Category: Economy

A Norwegian mining company has announced that the phosphate rock deposit discovered in June could meet the global demand for solar panels and batteries for the next 100 years.

Norge Mining, an Anglo-Norwegian company, announced the discovery of massive deposits of ultra-rich phosphate rock, vanadium and titanium in south-west Norway this June. The company has said that the deposit is estimated to be worth at least 70 billion tonnes. This is very close to the proven global reserves of phosphate, which are estimated to be 71 billion tonnes, according to a US Geological Survey report released in 2022.

Phosphate rock contains high concentrates of phosphorus, which is a key component for building green technologies. The countries that are using this component are already facing significant supply issues. A bulk of mined phosphate rock is used for the production of phosphorus for the fertiliser industry, besides making solar panels, lithium batteries, semiconductors and computer chips due to the mineral’s higher energy density, enhanced safety and longer life span.

Phosphorus was first discovered in 1669 by German scientist Hennig Brandt. As of now, Russia controls the world’s largest phosphate rock deposits. China, Iraq and Syria are also home to large phosphorus deposits.

A spokesperson for the European Commission described the discovery as “great news” for meeting the objectives of the Commission’s raw material objectives.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will set up a new ministry of investment to develop its investment strategy at home and worldwide. The Prime Minister of UAE and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum tweeted the plans after a cabinet meeting on July 3, adding that Mohammed Hassan Al Suwaidi will become the investment minister.

The objectives of the upcoming federal ministry would include stimulating the investment environment in the UAE and to make the UAE’s legislation and procedures more competitive to attract global investment, Sheikh Mohammed said. The UAE will also set up a Financial Stability Council to monitor risks, and deal with financial crises to further its objectives of becoming a major global financial centre.

Earlier this year, Sheikh Mohammed launched a 10-year economic plan known as D33, which aims to double the economy’s size and make Dubai one of the top four global financial centres in a decade.

Last year, Dubai attracted an estimated $12.8 billion in foreign direct investment capital, according to the 2022 Financial Times “fDi Markets” report. Foreign direct investment into Saudi Arabia was about 30 billion riyals ($8 billion), based on data from the Saudi investment ministry.

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, launched the first phase of the Waste to Energy Centre in Warsan –  the world’s largest and most efficient waste-to-energy plant – on July 4. The facility built at a cost of AED4 billion features advanced technologies that do not have any adverse environmental impact.

The Crown Prince of Dubai also watched the Centre’s first waste-to-energy conversion operations. Two of the plant’s five lines are now operational and process about 2,300 tonnes of solid waste daily. The sophisticated process employs steam pressure to create rotational energy that powers the generator to produce electricity. At present, the facility generates about 80 MWh of renewable energy. In the second phase, the facility’s output will expand to 220 MWh, translating to 5,280 MWh daily.

The waste-to-energy facility has the capacity to treat around 2 million tonnes of solid waste annually and can generate power that can meet the needs of more than 1,35,000 housing units. Built on an area of 400,000 square metres, it has five production lines that have the capacity to treat 5,666 tonnes of waste per day.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is using beams of light to deliver internet service to India’s rural and remote areas. This new project, called Taara, is part of the US company’s innovation lab, X or the Moonshot Factory.

Taara is now working on deploying the laser internet technology on a larger scale in the country in collaboration with Bharti Airtel. The project aims to connect internet services in multiple countries, and has partnered with companies like Econet Group, Bluetown, and Digicel.

The technology involves small machines that transmit data through lasers, providing fibre-optic internet without the need for cables. The initiative is seen as disruptive and cost-effective, mainly for building communication infrastructure in hard-to-reach places.

The deployment of Taara in Indian villages will bring high-speed internet access to people for the first time. The goal is to connect numerous villages across the country and empower people with online connectivity. Alphabet has invested considerably in India’s digitisation, including a stake in Bharti Airtel.

In its earlier attempts, Alphabet tried to bring internet access to rural and remote areas by using high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere.

Housing sales in India hit a record high in the April-June quarter of 2023, according to a report by ANAROCK Research. Over 1.15 lakh units were sold in Q2 across India’s top cities, which is nearly 36 percent higher than the 84,940 units sold in the same quarter last financial year. Among the top seven cities, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune accounted for over 51 percent of the total sales, the researcher added.

Housing sales in the second quarter of 2023 has far surpassed the previous peak of the first quarter in 2023 despite rising home loan rates. As many as 58,770 units were sold in MMR and Pune, said Anarock. Pune saw the highest jump in the number of units sold at 65 percent. It sold 20,680 units in Q2 2023. MMR saw housing sales increased by 48 percent with 38,090 units sold, while Bengaluru saw an increase of 31 percent with 15,050 units sold in the second quarter.

Chennai saw sales of 5,490 units in Q2 2023, amounting to an increase of 44 percent, while Hyderabad recorded sales of 13,570 units, which is a spike of 21 percent over Q2 2022. Housing sales in Kolkata increased by over 20 percent in Q2 2022 with sales of 5,780 units.

NCR is the only region to see a single-digit yearly growth – of 7 percent. It saw 16,450 units sold in the second quarter, while it was 15,340 units in Q2 2022.

Many Hong Kong businessmen are planning to sell their assets to cut debt. Swire Pacific, New World both announce plans to sell units, as firms are contending with rising borrowing costs.

Swire Pacific Ltd. has become the second notable Hong Kong company to announce plans to offload assets to reduce debt. The conglomerate on June 28 announced to sell its US beverages business to its controlling shareholder run by the wealthy Swire family for $3.9 billion. The sale would lower the company’s indebtedness by more than one-third, it said in a statement. It also suggested a special dividend of about HK$11.7 billion ($1.5 billion), which is about half of the expected gain from the disposal.

The deal came a day after the billionaire Cheng family announced a similar deal of $4.5 billion to buy a unit owned by builder New World Development Co. The step would effectively shift cash from the family’s investment holding company to New World, which is one of Hong Kong’ most indebted real estate firms.

Rising borrowing costs are making it tougher for companies worldwide to manage their debt loads. In Hong Kong, the one-month cost of interbank borrowing has jumped to about 5 percent from less than 1 percent a year ago. An unusual slump in the property market is adding to economic pressures with major developers resorting to providing discounts and perks to increase sales.

Inflation pushed in different directions in Europe last month, as it increased in Germany and fell again in Spain.

German consumer prices jumped 6.8 percent in June from a year earlier, up from 6.3 percent in May, according to the state statistics office Destatis. The figure also partly increased due to a widely used offer of cheap transport tickets last summer, analysts said. However, in Spain, lower food and energy inflation raised the consumer price index only 1.6 percent in June from a year earlier, down from 2.9 percent in May.

The increase in inflation in Germany – Europe’s largest economy – on June 29 came a day before the release of inflation figures for the entire 20-country area using euro as currency. Inflation in the Eurozone has been falling from its peak of 10.6 percent in October to 6.1 percent in May. However, it is still way too high than the target of 2 percent set by the European Central Bank (ECB).

ECB Chief Christine Lagarde has warned inflation is persistent enough to merit at least one more interest rate hike at the bank’s July 27 meeting. Higher interest rates are central banks’ prime tool against inflation.

InterGlobe Aviation Limited’s IndiGo has become India’s first airline with a combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of more than Rs 1 lakh crore. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs. 2,634.25 on the BSE earlier in the session 28 June 2023, with a market value of ₹1.01 trillion.

The turnover of the company stood at Rs 9.20 crore on BSE, commanding a m-cap of Rs. 1,01,007.56 crore. The stock on June 28 climbed 3.55 percent to settle at Rs 2,619.85 over its previous close of Rs 2,529.95. The scrip has so far gained more than 28 percent this year.

The market share of India’s largest airline rose 60 percent, up 390 basis points in May. Its market share stood at 61.3 percent after rising 70 basis points in April, 90 basis points in March, and 130 basis points in February. The low-cost carrier flew 81.10 lakh passengers in May 2023. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

In June, IndiGo announced a massive order of 500 Airbus Neo family aircraft, to be delivered between 2030 and 2035. The deal, worth $50 billion, is the biggest single purchase agreement in aviation history.

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon has said that India now has a very high growth trajectory, with a predicted growth of 6-7 percent over the next three years.

In an interview on June 28, Solomon said that global CEOs are thinking about India as a big growth opportunity while recognising some of the challenges with investing in the country. Over the period of a year, the global economy, and the United States in particular, have been ‘more resilient’ than he would have expected, adding that there could be a period with 0-1 percent growth and 4 percent inflation.

The Goldman Sachs CEO added that there are significant macro signs to indicate slowing growth in the world, and it was hard to see a scenario where US inflation goes back to 2 percent anytime. Soloman pointed at important macro trends that are inflationary, including geopolitics, energy transition and supply chain adjustments.

On the US regional banking crisis that came after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March this year, Solomon said the crisis was short term, with a handful of banks with very specific business models affected.

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) infrastructure could be an inspiration for a global not-for-profit payment system for refugees, said United Nations International Computing Centre’s (UNICC) director in an exclusive interview to an Indian financial and business portal.

The UNICC Director Sameer Chauhan said that during the war in Ukraine, UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) issued monthly payments to refugees using debit cards, but faced challenges such as lost cards and limited access to funds. So, in late 2022, it successfully piloted a crypto-based solution where refugees with mobile phones received crypto payments tied to US stablecoin, but India’s UPI infrastructure could be the inspiration for a global not-for-profit payment system for refugees. He added that issuing monthly payments to refugees using debit cards, like the UN initially did during the war in Ukraine, is challenging due to issues like lost cards and limited access to funds.

In February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended UPI services for inbound travellers from G20 countries. In the same month, India and Singapore also signed a pact to launch cross-border connectivity between UPI and its Singapore counterpart, PayNow. India has also signed memoranda of understanding with 13 countries that want to adopt UPI for digital payments.