Philippine economy grows 6.9 percent in the third quarter, beats forecasts

Philippine economy grows 6.9 percent in the third quarter, beats forecasts

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MANILA: The Philippine economy grew at a faster than expected 6.9 percent annual pace in the July-September quarter, helped by increased public spending on pay hikes for government personnel, officials said Thursday.
Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia described the growth reported as a “spectacular growth rate after an election year.” It surpassed a market consensus forecast of 6.6 percent and was an improvement on 6.7 percent growth in April-June.
President Rodrigo Duterte inherited a booming economy when he took office in May 2016. So far growth has remained on track, despite the country’s massive poverty, inequality and insurgencies.
Growth in July-September last year was 7.1 percent.
Manufacturing output expanded 7.5 percent from a year earlier, while public consumption rose 8.3 percent thanks to increased pay and allowances for public employees, including the military, Pernia said.
“We are now seeing a sustained improvement in government spending in a run-up to our massive infrastructure program – the Build, Build, Build – which will continually unfold in the months ahead,” Pernia said. “This is expected to ratchet up public spending even further.”
Household consumption is also seen picking up in the last quarter due to the Christmas season, he added.
Pernia said the economy is on track to meet the government’s full-year growth target range of 6.5-7.5 percent.
The Philippines has posted more than 6 percent growth for nine consecutive quarters, making it among the fastest growing economies in the region.
Still, civil strife in the southern third of the country has taken a toll as seen in the dismal performance of the Philippine peso this year. Any delays in the government’s ambitious infrastructure program also could pose risks.

Philippine economy grows 6.9 percent in the third quarter, beats forecasts

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SoftBank to invest up to $25 billion in Saudi Arabia — Bloomberg report

SoftBank to invest up to $25 billion in Saudi Arabia — Bloomberg report

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TOKYO: Japan’s SoftBank Group plans to invest as much as $25 billion (SR93.32 billion) in Saudi Arabia over the next three to four years, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank plans to deploy up to $15 billion in the new high-tech city of NEOM, with the SoftBank Vision Fund planning an investment of as much as $10 billion in state-controlled Saudi Electricity Co, Bloomberg reported.
With Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund one of the largest investors in the Vision Fund, the investments would see funds being funneled back to the country, whose authorities have launched an anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom’s political and business elite.
Besides SoftBank and the Saudi wealth fund, investors in Vision Fund include the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, Apple and Foxconn.
A SoftBank spokesman declined on Thursday to comment on the Bloomberg report.
Vision Fund had announced in May it raised over $93 billion from investors to fund ventures in areas including artificial intelligence and robotics.
Saudi Arabia has previously announced plans to sell a large minority stake in Saudi Electricity to the Vision Fund but the figures have not been made public.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters in an interview in October that the $500 billion mega-city of NEOM will be floated on financial markets alongside oil giant Saudi Aramco as part of the kingdom’s drive to diversify away from oil.
Saudi authorities this month have arrested prominent royals, officials and businessmen in the corruption crackdown.

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SoftBank to invest up to $25 billion in Saudi Arabia — Bloomberg report

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Volkswagen earmarks €10 billion to develop new energy vehicles in China

Volkswagen earmarks €10 billion to develop new energy vehicles in China

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GUANGZHOU/BEIJING: Volkswagen Group said on Thursday it plans to spend €10 billion ($44.2 billion) by 2025 to develop and manufacture all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles as it seeks to comply with upcoming stringent rules in China.
The group, which includes Volkswagen and Audi, intends to launch 15 of the so-called new energy vehicles (NEV) models over the next two to three years, and an additional 25 after 2025, China chief Jochem Heizmann said on Thursday.
China’s NEV production and sales quotas, which must be met by 2019, have prompted a flurry of electric car deals and new launches as automakers in China race to ensure they do not fall short. Automakers that do fall short will be required to buy credits.
Volkswagen currently has around 10 NEVs already on the market in China, although all are imported models with limited sales volumes, according to a company spokeswoman.
Heizmann, speaking ahead of the Guangzhou auto show, added that the group is aiming to sell 400,000 new energy vehicles per year in China by 2020 and 1.5 million per year by 2025. NEVs refer to all-electric battery cars and heavily electrified plug-in hybrids.
Heizmann said some of those models will have a 400-600km driving range on a single full charge. By comparison, Tesla’s model S has a range of 490km and as much as 632km depending on battery capacity, according to the company.
The Volkswagen Group is also confident that its group companies and their local China joint venture partners will be able to generate enough NEV sales volume to account for NEV quotas by 2019, Heizmann said, adding that there will be no need to buy credits.
“We need high volumes of new energy vehicles ... we are working on full speed on that.”
Last week, General Motors’s China chief Matt Tsien told reporters GM’s China joint ventures will be able to generate enough NEV sales volume to account for NEV quotas by 2019 and without the need to buy credits.
Tsien said both GM and its China joint-venture partners “are working to at least meet, if not exceed, those credit mandate requirements.”
The Guangzhou auto show starts on Friday.

Volkswagen earmarks €10 billion to develop new energy vehicles in China

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Subaru recalls 400,000 cars in Japan

Subaru recalls 400,000 cars in Japan

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TOKYO: Subaru recalled nearly 400,000 vehicles from its domestic market on Thursday due to an inspection scandal — the latest to hit the beleaguered Japanese car industry.
The recall concerns nine models, including a sports car that Subaru manufactures for Toyota, but vehicles sold overseas were not affected, a spokesman said.
Subaru admitted last month that uncertified staff had conducted vehicle inspections at two factories northwest of Tokyo.
It said at the time it would likely have to recall 250,000 cars at a cost of some ¥5 billion ($164 million).
It is not immediately known how much the wider recall of 395,000 vehicles will cost the group.
The affected cars were produced at the two factories between January 2014 and October 2017.
Cars bought before then will have been subject to compulsory inspections three years after purchase, a transport ministry official said.
“There is no problem with older cars as they have already been confirmed to meet safety standards,” this official said.
A Subaru spokesman said the group had decided to reinspect all vehicles produced domestically from 2014, not just some models believed to have been checked by uncertified staff.
The recall is the latest blow to the once flawless reputation of Japan Inc, after a similar case at bigger rival Nissan.
Last month, Nissan recalled some 1.2 million cars in Japan that had failed to meet domestic rules on final vehicle inspections.
This put a major dent in its operating profit forecast this year, the firm said last week.
The embarrassing admissions have hurt Japan’s auto industry, once the envy of the world for its just-in-time manufacturing and near-obsessive focus on constant improvement.

Subaru recalls 400,000 cars in Japan

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Sages of Delhi? Astute forecasts on India’s listed companies circulate in WhatsApp groups

Sages of Delhi? Astute forecasts on India’s listed companies circulate in WhatsApp groups

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MUMBAI: Three days before Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories announced quarterly results this summer, a message circulated on a private WhatsApp group saying the Indian drugmaker would not post good numbers.
Dr. Reddy’s was going to report a loss, according to the message on the “Market Chatter” group, which was posted on July 24 from a mobile phone number that Reuters traced back to Nishant Vass, an auto analyst at ICICI Securities, a leading Indian brokerage. The WhatsApp group had 45 members, mostly traders.
The loss would have been a surprise to many analysts, as consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters at the time showed expectations of a profit of 3 billion rupees.
The message proved prescient: On July 27, Dr. Reddy’s reported a loss of 587 million rupees (SR33.6 million) — a result its chief executive said was “below expectations,” sending shares down as much as 4.4 percent.
The post that circulated in the WhatsApp group three days earlier had predicted a loss of more than 500 million rupees.
A person who identified himself as Vass returned a call from Reuters using the telephone number from which the Dr. Reddy’s numbers had been posted on the WhatsApp group. He denied writing or sharing posts in the group, adding later in a separate WhatsApp message from the same number that it was “totally baseless” that he had done so.
Reuters has documented at least 12 cases of prescient messages about major Indian companies, including Dr. Reddy’s, being posted in private WhatsApp groups.
Two of the messages appeared in the transcripts of six groups reviewed by Reuters, including the “Market Chatter” group where the Dr. Reddy’s numbers appeared. The others were shared on condition of anonymity by two other members of other WhatsApp groups.
The posts with prescient numbers in the WhatsApp groups were circulated hours or days before official company statements.
The messages shared could involve lucky guesses or astute forecasts based on publicly available information, and not all metrics shared among the 12 cases were exactly the same as reported.
Reuters could not determine where the numbers posted on the WhatsApp groups originated or whether any of the market participants who received the messages had traded on the basis of the numbers they had seen.
According to two lawyers who were formerly senior officials at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s capital markets regulator, if any numbers being posted on WhatsApp groups were determined by regulators to be “unpublished price-sensitive information,” the people circulating them would be breaking the law.
“The mere sharing of information that could be unpublished insider information is outlawed, even if you don’t misuse the information to trade on it,” said Sandeep Parekh, a lawyer with Finsec Law Advisers who used to head SEBI’s enforcement division.
SEBI did not respond to requests for comment.
India significantly toughened insider trading rules in early 2015, expanding what constitutes “unpublished price-sensitive information” to include “any information” that is not “generally available” and that could have a market impact.
The law also expanded the scope of who constitutes an “insider” to include “anyone in possession of or having access to unpublished price-sensitive information” regardless of how they came “in possession of or had access to such information.”
“You don’t need to have gotten inside information from a company. You could get it from anywhere,” said Vaneesa Agrawal, a partner with Suvan Law Advisers who formerly worked in SEBI’s legal department. “As soon as you have information that could be insider information you are an insider, and you are not supposed to either pass it on or trade on it.”
Circulating “unpublished price-sensitive information” can result in penalties of up to 250 million rupees and a jail term of up to 10 years. The monetary amount can be higher if it can be proven that an individual traded on such information.
ICICI Securities said in a statement that it had “zero tolerance toward any dissemination of unpublished price sensitive information and has an appropriate framework to safeguard confidentiality of information.”
Dr. Reddy’s said it was “not aware of any information related to its financial results being circulated externally ahead of statutory disclosures that are made officially by the company.”
The messages about the 12 companies with prescient information obtained by Reuters involved mostly what were characterized as being upcoming quarterly results, including specific metrics such as net profits, revenues and operating margins.
They also included messages about upcoming bonus share issues or revenue guidance.
Seven of the companies are part of the benchmark NSE index : Dr. Reddy’s, the drug maker Cipla, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, the IT services company Wipro and Bajaj Finance .
The other five were Mahindra Holidays and Resorts, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, the IT services providers Mindtree and Mastek , and India Glycols, a petrochemicals company.
Wipro, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Mastek, Crompton Greaves, Cipla and Mahindra Holidays said they were not aware messages referring to their upcoming results or announcements had circulated in WhatsApp, and that the companies adhered to strict standards of guarding sensitive company information.
Axis Bank, Tata Steel, India Glycols, Mindtree did not reply to requests for comment.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, responded to a request for comment by pointing to its terms of service, which state users can use the platform only for “legal, authorized, and acceptable purposes.”
Many of the postings in the WhatsApp groups are referred to as “HOS,” for “Heard on the Street.”
In one typical post on July 25, Fanil Motiwalla, a contractor for a small brokerage, Arcadia Share & Stock Brokers, posted a set of numbers for Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private lender. Motiwalla works as a sub-broker, who are typically hired as contractors by securities firms in India to recruit customers.
“This HOS is going around for Axis,” Motiwalla said when posting the numbers, which included key metrics such as gross non-performing assets and net interest margins.
Later that day, Axis Bank reported results that closely matched the final numbers in Motiwalla’s message.
Arcadia said it had policies in place to prevent employees from passing on “illegal information.”
Motiwalla said he just reposted a message that had already been circulating in the market and he did not consider it inside information.
“How do I know if this is coming from inside information? This could come from many sources,” he said. “This information comes from different groups, and we just post it.”
Arcadia said every sub-broker it hired was given a copy of SEBI’s rules, adding, “whatever the alleged message sent by him is not sourced from Arcadia,” referring to Motiwalla.
Below are examples of the numbers being circulated with an explanation of local market abbreviations and terms.

DR. REDDY’S:
POSTED MESSAGE (July, 24, 2017)
“Fwd HOS: Dr. reddy to report loss of more than 50cr vs exp of 280 to 300cr pat. No one offs“
(Forwarded Heard on the Street: Dr. Reddy’s to report a loss of over 500 million rupees ($7.7 million) vs expectations of an after tax profit of 2.8 to 3 billion rupees. No one off items.)
COMPARISON WITH OFFICIAL RESULTS:
On a consolidated basis under Indian accounting standards, Dr. Reddy’s posted a loss of 587 million rupees. The message had forecast a loss of more than 500 million rupees.

HDFC BANK:
POSTED MESSAGE (July, 21, 2017)
“Hearing Hdfc Bank PAT @ 3900 crs & 1.25 GNPA vs 1.04“
(Profit after tax will be 39 billion rupees and gross non-performing asset ratio will be at 1.25 percent vs 1.04 percent.)
“Consensus estimate is 3950 crs. Our estimate is 3973 crs so 3900 is not a good number. Numbers on Monday.”
(Consensus estimate 39.5 billion rupees, our estimate 39.73 billion rupees.)
COMPARISON WITH OFFICIAL RESULTS:
HDFC Bank posted a profit after tax of 38.94 billion rupees. Its GNPA was 1.24 percent. The message had predicted a profit of 39 billion and a GNPA of 1.25 percent.

AXIS BANK:
POSTED MESSAGE (July, 25, 2017)
“Gnpa 5.03; Nnpa 2.30; Nim 3.63; Slippages 8000 cr – only 35 percent from wishlist; Write off 2300 cr; Casa 48.33; This HOS is going around for Axis“
(Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) 5.03 percent; net non-performing assets (NNPA) 2.30 percent; net interest margins 3.63 percent; slippages will be mostly from outside the watch-list; Write offs of 23 billion rupees; Current and savings account (CASA) deposits at 48.33 percent)

COMPARISON WITH OFFICIAL RESULTS:
GNPA: 5.03 vs 5.03; NNPA: 2.30 vs 2.30; NIM: 3.63 vs 3.63; Slippages: 35.19 billion rupees vs 80 billion rupees (majority were from outside watch-list); Writeoff: 24.6 billion rupees vs 23 billion rupees; CASA: 49 percent vs 48.33 percent.

TATA STEEL:
POSTED MESSAGE (May 16, 2017)
“Hearing Tata steel Revenue — 33,900. (net excise), Ebitda 7000, EBIT 5400, PBT 257, PAT -700. Exceptional item -4000.”
(Revenue 339 billion rupees; Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) 70 billion rupees; earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) 54 billion rupees; profit before tax (PBT) is 2.57 billion; profit after tax (PAT) loss of 7 billion; one-time items 40 billion rupees)
COMPARISON WITH OFFICIAL RESULTS:
Gross sales 348 billion vs 339 billion; EBITDA 69.82 billion vs 70 billion; EBIT 53.93 billion vs 54 billion; Exceptional items 40.69 billion vs 40 billion; PBT 2.59 billion vs 2.57 billion; PAT loss of 7.17 billion vs loss of 7 billion.

MAHINDRA HOLIDAYS
POSTED MESSAGE (May, 19, 2017)
“Mahindra holidays will declare a bonus today“
COMPARISON WITH OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
1 for 2 bonus share issue announced after hours.

Sages of Delhi? Astute forecasts on India’s listed companies circulate in WhatsApp groups

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Lebanon’s Hariri in Saudi Arabia by his own will and can leave when he wants, Saudi FM Al-Jubeir says

Lebanon’s Hariri in Saudi Arabia by his own will and can leave when he wants, Saudi FM Al-Jubeir says

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, left, addresses a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir in Riyadh on November 16. (AFP)

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RIYADH: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is free to leave Riyadh “when he pleases,” the Saudi foreign minister said on Thursday, rejecting accusations from Beirut that the kingdom was “detaining” him.
Hariri, who announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia on November 4, is living in the Kingdom “of his own free will” and free to leave “when he pleases”, Adel Al-Jubeir told a press conference in Riyadh.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also said during the press conference that “Saad Hariri will come to France when he wants and as soon as he wants,” and raised concerns on “Iran’s interventions in the region.”
Al-Jubeir likewise accused Hezbollah of destabilizing the region, and said that the Lebanese group must be disarmed.

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Lebanon’s Hariri in Saudi Arabia by his own will and can leave when he wants, Saudi FM Al-Jubeir says

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French president’s office says Hariri accepts invitation, will come within days

French president’s office says Hariri accepts invitation, will come within days

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PARIS/BEIRUT: The French president’s office said Thursday that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has accepted an invitation to come to France after his surprise resignation from Saudi Arabia nearly two weeks ago that stunned Lebanon and rattled the region.
An official in President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Hariri is expected in France in the coming days. The official was not authorized to be publicly named.
Hariri announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia on November 4, citing meddling in the region’s affairs by Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. He has not returned to Lebanon since, and the Lebanese president has refused to accept his resignation before he returns.
France, Lebanon’s onetime colonial ruler, has been trying to mediate in the crisis. On Wednesday, Macron invited Hariri and his family to come to France, apparently as a way to put an end to allegations that the prime minister is being held against his will.
The resignation of the Saudi-backed Hariri stunned Lebanon, throwing its government into turmoil.
In Beirut, Lebanese President Michel Aoun tweeted on Thursday that he hoped the country’s political crisis was over following Saad Hariri’s acceptance of a French invitation to visit Paris.
Earlier a source close to Hariri said the prime minister, who resigned this month while in Saudi Arabia but has yet to return to Beirut, was expected to leave Riyadh for France within the next 48 hours.
Aoun said Lebanon remained committed to its policy of staying out of regional conflicts, especially those between Arab states, presidential sources said on Thursday.

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French president’s office says Hariri accepts invitation, will come within days

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Turkey detains 60 security officials suspected ties to coup plotters: Anadolu

Turkey detains 60 security officials suspected ties to coup plotters: Anadolu

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech backdropped by an image of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, right during a ceremony to mark the 79th anniversary of Ataturk’s death, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. (Kayhan Ozer, Pool Photo via AP)

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ISTANBUL: Turkey arrested 60 former security officials in a wide-scale operation on Thursday on suspicion of links to last year’s attempted military coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Authorities issued warrants for the arrest of 108 former security officials in the operation, centered in the capital Ankara and spread over 30 provinces, Anadolu said.
The suspects are believed to have ties to U.S-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for orchestrating the failed coup in July 2016. Gulen has denied involvement and denounced the coup.
More than 50,000 people, including security officials, military personnel and civil servants, have been detained in the aftermath of the July 2016 coup.
The crackdown has alarmed Turkey’s Western allies and rights groups, who say President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent.
The government says the measures, taken under emergency rule that was imposed after the coup, are necessary due to the security threats Turkey faces.

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Turkey detains 60 security officials suspected ties to coup plotters: Anadolu

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Libyans swap jewelry for medical treatment as crisis bites

Libyans swap jewelry for medical treatment as crisis bites

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TRIPOLI: In a square behind Libya’s central bank, black market dealers, some of them armed, carry small plastic bags filled with dollars and larger ones with dinars in and out of one of many informal exchanges.
Traders buy food and other goods from abroad at the official rate and sell them at the unofficial one, pocketing vast profits; others make equally large sums by smuggling out heavily subsidised fuel.
In the back streets of the old city meanwhile, ordinary people have resorted to selling jewelry or dollars hidden at home as six years of post-dictatorship chaos take their toll.
“I haven’t been paid for four months,” said Fatima, 40, from the southern city of Sabha as she sold three small gold charms to pay for diabetes treatment for her sister, Hasina, who added: “We’re helpless, there’s nothing else we can do.”
In other signs of rising poverty, elderly women beg motorists for cash on Tripoli’s streets and families queue for charity food handouts. The UN estimated that about 1.3 million people in Libya need humanitarian assistance this year.
Their situation took another turn for the worse in the past two weeks after the black market rate of the dinar, which has long languished at record lows, slid again, fueling inflation that is already around 25-30 percent.
The central bank blamed the audit bureau and the UN-backed government for restricting letters of credit that fund basic supplies to a divided country where a security vacuum and smuggling networks have destabilized the wider region.
Officials had come across suspect requests — one to import tuna worth $120,000, more than the country consumes in a year, according to a Libyan entrepreneur who declined to be named, fearing retribution from Libya’s powerful armed groups.
Just $2.5 billion of an expected $7.4 billion of credit has been allocated, the trader said, helping knock the dinar from around 8.5 to 9.25 against the dollar on the black market. Its value has fallen by more than 600 percent since early 2014.
The economy ministry was not immediately available for comment on a complex credit system that passes through commercial banks and where the audit bureau had documented earlier abuses and lack of oversight.
“We’re talking about an extremely bad economic and financial situation,” Central Bank Governor Sadiq Al-Kabir said in a rare news conference on Tuesday. “Everyone, whether legislative or executive, holds responsibility equally.”

Elusive peace
Traders and economists say political uncertainty is a major factor weakening the currency, with UN talks to broker a deal between rival factions currently suspended.
Libya is struggling to fund food imports and defend its foreign reserves, which the World Bank estimates will stand at $67.5 billion at the end of this year, compared to $123.5 billion in 2012.
International experts say the only way to resolve the issue is to devalue the dinar from the official exchange rate of 1.37 to the dollar, but agreeing an economic strategy in a country dominated by armed factions with rival governments and no budgets is no simple task.
A powerful or well-connected minority who are profiting from a flourishing shadow economy have little interest in change.
The central bank did not comment on devaluation, but economists and diplomats say the bank is reluctant to devalue without a policy plan in place to deal with the resulting shock.
Libya managed this year to lift oil production to about 1 million barrels a day, but output is stuck well below the levels before the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi.
Revenues that normally account for about 80 percent of gross domestic product are largely used to pay salaries, including those of armed factions added to the state payroll for their role in the uprising. Subsidies include a $4 billion-plus annual fuel subsidy that is among the most generous in the world.
Premiums on the official exchange rate and subsidised fuel make Libya “a criminal and terrorist cross-border funding paradise,” said Husni Bey, chairman of HB Group, one of Libya’s biggest private firms.
“Most instability in Libya today is of a criminal nature... due to the lack of equitable exchange rate for the Libyan dinar and the subsidies that must be changed from goods to direct cash contributions.”
Last year Libya spent around $26 billion, but earned just $6 billion. “This year we estimate that revenues should increase to around $14 billion, but spending will likely be more than double this,” said Mark Griffiths, Libya Mission Chief for the International Monetary Fund. “This is not sustainable.”
The government has sought to reduce the public salary bill by 5 billion dinars annually, clamping down on abuse by removing some 100,000 people who had been claiming several salaries, according to a finance ministry report.
Libyans became used to plentiful public jobs and state handouts as Qaddafi sought to buy loyalty like other Middle Eastern oil producers. Migrant workers used to do the manual work, now Libyans without contacts have taken their place.
Salman Rashid, a public servant, said he had received just three months-worth of pay in the past year. “It’s not enough for basic needs,” he said. “Now I work on construction sites and in buildings maintenance.”
Entrepreneurs have withdrawn deposits from banks for fear of employees leaking word of them to kidnappers and others also prefer to keep money at home.
In a second shop in the old city, a woman who gave her name as Karima was changing 500 euros. “I need to go to Tunis for surgery and am selling my foreign currency holdings,” she said. “Times are very difficult now.”
Shop owner Salahedin Zarti, 52, said up to 10 people come in daily to sell necklaces, bracelets and rings.
“In the beginning it was every day, but now I think people are starting to run out of jewelry,” he said.

Libyans swap jewelry for medical treatment as crisis bites

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Egypt tries to avoid a fight as allies escalate against Iran

Egypt tries to avoid a fight as allies escalate against Iran

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CAIRO: Egypt faces high expectations from Saudi Arabia and its other Gulf Arab benefactors that it will have their back as tensions rise with their rival Iran, including throwing the weight of its military — the largest standing Arab army — into the crisis if needed.
But Egypt clearly has no desire to be dragged into a military conflict or to see the tensions spiral into another Saudi-Iran proxy battle like the many that are already tearing up the Middle East.
Its reluctance could lead to frictions between Cairo and Riyadh.
Egypt’s leadership has been striking a balancing act, giving nods of support to its Gulf allies while trying to defuse their escalations against Iran.
Last week, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi proclaimed that any threat to Gulf security “is a threat to our own national security,” warning Iran to stop meddling. But he also said the region “has enough instability and challenges as it is” and doesn’t need a crisis with Iran or Hezbollah, and he called for dialogue to resolve tensions.
Other Egyptian officials sharpened their rhetoric against non-Arab, Shiite Iran, but have not embraced the sectarian or ethnic slant used by their Sunni-led Gulf friends.
In the past month, Saudi Arabia has twice accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of acts of war against it. A direct war between the two regional powerhouses still seems unlikely; but the heightened rhetoric raised fears that it wasn’t out of the question or that a new proxy fight could erupt in Lebanon.
Egyptian commentators have bluntly warned against getting mired into a military conflict initiated by the Saudis.
“Egypt’s real national duty is to tell our brothers ... that we are with them to defend the security of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and the entire region ... But that does not mean that we get dragged by them into wars and conflicts that are essentially sectarian and benefit no one except the enemies of the (Arab) nation,” the editor of the newspaper Al-Shorouk, Imad Hussein, wrote this week.
Hussein, who is close to the government, made sure to praise Saudi Arabia’s regional role, its financial support for Egypt and its custodianship of Islam’s holiest shrines. He also avoided naming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the throne behind the kingdom’s more hawkish anti-Iran stance. He has driven aggressive regional policies, including military intervention in Yemen and the ostracizing of Qatar — a move that Egypt fell in line with.
Another prominent commentator, veteran opposition figure Mohammed Aboul-Ghar, counselled the government to stay out of any potential Saudi-Iran conflict, arguing that Egypt’s army was needed to fight an insurgency by Islamic militants and protect the porous borders.
“Coming close to that dangerous (Gulf) region is a horrifying prospect. It’s neither wise nor sound to even talk about that,” he wrote in Tuesday’s edition of the Cairo daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Saudi Arabia has bolstered el-Sisi with massive financial backing as the general-turned-president struggles to overhaul Egypt’s dilapidated economy. The kingdom is estimated to have given Egypt more than $10 billion in grants and soft loans since 2013 in addition to numerous free shipments of fuel worth tens of millions of dollars.
Still, Egypt has been willing to resist Saudi demands. In 2015, it came under heavy Saudi and Gulf pressure to send ground troops to fight alongside a Saudi-led coalition against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen.
Instead, Egypt restricted its involvement to deploying warships and aircraft on patrol and reconnaissance missions in the southern reaches of the Red Sea. Egypt has bad memories from its intervention Yemen’s civil war in the 1960s, when it backed republicans against a Saudi-backed monarchy in an ill-fated and costly military adventure.
Egypt has also stayed out of Riyadh’s campaign to oust President Bashar Assad, supported Russia’s military intervention there on Assad’s side and negotiated local cease-fires between the government and rebels.
Those differences angered Riyadh, prompting a temporary suspension of aid to Egypt earlier this year.
In the end, Saudi Arabia “did not get the foreign policy changes it wanted (from Egypt) in return for its generous support,” said Eric Trager of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“The Saudis have learned to live with limited Egyptian involvement in Yemen,” he added.
The Saudis and Egypt have somewhat patched up the ill-feelings. Now Cairo wants to avoid a new falling-out over Iran.
Tension has been running high between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The kingdom charged that a missile fired by Yemeni rebels toward Riyadh this month could be considered “an act of war” by Iran, which it accused of providing the missile.
Things further heated up when Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Al-Hariri, resigned in a pre-recorded message aired from Saudi Arabia, blaming Hezbollah. Riyadh swiftly criticized Hezbollah, saying its aggressions could be considered a “declaration of war.”
Still, Egypt seems determined to avert any slide toward armed conflict.
El-Sisi dispatched his foreign minister to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. In Riyadh, the minister met with the Saudi crown prince and, it appears, counselled backing off an escalation with Iran.
“The foreign minister was at pains to convey Egypt’s concern to see the region spared any tensions that would deepen the instability and polarization it’s already seeing,” the minister’s spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said of the Tuesday meeting.
Egypt’s track record under el-Sisi shows his reluctance toward military action unless its own territory is directly threatened or if the Gulf is subjected to a clear-cut aggression.
“Egypt adopts a deeply entrenched position against military solutions,” presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in published comments this week.
Michael W. Hanna, a Mideast expert at the Century Foundation in New York, said Egypt does have concerns “about what the Iranians are doing in Syria and Yemen.”
“But Iran is not a high-level priority for Egypt. It does not worry about Iran the same way the Saudis do.”

Egypt tries to avoid a fight as allies escalate against Iran

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Bubble risks in China’s financial sector, government official warns

Bubble risks in China’s financial sector, government official warns

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BEIJING: China’s financial sector faces bubble risks, a government official warned on Thursday and said a property tax may be on the cards in the near future as authorities extended their efforts to reduce a worrisome build-up of debt in the economy.
The ratio of China’s financial sector to the overall economy “is the highest ratio in the world,” said Huang Qifan, deputy chairman of the economic and finance committee under the National People’s Congress, China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament.
“This is not a good thing,” Huang told a finance forum.
China’s financial sector as a share of gross domestic product was 8.5 percent in the first nine months of this year.
The government is in the second year of a crackdown on speculative investment and high corporate debt levels as it looks to defuse financial risks and a property bubble.
Authorities have been particularly concerned about speculative financing and have taken a hard line against risky, shadowbanking activities.
Progress, however, has been mixed as policy makers walk a tight rope in trying to reduce China’s years-long addiction to debt without shattering economic growth.
Borrowing rates have risen slightly and M2, or broad money supply, growth slowed to a record low of 8.8 percent year-on-year in October. But credit continues to expand faster than GDP and consumer debt is rising very rapidly.
“M2 in the United States is 70 percent of GDP, ours is over 200 percent,” said Huang.
“The excessively high M2 leads to inflation, primarily reflected in housing prices, which have risen about eight-fold in the past 10 years.”
Huang said a property tax could be on the cards in the next few years, adding it will help temper speculation in a sector that has drawn a raft of government curbs in the past year.
China has been discussing a recurring property tax for years, but public progress on the initiative ground to a halt after a very limited pilot scheme was rolled out in 2011.
“I believe (a property tax) will happen in the near future, not take 10-20 years. It could happen in the next several years,” he said.
Huang, appointed to his current post in February, is considered a leading financial expert in China and is best known for his term as mayor of Chongqing.
He also weighed in on how China manages its massive pile of foreign exchange reserves, which rose to $3.109 trillion in October.
“China has reached a stage where the foreign exchange reserves system must be reformed,” Huang said, adding that the Ministry of Finance should play a bigger role in managing the country’s foreign reserves.
The reserves currently are primarily managed by the central bank, the People’s Bank of China.
Huang said China’s forex reserves can currently only be invested in liquid foreign debt, which generates low returns.
“We want to be a true financial power. To be a financial power, we should not lend more money to other countries, but invest globally and have high and sustainable returns.”

Bubble risks in China’s financial sector, government official warns

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US lawmaker bashes Qatar as anti-Hamas bill advances

US lawmaker bashes Qatar as anti-Hamas bill advances

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NEW YORK: A prominent US lawmaker on Wednesday spoke out against Qatar for supporting a “Hamas terrorist,” as a House of Representatives committee approved sanctions against those who finance or assist the Palestinian militant group.

Ed Royce, a Republican and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized Doha as his committee backed the Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act, which would slap sanctions on countries and individuals who support Hamas and extremist terror operations.

It principally aims at Iranian support for Hamas, but mentions “significant financial and military support from Qatar”, which it calls a US ally, and the frequent interviews of Hamas officials on Al Jazeera, a news channel based in Doha.

“While we work to address Iran’s support for Hamas, we must also ensure US partners in the region do not host or aid Hamas terrorists. To that end, this bill has already had an effect,” Royce said in a statement emailed to Arab News.

“When the bill was introduced, Qatar was hosting senior Hamas terrorist Saleh Al-Arouri after being expelled in 2016 from Turkey. Two weeks after this legislation was introduced, he, along with other Hamas terrorists, was expelled from Qatar.”

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke ties with Qatar in June and imposed a land, sea and air blockade after accusing it of backing terrorism – allegations that Doha denies. US President Donald Trump echoed the claim.

To become law, the bill must pass the full House and Senate, and be signed into law by Trump.

It highlights the complicated ties between US and Qatar, which is home to the Al-Udeid air base and the forward headquarters of US Central Command, where troops are stationed for the war against Daesh and in Afghanistan.

Hamas has ruled Gaza since seizing control of the coastal area in 2007. It has since clashed repeatedly with more radical groups, which have carried out their own attacks against Israel in part to undermine Hamas.

Jonathan Cristol, a fellow at the World Policy Institute think tank, said US lawmakers were right to target Palestinian militants – but warned that tackling cash-flows and shaming Qatar may lead to unintended consequences.

“From an intelligence perspective, is it better to have senior Hamas operatives operating freely in Doha, where they can be watched and listened to, or is it better to drive them back to Gaza, to Iran, or underground?” Cristol told Arab News.

“This could actually make things more difficult both for Israeli and US intelligence services, but of course neither government can say so openly. Doha has also proven a useful location for negotiations with Hamas and is certainly a better option than Tehran or Gaza City.”

The bill was one of three measures aimed at Hamas that were approved by the House committee on Wednesday.

Another bill, the Taylor Force Act, would sharply reduce the $300 million in annual US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless it stops making what lawmakers described as payments to militants who are killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.

It is named after a 29-year-old American military veteran who was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian while visiting Israel last year, the measure is intended to stop the PA from paying out stipends, which can reach $3,500 per month.

“Since 2003, it has been Palestinian law to reward Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails with a monthly pay check. Palestinian leadership also pays the families of Palestinian prisoners and suicide bombers. These policies incentivize terrorism,” said Royce.

“With this legislation, we are forcing the PA to choose between US assistance and these morally reprehensible policies.”

Palestinian officials have said they plan to continue the payments, which they see as support for relatives of those imprisoned by Israel for fighting against an illegal occupation or who have died in connection with their cause.

US lawmaker bashes Qatar as anti-Hamas bill advances

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Italy, Saudi Arabia can boost economic cooperation: Finance minister

Italy, Saudi Arabia can boost economic cooperation: Finance minister

Italy, Saudi Arabia can boost economic cooperation: Finance minister /node/1194116/business-economy

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Pier Carlo Padoan at last month’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh. (SPA)

DUBAI: Pier Carlo Padoan, the Italian economy and finance minister, believes Italy and Saudi Arabia have clear opportunities to increase cooperation in industry and manufacturing as the Kingdom seeks to implement the diversification away from oil dependency set out in the Vision 2030 strategy.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News, Padoan — who was a prominent member of the economic thought-leaders who gathered at last month’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh — said: “Due to its increasing population, the Saudi economy will need labor-intensive operations on the ground. As the second-largest European manufacturing country, Italy has much to share with Saudi Arabia.
“I believe that industrial cooperation will increase over the next few years because it is a clear opportunity for both countries,” he added. Total trade between Italy and Saudi Arabia amounted to €6.75 billion ($8 billion) in 2016, and looks set to increase this year after strong first half figures.
As an academic economist, Padoan established a reputation as an expert on the economy and finances of the EU, advising the Italian government on ties with the bloc at some of the crucial debates about further integration at the turn of the century.
His global credentials were established with work for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which qualified him for the top economic job in Italy under Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in 2014.
When Renzi resigned after losing a referendum in 2016, Padoan’s expertise was deemed valuable enough to be called on to continue in the post by the new prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni.
Padoan is an undoubted, but not uncritical, supporter of the European project, and he believes the EU can be a support for Saudi Arabia as it goes through economic transition.
“The EU has much to share, but it also needs to expand its economic ties in the region, while the Kingdom would benefit from industrial know-how coming from Europe. International trade always proves instrumental to increase exchange of know-how and help understanding each other. Such cultural integration would be beneficial for both parties, the Kingdom and the EU, not only in terms of their economies,” he said.
As an experienced professional economist, his assessment on whether the Kingdom can achieve its ambitious plans is illuminating. “The adoption of a long-term strategy based on diversification is a good choice. Even if Saudi Arabia would not hit all the targets, I’m confident many goals will be achieved along the route for a diversifying economy. Demographic trends suggest that economic diversification will be key to benefit increasing segments of the Saudi population,” he said.
At the FII, Padoan shared a stage with Liam Fox, the British minister for international trade and a leading supporter of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, dubbed the Brexit.
Padoan took issue with Fox over the decision, and underlined what he regarded as its long-term negative consequences. “Once Brexit is complete, the EU and Britain will never be the same again. London will remain an attractive place to live, but it will not be the same.
“Also, because of Brexit, the EU will accelerate moves toward further integration. I am not happy about this, but it will happen,” he added.
Padoan has been critical of the EU’s financial policy in dealing with Italy’s indebted banking system, clashing with the European Central Bank’s plans to make banks increase provisions for non-performing loans.
In Riyadh, he said that the EU needed to add to its “financial architecture,” pointing out that two new bodies had recently been established in the EU to examine ways of reforming its basic economic model. “We have now a very rich window of opportunity to direct the future of the European project,” he said.
Padoan also pointed out opportunities for the EU and Saudi Arabia to cooperate further in security. “There are people from this region (the Middle East) struggling in Europe today, with the flow of immigrants. We have an opportunity to integrate the EU with the rest of the Mediterranean,” he said.
Asked about his vision of the global economy in the next decade, he said that he echoed the views of the IMF and the World Bank. “Above all, I would like to see economic policies designed to achieve more inclusive growth.”

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Italy, Saudi Arabia can boost economic cooperation: Finance minister

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Weak corporate governance persists in Gulf but SABIC takes place in sun

Weak corporate governance persists in Gulf but SABIC takes place in sun

Weak corporate governance persists in Gulf but SABIC takes place in sun /node/1194111/business-economy

A man walks past the SABIC headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

LONDON: Weak corporate governance is still prevalent among Gulf companies, with the lack of progress viewed as “a step back” for regional countries, according to a report published on Wednesday.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said only two companies had bucked the trend by posting significant improvements since 2012: Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Majid Al-Futtaim Holding (MAF).
S&P said: “We assess SABIC’s management and governance as strong because management has a track record of leadership and delivering revenue and profit growth based on the successful execution of its sizeable investment program over the past decade, while adhering to a conservative financial policy.”
But the wider picture in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was less bright.
Although corporations in the region recognized that strengthening governance practices could improve their access to capital markets and cut the cost of raising debt, standards “still lagged those of corporations globally,” S&P said.
“Just 6 percent of the GCC corporations we rate have ‘strong’ management and governance scores, compared with 9 percent in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as a whole. Moreover, scores for GCC companies were weak even when compared with those of similarly credit-rated companies worldwide.”
Poor governance could deter international investors from looking for opportunities in the region, said the report. Potential investors face closely controlled company ownership, a general lack of transparency, and the vagaries of individual states’ jurisdictions with respect to creditor protection. “This leaves them open to the risk of weak management and, in extreme cases, fraud,” said S&P.
Meanwhile, excess liquidity led some government-controlled organizations in the past to invest opportunistically in promising projects and investments at home and abroad, sometimes without adequately recognizing the risks involved, the S&P report said.
Government control of Gulf companies could render them susceptible to decisions being made in the interests of government policy and not of minority shareholders or creditors, although there were benefits linked to government ownership, such as access to funding on favorable terms and the potential for government support in case of need, said the report.
S&P also looked at the Gulf real estate sector and found Qatar badly hit by the standoff between Doha and some of its Arab neighbors. According to DTZ, residential rental rates in Qatar have declined 10 to 20 percent year-on-year.
The severing of trade and transport ties with Qatar has led to a fall in tourist and business travelers; retail sentiment in the country was poor and consumer spending had dropped “and may further decline as a result of lower tourist arrivals, especially from Saudi Arabia,” S&P noted.
Despite uncertainties within GCC countries, capital market issuance of bonds and other debt instruments were climbing rapidly, said S&P, forecasting that corporate and infrastructure capital-market activity was set to more than double from 2016.
S&P Global Ratings saw an emerging trend in budget-constrained governments increasingly looking to their government-related entities to tap capital markets for corporate and project bonds to complement record sovereign debt issuance.
Two recent examples were Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP) issuing $3 billion of project bonds and Nogaholding issuing $1 billion of bonds. “With government budget deficits remaining substantial, we expect this trend to continue into 2018,” said S&P.
It added that the Qatar trade embargo had resulted in downgrades of one or more notches and negative CreditWatch placements or outlooks on all rated corporates in that country.

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Weak corporate governance persists in Gulf but SABIC takes place in sun

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Banque Saudi Fransi dismisses CEO

Banque Saudi Fransi dismisses CEO

Banque Saudi Fransi dismisses CEO /node/1194106/business-economy

DUBAI: Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), the Kingdom’s fifth largest bank by assets, said on Wednesday it had terminated the services of Chief Executive Patrice Couvegnes in coordination with the central bank and other regulatory bodies.
BSF did not elaborate on the reasons for the exit of Couvegnes, who also held the position of managing director, but a source familiar with the matter said his departure, with effect from Tuesday, was part of “normal procedure” after new shareholders took a stake in the bank.
France’s Credit Agricole agreed in September to sell about half its 31.1 percent stake in BSF to billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding for SR5.76 billion.
Prince Alwaleed was among senior business people and officials detained this month under an anti-corruption purge spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Couvegnes could not be reached immediately by Reuters for comment. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, the central bank, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BSF also said in a statement it had appointed Rayan bin Mohammed Fayez, the former head of Savola Group, Saudi Arabia’s largest food products company, as its new chief executive and managing director.
The source said the departure of Couvegnes, after more than six years in charge, was not linked to an announcement last month by the central bank that it was monitoring measures taken by the board of BSF to address “deficiencies” in governance.
BSF had said last month its board would appoint an independent team to investigate violations committed as a result of “excess powers granted to several employee incentive operations.”
Fayez, who previously worked at JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs in the Kingdom and is a current board member of the Saudi Stock Exchange, according to his LinkedIn page, will take over as managing director and chief executive from Feb. 18, 2018, BSF said.
It said board member and chairman of the audit committee Ammar Bin Abdul Wahid Al-Khudairy had resigned from the membership of the audit committee and had been appointed as acting managing director immediately until Fayez took over.
— Reuters

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Foxconn profit tumbles after iPhone X production hurdles

Foxconn profit tumbles after iPhone X production hurdles

Foxconn profit tumbles after iPhone X production hurdles /node/1194096/business-economy

Foxconn's computer motherboards are seen during the annual Computex exhibition in Taipei. (Reuters)

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s Foxconn reported a 39 percent slide in quarterly profit, far worse than expected, as the assembler of Apple Inc. products saw margins squeezed by production bottlenecks for the iPhone X.
While the 10th anniversary version of the iPhone has seen parts suppliers struggle with specifications for new features such as facial recognition and edge-to-edge display, red-hot demand for the product, which went on sale this month, is expected to lead to a relatively rapid recovery for Foxconn.
Apple has predicted strong holiday sales and said it is happy with how manufacturing of the iPhone X is progressing, although most analysts think it will likely take until next year or early spring for the tech giant to meet demand.
The world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, known formally as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, said third-quarter net profit tumbled to T$21 billion ($700 million), some 42 percent below an average estimate from analysts.
It was Foxconn’s first quarterly decline in a year and marked its biggest profit drop for a quarter since at least 2009. Revenue was flat.
“I think in the fourth quarter we expect to see a recovery because utilization will get better given the iPhone ramp-up,” said Daiwa analyst Kylie Huang.
“So November/December should be better but still will be impacted overall in the fourth quarter.”
Some analysts also attributed the profit slide to an appreciation in the value of the yuan as well as to labor idled due to a later-than-usual launch for Apple’s new smartphone.
Although the iPhone 8 kicked off sales in September in line with its previous new phone launches, demand was lacklustre as consumers waited for the iPhone X.
Foxconn is widely believed to be the sole manufacturer for the iPhone X. It manufactures the bulk of iPhones at massive facilities in China, and Nomura Securities estimates it produces around 67 percent of all iPhones Apple sells, with the rest made by the likes of Taiwan’s Pegatron Corp. and Wistron Corp.
Shares in Foxconn fell as much as 2.8 percent in Wednesday trade to their lowest level since late September, underperforming the broader Taiwan market which was down 0.5 percent.
The stock, worth around $61 billion, has declined 10 percent over the past three months, partly pressured by weak sales for the iPhone 8 and concerns over the iPhone X.
Apple said it sold 46.7 million iPhones in the quarter ended Sept. 30, above analysts’ estimates of 46.4 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.
— REUTERS

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Foxconn profit tumbles after iPhone X production hurdles

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Beijing hits brakes on subway boom over debt concerns

Beijing hits brakes on subway boom over debt concerns

Beijing hits brakes on subway boom over debt concerns /node/1194091/business-economy

A member of security personnel stands on duty on an empty train platform inside a station on the Subway Line Number 1 in Beijing, China. (Reuters

SHANGHAI: China has hit the brakes on subway projects in at least three cities and Beijing is asking others to slow down their plans, local governments and media have reported, indicating concerns over high debt from city-level infrastructure spending.
China has been in the grips of a metro-building binge with more than 50 cities working on over 1 trillion yuan ($150.8 billion) worth of projects, after population restrictions were loosened last year to allow more cities to have metro systems.
Such infrastructure spending has helped to shore up economic growth but is now being scrutinized more closely after the government pledged to clamp down on financial risks. Policymakers have warned about the risk of asset bubbles due to high levels of corporate and household debt in the economy.
China’s overall debt has jumped to more than 250 percent of GDP from 150 percent at the end of 2006.
Financial magazine Caixin, citing unnamed sources close to the matter, reported that authorities in Inner Mongolia’s Hohhot and Baotou cities have scrapped approved projects worth billions of dollars in recent months due to concerns over finances.
Xianyang city, which wants to build six lines to link up to central Shaanxi province’s capital of Xi’an, said in a statement this month some of its plans had not yet been approved by the state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission.
“The NDRC has become more cautious about approving metro construction plans and it will be difficult to achieve approval within the year,” it said, adding that one of the factors was debt concerns over the Baotou metro.
The Economic Observer newspaper said it was told by the Wuhan city planner that the NDRC was re-evaluating the country’s subway construction situation.
The Baotou city planner declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday. The NDRC and authorities in Hohhot and Wuhan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Guotai Junan analyst Gary Wong said such a crackdown on metro projects was appropriate given that many remote and financially weak cities had undertaken metro projects. He said he did not anticipate a large impact on locomotive suppliers such as CRRC Corp. who have shifted focus to metros to offset the slowing high-speed rail market.
“They are already full with orders, even if they don’t get new orders at the moment they will still be busy for the next 2-3 years,” he said.
China would overtake Europe and the Americas if all 50 cities went ahead with their metro plans, data from the International Association of Public Transport showed. Europe has 46 cities with metro systems, and America has
33 cities.
— REUTERS

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Beijing hits brakes on subway boom over debt concerns

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Daughter of Angola’s ex-president sacked as state oil chief

Daughter of Angola’s ex-president sacked as state oil chief

LUANDA: Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Wednesday fired his predecessor’s daughter from her influential post as head of the Sonangol state oil company, the presidency said in a statement.
The sacking marks a watershed moment in Lourenco’s young presidency as he seeks to assert his authority and clear out the legacy of his controversial predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled with an iron grip for 38 years.
Lourenco swept to power as the ruling party’s candidate in August elections after pledging to clean up Angola’s endemic graft, tackle nepotism and revive its listless economy.
“Under the powers vested in him by the constitution, the president... has decided to relieve the following directors who make up the board of Sonangol,” said the statement, which named the former president’s daughter Isabel.
During his campaign to win the presidency, Lourenco, the 63-year-old former defense minister, vowed to distance himself from his all-powerful predecessor who remains head of the ruling party.
“Nobody will be above the law,” he told foreign media on the eve of his election victory.
Known derisively as “the princess,” 44-year-old Isabel became the public face of the Dos Santos business empire during her father’s presidency.

Isabel dos Santos described herself as an “entrepreneur” on her Twitter account and the US-based Forbes magazine claims that she is Africa’s richest woman.
It estimates that her personal fortune could be as much as $3.3 billion (2.8 billion euros).
She is also active in the telecoms sector and notably controls Unitel, Angola’s leading mobile phone operator, as well as satellite TV network Zap.
She also holds 25 percent of the capital of Portuguese media giant NOS and has invested heavily in the banking sector.
Isabel’s removal from Sonangol’s top job comes as a surprise, for she had often stated that she wanted to remain in the top job.
“The job of Sonangol is not dependent on the electoral process... I want to continue,” she said ahead of the August elections.
Isabel has faced increasing pressure from foreign oil companies in recent weeks, according to Alex Vines, an analyst at the Chatham House think tank in London.
“A number of international oil companies wrote last month to President Lourenco asking for reform... structural reform of Sonangol is the result,” he said.
Benjamin Auge of the French Institute of International Relations added that Lourenco was unable to control Isabel and “preferred to have his hand on the economic heart of the country.”
Angola’s opposition accuses the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party of suppressing dissent and the Dos Santos family of bleeding the country dry through corruption and decades of mismanagement.
Black gold provides 70 percent of Angola’s revenues and almost all of its hard currency, but many of the country’s citizens are mired in poverty.
Even through the collapse in oil prices in recent years, crude has remained Angola’s leading revenue source.
Angola, which along with Nigeria is one of Africa’s top oil producers, has been in the grip of an economic crisis since 2014 as the global price of oil has remained flat.

Daughter of Angola’s ex-president sacked as state oil chief

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Hariri reiterates he will soon be back in Lebanon

Hariri reiterates he will soon be back in Lebanon

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BEIRUT: In his second tweet in less than 24 hours, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri confirmed again that “he is doing really, really well and he will return to his beloved Lebanon soon, as he had promised.”

Hariri’s stay in Riyadh for the 12th day after the announcement of his resignation from there has raised many questions in Lebanon, although Hariri had insisted in a televised interview broadcast live on Sunday that he wanted “his resignation to be a positive shock.” Hariri said the main reason behind his resignation was that “Iran and Hezbollah seized control of the Lebanese state.”

“We are living in circumstances that are similar to what prevailed before the assassination of Rafiq Hariri in 2005, and I sensed that something was being plotted to target my life,” he said.

Hariri’s older brother said he supports his brother’s decision to step down over the growing demands and actions of Hezbollah. In a statement from Bahaa Hariri’s office sent to The Associated Press, he accuses Hezbollah of seeking “to take control of Lebanon.” He also expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for “decades of support” for Lebanon’s national institutions.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun raised many questions about Hariri staying in Riyadh and not returning to Lebanon, adding that Lebanon had “taken all the necessary measures to secure the return of Prime Minister Hariri.”

Aoun called on the media to “contribute to the consolidation of national unity that was plainly manifested during the last few days.” In the framework of his consultations with political, national and economic actors, President Aoun told the president and members of the National Audiovisual Council and the owners of audio-visual media outlets, whom he received in Baabda’s Presidential Palace yesterday, that “the prime minister is being detained in Saudi Arabia for no reason and his return should be undertaken with dignity.”

Aoun reiterated that “he rejects Hariri’s resignation as long as the Lebanese PM has not returned to Lebanon, because he later has to fulfill his national duties toward his country in which he was appointed as prime minister. Everyone knows that Prime Minister Hariri is a person who fully bears his national responsibilities and it is not usual from him to commit such mistakes.”

However, President Aoun tried to lower the level of his speech’s intensity through a statement issued by former minister Elias Bou Saab after his visit to Aoun on Wednesday night. Bou Saab said that “the reason that led the President to take these positions about the PM’s detention in Saudi Arabia, stems from his keenness on the return of Prime Minister Hariri to fulfill his political and constitutional duties.”

Bou Saab, member of the Change and Reform bloc, formerly led by Michel Aoun, said that the President told him that he was keen on “protecting and preserving the Lebanese-Saudi relations from any chaos or disorder, especially as President Aoun considers that what happened to Hariri could be exploited to harm the Lebanese-Saudi relations.

“In this context, I would like to confirm that President Michel Aoun is very keen on protecting, developing and strengthening the Lebanese-Saudi relations, especially as his first official visit during his tenure was to Saudi Arabia,” Bou Saab said.

He said that Aoun “had called on the Saudi Chargé d’Affaires, Waleed Bukhari, to provide some clarifications about Hariri’s situation, circumstances of resignation and his stay abroad. Six days have passed and President Aoun has not heard back from Saudi officials, and thus the mystery about Hariri’s situation is increasing and so are the rumors about his fate.”

MP Okab Sakr, member of the Future Movement parliamentary bloc, said: “I appreciate the position of President Aoun and Lebanese leaders who are worried about PM Saad Hariri. However, he is not detained. He is in his house in Riyadh with his family, and this is something he reiterated several times.”

Sakr stressed in a statement that “Hariri will be back soon — really soon — to Lebanon and he did not set a date for his return for security purposes.”

“He can take his private jet now and fly back to Lebanon, but his return is being arranged on the political and security levels with Saudi Arabia, to avoid any negative repercussions in Lebanon,” Sakr said.

MP Fadi Karam, member of the Lebanese Forces bloc tweeted: “They insist on focusing on Hariri’s return because they had escaped their sovereign responsibilities. They object to the Saudi interference in Lebanon, conveniently forgetting the wickedness of the Iranian interference in all Lebanese issues. We can clearly see who needs to be set free.”

Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek Al-Chaar said that “everything addressed to PM Saad Hariri, and especially what is being said about his situation in Saudi Arabia as if he was detained or exiled, aims to target the Saudi Kingdom.” He stressed “the need to address the reasons behind Hariri’s resignation instead of its timing and place, and as soon as he gets back to Lebanon, he will reveal everything.” Chaar thought that Hariri said things as they were, during the televised interview.

The Mufti said that “the strongly worded statements against the Kingdom are not expressing their concern about Hariri’s dignity as much as they aim to make people forget about the reasons that led to the resignation. This is not in the interest of the Lebanese people. They should be thinking about the reasons behind the resignation calmly and wisely without challenging others, because we want to build a state and not to fight one another.”

Hariri reiterates he will soon be back in Lebanon

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Let technology empower our youth, Queen Rania tells Arab world

Let technology empower our youth, Queen Rania tells Arab world

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RIYADH: Queen Rania of Jordan urged the Arab world on Wednesday to create more opportunities for its youth, strengthen its education systems and harness technology to empower its societies.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision was one of “support for innovation and science, and opportunities to which young Saudis aspire,” the queen told the Misk Global Forum in Riyadh.

She called for the adoption of technologies that “add value to our lives,” expand educational and leadership opportunities for young people, and “provide them with opportunities to realize their potential and achieve their ambitions.”

“Let us inspire them to feel that the future is theirs, as we strive to create a fertile land for us and our children, a land where dreams are nurtured and can bear fruit,” the queen said.

In a powerful speech that drew cheers from an audience of mainly young Saudis, Queen Rania said the destructive impact of conflicts was felt by children across the region.

“How will we keep up with changing educational models and strengthen our education system, when 13 million Arab children are currently deprived of schooling, and the majority of the rest are offered an outdated education?” she said.

Queen Rania, who visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh last month, said: “Their reality — and that of others combating illness, poverty, ignorance and exclusion within our Arab world — hasn’t been changed by advances in science and technology, neither has innovation alleviated their suffering.”

The queen called for the motives for acquiring technology to be re-evaluated. “Rather than a race to the top for the privileged few, our priority should be employing technology to empower entire societies. What we need is technology with a heart — one that beats for us.”

A leading technology entrepreneur told the forum that women and young people would lead Saudi Arabia’s drive to embrace a digital future. “The excitement and embracing of change is so palpable here,” said Diane Greene, chief executive of Google Cloud. “I’m very optimistic about what’s possible here.”

In a session moderated by Arab News Editor in Chief Faisal J. Abbas, Saudi Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said: “There couldn’t be a much better time in terms of unprecedented change. The rate of change right now is giving us a unique and a big window to leapfrog into the future.”

The digitization of the Saudi economy will be fully powered by youth, said Alswaha, with 70 percent of the population under the age of 30. “This gives the Kingdom a unique and competitive advantage powered by knowledge, entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Alswaha announced a new partnership between his ministry, Misk and the Mohammed bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship to adopt 30 young local entrepreneurs and tech companies, such as Careem, the taxi app, and Telfaz, the internet TV app. “We will put them through a one-year program, get them exposure to the Silicon Valleys of the world, to the European successes in the world, introduce them to some venture capitalists and accelerators, and join hands with some big tech and knowledge powerhouses,” he said.

The Misk Global Forum brings young leaders, creators and thinkers together with established innovators to explore ways to meet the challenge of change. The Misk Foundation was established by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2011 to empower Saudi youth to take part in the knowledge economy.

As the forum took place, Commerce and Investment Minister Dr. Majid Al-Qassabi issued 11 new licences to entrepreneurs in a new program to boost the growth of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.

“Saudi Arabia offers extraordinary opportunities for foreign innovators and investors,” said Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, governor of Monsha’at, Saudi Arabia’s SME Authority. “ We know we have the talent — our job now is to match-make and provide the opportunities.”

Let technology empower our youth, Queen Rania tells Arab world

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Lebanese PM’s brother breaks silence

Lebanese PM’s brother breaks silence

Feb. 19, 2005 file photo: Bahaa Hariri, right, and Saad Hariri. (AP)

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BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s older brother broke his silence Wednesday over the premier’s mysterious resignation, saying he supports his brother’s decision to step down over the “growing demands and actions of Hezbollah.”
In his first public statement, sent to The Associated Press, Bahaa Hariri blasted Iran and accused its militant Lebanese proxy of seeking “to take control of Lebanon.” He also expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for “decades of support” for Lebanon’s national institutions.
Bahaa Hariri’s name has been mentioned in Lebanese media reports as a possible candidate to replace his brother, who announced his resignation from the Saudi capital on Nov. 4.
In a follow-up phone call from Monaco with the AP, Bahaa Hariri declined to comment further.
Saad Hariri, who headed a year-old coalition government that included Hezbollah, cited Iran and Hezbollah’s meddling in the region for his decision to step down. He has not returned to Lebanon since, and the Lebanese president has refused to accept his resignation before he returns to the country to explain the circumstances of his decision.
“I support my brother Saad’s decision to resign as prime minister of Lebanon in the face of the growing demands and actions of Hezbollah, Iran’s surrogate party, in Lebanon,” the statement by Bahaa Hariri said.
It said the Hariri family has always stood for the principles that make Lebanon unique in the world, including its mosaic of different confessions and political backgrounds.
“Only a pernicious outside actor, such as Iran and its surrogate, Hezbollah, can upset the balance as this group now seeks to take control of Lebanon.”

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Lebanese PM’s brother breaks silence

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Syrian Kurdish leaders back longer US role in Syria

Syrian Kurdish leaders back longer US role in Syria

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BEIRUT: Syrian Kurdish leaders voiced support on Wednesday for a longer-term role for US forces in Syria once Islamic State is defeated, after the United States signalled it would not pull out before there was progress toward a political solution.
Comments by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday have drawn heavy criticism from the Iran-backed Syrian government, which says Washington is making up a new excuse for keeping its “illegal occupation” forces in Syria. Limiting Iranian influence in Syria and Iraq is a key US aim.
Syrian Kurdish groups have emerged as the main partner on the ground for the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in northern and eastern Syria, areas which the Syrian state and Iran have vowed to take back.
Kurdish fighters, with Arab allies, US advisers and coalition jets, have driven Islamic State from swathes of territory including their former headquarters in Raqqa city.
The Kurdish YPG militia and its political allies have carved out autonomous cantons in the north, and now control nearly a quarter of Syria. Their influence angers neighbor Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party that has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
The main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, welcomed a longer-term US role in Syria. The US presence should continue until there was a political solution to the Syrian crisis which erupted in 2011, it said.
In a written message to Reuters, the PYD’s co-chief, Shahoz Hasan, agreed this would be beneficial.
“Without achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and with the continuation of the Turkish and Iranian intervention in Syria, and with the continued presence of Al-Qaeda groups in Syria, the continued operation of the coalition is better,” Hasan said.
Senior Syrian Kurdish politician Fawza Youssef said a US role would be very important for the future.
“The United States and the coalition forces played a major role in fighting Daesh, and to reach a fair political settlement, we see a need for international guarantees,” said Youssef, a senior member of the Kurdish-led authority running the cantons in northern Syria.
She pointed to an increase in humanitarian aid to northern Syria by Washington and the coalition since the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Raqqa — a sign of a widening US role.

Syria getting “more complicated“
Turkey said on Monday the United States had 13 bases in Syria and Russia had five.
As all sides in Syria battled Islamic State, the US-backed forces have mostly avoided direct confrontation with the Syrian government, backed by Iran and Russia. But Iranian and Syrian officials are now signalling their intention to take back areas captured from IS by the SDF.
Syria’s main Kurdish groups say they want a federal system for the whole country, and hope for negotiations with Damascus to shore up their autonomous rule. Their territorial grip has expanded since joining forces with the United States to fight IS, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans.
Mattis described this week a role for American troops long after Daesh militants lose control of all the territory they hold.
Mattis said the US military’s longer-term objective would be to prevent the return of an “ISIS 2.0.”
But he also suggested that US forces aimed to help set the conditions for a diplomatic solution in Syria. “We’re not just going to walk away right now before the Geneva process has traction,” he said, a reference to UN-backed peace talks.
The US-led coalition has repeatedly said it does not seek to fight Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military.
In response to the Mattis comments, the Syrian government said on Tuesday that Washington was presenting a new excuse to keep its forces in Syria by linking this presence to a political settlement, having previously said its goal was to fight IS.
Foreign ministry comments affirmed the government’s position that the presence of US and other forces in Syria without government approval was an act of aggression.

Syrian Kurdish leaders back longer US role in Syria

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