In an effort to bring more financial education to more workers, the Mexican startup specialized in payroll advances Minu announced the launch of its Academy of Financial Education to ensure that more employees have a better management of their finances and their relationship with their pocket.

During the virtual presentation, Rafael Niell, one of the founders of the platform, explained that this initiative is a joint effort to bring more information on this topic to more companies and workers.

He stressed that to address this type of content in a specialized way, they collaborated with the Cooltura Financiera financial education platform to jointly develop different materials on finance, savings and investment issues and ensure that people better manage their money.

Niell explained that they detected this need to offer this type of content when different companies approached them to ask them to provide more information or details about the management of personal finances to their collaborators.

Regarding the Minu Academy , Niell specified that this type of content will be divided into three areas through courses, fairs and talks, implementing different interactive tools such as videos, capsules and webinars where they will develop topics such as debt, savings, investment and planning.

He added that with this type of information they will not seek to remain only in the digital part, but plan to organize a Financial Health Fair for each company to hold an event a year within its facilities once sanitary conditions allow it.

While on the subject of plastic they seek to be through monthly webinar to address different issues and doubts of workers about the relationship with their pocket.

This type of content, he said, will be taught free of charge to those companies that are subscribed to the services offered by the payroll advance platform.

In turn, Nima Pourshasb, general director of Minu, pointed out that sometimes workers are forced to request a loan when in reality what they want is to have liquidity to face any debt, so in that case the best thing is ask for an advance on your next payroll for being money worked and that have been earned.

Our currency has gained great ground against the dollar and is positioned among the currencies with the highest appreciation in the world in recent months.

Since its historical maximum, above 25 pesos to the dollar last March, and until today, the peso has registered a significant appreciation of 20 percent.

We consider that the above, although it is mainly due to external factors, it is important to mention internal fundamentals that have differentiated the Mexican peso from other emerging currencies.

This appreciation is surprising given the current context; First, in the midst of a major global economic depression, which accentuated the signs of a slowdown since the end of 2018 registered in Mexico.

Similarly, a notable lack of fiscal stimulus in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and a marked uncertainty regarding the scope of this contingency.

The external factor that could explain the benefit in the exchange rate is based on a political event and future economic prospects; in the electoral context in the United States since the victory by candidate Joe Biden, which provoked a generalized appetite for risk, causing weakness in the dollar and strength in a basket of emerging currencies, especially in our country.

Along these lines, the question arises as to what could differentiate Mexico from other emerging nations that have not been as favored as Mexico, and the reason is that there are fundamentals that have helped to give strength to the peso, among which stand out:

Public finances
Although, in the face of the health crisis, the federal government did not carry out notable economic stimulus policies, the sign of fiscal discipline and macroeconomic balances through cautious public balance sheets have managed to generate a positive perception among foreign investors and rating agencies.

Based on the latest published GDP data, public debt as a percentage of GDP rose to 53% at the end of September 2020, a level that we consider adequate, especially in the context of a pandemic.

Central bank autonomy
Banco de México has been a vital agent for the appreciation of the peso and an important pillar for economic fundamentals. Through a prudent, timely and especially accommodative monetary policy, it has managed to counteract, as far as possible, the transfer of the effects of the current crisis to economic activity.

Although the monetary injection has been its main tool (without neglecting the rate differential with the US), it has also implemented measures to provide liquidity to the financial sector in addition to collaborating more actively with other central banks.

Business relationship with the US
During the third quarter of 2020, the balance in the Mexican trade balance registered an important surplus of 16.345 million dollars, a historically high level that is compared with the deficit presented in the same period of last year of 750 million dollars.

This is a reflection of the gradual reopening of US economic activity, in addition to the important fiscal and monetary stimuli carried out in Mexico’s main trading partner, which led exports to exceed the growth rate of exports by 17.3%. imports during 3Q20.

This commercial relationship directly affects Mexico’s income level and therefore its growth prospects, which represents an important fundamental that could give strength to the peso.

Much of the appreciation of the peso is associated with the weakness of the dollar generated by the increase in the appetite for risky assets and by the pronounced monetary expansion by the Fed.

It is worth mentioning that under a new administration in the US, headed by Joe Biden, it would reflect greater political and economic clarity towards Mexico. This would reduce the country risk, which showed considerable progress since the arrival of Trump, and with it a better environment for investment.

Abroad, a new global wave of Covid-19 that forces new confinement measures or a negative outlook in the US Congress that prevents the materialization of additional fiscal support proposed by Biden, are just some events that could cut the positive day observed. not only with the Mexican peso price but in all markets.

In the interior, and in the same sense, an incorrect execution of public policies that compromise fiscal stability and the Mexican macroeconomic framework, in addition to the leading role as a risk factor that Pemex has taken on, could reduce the strength of the peso.

Latest news of the coronavirus, live | The Government asks “to exercise extreme caution” before Christmas before the rebound in cases

A Catalan pharmaceutical company will produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine | The speed of transmission of the virus shoots up in Catalonia | The European Medicines Agency advances to December 21 the meeting to evaluate the approval of the vaccine | Germany registers 500 daily deaths, the third highest figure of the pandemic

The European Medicines Agency has called an extraordinary meeting, on December 21, to evaluate the approval of Pfizer’s vaccine.

The agency maintains the appointment of 29 in case another session is necessary. In Spain, the Government follows the procedures of the European regulator with interest, but warns that it should not “lower its guard”, given the change in trend in recent weeks.

The Catalan company Reig Jofre has reached an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to produce its covid vaccine candidate on a large scale, which is still in the research phase, the company reported in a statement, which has seen its shares revalue about 26% this morning.

Britain’s top two medical journals unite to call for Christmas restrictions not to be relaxed

“If we publish this text it is because we believe that the Government is about to fall into another serious error that will cause the loss of human lives,” they affirm in a joint editorial

The speed of spread of the coronavirus has skyrocketed in Catalonia. A trend that, if maintained, would force the Government to rethink the de-escalation measures and the Christmas plan. The European continent retreats at the doors of the festivities due to the worsening of the epidemiological situation.

Germany has registered 500 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the third highest figure in a day. “More restrictive measures are necessary and they are needed now. We must avoid a third wave as it is, because it would also be devastating in terms of loss of human life ”, said the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, in the newspaper La Stampa.

If all goes according to plan, the European Union countries will also be able to start vaccinating against the coronavirus this month and before the end of the year.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced this Tuesday, after hours of speculation, that it brings the meeting of its scientific committee, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), to the 21st to decide on approval of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.

In principle, said meeting was scheduled to take place on the 29th “at the latest.”

Since regulatory bodies in the United Kingdom and the United States authorized the use of the vaccine, pressure from various European governments, including Germany, to accelerate these deadlines has been growing.

In a statement, the regulatory agency assures: “Following the receipt yesterday afternoon of the additional data requested by the CHMP from the company and pending the outcome of its evaluation, an exceptional CHMP meeting has been scheduled for 21 December to conclude if possible. The meeting scheduled for December 29 will be held if necessary. “

As photos rolled in of Brits first, and Americans and Canadians later, receiving their coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, pressure on the European regulator to advance deadlines that would otherwise go to early January , was older.

“Our goal is that there is an authorization before Christmas and that we can start vaccinating this year, also in Germany […] we all know that the sooner the better,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday, a message that has repeated this Tuesday.

Community sources cited by Reuters say that the pressure on the organization increased, both from the Commission and from several governments, after the authorization granted by the British regulator and the US FDA.

Hours before the announcement, the 23rd of this month had been leaked as a possible meeting date, something that Spahn called “good news.”

The German minister recalled that, in the end, the decision rests with the EMA and insisted that it is crucial to act prudently to have the confidence of citizens, since the success of the vaccine depends above all on the number of people who decide to inject it. .

“We have decided from the outset not to resort to emergency approval like the UK or Israel, but to proper approval at the European level.” And he added: “Safety first.”

The German Health Minister once again stressed the importance of European unity, also at the time of the authorization of the vaccine. “We have always said that we were going to do it through the European route, not the national one.

We have jointly guaranteed and requested vaccines and invested in production and research together and we are also going to do the authorization together, ”Spahn added at a press conference on Tuesday.

Germany, which is experiencing a resurgence of the second wave of the pandemic that has forced the closure of schools and non-essential trade, is seeing these days how other countries have begun to administer a vaccine produced in part by a German company,while its citizens cannot yet access it.

BioNtech-Pfizer’s vaccine is a German-American project, initially created by a German company and co-produced and financed by the US pharmaceutical giant. “I think we should be proud that the first approved vaccine in the world comes from Germany,” he said. Spahn.

The minister stressed on Monday that more than 400 vaccination centers have been created, 10,000 doctors and health workers are activated, ready to begin mass vaccinations, and calculated that by the end of next summer, about 60% of citizens could be vaccinated against covid-19.

That is the percentage from which the vaccine begins to be effective in fighting the pandemic.

When, in early December, the companies Pfizer and BioNTech submitted the request for approval of their vaccine against covid, the European regulator issued a statement in which it announced that its scientific committee would meet to conclude its evaluation “during an extraordinary meeting scheduled by December 29 at the latest “.

Since then, Emer Cooke, the executive director of the agency, has left the door open to a change of date in interviews and meetings with European parliamentarians.

According to an agency official quoted by Reuters, pressure from several European governments to accelerate this process increased “through the usual channels of communication” after December 2, when the British regulator granted an emergency authorization to the vaccine.

The EMA has denied being under political pressure to go faster. It usually takes at least seven months for a vaccine to be approved after obtaining complete data from the manufacturers. Now, as they have explained, they even work night shifts in the evaluation of the vaccine.

The European Commission, for its part, indicated before the announcement that the EMA is “an independent agency and the authorization process is in its hands.” And he denied trying to force a date advance.

“The Commission does not compromise on safety and does not exert any political pressure on the EMA to do so,” said a spokesman, adding that Brussels “is fully committed to authorizing only a vaccine that is deemed safe and effective by its independent scientific agency. ”.

The Comptroller General of the Republic issued a statement in which it explained that in the first semester from January to June of this year, the coronavirus and the global economic crisis it unleashed impacted the economic activity of Panama, which contracted by -18.9% , compared with the same period of 2019.

However, the logistics and financial infrastructure has not deteriorated and Panama, unlike other countries in the region, they explain.

They indicate that Panama maintains its investment grade due to the confidence of risk rating agencies that the country’s recovery will be much faster compared to other economies also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Panama, during the first semester of 2020, relevant activities have sustained the performance of the national economy and marked a positive dynamic, such as: government services, private health services and agricultural activity ”.

In the first half of 2020, government services grew 8.4%, with an accumulated growth due to the hiring of collaborators in the health sector, necessary to address the health crisis; private health services with growth in these six months of 3.6%, while agricultural activity showed an increase of 4.3%, highlighting in a relevant way the cultivation of bananas with 43.0% and the production of eggs in 8.9% and less measure the cultivation of legumes with 2.5%.

Other activities related to the rest of the world that showed increases were: port services; rice and corn in the agricultural sector, fishing and within the exploitation of mines and quarries, the export of copper concentrate.

The figures generated by the INEC are published at a time when the country is experiencing a gradual reopening of blocks that will contribute to the national economic reactivation, including the rise of new operations such as electronic commerce and home delivery service, as a result of adaptation of supply and demand in the face of a new reality.

“The negative impact between January and June was reflected in the decrease in operations or the total closure of activities that impacted the Panama Canal, the Colon Free Zone, air transport, personal services, commerce, construction, hotels, restaurants, services business, manufacturing industry, electricity, education and financial intermediation ”.

The published figures of the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product of the main Central Banks and Statistical Institutes of the region demonstrate the adverse effect of the health emergency resulting from the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

The accumulated impact in the same period for the United States was -19.0%, for Colombia it was -7.5% and for Costa Rica it was -4.1%, among others, with significant drops, mainly in the second quarter of the year, which marks a drop in widespread economic activity.

As in Panama, these institutions support economic behavior due to the effect of the global pandemic and the actions taken by their governments in matters of public health, such as mobility restrictions and total quarantine.