NEWS,30.07.2013

Egyptian exports start to boom

Egypt is in the early stages of an export boom, suggesting its economy could begin to recover in the next few months if a minimum level of political stability is restored.
Helped by a falling Egyptian pound, non-oil exports have grown at double-digit annual rates since early this year despite violence on the streets and deep uncertainty over the country's political future.
Egypt's export sector accounts for only slightly more than 10% of the overall economy, and this relatively modest contribution cannot by itself end high unemployment or generate enough tax revenue to fix the government's shattered finances.
But the surge in exports, which has received little publicity amid this year's flood of bad economic news from Egypt, shows many manufacturers are finding ways to ride out the political turbulence - and could enjoy strong growth if the country eventually gets a stable government.
"It's a good sign if they're managing to achieve that kind of export growth, especially in the current environment," said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at MASIC, a Riyadh-based investment firm.
Overall Egypt still runs a huge merchandise trade deficit, which was $23.8bn in the financial year to March, although this was already 2.7% narrower than in 2011-12 as exports grew and imports remained steady.
In the separate energy sector, which accounts for about a fifth of overall exports, Egypt has sharply cut back natural gas shipments, diverting supplies to the domestic market to avoid power shortages.
Recovery
Egypt's non-oil exports grew strongly for much of the past decade, rising 18.5% to $18.6bn in 2011, the year when Hosni Mubarak was overthrown, according to the State Information Service.
Their growth plunged last year as the election of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi worsened political tensions and deterred investment; industrial unrest, poor security, fuel shortages and difficulties obtaining finance hit many companies.
Non-oil exports inched up just 2% in 2012, less than half the rate of consumer price inflation. But shipments began to recover around the start of this year, rising 7% from a year earlier in the first two months of 2013.
Trade minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour told reporters that non-oil exports jumped 21% year-on-year in June, a month when big Egyptian cities were rocked by mass protests against Mursi that led to his overthrow by the army on July 3.
In many ways, the operating environment for Egyptian companies has remained as tough as it was last year. But exports of low-technology, cost-sensitive products such as textiles, food and leather have jumped, businessmen say.
Textile exports rose 16.5% from a year ago, according to the Textile Export Council. Processed food exports climbed 26% year-on-year in the month of May alone, and were nearly twice their level in May 2010.
A major reason for the export recovery is the depreciation of the Egyptian pound, which makes shipments more competitive. Depreciation accelerated in the first half of this year.
There are also signs that some Egyptian exporters are starting to tap fast-growing demand in markets beyond Europe and the Arab world, their traditional focuses.
Non-oil exports to non-Arab African countries surged 28% from a year earlier in the first five months of this year. Exports to the Arab world climbed 20%, helped by an economic recovery in neighbouring Libya after its civil war.

Bulgaria set to slash electricity prices

Bulgaria's energy watchdog says it will lower electricity prices by up to five percent starting on Thursday, in a new bid to appease protesters calling for the government to step down.
The DKEVR state energy regulatory commission late on Monday approved the price cut, which will come into effect on August 1, as the EU's poorest country continues to struggle against high bills, the commission said.
Last winter, high electricity bills sparked mass street protests against low living standards, growing poverty and unemployment, forcing out the previous conservative cabinet.
New protest rallies have called for the resignation of current technocrat Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski in office only since May.
To appease public anger, Oresharski's government has passed a package of social measures but the daily protests have continued for the 47th day on Tuesday and the electricity price cut was not expected to put an end to them.
Bulgarians pay about eight cents per kilowatt hour of electricity half of what consumers in wealthier EU countries pay their power utilities.
But incomes in the Balkan country are also just a fraction of the rest of the bloc, with monthly salaries averaging about €400  ($530) and pensions at €138.
Slumping household consumption and meagre exports contributed to an overheating energy production sector this year, prompting authorities to curtail output, while deals on expensive green energy prevented utilities from lowering costs for consumers.
Under the new move, all clients of the three power utilities Austrian EVN, Czech CEZ and Energo-Pro will see daytime electricity costs reduced by up five percent and nighttime costs by up to about seven percent.

Spain's economy close to leveling off

Spain's economy all but emerged from a two-year slump in the second quarter but its recovery looks fragile at best, given weak consumer demand and a simmering political scandal at home and faltering growth abroad.
Gross domestic product shrank 0.1% between April and June from the previous quarter, according to Tuesday's data from state statistics agency INE, which matched a Bank of Spain estimate given last week as well as market forecasts.
Between January and March the economy shrank 0.5%.
Given the signs of an upturn in economic activity, also including the first drop in unemployment in two years in the second quarter, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos has called an end to Spain's recession.
Many economists are not convinced.
"We're not counting on a further improvement in the third quarter and are very sceptical of any statement that the recession in close to being over," Ebrahim Rahbari, an analyst at Citi in London, said.
Spain's economy has been in and out of recession since 2008, when a burst property bubble undermined the foundations of one of the country's key pillars of growth, construction.
That sent unemployment to record highs, depressing business and saddling the banking system with billions of euros of soured real estate assets and loans.
Spain's biggest bank Santander SA, which insulated itself against the worst of the market meltdown by expanding its already dominant foreign operations, said on Tuesday half year group profits rose 29% on lower loan losses.
It said operating earnings were hit by the sluggish Spanish economy but also offered hope the impact of the property slump on the government and lenders - bailed out last year with €42bn of European aid - might be easing.
It said provisions against loan losses which many Spanish banks booked heavily in 2012 - dropped sharply, and that it might consider buying nationalised banks Catalunya Banc or NCG Banco if they came up for sale.
Temporary respite
Since 2008, already subdued domestic demand has been knocked back further by tax hikes and spending cuts aimed at balancing a budget which has one of the largest shortfalls in the eurozone.
Growth-friendlier policies have played a bigger role in Europe's economic debate in recent months as austerity has lost its lustre, but Spain's still high fiscal imbalances mean more budget cuts will have to be made, potentially hitting the tentative signs of recovery.
Meanwhile, allegations of millions of euros being filtered illegally to ruling party leaders, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has helped half the conservatives' approval rating putting them level with the opposition Socialists.
That has added an element of political instability that carries faint, but nonetheless unwelcome, echoes of events in fellow euro zone struggler Italy, where a shaky coalition government could fall if former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi loses a supreme court appeal hearing that began on Tuesday.
But the centre-right People's Party of Rajoy, who has denied wrongdoing, has a strong majority in parliament and unless new evidence ties him directly to the scandal, he is expected to remain in power.
Rajoy, along with his economy minister, has recently done his best to talk up the economy, and the second quarter also saw the first drop in unemployment in two years, to 26.3%.
But that lower figure still more than double the euro zone average was largely due to temporary factors especially strong trade data, which includes seasonal tourism.
Spanish retail sales due on Wednesday are expected to show high-street spending has shrunk every month for three years.
Spain's high reliance on activity beyond its borders exports rose to a third of economic activity in the first quarter adds uncertainty to the outlook amid a shaky global recovery and enduring weakness in Europe, where around 70 percent of Spain's exports are sold.
Martin van Vliet, analyst at ING, said he expected Spain's economy to flatline and then gradually return to growth in the first half of next year. "But the pace of growth will probably be too slow to create jobs, which is a prerequisite to embark on a self-sustaining recovery," he said. 

NEWS,14. AND 15.06.2013

Tax raid tarnishes India's gold industry

A raid by dozens of tax inspectors on one of India's biggest gold traders this week has tarnished the reputation of an industry worth more than $70bn a year and put at risk its access to funding, a bullion importers' group said.
"The jewellers' fraternity, be it small or big, is feeling disgraced that we've been made to look so negative," Mohit Kamboj, president of the Bombay Bullion Association, told a news conference in Mumbai on Friday.
Income tax officials this week swooped on about 50 offices of RiddiSiddhi Bullions, a leading gold importer.
The raid was part of a probe into financial transactions for suspected bogus imports and exports, said Swatantra Kumar Singh, director general of investigations at the tax department.
Prithviraj Kothari, managing director of RiddiSiddhi Bullions, could not be reached by telephone for comment.
He said in an emailed statement to news media that he would cooperate fully with the authorities and described their action as a "routine survey".
The probe coincided with a drive by the government to rein in imports of gold by a country that is already the world's largest buyer of bullion. Gold imports, which hit a monthly record of 162 tonnes in May, are largely to blame for a ballooning current account deficit.
Other jewellers and dealers were also raided in Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, a maze of narrow streets and dilapidated shops that is home to India's biggest bullion market, Singh told Reuters in a text message.
He said on June 12 that tax officials had seized about $1.4m from Kothari's head office in the centre of Zaveri Bazaar and other offices of the company across India.
India's appetite for gold is vast, with imports hitting a record 969 tonnes in 2011. The government moved this month to tame demand with a 50% hike in import duty to 8%.
India used to ban imports of gold and most of it was smuggled into the country until the 1990s, when controls were relaxed.
Kamboj said the sensation caused by this week's raids had damaged relations between jewellers and banks, which are a major source of funding for an industry largely made up of small, family-run shops that cannot afford to carry large stocks.
"If any jeweller goes to a bank then they are treated as if they are frauds or smugglers," the association president said.

UK power prices may fall

British power prices may fall after its electricity market links more closely with others in Europe later this year, increasing cross-border trading, one of the project leaders said on Friday.
From November onwards, Britain's electricity market will be directly linked to those of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordic states via a mechanism that will distribute power automatically and more evenly between major delivery points as it is needed.
The so-called market coupling project aims to eventually integrate all of Europe's power markets to create one price for European energy consumers and to hedge against supply shocks.
Britain's power market has fewer connections to its neighbours and is less liquid than most others in western Europe, and its power prices have recently been higher.
For Britain, market coupling will bring a boost to the number of trades on its short-term market, said Bente Hagem, co-chair of the coupling project.
"Liquidity in the UK will increase for the day-ahead market through coupling. That will be positive for the price formation," she told journalists at a news conference.
Exposure to the wider market is likely to bring Britain's prices more in line with those on the continent.
The Dutch, German, French, Luxembourg and Belgian electricity markets were already coupled in November 2010, which has helped their prices converge.
Closer ties will also mean, however, that British consumers may be more prone to price changes in surrounding markets, for example those caused by extreme swings in German renewable energy production.
The European Union has set an end-2014 target for Europe's electricity markets to be fully integrated to distribute renewable energy flows and prevent energy supply crises.
The complexity of uniting trading and capacity allocation systems, however, has made meeting that deadline unlikely, said Jean-Francois Conil-Lacoste, the second co-chair of the project and head of European day-ahead power bourse EPEX Spot.
"We have a deadline of end-2014, which is very ambitious, and we can probably safely say that unfortunately we will not meet the deadline for all of Europe," he said at the same conference.
Markets in central-eastern Europe have taken the first steps to couple their regions, and south-eastern markets are also gearing up to eventually join the creation of a Europe-wide integrated market.

A surefire bet?

Puffing on slim metal tubes loaded with pale yellow liquid, two London businessmen say they have between their lips a cure for what the United Nations calls "one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced".
Electronic cigarettes are the future, they argue. Cheaper, cleaner and cooler than smoking, "vaping" - using a vaporiser to inhale nicotine infused with exotic flavours ranging from pina colada to bubblegum - will spell the end of tobacco.
"After I first tried this, I left half a cigarette in the ashtray and never went back," says Zoltan Kore, who co-runs the newly opened London e-cigarette shop "Smoke No Smoke".
"I'm not a smoker now, I'm a vaper," says business partner Gabor Kovacs. "The awful morning coughing fits have gone, and the waking up in the night struggling to breathe has gone, too."
Such stories - and hopes of persuading the rest of the world's billion smokers to stub out their tar and toxin-loaded cigarettes, cutting a catalogue of chronic disease risks as they do - are tantalising for public health experts.
And since "vaping" doesn't entail kicking the addiction either to the stimulant nicotine or to the behavioural habits of smoking some say it can help smokers quit much more effectively than nicotine gum or patches.
Cool alternative or dangerous gateway?
All the top tobacco companies are now placing bets on e-smokes, which some analysts predict may outsell conventional cigarettes in 10 years, raising the counter-intuitive prospect that Big Tobacco could actually help people quit smoking.
Celebrities like Bruno Mars and Courtney Love are also endorsing them, a further inducement to makers of iconic cigarette brands like Marlboro and Camel to invest.
Yet e-cigarettes are far from universally accepted as a public health tool; regulators are agonising over whether to restrict them as "gateway" products to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking, or embrace them as treatments for would-be quitters.
A big issue is the lack of long-term scientific evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarettes, prompting critics like the British Medical Association (BMA) to warn of the dangers of their unregulated use.
"These devices may also undermine efforts to prevent or stop smoking by making cigarette use seem normal in public and at work," argues the BMA, which has called for vaping to be banned in public places in Britain, just as smoking is.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is equally wary, saying that until e-cigarettes have been endorsed as safe and effective by national regulators, "consumers should be strongly advised not to use any of these products".
Supporters of e-cigarettes scoff at suggestions they are a hazard or could be a slippery slope for previously addiction-free young people to get hooked on nicotine.
There is, they argue, no evidence of any harm from nicotine consumption and it would be crazy to impose tougher restrictions on e-smokes than on toxic "death sticks" that are freely available to buy on almost every street corner worldwide.
As Adrian Everett, chief executive of Britain's leading e-cigarette company E-Lites, put it in a comment to Reuters: "Comparing electronic cigarettes to tobacco is like comparing playing football to juggling live hand grenades."
Big killer
While the debate rumbles, smoking is killing half of all those who do it. Tobacco has an annual death toll of 6 million people, and that could exceed 8 million by 2030 unless something urgent is done to stop people smoking, according to the WHO.
As well as causing lung cancer and other chronic respiratory diseases, smoking is also a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killer.
"This could be the most effective method of smoking reduction that we have ever had," says Konstantinos Farsalinos of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre in Greece, who has conducted several studies exploring the risks of vaping.
His work, some of which has had some funding from makers of e-cigarettes, has found no adverse effects on heart function, nor any notable cancer risks to cells in the lungs.
Other research, however, suggests "vaping" may reduce lung capacity, and the German Cancer Research Centre said last month it was concerned e-cigarette liquids contained ingredients that can irritate the airways, while poor quality products could contain carcinogens.
Against this background, a growing number of regulators see a need to control standards in a largely unregulated sector.
Britain became the latest to take the plunge this week by opting to regulate e-cigarettes as non-prescription medicines, after finding widely varying nicotine levels and contaminants in some existing products. This means manufacturers will need a licence from 2016, though they will still be sold in general stores.
A few countries have banned them outright - such as Brazil, Norway and Singapore - while others are opting for varying degrees of regulation, in some cases including limits on advertising and curbs on their use in public places.
France said last month it would impose the same restrictions on e-cigarettes as on conventional ones.
The European Union is proposing to limit the amount of nicotine they can hold before regulation kicks in, while the US Food and Drug Administration has so far adopted a light touch, saying it plans to regulate e-cigarettes as it does tobacco.
Greater regulation, in one form or another, may sink smaller players that cannot afford to navigate through various licensing systems. But the rest will benefit from a halo of legitimacy.
In particular, that could play into the deep pockets of Big Tobacco - a prospect that makes some campaigners uneasy.
"Tobacco companies seem to be playing both sides of the game by selling cigarettes that cause thousands of deaths a year but also selling products designed to reduce the harm," says Martin Dockrell of British campaign group Action on Smoking and Health.
"There are some real risks here that need to be managed."
No-brainer for Big Tobacco

Big tobacco companies are jumping on the e-cigarette bandwagon with a range of strategies to tap into a market that some analysts believe could eclipse traditional cigarettes in 10 years.

They are competing with hundreds of smaller companies in the global e-smoking market, which Euromonitor estimates was worth more than $2bn in 2012.

Here is a snapshot of recent Big Tobacco initiatives:
Altria: the owner of Marlboro cigarettes maker Philip Morris said on June 11 its Nu Mark subsidiary would launch e-cigarettes under the brand name MarkTen in Indiana in August. It is the last of the large US tobacco firms to enter the space.
Reynolds American: the maker of Camel cigarettes said on June 6 it would expand the testing of its Vuse e-cigarettes to retail outlets in Colorado, beginning in July.
Imperial Tobacco: the maker of Gauloises cigarettes said on April 30 it had set up a venture called Fontem to develop e-cigarettes.
Lorillard: the maker of Newport menthol cigarettes paid around $135m in April 2012 to acquire Blu Ecigs, a leading e-cigarette company.
British American Tobacco: the maker of Kent cigarettes set up Nicoventures in 2011 as a standalone company to develop smokeless nicotine products. It already has a product, which it is working on with Consort Medical, under regulatory review in Britain.

Outlook better for global food markets

The overall outlook for supplies of basic food commodities to global markets has improved since poor wheat harvest and tight conditions a year ago,the UN's food agency said on Thursday.
The cereal supply-and-demand balance in the 2013-2014 season was expected to be "comfortable", the agency said, but it warned about the pace of imports of rice by China.
The agency said that it expected food commodity markets to be more balanced in 2013 to 2014, with rising prices on fish and meat forecast to offset lower prices for some commodities such as sugar.
The Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in its biannual Food Outlook report that the "global food import bill is forecast to reach $1.09trn in 2013 - 13% below the record of 2011 but close to the 2012 estimate".
World sugar production was estimated to reach a new record in 2012-2013, "one that will be more than sufficient to cover projected global consumption," it said.
"After a relatively tight situation in 2012-2013, characterised by reduced grain supplies and high prices, good production prospects and a likely replenishment in world stocks could pave the way for calmer markets and some easing of prices in the new season," it said.
The news was also positive for wheat, with record world production this year boosting supplies. Lower import demand was also likely to stabilise the market and keep prices down.
"The bulk of the recovery is forecast to be concentrated in some of the major producing countries that harvested poor crops in 2012, in particular in Europe and the Black Sea region," it said.
In terms of rice, the FAO said international prices had generally been stable in the first five months of 2013, but that market attention was now "focusing on future decisions regarding releases from public stocks in Thailand and on India's availabilities for export."
The agency said the pace of China's rice imports was also "becoming critical".
International prices for meat, dairy and fish were expected to rise, the report said.
"World meat production is anticipated to grow by only 1.4% in 2013, to 308.2 million tonnes. Meat prices remain at historically high levels which, as of May, have not shown signs of decreasing in spite of reduced feed costs," it said.
Meat prices have remained at historically high levels since the early part of 2011. Export prices on average this year rose marginally for poultry and pork, remained stable for beef, and fell for lamb.
Prices of dairy products "have risen in the face of limited export supplies", and while milk production continues to increase, especially in Asia, growth in the main exporting countries is expected to be limited.
In terms of fish, tight supply and higher feed costs for several key traded species such as salmon and shrimp are pushing international seafood prices higher.
However, "overall supply is still growing thanks to aquaculture, with strong local and regional demand sustaining production growth in the developing countries," the FAO said.

Greek PM's offer on broadcaster rejected

Partners in the Greek coalition government on Saturday rejected Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's offer to partially reopen the state broadcaster, saying it had to be entirely reinstated.

Samaras triggered a nationwide uproar when he and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras signed a legislative act shutting down ERT's television and radio stations last Tuesday in the latest austerity cutback.

But then Samaras offered to partially reinstate ERT.

"We do not agree with this proposal and we demand the immediate cancellation of the legislative act," Andreas Papadopoulos, spokesperson for the small leftist democratic Dimar party, told AFP.

Dimar is one of the three members of the ruling coalition, along with Samaras's conservatives and Pasok's socialists. The act was signed without the agreement of Dimar and Pasok.

Samaras heads the fragile coalition in a careful balancing act to enact unpopular austerity reforms in return for bailout loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Decision defended

Pasok, a pillar of the coalition, also demands ERT's reopening while recognising, like Dimar, "the need for restructuring" of the 60-year-old broadcaster.

Samaras called on Friday evening on his government partners to set up a body charged with resuming "immediately" the broadcast of information programmes before creating a new radio-television broadcaster, envisioned in a draft law presented on Wednesday by the government spokeperson.

Samaras's proposal "is not a response to what Pasok had said", a party official said.

"As soon as ERT reopens, we will agree to setting up a commission to elaborate a restructuring plan on the basis of European audiovisual bodies, which will be proposed over the next two to three months with the aim of reorganising ERT," Papadopoulos said.

In a column published Saturday in the liberal daily Kathimerini, Samaras defended his decision to shut down ERT, which he said showed his government's "political will and determination" to fight waste and lead his country out of crisis.

Samaras's administration is under heavy pressure from Greece's EU-IMF creditors to dismiss thousands of state workers to maintain access to bailout loans.

ERT has a long history of nepotistic hiring practises and government-biased news coverage, but it also provides an invaluable link to the Greek diaspora, border areas and isolated islands.

The government says it will compensate ERT's almost 2 700 employees and has pledged to set up a new public broadcaster with less than half the staff before the end of summer.

A crucial meeting on the subject is planned for Monday evening between Samaras and the heads of Pasok and Dimar, Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis, amid continuing protests at ERT headquarters and strikes by Greek journalists.

Obama in Africa: Great 'bang for buck'

The White House on Friday insisted President Barack Obama's looming trip to Africa was overdue and would give great "bang for the buck", pushing back at concerns over the journey's cost.
Ben Rhodes, a top foreign policy aide to Obama, admitted that the president, despite his Kenyan heritage, had focused far more on other regions, including Asia and Europe, than Africa, despite crucial US interests there.
"For the United States to say we're a world leader except in this continent doesn't make any sense," said Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor.
"The US would be ceding its leadership position in the world if the president of the United States was not deeply engaged in Africa," Rhodes said.
Obama is due to travel to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania on a trip beginning at the end of this month for his first prolonged stay on the continent since taking office.
He has previously visited sub-Saharan Africa only once as president, with a short stay in Ghana in 2009.
Rhodes noted that Obama had travelled multiple times to the Asia-Pacific region, as part of a rebalancing of US foreign policy there and had made many trips to Europe, so Africa needed some attention.
"Africa's a critically important region of the world. We have huge interests there. You've got some of the fastest growing economies in Africa.
"You've got a massively growing youth population.
"You've got key security and counterterrorism issues that we work on with African countries," he said, adding that key US interests in combating HIV/Aids, and in supporting global health were also rooted in the continent.
"This is a deeply substantive trip and one that has been highly anticipated on the continent.
"Frankly, there's been great disappointment that the president hasn't traveled to Africa until this point other than a brief stop in Ghana."
"The president is not going to retreat from an entire continent."
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that plans for Obama to take a safari with his family in Tanzania had been cancelled due to budgetary concerns.
The newspaper, citing a Secret Service planning document, said the excursion would have required Obama's counter-assault team to carry sniper rifles with high-caliber rounds that could neutralise cheetahs, lions or other animals.
The paper said Obama's Africa tour, his first since taking office in January 2009, could cost the US government between $60m and $100m, based on cost of similar trips in recent years.
The report comes as many government agencies struggle with mandatory budget cuts that took effect in March because US lawmakers failed to strike a wider budget deal.
Hundreds of Secret Service agents are dispatched for the president's overseas visits along with dozens of vehicles, planes and other military and security assets.
The White House said that it was up to the Secret Service to determine costs and security needs for the US leader abroad - as was the case under former presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton for instance.
Both Bush and Clinton undertook significant tours of Africa as president, requiring the vast security and logistical infrastructure that follows the US leader wherever he goes.
Rhodes, noting that other powers, including China, were seeking to increase their influence in Africa, portrayed Obama's upcoming visit as a smart investment.
"There will be a great bang for our buck for being in Africa.
"When you travel to regions like Africa that don't get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very long-standing and long-running impact from the visit."

US: Snowden will be held accountable

The United States is confident it will bring Edward Snowden to justice for "extremely damaging" leaks about secret internet surveillance programmes, US Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.

Snowden is hiding in Hong Kong and the United States has launched a criminal investigation after the former CIA technical assistant blew the lid on the National Security Agency's (NSA) vast electronic surveillance operation.
"This case is still under investigation and I can assure you that we will hold accountable the person responsible for those extremely damaging leaks," Holder told a news conference in Dublin after a meeting with EU officials.
"The national security of the United States has been damaged by those leaks. The safety of the American people and safety of people in allied nations is at risk," he said.
"I am confident that the person who is responsible will be held accountable."
Holder also said that he had agreed to share details with the European Union about the so-called Prism programme, which was exposed after Snowden spoke to British and American newspapers.
The 29-year-old Snowden has vowed to fight any bid to extradite him.

NEWS,12.06.2013

Swiss upper chamber approves US tax deal

The Swiss upper house of parliament backed on Wednesday a bill that would let Swiss banks hand over information to the US authorities to help settle a dispute on tax evasion.
After US action over tax evasion led to the closure of the country's oldest private bank earlier this year, and with formal investigations under way into some of its biggest institutions, the Swiss government urgently wants a compromise to end threats of criminal charges that have hurt a vital national industry.
The bill, which is set to go to the lower chamber next week, would allow banks to sidestep secrecy laws to strike settlements with US prosecutors, expected to include heavy fines which might amount to $10bn for the whole industry.
Though opposition to the draft law has been vocal from left to right as lawmakers chafe at what some call US blackmail, 24 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill and only 15 opposed. The draft law is likely to face tougher debate in the lower house.
The country's biggest bank UBS was forced in 2009 to pay a fine of $780m and deliver the names of more than 4 000 clients to avoid indictment, giving the US authorities information that allowed them to then pursue other Swiss banks.

Iraq to get $6trn from new energy plan

Iraq on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious energy strategy that aims to see it raise $6 trillion from oil and gas sales by 2030 and massively increase local power generation, a major domestic complaint.
The plan, dubbed the Integrated National Energy Strategy, would see Iraq invest some $620bn in the sector over nearly two decades, in a bid to substantially increase living standards and employment levels in a country badly hit by decades of conflict and sanctions.
"The strategic goals of the plan are to meet local energy needs, maximise government revenues, encourage economic diversification and improve the standard of living and create jobs," said Thamir Ghadhban, a former oil minister and the head of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's advisory committee.
In all, Iraq aims to increase oil production to 4.5 million barrels per day by 2014, and about double that by 2020 in its "medium" scenario, with all domestic energy requirements met by 2022.
The country projects it will raise about $6trn in revenues by 2030, about 85% of which will come from oil exports.
It also aims to diversify its oil-dependent economy and add 10 million new jobs, with planners arguing that by 2020, non-energy sectors of the economy will grow faster than oil and gas.
Iraq has sought in recent years to dramatically increase its oil production in order to fund reconstruction of its battered economy and dilapidated infrastructure.
But while output has increased, unemployment remains high and Iraqis frequently complain about a lack of improvement in daily living standards.
Tempers run particularly high during the country's boiling summer, when most residents receive only a few hours of government-supplied power per day.

Electricity market shake-up looms in UK

Britain's energy watchdog on Wednesday proposed changes to prise open the grip of big suppliers on the wholesale electricity market and increase choice for consumers.
The objective was to create "a more level playing field", over concerns about the pricing power of eight companies.
The driving idea behind the change is to increase competition and improve opportunities for small suppliers.
Ofgem said that under its proposals the big six suppliers British Gas Centrica, EDF Energy, EON, RWE Npower, Scottish Power and SSE will have to post the prices at which they buy and sell wholesale electricity on power trading platforms up to two years in advance.
The changes were aimed also at putting pressure on Britain's two biggest independent power generators Drax Power and GDF Suez Energy UK while the eight indentified companies must together trade fairly with small suppliers or face financial penalties.
"Ofgem's proposals would mean that the big six and the two largest independent power generators cannot refuse any reasonable requests by small suppliers to buy electricity," the regulator said in a statement.
"They must also ensure that they sell power to small suppliers at a fair price and negotiate fairly with them at all times."
Andrew Wright, senior partner for markets at Ofgem, said the regulator wanted also "to improve consumer confidence and choice by putting strong pressure on prices through increased competition in the energy market.
"Ofgem's proposals will break the stranglehold of the big six in the retail market and create a more level playing field for independent suppliers, who will get a fair deal when they want to buy and sell power up to two years ahead," he added in the statement.
Wright said greater price transparency would also assist investors seeking to build new generation plants and help secure supplies for consumers, "who are also set to benefit from a simpler, clearer and fairer energy market".
Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change called on companies "to work with Ofgem to implement these proposals as swiftly as possible", adding that the government stood ready "to take necessary measures to improve energy market liquidity should Ofgem's proposals be delayed or frustrated".

Broader bank data swap in tax dodge fight

The European Commission proposed to expand the kind of customer information that banks must surrender to authorities around the European Union, as political momentum grows to clamp down on tax dodging.
Algirdas Semeta, the EU official in charge of tax policy, outlined proposals on Wednesday for banks to disclose account balances, dividends and capital gains, to catch sophisticated schemes not covered by the simpler EU rules now in place.
But the Commission's suggestion will likely face opposition from Luxembourg, which does not want to be forced to lift its veil of banking secrecy higher than that of neighbouring Switzerland, its chief rival as a financial centre.
"Member states will be better equipped to assess and collect the taxes they are due," Semeta said. "It will be another powerful weapon in our arsenal to lead a strong attack against tax evasion."
Banking secrecy is high on the political agenda ahead of German elections later this year and following the resignation of a French budget minister over a secret Swiss account.
Luxembourg has signed up to exchanging information about the bank accounts of EU citizens from 2015, but its officials have been rowing back in private on the type of data they are willing to hand over.
Luxembourg does not want to agree to a revised version of the EU savings tax regime that would extend beyond simple interest payments on saving accounts, which are little used to hide income, to include foundations and trusts.
The tiny but wealthy state has an important banking sector and a lot to lose, particularly if customers were lured away by a Swiss financial sector subject to laxer rules.
Switzerland is the world's biggest home for offshore assets, totalling $2 trillion and four times the size of those held in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg is awaiting the outcome of talks between Brussels and Switzerland on a similar agreement to swap information. Semeta will kick-start those talks next week on a trip to meet Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf.

NEWS,20.09.2012

China to help resolve eurozone crisis

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday that Beijing will maintain its efforts to help resolve the eurozone debt crisis, after months of investing in European sovereign bonds."China will continue to play its part in helping resolve the European debt issue through appropriate channels," Wen told a business summit after political talks with European Union leaders in Brussels."In the past few months China has continued to invest in bonds of European governments... and discussed ways of cooperation with the ESM," Wen said, referring to the European Stability Mechanism, a new €500bn rescue firewall set up by eurozone leaders and due to become operational next month."Europe is on the right track in tackling its debt issue," Wen told the audience. "What is crucial now is to fully implement the reforms" it has agreed on economic governance, he said.Wen's remarks saw a shift in tone from the "serious concerns" about spillover effects hurting China that he had expressed just three weeks earlier when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Beijing.Almost half of all European exports to China come from Germany, and a quarter of all European imports from China are into Germany.Wen highlighted that China had pumped tens of billions of dollars into the International Monetary Fund this summer, as global economies joined forces in a bid to limit the damage from a global economic downturn.And he said this was done for "strategic" reasons, saying the "essence" of China's "stable" relationship with the EU bloc was "long-term" and "not affected by ideological differences or temporary setbacks."Having visited 18 EU member states since 2003 to cement a trading relationship worth a €1bn a day, Wen said the present challenges also presented "huge opportunities" on both sides.While the economic picture was at a "critical juncture," China and the EU were working on a host of levels to "scale-up" trade.The levers through which this would be achieved, Wen said, involved two-way investment with a "need to expand cooperation in infrastructure development" that could see Beijing invest in new EU project bonds.Likewise investment in technological innovation, where he cited nuclear energy or the information technology sector, or European offers of expertise whether in smart cars or sewerage as China steps up urban planning.

Mixed reaction to rate decision

 

SA Reserve Bank (SARB)'s decision to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday afternoon met with a mixed reaction."From a household sector point of view, the SARB arguably made the right decision not to cut rates further," said FNB property economist John Loos.Given rising household indebtedness, SARB's decision was a good one, as it would preserve longer term residential market health.The household sector carried a high debt risk, and more rapid growth in credit to this group should not be encouraged, said Loos.The sector had improved its payment performance significantly, with insolvencies dropping. But the sector had relied on the SARB to maintain interest rates, which were at historically low levels.It had not made significant financial improvements itself, he said.The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) said it was disappointed by bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged."An interest rate cut would have given our financially strapped members some much needed economic reprieve, and encouraged an increase in consumer spending," said Imatu spokesman Johan Koen in a statement.While the latest consumer inflation figures indicated only a mild increase in food, housing and transport costs, sharp increases in the cost of petrol and diesel would undoubtedly affect prices in the near future.The cost of a basic food basket had increased on average by 16% per year for the last five years. Electricity had effectively increased by 82.3% in the last three years and petrol prices by 11% per year on average for the last decade. Metrorail's ticket prices had effectively increased by 69% in the last three years."An interest rate cut would have given people the much-needed economic breather that is being afforded to other emerging economies," Koen said.The Monetary Policy Committee opted to leave interest rates unchanged, the bank's governor Gill Marcus said on Thursday."The monetary policy committee is of the view that a further reduction in the repo rate would not be appropriate at this stage," she said at a televised press conference in Pretoria.The repo rate would be left unchanged at 5% a year.This is the rate at which commercial banks can borrow money from the SARB. It is used to calculate the prime rate, which banks give their best customers.Marcus said the global growth outlook remained weak.South Africa's trade deficit in the balance of payments posed a risk to the exchange rate. If the rand weakened further, inflation was likely to increase as a result. Although consumer demand was unlikely to impact on inflation, supply-side shocks were possible.Higher food prices and resilient international oil prices could not only impact on inflation, but act as a drag on growth in the near term."This is a combination which poses enormous challenges for monetary policy," she said.The United Democratic Movement said the SARB had made a prudent decision."The SARB had to consider a number of economic performance indicators such as the slight increase in the inflation rate, an improved economic growth performance together with the Eurozone crisis, to keep the South African economy on a steady course," it said in a statement.

Strikes against retail reform rock India

Shopkeepers, traders and labourers in India blocked railway lines and closed markets on Thursday to protest against reforms allowing in foreign retail giants such as Walmart and Tesco.Opposition parties and trade unions called the strike after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week announced a raft of reforms designed to revive India's slowing economy, a move that has sparked a furious backlash.Thousands of policemen were deployed in Kolkata in West Bengal state to prevent violence as shops, markets and offices shut down for the 24-hour strike."Train services have come to a halt across West Bengal as strikers squatted on railway tracks," Samir Goswami, regional public relations officer, said by phone.Protesters demonstrated throughout Kolkata in support of the strike, with large rallies planned later in the day in New Delhi and many other cities.Police said that protesters also blocked some national highways.Activists from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies gathered at railway stations across Bihar state in north India and forcibly stopped train services, leaving thousands of passengers stranded."Protesters have tried to target trains and bus stations and (we expect) they will also target shops and business establishments," Ravinder Kumar, a senior police officer in Patna, the capital of Bihar, said.All private schools in the state were closed because of the strike, but government schools and offices remained open.The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) forecast that 50 million people would participate in the protest against retail reforms unveiled by Singh.Many small business owners and workers fear that the arrival of large-scale foreign supermarket chains will lead to drastic job losses as India's supply chains and shopping habits are transformed.Singh has been buffeted by reaction to the reform package and a sharp rise in diesel prices, with a key West Bengal-based coalition party quitting the government and demanding the policies are reversed.The arrival in India of chains such as Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour is expected to herald a consumer revolution with shoppers moving from small, neighbourhood stores to large, out-of-town supermarkets.The government and many industry leaders argue that a modern retail system would improve value and choice for Indian consumers, create new jobs and enable farmers to reduce wastage.But Singh, weakened by the worst quarterly GDP figures in three years and a series of corruption scandals, faces a major challenge to push through the reforms and boost the economy before elections due in 2014.Truck and bus drivers are also expected to strike on Thursday over a 12% hike in subsidised diesel prices as the government tries to tackle its widening fiscal deficit.Mumbai, the country's financial capital, was largely unaffected by the strike as local political parties declined to support the action.