EU wants tax to fight ‘astronomic’ electricity bills
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2022
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The EU is considering a windfall tax for energy companies, Zambia’s IMF bailout is a test for countries that have defaulted on Chinese debt, and US regulators are cracking down on bankers’ use of messaging apps.
Mentioned in this podcast:
EU plans windfall tax to counter ‘astronomic’ energy bills
Zambia’s $1.3bn IMF bailout to test how China handles defaults
Wall Street’s $1bn messaging ‘nightmare’
The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:09.9 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, September 7th. |
| 0:13.3 | And this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:19.1 | The European Union is considering taxing energy companies for their huge profits this year. |
| 0:24.3 | The International Monetary Fund recently bailed out Zambia |
| 0:27.4 | and it seems like it's going to be a test case for other countries in major debt. |
| 0:31.1 | And US regulators are cracking down on how bankers use messaging services like WhatsApp. |
| 0:36.8 | I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news unique to start your day. |
| 0:47.0 | European energy suppliers have been making big, unexpected profits this year. |
| 0:51.3 | And now, the EU wants its member countries to tax those windfalls. |
| 0:55.3 | People familiar with the plan tell the FT that the extra cash has come from artificially |
| 0:59.8 | inflated electricity prices. They've skyrocketed because they're set by the price of gas, |
| 1:04.6 | whether or not the electricity is produced with gas. |
| 1:07.9 | And gas prices have soared because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. |
| 1:11.7 | The FT's Alice Hancock says the details on the proposed taxes are expected to be hammered out this week. |
| 1:17.6 | We don't have any numbers yet. The proposals are very embryonic. The European Commission is |
| 1:23.2 | under some pressure from the Member States to act and it's really come to a head this week. |
| 1:28.4 | The companies that will be affected stretch actually to all energy producers. |
| 1:33.0 | It will be renewable producers because they have been enjoying super high profits because |
| 1:38.8 | the price is set by the gas price, which is super high. |
| 1:41.4 | But it'll also stretch to oil and gas companies who have also been having great profits, |
... |
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