MUMBAI: At one of the customary premonetary policy meetings with industry, former Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao wanted to know how many of those present would benefit from an interest rate cut. Almost all hands went up. The next question was how many would pass on the lower cost to customers. Almost no one raised their hands. Subbarao kept interest rates unchanged. The voice of […]
NEW DELHI: India Friday called for building the SAARC power grid so that excess power produced in one region of South Asia can be used to meet deficits elsewhere. Addressing the fifth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation energy ministers meet here, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that with the implementation of such a grid, hydel power generated in India’s northeast, for instance, could be transported […]
NEW DELHI: India is likely to next month sign a deal to lay an oil pipeline to Nepal for supply of petrol, diesel and ATF, said Sunil Kumar Thapa, Commerce Minister of the Himalayan nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Nepal in August had “assured that India will assist in putting up a pipeline,” he told reporters after meeting Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan […]
NEW DELHI: Having proved himself as a ‘rock star’ abroad and a vote-getting machine at home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now going to do what people are telling him to do: Take policy decisions that cannot be put off any longer. The first of these is a Cabinet reshuffle likely by the end of this month – after Diwali. A brace of decisions on economic […]
New Delhi: Oil companies’ gains on diesel sales jumped 87 per cent within a fortnight on a historic slide in global crude prices. Their profits from diesel, recorded for the first time ever, continue as the government delays a decision on deregulating its price. “The over-recovery on high-speed diesel (HSD), applicable for the second fortnight effective October 16, is now Rs 3.56 per litre. The over-recovery […]
Asian stocks clawed back some of this week’s losses on Friday after a solid set of U.S. data calmed turbulence in global financial markets, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on edge. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.2 percent, though it is likely to log its sixth straight week of losses with a fall of 0.5 percent so […]
NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator has proposed to set the base price of 1800 MHz band in the upcoming spectrum auctions at 10% more than the previous round, a recommendation that operators and analysts say is likely to hurt an industry that is laden with debt and facing an uncertain business environment. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has suggested Rs 2,138 crore as the […]
The price of oil suffered its biggest drop in nearly two years earlier this week after the International Energy Agency reduced its forecast for demand for this year and next. Associated Press A slump in oil prices has eroded investor confidence in Persian Gulf stock markets, some of which are among the leading performers globally this year. The major oil-exporting states in the region such as Saudi […]
Still haunted by its failed attempt to prevent a steep drop in oil prices by slashing production by almost three quarters in the 1980s, the world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is determined not to make the same mistake again. The oil glut of the 1980s, the early days of the modern crude market and a distant memory for most traders, has resurfaced recently in conversations with […]
By S. Sethuraman A global economy, wobbling six years after the financial market crash of 2008, cannot need anything better than a firm commitment of the world’s financiers to build a more robust, sustainable, balanced, job-rich economic order. Global unemployment is at its all-time peak, especially in Europe and large parts of developing world. Finance Ministers of 188 nations met at the 2014 Annual Meetings […]
Stock markets across the Middle East tumbled on Sunday, led by Dubai and Saudi Arabia where the main indexes sank 6.5 percent, as declines on global bourses and falling oil prices sparked a broad sell-off in the region. Global markets took a big hit on Friday as investors fled to the safety of government bonds after a raft of weak indicators from Europe and China collided with […]
Iran will sell its oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount in almost six years, matching cuts by Saudi Arabia as global crude benchmarks slide deeper into a bear market. State-run National Iranian Oil Co. cut official selling prices of its crude to buyers in Asia for November, two people with knowledge of the pricing decision said yesterday. The decrease came a week after Saudi […]
By Nora Chopra While Narendra Modi has already held a number of rallies, the central leadership of the Congress is missing from action in both the states of Haryana and Maharashtra. Rahul began his campaign in Maharashtra on 8 October in Mahad in Raigad district and the second rally Ausa in Latur district. With these two rallies he has covered Konkan and Marathwada. He is supposed to […]
A worsening of the domestic political environment in Kuwait is a potential risk for the country, says Moody’s. European Pressphoto Agency A contentious relationship between Kuwait’s government and parliament has hindered development and diversification, while high dependence on volatile oil exports is causing the Arab Gulf state’s economic performance to fluctuate, according to a new Moody’s Investors Service report. It still has a ‘Aa2′ sovereign rating and […]
Gold futures rose for the second straight day as the dollar’s decline boosted the metal’s appeal as an alternative investment. The greenback fell as much as 0.2 percent against a basket of 10 major currencies, erasing earlier gains, as yields eased on Treasury 10-year notes. Yesterday, the dollar slumped 0.9 percent, the most since Sept. 18, 2013, while gold climbed 1.2 percent, the biggest gain in two […]
Hedge funds cut bullish bets on Brent crude to the lowest level in three years amid speculation that Saudi Arabia may refrain from paring output to tackle global oversupply. Speculative bets that prices will rise, in futures and options combined, outnumbered short positions by 36,704 lots in the week to Sept. 30, the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange said today in its weekly Commitments of Traders report. […]
IMF FORECAST: SELECTED MENA ECONOMIES Note: Data for some countries are based on fiscal years. 1Movements in consumer prices are shown as annual averages. 2Percent of GDP. 3Percent. 4Includes Bahrain, Libya, Oman, and Yemen. 5Includes Djibouti and Mauritania. Excludes Syria because of the uncertain political situation. IMF The International Monetary Fund has revised its 2015 economic growth projection downward for the Middle East and North Africa by […]
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid last year referred to Israeli expats in Berlin as willing to throw Israel “in the garbage” for a cheaper cost of living. Bloomberg News Back in 2011, rising dairy prices sparked a cottage cheese protest in Israel. Now there’s a pudding protest. The first campaign, which called for a consumer boycott of dairy goods, eventually helped bring hundreds of thousands of middle […]
By S. Sethuraman The world economy is yet to make a full exit of the 2008 financial crisis and its recessionary aftermath, so that growth prospects for 2014, the sixth year, have had to be revised down, with the disappointing and uneven recovery, mainly among advanced nations. And geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with limited impact so far, may hold greater risks […]
IMF’s Christine Lagarde says the fund is already talking with Egyptian officials about its economic outlook and value-added tax policy. Reuters The International Monetary Fund may soon take a thorough look at Egypt’s economy for the first time since its revolution in 2011, potentially paving the way for greater cooperation on President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s reform agenda and renewing talks about long-delayed IMF financing. The IMF […]
|TAP Special| The oil market scene is turning murky, with indications of a price war developing among major producers to defend their market shares. Crude futures tumbled to a 17-month low on signs that global supply is outstripping demand and by all indications, crude oil is poised to extend the biggest slump in more than two years. To make things worse, Saudi Arabia is said to be […]
Discord at OPEC is turning into a price war, loosening the cartel’s grip on the oil market and exacerbating a recent steep selloff. Fissures have widened as Mideast turmoil frays political alliances and producers vie for customers amid a flood of oil from the U.S. and slowing growth in Asia. “No one is telling anyone what they are up to,” one Gulf oil official said. Saudi Arabia […]
| By TAP Staff| A mismatch between buyer and seller expectations is attributed to be one of the main reasons for the signs 0f Dubai property market levelling off, according to analysts. The “over-exuberance” seen in recent months is clearly losing steam and this by itself should ensure that the market does not head towards the traditional crash. The annual price growth in the Dubai property market […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Jadwa Investment, the Saudi asset manager focused on Sharia’ah compliant mutual and private equity funds, has just issued its Quarterly Global Oil Market Update (Q3 2014). Summary of the report · The combination of accelerating US supply, weaker than expected global demand, stabilization in geopolitics, and an appreciation of the dollar, led to oil prices dropping by 7.3 percent in Q3 2014, to an average of […]
