Tag: USD

Chinese invasion of Taiwan could cost world economy USD 1 trillion: US intelligence

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Washington: US intelligence officials predicted that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or an attack as early as 2025 on the island nation could cost the world economy USD 1 trillion, reported Taipei Times.
US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines presented what she called a “general estimate” during testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
“A Chinese invasion of Taiwan could halt production by the world’s largest advanced chipmaker, wiping out up to USD 1 trillion per year from the global economy in the first few years,” said the top US intelligence official.

The advanced semiconductors produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) are used in 90 per cent of “almost every category of electronic device around the world,” said Haines.
Haines said that Chinese President Xi Jinping is leaning toward unifying with Taiwan in a “peaceful” manner, but is also preparing possible military action to achieve that goal, reported Taipei Times.
“I think we continue to assess that he [Xi] would prefer to achieve unification of Taiwan through peaceful means,” she said.
If a Chinese invasion stopped TSMC from producing those chips, “it will have an enormous global financial impact that I think runs somewhere between USD 600 billion to USD 1 trillion on an annual basis for the first few years,” she said.
“It will also have an impact on [US] GDP if there was such an invasion of Taiwan and that [TSMC’s production] was blocked,” Haines said.

However, Haines said it would also have a large impact on China’s economy, reported Taipei Times.
To deal with that risk, TSMC is investing USD 40 million to build two sophisticated wafer fabs in Arizona at Washington’s urging.
A fab using the 4-nanometer process is scheduled to begin mass production next year, and the other, using the more advanced 3-nanometer process, is slated to mass-produce chips starting in 2026, reported Taipei Times.
Haines’ comments came after US Senator Rick Scott raised concerns about the possibility of China invading Taiwan, citing Xi’s remarks in the past year suggesting that he was preparing the Chinese population for a war against Taiwan.
Xi has directed the Chinese military to “provide him with a military option, essentially, to be able to take it without concern of [US] intervention,” which is expected to “have a meaningful impact on his capacity to do so,” Haines said.
Also at the hearing, US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier appeared to have greater concern than Haines about a possible invasion of Taiwan, saying that Xi’s rhetoric has been “picking up” after he assumed his third term as president, reported Taipei Times.
Berrier provided a list of possible invasion dates ranging from 2025 to 2049. “I think the bottom line is he’s told his military to be ready,” Berrier said.
Haines said the relationship between the US and China has become “more challenging,” citing a speech made by Xi in March in which he blamed Washington for suppressing Beijing, reflecting his distrust of the US and his belief that Washington is seeking to contain his country, reported Taipei Times.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 8, 2023
Afghanistan’s central bank sells USD 14 million to keep local currency stable

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Kabul: Afghanistan’s central bank Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) sold $14 million by auction on Sunday to stabilise the exchange rate of the national currency afghani, the bank said in a statement released here on Sunday.
The local currency afghani has been tumbling against foreign currencies, especially the US dollar, over the past couple of months. The exchange rate of 1 US dollar increased from last week’s 86 afghani to 87.15 afghani on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Afghanistan’s central bank has injected millions of US dollars into the country’s money-exchange market over the past month to prevent the fall of the afghani against foreign currencies.

Afghanistan has received more than 2 billion dollars in cash over the past 18 months as part of the international community’s humanitarian aid to prevent the economic collapse of the cash-strapped country.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 30, 2023
Former Indian-origin employee sent to jail for stealing USD 17 million from Apple

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San Francisco: Dhirendra Prasad, a former Apple employee who was charged with defrauding tech giant Apple and related tax crimes, has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $19 million.
He was charged in March 2022 for stealing around $17 million from the iPhone maker through mail and wire fraud schemes.
Prasad, 55, from Mountain House in San Joaquin County, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the US on November 2, 2022.

The remaining counts were dismissed at sentencing, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.
The criminal conduct centred around Prasad’s employment at Apple from December 2008 through December 2018.
For most of that time, he was a “buyer” in Apple’s Global Service Supply Chain. It was Prasad’s job as an Apple buyer to facilitate the process through which Apple bought parts to perform warranty repairs on older devices.
According to the Justice Department, Prasad exploited his position and conspired with two separate Apple vendors to defraud the iPhone maker by taking kickbacks, stealing parts, inflating invoices, and causing the tech giant to pay for items and services it never received — resulting in a loss to Apple of more than $17,000,000.
In addition to engaging in two separate criminal conspiracies with Apple vendors, Prasad also acknowledged that he evaded tax on the proceeds of his schemes.

By virtue of his position at Apple, “Prasad was given substantial discretion to make autonomous decisions to benefit his employer”.
He abused his power to enrich himself at his employer’s expense — all while accepting hundreds-of-thousands of dollars worth of compensation from Apple in the form of salary and bonuses.
“Additionally, Prasad used his insider information regarding the company’s fraud-detection techniques to design his criminal schemes to avoid detection,” said the DOJ.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 30, 2023
Bosch acquires US chipmaker TSI Semiconductors for USD 1.5 billion

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Stuttgart: German conglomerate Bosch on Wednesday said it is acquiring US chipmaker TSI Semiconductors for $1.5 billion and converting its manufacturing facilities to state-of-the-art processes.
With the planned acquisition, Bosch will significantly expand its global portfolio of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors by the end of 2030.
Starting in 2026, the first chips will be produced on 200-millimeter wafers based on the innovative material silicon carbide.

“With this planned investment in the US, we are also increasing our semiconductor manufacturing, globally,” said Bosch Chairman Dr. Stefan Hartung.
With a workforce of 250, TSI Semiconductors is a foundry for application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs.
Currently, it mainly develops and produces large volumes of chips on 200-millimeter silicon wafers for applications in the mobility, telecommunications, energy, and life sciences industries.
“We are pleased to join a globally operating technology company with extensive semiconductor expertise. We are confident that our Roseville (in California) location will be a significant addition to Boscha’s SiC chipmaking operations,” said Oded Tal, CEO at TSI Semiconductors.
At an early stage, Bosch invested in the development and production of SiC chips.

Since 2021, it has been using its own proprietary, highly complex processes to mass-produce them at its Reutlingen location near Stuttgart.
“SiC chips are a key component for electrified mobility. By extending our semiconductor operations internationally, we are strengthening our local presence in an important electric vehicle market,” said Dr Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector.
Demand for chips for the automotive industry remains high. By 2025, Bosch expects to have an average of 25 of its chips integrated in every new vehicle.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023
Pakistan, Saudi expected to sign deal for USD 2bn deposits post Eid

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Islamabad: Cash-starved Pakistan is likely to ink a deal for additional deposits of USD 2 billion from Saudi Arabia after Eid, authorities said on Saturday, a move that will help the country secure the much-required bailout from the IMF.
In March, Pakistan sought Saudi Arabia’s confirmation for funds to ink an IMF deal. Earlier this month Pakistan got Riyadh’s nod for additional funding.
The assistance from Saudi Arabia comes at a crucial time as the IMF programme, signed in 2019, will expire on June 30, 2023, and under the set guidelines, the programme cannot be extended beyond the deadline.

The Washington-based crisis lender has imposed the condition on Pakistan that it should secure USD 3 billion from other countries for the revival of its USD 7 billion bailout package.
A top government official told The News International that the State Bank of Pakistan would sign a deal with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) soon after Eid for an additional USD 2 billion deposit.
The official added that Saudi Arabia has confirmed the bilateral assistance support to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was also acknowledged by the lender’s staff, the report said.
This agreement is the follow-up on the confirmation of additional financial support of USD 2 billion and USD 1 billion from the Kingdom and the UAE, the official added.
Official sources clarified that Pakistan neither made any fresh request for more support from Saudi Arabia nor the UAE, except for the already confirmed USD 2 billion and USD 1 billion by these countries, respectively.

Saudi Arabia had already rolled over USD 3 billion in deposits for one year, which matured on December 5, 2022. This USD 3 billion deposit is part of foreign exchange reserves of USD 4.43 billion, lying with the State Bank of Pakistan.
In March, Pakistan received a rollover of USD 2 billion in deposits for a period of one year from its all-weather ally China.
Pakistan, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is grappling with high external debt, a weak local currency and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
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#Pakistan #Saudi #expected #sign #deal #USD #2bn #deposits #post #Eid
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023
China spent USD 240 bn on 20 countries in rescue lending

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New Delhi: China has developed a system of “Bailouts on the Belt and Road” that helps recipient countries avoid default, and continue servicing their BRI debts, at least in the short run, a new report has found.
In total, more than 20 debtor countries have received USD240 billion in Chinese rescue lending since 2000. The scale of China’s global bailout lending programme is also growing fast. More than USD185 billion was extended in the past five years alone (2016-2021), as per a report by researchers from the World Bank, Harvard Kennedy School, AidData, and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Thirteen countries made total drawings of USD170 billion in situations of economic or financial distress. Examples include Argentina (2014-2021), Mongolia (2012-2021), Suriname (2015-2021) and Sri Lanka (2021), which drew on their RMB swap lines right before and/or after sovereign defaults on their external creditors.
Other important users include Pakistan (2013-2021), Egypt (2016-2021) and Turkey (2021), which made large drawdowns during protracted balance of payments crises, as demonstrated by their crashing currencies in the face of dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Another group, including Russia (in 2015 and 2016) and Ukraine (in 2015), activated their swap lines in the face of sanctions and deep geopolitical crises.
China’s role as an international crisis manager can therefore be compared to that of the US Treasury during previous Latin American debt crises or to a regional financial institution like the European Stability Mechanism, which helped to avert, delay, or resolve defaults by highly-indebted borrowers, rather than to a global financial backstop with “deep pockets”.
The global swap line network put in place by the People’s Bank of China is increasingly used as a financial rescue mechanism, with more than USD170 billion in liquidity support extended to crisis countries, including repeated rollovers of swaps coming due.
The swaps bolster gross reserves and are mostly drawn by distressed countries with low liquidity ratios. In addition, the report shows that Chinese state-owned banks and enterprises have given out an additional USD70 billion in rescue loans for balance of payments support. Taken together, China’s overseas bailouts correspond to more than 20 per cent of total IMF lending over the past decade, and the bailout amounts are growing fast.
However, China’s rescue loans differ from those of established international lenders of last resort in that they are opaque, carry relatively high interest rates, and are almost exclusively targeted to debtors of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the report found.

China’s swap line network has become an important tool of overseas crisis management. In total, the report found that USD170 billion have been extended by the PBOC to central banks of countries in financial or macroeconomic distress. This amount involves a large number of rollovers, as short-term PBOC swap loans are often extended again and again, resulting in a de facto maturity of more than three years, on an average.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 28, 2023
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
Indian-origin teen wins USD 250K US science prize

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New York: An Indian-origin teen has won a prestigious high schoolers’ science prize of $250,000 for developing a computer model to predict the structure of RNA molecules that can aid in quickly diagnosing diseases.
Neel Moudgal, 17, was announced the winner of the Regeneron Science Talent competition on Tuesday.
Ambika Grover, 17, was ranked sixth for an $80,000 award and Siddhu Pachipala, 18, placed ninth for a $50,000 prize.
About 2,000 high school students competed in the Science Talent Search with 40 selected for the final round.
According to the Society for Science that ran the competition sponsored by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Moudgal’s computational biology and bioinformatics project “can rapidly and reliably predict the structure of various RNA molecules to facilitate the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutic drugs for diseases such as cancer, autoimmune diseases and viral infections”.
Grover developed an injectable microbubble to break up blood clots and treat stroke victims by restoring the blood flow to the brain.
Pachipala used machine learning to assess a patient’s suicide risk.
By analysing a patient’s journal entries the semantics in an individual’s writing could be correlated with their psychological health and risk of suicide.

Pachipala, who was chosen by the finalists as most exemplifying them, also was given the Seaborg Award.
The winners of the Science Talent Search programme originally sponsored by Westinghouse and now associated with the current sponsor Regeneron have gone on to win 11 Nobel Prizes and two Fields Medals for mathematics.
George Yancopoulos, the co-founder and president of the New York State-headquartered Regeneron, was himself the Science Talent Search winner in 1976.
That experience convinced him to work on curing diseases and added: “I can only hope this year’s students will be similarly inspired to become the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators that will develop and advance solutions for the world’s greatest challenges”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 15, 2023
Pakistan bans officials from accepting gifts worth more than USD 300 in light of Toshakhana case

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Islamabad: Pakistan has introduced new rules barring the prime minister, ministers and officials from retaining any gift by a foreign government whose value exceeded USD 300 amid entrenched corruption related to state gifts, it emerged on Tuesday.
The issue made headlines after former premier Imran Khan sold a precious watch given to him by the Saudi crown prince and did not disclose its sale to the Election Commission of Pakistan for which he was disqualified last year and a criminal case was launched. Authorities are in Lahore to arrest Khan in the case.
The Cabinet formulated a new policy about the Toshakhana (state depository) after an official document showed that between 2002 and 2022 hundreds of expensive gifts had been retained by successive top state functionaries after paying just paltry payments.
They apparently got the benefit of a rule that allowed them to retain any gift after paying 20 per cent of its value.
The Toshakhana Procedure for the Acceptance and Disposal of Gifts, 2023′ approved on March 8, includes a fresh set of guidelines that all gifts of more than USD 300 value must be deposited in Toshakhana as state property.
“Gift(s) valuing up to USD 300 shall be allowed to be retained by the recipient after due payments as per its assessed market value,” the new ruler stated.
“The gift(s) exceeding this monetary limit shall straightaway become state/Toshakhana property to be deposited and disposed of according to Toshakhana Procedure.”
The exception to antiques and gifts of historical value that are to be displayed in government buildings.

The policy says all gifts, irrespective of their price, received by government functionaries must be “reported” and “deposited” in Toshkhana within “30 days of receipt of the gifts” or “30 days from the date of return to Pakistan in case of foreign visit”, otherwise action would be taken.
However, the new policy has shown leniency toward gifts of perishable items that can be retained “without reporting or depositing” them.
It has also prohibited any government functionary “except those in BPS 1 to BPS 4” from receiving cash awards as gifts.
Lower state functionaries like gardeners, watchmen, office boys and peons come under BPS 1 to BPS 4 category.
“Such gifts may be politely refused. In case, it becomes impossible to refuse without causing offence to the visiting dignitary, the amount shall be immediately deposited in the government treasury and a copy of the treasury challan shall be provided to the Toshakhana Incharge, Cabinet Division.”
The new policy has also prohibited government functionaries from receiving gifts for their spouses or members of their families. However, if the gift cannot be declined due to any reason, it must be deposited with the Toshakhana immediately.
“Such gifts received by the president/head of the government for their person or their family members shall be deposited in Toshakhana for determination of assessed market value, retention cost, and further disposal as per Toshakhana Procedure. These instructions do not apply to gifts and donations made to institutions.”
Animals received as gifts will be transferred to the nearest Remount Veterinary and Farms Corps for early sale or handed over to the Zoological Garden.
“Gold and Silver bullions shall be sent to the State Bank of Pakistan – Mint,” it said.
Antiques will be placed in the museums or displayed in official government buildings whereas “vehicles shall be given to the Central Pool of Cars of the Cabinet Division.”
The policy stated how the value of the gifts would be determined and who should be responsible to report the gifts received by functionaries. The gifts that cannot be retained, donated, or displayed shall be publicly auctioned once or twice a year.
The Toshakhana department was set up in 1974 to keep the gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court hearing a separate case about who benefited from the Toshakhana asked the government to provide the complete list of gifts received by every official since 1947.
So far, the government has shared a list from 2002 to 2022, showing that every single ruler and various officials since 2002 retained various gifts after paying 20 per cent of their value.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 14, 2023
Adani repays USD 2.15 bn loan taken pledging shares

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New Delhi: Embattled Adani Group on Sunday said it has repaid loans aggregating USD 2.65 billion to complete a prepayment programme ahead of the March 31 deadline to cut overall leverage in an attempt to win back investor trust post a damning report of a US short seller.
In a statement, Adani group said it has repaid USD 2.15 billion of loans that were taken by pledging shares in the conglomerate’s listed firms and also another USD 500 million in loans taken for the acquisition of Ambuja Cement.
The announcement comes within days of the group saying it has pre-paid Rs 7,374 crore (about USD 902 billion) loans that were taken pledging shares in four group companies. This has now been scaled up to USD 2.15 billion.
While Adani group has not detailed the source of money for repayment of loans, these came within days of the promoters selling minority stakes in four listed companies to US-based GQG Partners for Rs 15,446 crore.
“In continuation of promoters’ commitment to repay the promoter leverage, Adani has completed full prepayment of margin linked share backed financing aggregating to USD 2.15 billion, well before the committed timeline of March 31, 2023,” it said. “In addition to above, promoters have also prepaid a USD 500 million facility taken for Ambuja acquisition financing.”
This, it said, was in line with promoters’ commitment to increase equity contribution and promoters have now infused USD 2.6 billion out of total acquisition value of USD 6.6 billion for Ambuja and ACC.
“The entire prepayment program of USD 2.65 billion has been completed within 6 weeks, which testifies the strong liquidity management and access to capital at sponsor level, supplementing the solid capital prudency adopted at all portfolio companies,” the statement said.
The last announcement of prepayment of share-backed financing of Rs 7,374 crore on March 7 was followed by more shares belonging to companies of the group being pledged as security for loans taken by the group’s flagship firm.

On March 8, SBICap Trustee in notices to stock exchanges had stated that a further 0.99 percent shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd were pledged “for the benefits of the lenders” of Adani Enterprises Ltd. An additional 0.76 percent shares in Adani Transmission Ltd were also pledged to banks, the trustee said.
With the latest pledge, the total shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd – the group’s renewable energy company – that were encumbered with SBICap was 2 percent. In the case of Adani Transmission, this came to 1.32 percent.
The March 7 statement stated that the repayment of Rs 7,374 crore will release pledge on shares of promoters in four group companies, and together with repayments done earlier, the group has prepaid USD 2.016 billion of share-backed financing.
Founder chairman Gautam Adani and his brother Rajesh on behalf of SB Adani Family Trust on March 2 announced sale of shares in flagship incubating firm Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), port company Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), electricity transmitting firm Adani Transmission Ltd (AEL) and renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL).
That sale helped the group turn the narrative building since US short seller Hindenburg Research released a damning report on January 24.
The 10 listed Adani Group companies, which together had lost about USD 135 billion in market value following the report, have seen stock prices rise in successive trading sessions ever since.
In September last year, CreditSights, a Fitch Group unit, said the group was “deeply overleveraged” as it used debt to expand an empire centred on ports and coal mining to include airports, data centres and cement as well as green energy.
In the January 24 report, US short seller Hindenburg Research flagged “substantial” debt levels at the group while alleging accounting fraud and use of offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices.
The group has denied all Hindenburg allegations, calling them “malicious”, “baseless” and a “calculated attack on India”.
It is now hoping to claw back the narrative by choosing slow and steady growth over the breakneck, mostly debt-fuelled, expansion spree of recent years.
It has already scrapped a Rs 7,000-crore coal plant purchase, decided not to bid for a stake in state-backed energy trading firm PTC, reined in expenses, repaid some debt and promised to repay more.
Adani Group’s gross debt has doubled in the last four years. It has almost USD 2 billion worth of foreign-currency bonds coming up for repayment in 2024.
The group’s gross debt has grown from Rs 1.11 lakh crore in 2019 to Rs 2.21 lakh crore in 2023, according to a presentation made to investors last month.
After including cash, the net debt was Rs 1.89 lakh crore in 2023.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 12, 2023