Category: Economy

Israel has announced plans to process the construction of an earlier approved multimillion-dollar joint industrial park with Jordan, along the shared border of both countries.

The decision for the project, called the “Jordan Gateway” came during a cabinet meeting of the Israeli government on Sunday.

An Israeli statement stated the idea was first suggested in 1994 when the two countries restored ties but the “final details” were decided during a meeting last week between Jordan’s King Abdullah II and acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Amman.

“Twenty-eight years since the peace agreement with Jordan, we are taking the good neighborly relations between our two countries another step forward,” Lapid said on Sunday. “This is a breakthrough that will contribute greatly to developing and strengthening the region.”

The Jordanian government gave no immediate statement on the project.

Work on the project had already started in the last few years, including the completion of a bridge between both sides of the park to serve as a crossing.

The park is located above the northeastern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, close to the Israeli city of Beit She’an.

According to reports by the Israeli government, the project is worth about 200 million Israeli shekels ($59m).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina are expected to jointly inaugurate the 1320 MegaWatt Maitree Super Thermal Power Station when the latter visits India in the first week of September. The power plant, considered Bangladesh’s largest, is being set up by Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited, an equal joint venture between India’s NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board. The project is expected to cost USD 1.5 billion.

 PM Hasina’s three-day visit has been touted as important by the Modi government, as Dhaka is one of India’s closest allies. Before the arrival of PM Hasina in Delhi, trial runs between Kolkata-Chattogram-Mongla ports for bilateral trade will start posting a new chapter in the India-Bangladesh ties. The first vessel from Kolkata is expected to reach Mongla, on August 5 on the Pashur River, loaded with16 tons of iron pipes in a container en route to Meghalaya using the Tamabil-Dwaki border points and 8.5 tons of pre-foam in another vessel for Assam using the Birbirbazaar-Srimantpur border points. This trial will create economical and alternative routes for India to reach destinations in the North-East region while carrying export-import containers for Bangladesh.

On Saturday, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh announced that in recent years, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation between India and Thailand have flourished. The bilateral trade between India and Thailand reached a record of USD 15 billion in 2021-22 due to the domestic market remaining attractive to Thai investors.

A second edition of the North East India Festival is currently taking place in Bangkok. According to him, commerce, culture, and connectivity define the future focus areas of cooperation between the two nations.

He said, “Thailand is the fourth largest trading destination for India in the ASEAN region. Bilateral trade between India and Thailand has reached an all-time high of around USD 15 billion in 2021-22. The Indian market remains attractive for Thai investors.”

He further added that India bestows huge opportunities for investment in infrastructure that consists of ports, roads, power sector, processing, digital technologies, renewable energy, logistics as well as electric vehicles. In his remarks, Singh expressed happiness over the fact that companies from both sides are able to enter into long-term partnerships to bolster supply chains.

Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said that Thailand is geographically and historically close to India’s North East.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar will likely make an effort to promote inclusive Eurasian connectivity efforts while in Uzbekistan for the SCO foreign ministers’ conference. India will hold the SCO chair in 2023, and since the operationalization of INSTC to support China’s Belt and Road Initiative, India has been pressing for the best possible use of the Chabahar Port.

INSTC operationalization has been accelerated through two routes and India hopes Chabahar will be one of them. As a connection to the Indian Ocean and beyond, Chabahar Port has been a priority for India in encouraging central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

At this year’s SCO summit in Samarkand, Iran is expected to be officially admitted as a member. Several experts on the Eurasian region say Iran’s entry will boost India’s access to the resource-rich regions of Eurasia and Russia.

Having become a permanent member of the SCO in 2017, India has a deep interest in enhancing its security and anti-terrorist cooperation as well as its regional anti-terrorism structure. As a result of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Jaishankar’s participation is meant to strengthen Delhi’s ties. Monday and Tuesday, India attended a conference in Uzbekistan about Afghanistan.

As Guyana’s economy grows at the fastest pace in the world, its President Mohamed Irfan Ali is considering investing in other sectors that will lessen its dependence on hydrocarbons.

It is planned that Guyanese government revenue from the site will be used to finance mining, tourism, agriculture, and other investments. In addition to exploring its oil and gas resources, the South American country is mulling over building roads and infrastructure to open up other areas of its economy, including its gold, diamond, bauxite, and copper mines.

President Ali said, “While Guyana is an emerging hydrocarbon market, our economy will not be hydrocarbon-based”. IMF forecasts that Guyana’s economy will grow 47 percent in FY 2022-23 as a result of oil exploration, and the government anticipates an output of about 800,000 barrels per day by 2025.

Some projections indicate Guyana is on track to overtake Kuwait as the world’s largest crude producer per capita in the near future, thanks to the offshore oil deposits Exxon Mobil Corp drilled for the first time in 2015.

Aside from this, President Ali stated that the country also wanted to protect the Amazon rainforest, which covers most of its territory and could generate more than $100 million per year in carbon credits.

On Monday, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced the move, disbursing 2,000 coins to commercial banks. In an effort to curb inflation, Zimbabwe has launched gold coins to be sold to the public. One Mosi oa Tunya was priced at $1,824 at the time of the introduction.

According to the central bank, the Mosi-oa-Tunya coins, which refer to Victoria Falls in the Tonga language, will be a liquid asset, which can easily be converted into cash and traded locally and internationally.

It will take 180 days from the date of purchase for holders to be able to trade the certificates for cash. According to the announcement, individuals and companies can purchase them from authorized outlets like banks and keep them there or take them home. Foreign currency is the only currency that can be used to buy coins by foreigners.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said that the first batch of coins was minted outside the country, but they would eventually be produced locally. He further added that the 22-carat coins may be used as collateral for loans and credit facilities as well as for purchases in stores, depending on whether the store has adequate change. Meanwhile, their cost will be decided by the price of an ounce of gold on the world market plus 5% for coin production expenses.

The European Central Bank E.C. B increased its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 0 percent on Thursday, a higher than expected move. Christine Lagarde, the bank’s president, also brought in a new measure aimed at countries’ differential borrowing costs, a growingly worrying problem for the eurozone.

As consumer prices across Europe went sky-high at the fastest rate in decades, officials in Frankfurt took a significant step to tame rapid inflation amid rising concerns over an economic slowdown. The E.C. B joins many other central banks in focusing on runaway inflation, which is largely driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among other factors. The bank also assured possible further rate hikes after its next meeting on September 8.

The bank stated after its governing council held a meeting in Frankfurt that the larger-than-expected rise was justified by an “updated assessment of inflation risks.” “Further normalization of interest rates will be appropriate,” it added.

The hike comes as recession forecasts in the Eurozone have risen for the latter part of the year and next year as increasing bills for electricity, fuel, and gas have stifled businesses and individuals’ spending potential. The economies of Eurozone countries have been greatly damaged due to the war in Ukraine given their huge dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.

On Wednesday, the UN summit starts action for development in Africa, focusing on advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the African Union Agenda 2063.

According to General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid, the UN and the international community view the sustainable development of Africa as a “priority,” yet collective effort has frequently failed to deliver on its promises. He said, “Despite being rich in natural resources and with enormous untapped economic and social potential, Africa still faces challenges in realizing the sustainable development goals.”

He implored people to recommit to sustainable development on the continent, evaluate where the action is required, and focus on promoting advancement. He further urged them to fulfill current commitments and new ones “that reflect our ever-changing world”.

He added that for the first time in a generation, Africa has demonstrated the “collective decisive measures and leadership” needed to take its destiny into its own hands. As the first ten years of Agenda 2063’s first implementation plan (2013–2023) come to an end, now is the right time for a forward-looking dialogue.

He concluded his speech at The Africa We Want by saying, “With resolve, continued commitment, perseverance, and support from the international community and the UN system.”

The United Arab Emirates’ economy uplifted by an estimated 8.2% in the first quarter, supported by higher oil production, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The central bank said that the real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 5.4% this year and 4.2% in 2023, the central bank said. There was a strong possibility of economic growth due to the boost in oil production and a government vow to expand the size of the manufacturing sector by two times, by 2031.

Hydrocarbon GDP went up about 13% in the first quarter when the average oil production was 2.95 million barrels per day.

“Shocks to global oil supply and demand have added to oil price volatility and bolstered the level of the price. Depending (on) the developments in global economic activity, recessionary expectations, and geopolitical tensions, there may be space for increased oil supply to balance the markets and stimulate global growth,” the central bank said.

According to the Central bank, UAE’s oil GDP is expected to grow 8% this year and 5% in 2023. Non-oil GDP increased 6.1% in the first quarter and was seen going upwards 4.3% in 2022 and 3.9% in 2023.

The Democratic Republic of Congo expanded its oil and gas permits up for auction this month. It will now offer 27 oil blocks and three gas blocks, just about double as many as earlier decided, in a licensing round next week, the hydrocarbons ministry said on Monday.

Congo, a foremost miner of copper, cobalt, gold, and diamonds, has since long focussed to augment its oil sector and is believed to have fairly large reserves. The Output hasn’t been much for many years, standing at about 25,000 barrels daily because of insufficient investment.

 Kinshasa had initially planned to auction 16 oil blocks, nine of which extended over the protected areas. But with the war in Ukraine rising Western demands, Congo doesn’t want to be left behind and nearly doubled this number on Monday. The ministry released a statement on Monday saying it had auctioned 30 now to optimize opportunities for the country. The auction is scheduled to start on July 28.

Greenpeace is condemning this decision, saying it “exposes Congolese people to corruption, violence, and poverty that inevitably come with the curse of oil.” But Congolese Environment minister Eve Bazaïba spurned these accusations, commenting on Congolese public television that they had completed the requisite studies before the exploration rights were granted.