The challenges to Global Mobility during the Covid-19 pandemic seem to be never-ending: travel restrictions, immigration difficulties, stress on assignees, and so many others. Companies are stepping up to these challenges in a variety of ways, but how many are providing additional cash incentives, by way of expatriate premiums, to help international assignees during these challenging times?
Looking back to the world of a year ago, open borders, naked faces and all-you-can-eat buffets feel remarkably foreign. In December 2019, few of us could have predicted how volatile the upcoming year would be.
2020 continues to be tumultuous for the global economy, as impacts of conditions throughout the year come due, and new issues emerge to impact markets. Below find our summaries of some of the month’s biggest changes in foreign exchange.
2020 has been a devastating and unpredictable year for the global economy as we wade through the deepest global recession since the Second World War. Widespread lockdowns, the oil price war rolling into the collapse of demand, and the devastation of hospitality and tourism industries have all created an unprecedented and uncertain start to the second decade of the 21st century.
Cost of living index adjustment is driven by changes in the purchasing power of an assignee in the host location. The purchasing power is based on both the exchange rate and inflation, relative between the home and host countries.
On July 15th here in my hometown, Hong Kong enacted its most stringent Covid-19 lockdown to date. The number of cases here has continued to rise over the past ten days with many of the new infections are coming from unknown origins.
2020 has been a year of historic economic upheaval. (Access the December 23rd update of this article to see our most recent data, accompanied by a review of 2020 and expectations for 2021.)
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt global markets, depreciation has slowed in many locations and some currencies are beginning to recover lost value. Let’s take a look at some notable currency movements of the past month.
On 21 May 2020, the Chinese government proposed enacting a new law in Hong Kong on national security regulations, under the provisions of Annex III of its basic law. This proposal, while lacking many details, has created speculation and concern regarding the impact it may have on the political and business environment in Hong Kong.
On Sunday, May 3, Hong Kong recorded no new cases of COVID-19 and 14 days straight with no cases of local transmission. As the COVID-19 crisis has begun to abate in the city, the protests that rocked Hong Kong for many months have begun to resurge. The big question is “what’s next for Hong Kong?”
