Germany's new Cabinet assumed power on Wednesday, with Olaf Scholz replacing Angela Merkel as chancellor at the head of a three-way coalition in Berlin.
Mr Scholz leaned on his safe-hands image to lead the Social Democrats (SPD) to an election victory in September, which only months earlier had seemed a long shot.
He built a coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) in which key posts such as the finance, climate and health ministries were carved up between the parties.
Three of the top jobs are filled by the leaders of the junior parties, with FDP frontman Christian Lindner taking over as finance minister and the two Green party chiefs leading climate and foreign policy.
Annalena Baerbock will be Germany’s first female foreign minister, bringing a critical stance on Russia and a call for greater co-operation on climate change to Berlin’s top diplomatic job. Robert Habeck will lead Germany’s race to net-zero carbon emissions in an expanded economy and climate ministry.
Olaf Scholz (SPD), chancellor
Mr Scholz became the fourth SPD chancellor in postwar Germany after leading the party out of a long decline to a first election victory since 2002.
His campaign was largely based around his image of unflustered competence, which contrasted with gaffes by rival candidates.
Despite being from a different party to Ms Merkel, he openly compared himself to her, seeking to imitate her reassuring style and even her signature hand gesture.
SPD negotiators got two of his key social policy pledges into the coalition agreement, with the minimum wage expected to rise and a target established to build 400,000 homes a year.
The resurgent coronavirus outbreak will immediately test his crisis management skills, with critics urging him to show more leadership on the issue.
Mr Scholz was mayor of Hamburg before joining Ms Merkel’s fourth government as finance minister, managing Germany's budget during the pandemic.
His finance role gave him a taste of international politics as he built support for a minimum corporate tax rate that was agreed by G20 countries.
Robert Habeck (Green), economy and climate protection minister
The Greens are taking on a new so-called “super-ministry”, which will drive the coalition’s agenda to make Germany carbon neutral.
Under the coalition agreement, every new law will have to be assessed for its climate impact – although Mr Habeck will not have a veto.
He will be expected to fulfil the coalition’s promises of expanding renewable energy and investing in public transport while working under financial constraints imposed by the FDP.
“We have a ministry that reconciles the economy and protecting the climate,” Mr Habeck said.
Mr Habeck, 52, is a camera-friendly novelist who put his ambitions for the chancellorship aside at this year’s election, but could run in the future.
He succeeds Mr Scholz as vice-chancellor, a largely symbolic post typically given to junior coalition partners.
Christian Lindner (FDP), finance minister
Mr Lindner, the leader of the pro-business FDP since 2013, got the job he had openly coveted during the election campaign.
He had his eye on a deal with the centre-right Christian Democrats, but after the election result made that unfeasible, he positioned the FDP as the “lawyer for the centre ground” in the alliance with the SPD and Greens.
Mr Lindner, 42, will have the task of ensuring that the coalition’s reform agenda does not breach the FDP’s low-tax, low-borrowing principles.
A slick former internet investor, he made digitalisation a key issue during the campaign and found common ground with the Greens on the need to modernise Germany.
After beating Mr Habeck to the finance job, a role for which both men had been tipped, Mr Lindner accepted that the Greens would take the vice-chancellorship – quashing speculation that the role would be split in two.
“That’s the result of the election,” in which the Greens won 14.8 per cent of the vote to the FDP’s 11.5 per cent, he said.
Annalena Baerbock (Green), foreign minister
Ms Baerbock made history as the first Green candidate for the chancellorship, but her campaign lost its way and she was eventually outmanoeuvred by Mr Scholz.
She will take on a foreign ministry facing challenges such as the border crisis in Belarus and the fall-out from the Taliban victory in Afghanistan.
An international law expert, she has signalled a more assertive stance on Russia and China and opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline – an issue yet to be fully resolved by the coalition partners.
Ms Baerbock, 40, a former trampolining medallist, hopes to use the role to promote international co-operation on climate change.
Germany holds the presidency of the G7 next year, and the coalition wants to use this to push for an international “climate club” and a unified global carbon price.
“We can’t meet the Paris climate goals as Germans alone,” Ms Baerbock said. “There will be a European, and a German, climate foreign policy.”
Karl Lauterbach (SPD), health minister
The health ministry will have an outsize role in the new government as it tries to stop the Covid-19 pandemic from knocking its plans off course.
The post was given to Karl Lauterbach, a bow tie-wearing epidemiologist turned SPD politician and one of the most prominent scientific voices during the pandemic.
His relentless appeals for caution made him a divisive figure, even leading to death threats, with critics regarding him as an overzealous advocate for restrictions.
But Mr Scholz, who gave Mr Lauterbach the task of improving the health system for future crises, said there had been a clamour for his appointment.
"Most people in this country wanted the next health minister to be an expert who really knows how to do this well, and for his name to be Karl Lauterbach," he said.
HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Brief scores:
Barcelona 3
Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'
Rayo Vallecano 1
De Tomas Gomez 24'
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Youth YouTuber Programme
The programme will be presented over two weeks and will cover the following topics:
- Learning, scripting, storytelling and basic shots
- Master on-camera presence and advanced script writing
- Beating the algorithm and reaching your core audience
