Economy

ECB vs. inflation
Sources: Christine Lagarde may leave ECB early

ECB President Christine Lagarde is expected to leave the central bank early, sources tell the FT.

According to the newspaper, Lagarde wants to leave before her eight-year term ends in October 2027. The aim is to give outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz the opportunity to appoint a new ECB president before the French presidential election in April next year – and thus avoid having to deal with a possible French president from the far right after the 2027 election.

It is still unclear exactly when she will leave.

ECB: “She has not yet made any decision”

Christine Lagarde is fully focused on her mission and “has not made any decision about the end of her term”. The central bank writes in a response to Bloomberg.

The FT reported this morning that the ECB chief reportedly wants to leave early to give Macron and Mertz time to find a replacement.

AI summit in India
Underwater cables from India to help Google reach out

Google will build underwater cables from its announced AI hub in Andhra Pradesh, India, to be able to reach out to other areas. The American tech giant announced this in connection with the AI ​​fair AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, AFP reports.

In total, three underwater cables will connect India with Singapore, South Africa and Australia.

Last autumn, Google announced that it had promised to invest $15 billion – equivalent to SEK 135 billion – in the construction of a hub for AI infrastructure in the port city of Visakhapatnam in eastern India. It will be the tech giant's largest hub outside the US, according to the news agency. 

Putin's Russia
Ice hinders Russian exports – nuclear icebreaker Sibir called in

The ice cover in the Gulf of Finland is making it difficult for Russian oil exports and the Kremlin is now engaging the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir to secure the shipping lanes. This is reported by Hufvudstadsbladet, referring to documents that the Russian business newspaper Kommersant has seen.

The ice and the break are causing delays and the government's latest move shows how vulnerable the Russian oil exporter is. This is stated by Henrik Wachtmeister, an expert at the Swedish Institute for Foreign Policy, for Dagens Nyheter.

– One of Russia's problems is that the country does not have many warm ports. What goes out via the Black Sea also risks being exposed to attacks, he tells the newspaper.