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How could America's government shutdown hit the world's biggest economy?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Africa waits to see if a duty-free trade deal with the US survives and Germany's jobless rate ticks higher.
What that says about Europe's economic engine.
Yes, we are hours away from a possible US government shutdown.
Right now, Washington is still deadlocked.
But when I say government shutdown, what does that actually mean?
What stops?
What keeps going?
And who's going to feel it?
To explain, here's our reporter, Hannah Mullane.
In the US, a government shutdown happens when the two main political parties can't agree on how the country should be funded for the next year.
That could bring some, but not all, US government services to a temporary halt.
Essential workers like air traffic controllers and border guards will still work.
But museums, national parks and top tourist attractions will close and many government workers will have to stay at home.
They don't get paid, but in the past have received back pay once an agreement's been made.
Shutdowns over budgets are almost unique to US politics because under the US system, the different branches of government have to agree on how they want to spend their money before those plans can become law.
Anna Mullane there.
Now one of those essential workers is David J Demas, a correctional officer at US Penitentiary Canaan.
He's also the facility's American Federation of Government Employees chapter president.
If there's a shutdown, he'll be showing up to work without pay.
It's a big stressor for us, as correctional officers and law enforcement officers, knowing that you still have to come to work and do your job the way that you've always done it.
And at the end of the week, at the end of the pay period, you may not be getting a paycheck.
So what are you hearing from officers about pay, bills and even morale?
Well, morale will be at its all time low during shutdowns and stress will be at its all time high.
It's a stressful time every year.
We have to become a bargaining chip for the politicians in DC to say well, if you don't do this or if you don't do that, we're going to shut down the government.
It's getting frustrating as a law enforcement officer that you have to sit there and do the work for no pay.
It's getting old.
How are you personally feeling about this?
Do you have to make contingency plans?
We not only have to make contingency plans.
Yeah, we're looking at getting personal loans to bridge the gap between the paychecks, if this should happen.
Last week, the agency also terminated our union contract.
So now we're literally going to work with no pay and no safeguards.
What's most at risk is just staff just finding other jobs.
You can go to other places and work and pay just as much.
And it's sad.
You know most people when they want to get in the law enforcement fields, they just want to be in public safety and they want to do something for the community.
And that's something that myself and my colleagues all want to do.
They want to be a part of the community.
They want to help.
This is kind of sticking it to us saying well, you're going to have to wait until Washington DC figures out the budget.
That was David J. Demas.
Now, U.S. residents also might notice a change on their daily walk.
Teresa Perno is president of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Unfortunately, the last time there was a shutdown, it was the longest shutdown, and they tried to keep the parks open.
And what happened was we had parks vandalized, petroglyphs that were prehistoric.
We had Joshua trees.
Also, they just can't keep up the services.
Things like restrooms are closed and vehicles that start off-roading, many, many issues.
But a shutdown turns away about a million park visitors every day.
So you're talking a huge economic impact.
Of course, it's not just federal staff that suffer.
Small firms that sell to local government or trade in those towns also feel it.
Todd McCracken is the president of the National Small Business Association.
Well, it affects a lot of small companies, because there are a lot of small businesses that are contractors for the government.
A lot of small companies whose customers are affected by the government.
There's a lot of information that's provided by the government that small businesses use that won't be available.
So it really does ripple through the economy.
Also in past shutdowns, E-Verify has gone offline.
So if that happens again, how could small employers handle hiring and compliance without tripping up on rules?
It is difficult.
They'll have to go back to the old way, which is to be checking people's passports and driver's licenses and trusting that the information they get is accurate.
E-Verify is not mandatory, but it certainly is helpful as a preventative, to make sure you don't get into trouble.
Also, beyond contractors, what is the spillover to the main street?
Because, for example, I'm sure there's a lot of small businesses that rely on nearby national parks that could be closed.
There's all sorts of spillover effects in government offices all over the country.
It's especially acute here in Washington, D.C., where I'm sitting.
But there are significant federal presences all over the country that will be closed.
And those workers won't be coming to work.
They won't be going to lunch.
They won't be participating in civic life downtown.
And to the extent they are, they'll be much more conservative about their spending.
That will really hurt all small companies.
The other thing to bear in mind here is when the government has closed in the past, the workers for the government wind up getting their back pay eventually.
However, that is not true for small businesses that are contractors that provide goods and services to the government.
They never get paid during the time when the government is shut down.
The best they can hope for is for their contract to resume when the government finally reopens.
That was Todd McCracken, President of the National Small Business Association.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of jobs in Africa are on the line as the US decides whether to renew a key trade pact, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA for short.
The 25-year-old deal lets more than 30 African countries export goods duty-free to America.
In Nairobi, garment factory boss Isaac Malouki says his output has already dropped more than 60 in the past year just on the news that AGOA might end.
After all these years of investments, it may just come down to having to close down, because if we can't get enough work to sustain the people here, then we will have no choice.
If the extension doesn't happen, we are looking at for our facility north of 10 million of investment going down the drain.
That was Isaac Muluki in Nairobi.
A strike by oil workers in Nigeria has entered its second day.
900 workers say they were fired for joining a union.
The refinery claims only a few workers were let go for sabotage.
The authorities in Milan have approved the sale and likely demolition of San Siro, one of Italy's most striking and recognisable football stadiums.
The two teams that play at San Siro, Inter and AC Milan, have threatened to leave if the sale was not approved.
Okay, with us Fiona Sincotta, Senior Markets Analyst at Citi Index.
Fiona, let's talk about Germany.
Unemployment figures ticked up there, but can you put that into context for me?
Is this a small wobble?
Is it something bigger going on?
So, you know, I think this is actually a meaningful signal and not just noise.
So the 14000 increase in joblessness to 289 million was larger than expected and is also a 14-year high.
But this also comes against the backdrop of weak economic indicators.
Job vacancies are down, retail sales GDP are weak and soft.
So I think this does point to a labour market where it's losing momentum.
We're talking about US trade policies there too.
Does that show up in German jobs data at all?
It does, because I think it does affect demand for German sectors such as the auto sector, also machinery.
So higher US tariffs, they raise costs and they shrink US orders.
So I think this will be starting to show through in the German data.
Absolutely.
And finally, Fiona, here's one for you.
Get your thoughts on this.
South Korea's top messaging app, KakaoTalk, its rollback on an unpopular update.
Change made services feel more like Instagram, but users wanted their simple contactless back.
I feel like I'd be the same.
I don't want to see everybody's updates all the time.
Completely.
I'm with you on that one.
100%.
All right, Fiona Sincotta, thank you so much for joining us.
And that's it from me, Leanna Byrne on World Business Express.
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Just search for World Business Express wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks so much for listening.
America is changing, and so is the world.
But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval.
It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.
I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is The Global Story.
Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
