apps such as Robinhood -- which says its goal is to "democratize finance for all" -- to limit trading in some of the most volatile stocks last week, drawing the ire of critics.

Progressive US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren called for action against what they said were Wall Street abuses by hedge funds.

"We need an SEC investigation," Warren told CNN on Sunday. "It's a rigged game, and it's been a set of players who come in and manipulate the market."

But Yellen said "we need to understand deeply what happened before we go to action."

Yellen had to receive a waiver from ethics lawyers at Treasury to hold the discussion, as she had received at least $700,000 in speaking fees from hedge fund Citadel, a key player in the GameStop saga, according to US media reports.