Economic Sanctions Against Russia Could Extinguish 100 Yen Shops
Soaring Energy Resource Prices Hit Households Rush to Raise Prices of Wheat, Crab, etc. 6,500 Russian Tourists Stranded in Thailand Due to Suspension of Use of Ruble... ...
As previously reported in this magazine, the economic sanctions against Russia have caused turmoil in many parts of the world.
More than 6,500 Russian tourists are stranded in Thailand’s resort areas of Phuket, Pattaya, and Krabi, which are popular among Russians. The exclusion of Russia from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) has made it impossible for them to use rubles and credit cards, and they have been unable to return home.
Emerging countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, which have grown rapidly thanks to the benefits of globalization, have fragile economic foundations and are vulnerable to inflation.
Investors are rapidly pulling out of their investments in emerging economies due to uncertainty about the future, and infrastructure development and corporate operations are coming to a halt,” said a desk clerk at a national newspaper’s economics department.
South Korea, a neighboring country with a new government, is already feeling the pinch: on March 8, the invasion of Ukraine and high oil prices pushed the won to 123 to the dollar. The price plunged to 8.7. International investment analyst Hiroshi Ohara tells the story.
South Korea is an extremely export-dependent economy, with trade being the main driver of earnings. South Korea imports equipment parts and fine chemical raw materials from Japan to produce automobiles and semiconductors, its main exports, so the economy will deteriorate further as prices soar.”
The damage to Japan, a small resource-rich country, is also enormous. For Japan, Russia is the world’s third largest importer of marine products, with annual imports amounting to 138.1 billion yen. Prices of crab and salmon have already skyrocketed.
Since Ukraine and Russia produce 30% of the world’s wheat, bread and noodles could become luxury foodstuffs if this trend continues. As critical inflation accelerates around the world, the retail industry will find it difficult to stock up, and business will become more difficult. In particular, 100-yen stores, which compete on quantity and cheapness, may be wiped out. This situation will continue for the next two to three years.
The world has changed dramatically since before the invasion of Ukraine.
From the April 1-8, 2022 issue of FRIDAY
PHOTO： Afro
