Tag: billion

Turkey estimates earthquakes loss over USD 105 billion

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Ankara: An official report has estimated that the twin earthquakes that hit southern Turkey on February 6 cost approximately 2 trillion Turkish liras (about $105.2 billion) for the country.
The report, announced by Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry and prepared by the presidency’s department of strategy and budget, predicted that the financial burden caused by the tragic tremors could reach approximately 9 percent of the national income in 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.
The study noted that the support expenditures made to the earthquake area cost a total of 351 billion liras (about $18.5 billion) in national income.
Housing damage took the lion’s share in the earthquake’s total burden on the Turkish economy with 54.9 percent, and the monetary value was calculated as 1.07 trillion liras (about $56.4 billion).
The second largest cause of damage loss was the destruction of public infrastructure and service buildings, with estimated 242.5 billion liras (about $12.7 billion).
Private sector damage, excluding housing, was calculated as 222.4 billion liras (about $11.7 billion). This item included damage to manufacturing, energy, communication, tourism, health and education sectors.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Turkey’s southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT) on February 6, followed by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in the Kahramanmaras Province.
The death toll of the quakes which affected 11 provinces of Turkey exceeded 48,000 while leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 18, 2023
Forex reserves drops to USD 561 billion

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Mumbai: India’s foreign exchange reserves dropped USD 325 million to USD 560.942 billion as of February 24, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest data. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined USD 5.68 billion to USD 561.267 billion.
Foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 5.681 billion to USD 561.267 billion in the week ending on February 17. This is third consecutive week of decline in overall forex reserves.
The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the reserves to defend the rupee amid pressures due to various factors, mainly global developments.
The foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, fell by USD 166 million to USD 495.90 billion. It had dropped USD 4.51 billion in the previous week. The value of gold reserves declined by USD 66 million to USD 41.75 billion.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
“One Billion Meals” distributes 5.4 million meals in camps in Bangladesh

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The “One Billion Meals” initiative, the largest food support campaign of its kind in the region covering 50 countries on four continents, has completed the distribution of 5.4 million meals in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, in cooperation with the United Nations World Food Programme.
And due to the partnership between the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives”, which organizes the “One Billion Meals” initiative, and the World Food Program with its global ability to reach refugee camps, food support was distributed directly and in an orderly manner to beneficiaries in the form of instant smart vouchers for individuals and families that enable them to obtain their needs. The main outlets and stores close to them and approved by the UN program.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that there are nearly one million Rohingya refugees, including 490,000 children, in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, which has become the largest refugee shelter in the world, according to the organization’s description.
Intelligent solutions to logistical challenges
Sarah Al-Nuaimi, Director of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Office, said: “Reaching the beneficiaries of the “billion meals” initiative in one of the largest refugee camps in the world is a logistical challenge by all standards, but the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives was able, in partnership with the World Food Program of The United Nations has reached the equivalent of 5.4 million meals for individuals and families from the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh.”
Al-Nuaimi confirmed that the adoption of the instant smart vouchers formula that provides food support to the beneficiaries of the “One Billion Meals” initiative comes in light of the keenness to reach the beneficiaries directly in order to preserve their dignity and to continue innovation in the tools of effective and influential humanitarian work.
Al-Nuaimi added, “Success in reaching vulnerable groups of refugees and displaced persons translates the values of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global initiatives and the UAE’s extending a helping hand and providing assistance to all without discrimination or exception.”
An international contribution to facing humanitarian challenges

In his turn, Majid Yahya, Representative of the World Food Program to the GCC states, said: “The challenge of hunger is on the rise at the global level and threatens more than 800 million people. In Bangladesh, the response plan developed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the year 2022 requested more than 881 million “This is why the operations of the ‘One Billion Meals’ initiative in cooperation with the World Food Program in refugee camps in Bangladesh came at an ideal time to provide food support to those most in need.”
Yahya stressed that the completion of the “One Billion Meals” initiative, distributing the equivalent of 5.4 million meals in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is a new addition to the qualitative partnership between the World Food Program and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, stressing the importance of continuing this bilateral cooperation to expand the circle of beneficiaries of work. and respond to the growing needs of vulnerable groups in less fortunate societies.
partners
The “One Billion Meals” initiative provides nutritional support to beneficiaries in 50 countries around the world, in coordination with partners in the United Nations World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Regional Food Banks Network, and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charitable Foundation. And humanity, the Emirates Food Bank, and a number of charitable and humanitarian institutions in the countries that it includes.
Reach out to refugees, the displaced and the less fortunate
While the One Billion Meals Campaign is primarily concerned with the less fortunate groups of refugees, displaced persons, needy families, and those affected by disasters, conflicts and crises, the cooperation of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives from the World Food Program constituted a qualitative solution to the logistical challenges on the way to reaching refugees in host countries, and also enhanced opportunities Available to individuals and small businesses such as groceries, bakeries, etc. in local communities.
Support for those who deserve it without intermediaries
The long-term food support provided by the campaign in Cox’s Bazar camps has benefited 20,000 people who can obtain their basic food needs from local suppliers through an identification code they receive on a mobile phone, to ensure that support reaches those who deserve it in a quick manner.
“One Billion Meals” Initiative
The “One Billion Meals” initiative, organized by the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives”, comes within the framework of humanitarian and relief aid, which is one of the five main axes of the work of the largest humanitarian institution in the region. It seeks to provide a food safety net for those in need in 50 countries on four continents.
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 28, 2023
Economy – World Bank: earthquakes in Turkey caused damages of 34.2 billion dollars

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First modification: 02/28/2023 – 02:59
The World Bank estimated the economic cost of the damage caused in Turkey by the strong earthquakes that affected the southeast of the country at the beginning of the month at more than 34,000 million dollars, while warning that reconstruction could cost twice that amount.
The number could double. The World Bank estimated the economic costs of the February 6 earthquakes in Turkey at $34 billion, mainly affecting the southeast of the country.
“The report acknowledges that the costs of salvage and reconstruction will be much higher (than those caused by the damage), potentially twice as large, and that the associated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) losses will add to this cost,” the report explained. institution in a statement.
Humberto López, director of the World Bank for Turkey, declared that the earthquakes discounted at least half a percentage point in the expected GDP growth of Turkey, which would be between 3.5% and 4% for this year.
Of the cataloged damages, some 18,000 million dollars, more than half were in damages caused to residential buildings. The World Bank estimates that around 1.25 million people were temporarily left homeless due to damage to their homes.
The institution already announced on February 9 an initial aid package of 1,780 million dollars for the reconstruction and rescue efforts.
People look at the debris left behind by flooding in the town of Bozkurt, in Kastamonu province, Turkey. August 13, 2021. © Can Erok / Demiroren Visual Media via Reuters
On the other hand, the situation in Syria was “really catastrophic,” said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Group vice president for Europe and Central Asia. The Bank will publish a separate estimate of the damage in Syria on Tuesday.

The earthquakes, measuring 7.7 and 7.6, caused more than 44,000 deaths in Turkey alone. In Syria, almost 6,000 deaths have been registered. According to the World Bank report, more than 7,500 aftershocks occurred after the movements, which is the largest catastrophe of its kind in Turkey in more than 80 years.
with Reuters
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 28, 2023
Feds looking to block $13 billion mortgage software deal

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A lawsuit would also be the latest volley from President Joe Biden’s antitrust enforcers, FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General for antitrust Jonathan Kanter, who have both pledged to rein in corporate consolidation. The FTC is currently challenging deals including Microsoft’s takeover of video game giant Activision Blizzard, and the DOJ is likely to challenge JetBlue’s takeover of Spirit Airlines.
ICE founder and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher is a major GOP donor. His wife is former Georgia Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Spokespeople for ICE and Black Knight declined to comment. An FTC spokesperson declined to comment.
The ICE-Black Knight merger would bring together the two largest companies offering loan origination software, essentially the pipe connecting brokers with lenders. The companies have offered to sell Black Knight’s loan origination platform Empower, to resolve the so-called horizontal overlap between the companies, one of the people said. That is not enough, however, to allay the FTC’s concerns that the merger would give the combined company too much control over data and technology in the residential mortgage market, that person said.
The FTC believes that just selling Empower though does not curtail all of the head-to-head competition between the companies, two of the people said. Both companies offer a variety of services that operate with the loan origination platform, including the data analytics business Optimal Blue.
Reuters previously reported that Black Knight had hired bankers to help sell Empower.
ICE, which operates major financial exchanges and clearinghouses, has expanded into the mortgage market in recent years. It recently acquired Encompass, its loan origination offering, through its $11 billion purchase of mortgage software company Ellie Mae in 2020. And in 2018 it completed its buyout of Merscorp, which operates a national electronic registry of U.S. mortgages.
In 2019 and 2020, Black Knight bought a pair of companies — Compass Analytics and Optimal Blue — that provide a variety of data and analytics services to lenders to help them price loans. Through those deals it has a leading position in the software used by banks to price loans.

Companies including the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as financial technology start-ups like Roostify and Blend rely on the loan origination platforms from Black Knight and ICE.
In another example of the rapidly consolidating mortgage technology market, Roostify was bought last week by CoreLogic, which itself fended off an earlier takeover bid by Black Knight.
“We depend on the interoperability of our platform across third-party applications and services that we do not control,” Blend says in securities filings. While it does not mention either Black Knight or ICE by name, it says it relies on loan origination and pricing tools that the combined company would dominate.
The companies’ Surefire and Velocify services also compete head-to-head in the marketing of mortgage services from lenders.
The deal has faced opposition from lawmakers, consumer groups, customers and competitors, with FTC hearing a number of concerns from companies who rely on Black Knight and ICE that their access will either be lost or degraded after the merger, two of the people said.
The deal “would make ICE the largest mortgage services company in the housing ecosystem” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. The new company “could exert significant market power over loan pricing for consumers, access to and sale of consumer data, and mortgage software pricing,” she said in a late December letter to Khan urging the FTC to block the deal.
Federal Financial Analytics managing partner Karen Petrou urged the FTC to block the acquisition in an early February report, arguing that combining ICE’s “critical mortgage services” with Black Knight would give it “unrivaled power to control the prices set on each mortgage, the terms on which credit is provided, the lenders offered the most advantageous terms, and the extent to which home ownership is available on affordable, equitable terms in rural, urban and majority-minority communities.”
That report outlining Petrou’s case was funded by an anonymous company opposing the deal, but Federal Financial Analytics said it had complete control over the final product.
Zachary Warmbrodt contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 28, 2023
555 billion dirhams, the “Central” budget, to the highest level in its history, by the end of 2022

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The balance sheet of the UAE Central Bank touched 555 billion dirhams last December, to record the highest level in its history, according to the latest statistics of the Central Bank.
The Central Bank stated that the bank’s balance sheet increased on a monthly basis by 8.1%, to reach 554.99 billion dirhams at the end of last December, compared to 513.61 billion dirhams in November 2022.
And the balance sheet of the Central Bank increased on an annual basis by 6.4%, or the equivalent of 33.4 billion dirhams, compared to about 521.54 billion dirhams in December 2021.
According to statistics, the Central Bank’s budget was distributed on the assets side by 279.25 billion dirhams for cash and bank balances last December, in addition to investments saved to maturity by about 180.44 billion dirhams, 63.43 billion dirhams for deposits, 5.55 billion dirhams for loans and advances, and 26. 32 billion dirhams for other assets.
While the balance sheet was distributed on the liabilities and capital side by 236.66 billion dirhams for current accounts and deposit accounts, and about 164.75 billion dirhams for certificates of deposit and cash bills, 120.01 billion dirhams for issued cash papers and coins, 13.35 billion dirhams for capital and reserves, and 20.22 billion dirhams for other liabilities.
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 27, 2023
Pakistan’s current account deficit shrinks 90% to USD 0.24 billion in January

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Islamabad: Cash-strapped Pakistan’s current account deficit shrank 90.2 per cent to USD 0.24 billion in January from USD 2.47 billion in the same month last year, the data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Monday.
“Current Account Deficit (CAD) recorded USD 0.2 billion in Jan 2023 against a deficit of USD 2.5 billion in Jan 2022,” the central bank said in a brief statement on Twitter.
The decrease in the deficit is also 16.55 per cent lower than December when the SBP announced that the deficit was USD 0.29 billion.
The deficit was recorded as import restrictions continue to persist amid a balance of payments crisis that has brought the country on the verge of default, Dawn newspaper reported.
Pakistan has a chronic balance of payments problem which has exacerbated in the last year, with the country’s forex reserves declining to critical levels. As of February 10, the central bank had only USD 3.2 billion in reserves, enough to cover barely three weeks of imports.
To stem dollar outflows, the government has imposed restrictions, allowing imports of only essential food items and medicines until a lifeline bailout is agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is seen as essential for the country to stave off default.
Ismail Iqbal Securities’ Head of Research Fahad Rauf said the shrinking current account deficit was “not an achievement but a result of low reserves,” the paper reported.
The government’s strategy to restrict imports in order to safeguard reserves has turned out to be a double-edged sword, however, as several industries rely on imported inputs to continue operations.

As a result, multiple companies across sectors have either suspended operations or scaled down production levels, leading to layoffs.
The latest data shows that the country’s current account deficit during the first seven months of the current fiscal year stood at USD 3.8 billion, which equates to a decline of 67.13 per cent compared to July-Jan FY-21-22.
During January, USD 3.92 billion worth of goods were imported, down 7.3 per cent from the last month. On the other hand, exports also declined, clocking in at USD 2.21 billion, down 4.29 per cent from the preceding month’s USD 2.31 billion.
Meanwhile, workers’ remittances stood at USD 1.89 billion, declining 9.89 per cent compared to USD 2.1 billion in December, according to the paper.
Pakistan heavily relies on remittances apart from exports and foreign loans for its foreign exchange reserves.
Pakistan faces a crippling economic crisis, with decades-high inflation and critically low foreign exchange reserves depleted by continued debt repayment obligations
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 20, 2023
Pakistan govt calls emergency session of parliament; introduces bill to raise Rs 170 billion taxes

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Islamabad: The cash-strapped Pakistan government on Wednesday introduced a money bill in parliament to raise Rs 170 billion in taxes by June this year as part of conditions by the IMF to get the next tranche of an already agreed loan.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023, in the National Assembly — the lower house — empowered to legislate on money matters.
Pakistan and IMF officials held 10 days of marathon talks in Islamabad, from January 31 to February 9, but could not reach a deal as the fund demanded prior actions before signing any agreement to release USD 1.1 billion out of the USD 7 billion deal agreed in 2019.
Speaking in the house after introducing the bill, Dar said the government was aware of the hardships of common people and tried its best to not further burden them through new taxes.
He also accused the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan of damaging the national economy. “When we were in the government, Pakistan’s economy was 24th largest in the world, but now it has dropped to 47th position,” he said.
Dar also said that the devastating floods of the last year also played havoc with the economy, creating huge problems for the government.
The government was forced to bring legislation through the parliament after President Arif Alvi on Tuesday refused to promulgate an ordinance to raise the new taxes and “advised” the finance minister to take parliament into confidence over the Rs 170 billion taxes.
The Cabinet met after the president’s “refusal” and approved the bill later in the evening after a debate. It also summoned the parliament to meet in an emergency session and pass the new bill.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued an order after the cabinet meeting to enhance a federal excise duty on locally manufactured cigarettes, which would generate up to Rs 60 billion in taxes on tobacco products, while the Finance Division issued a notification increasing the general sales tax by one per cent to 18 per cent to raise another Rs 55 billion.
The remaining amount of Rs 55 billion to fulfil Rs 170 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) demand was being collected through an increase in excise duty on airline tickets, and sugary drinks as well as an increase in withholding tax rates through the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023.
Pakistani and IMF officials are now holding talks in virtual settings to finalise a deal to provide the much-needed funds to shore up the foreign exchange that dropped to below USD 3 billion this month.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 15, 2023
Biden administration grants $2 billion loan for electric vehicle battery materials

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“It was somewhat clear even way back then, eight years ago, that this would be a really big bottleneck for the entire industry as it scaled,” Straubel said.
Context: The federal consumer tax credit for electric vehicles enshrined in President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, which contains domestic sourcing requirements that are now difficult to meet, depends on spurring a robust domestic supply chain for battery minerals. To qualify for half of the $7,500 credit, cars will need to have at least 40 percent of their battery minerals sourced in the U.S. or from a nation that is party to a U.S. free trade agreement. That content requirement increases to 80 percent by 2027.
Productions plans: Redwood plans to manufacture battery anodes, containing copper and graphite, and cathodes, containing all the critical metals in a battery — like lithium, nickel, and cobalt — amounting to nearly 80 percent of the materials cost of a lithium-ion battery.
“Today, these components are manufactured entirely overseas, predominantly in Asia,” the company said in a statement. “Without domestic production, U.S. battery cell manufacturers are estimated to offshore more than $150 billion in economic value for anode and cathode components by 2030.”
Redwood began producing anode copper foil last month at its northern Nevada facility. Phase one of copper foil is now complete and later this year, they say they expect to begin “cathode qualification.” Panasonic will be the first to source their copper foil for cell production at Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory and the cathode material for battery cell production in its new Kansas plant, targeted to come online in 2025.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 10, 2023