Category: Economy and Policy

(This January 28 corrects event host in third paragraph.)

By Shoon Naing and Antoni Slodkowski

NAYPYITAW (Reuters) – Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday urged global investors to put their money into Myanmar, seeking to offset the negative impact of the Rohingya crisis and slow pace of economic reforms.

Suu Kyi touted Myanmar’s economic potential, its attractive geographical location, expanding domestic markets and young population. She also listed some of the reforms undertaken by her government since coming to power in 2016.

“I stand here to reaffirm our commitment to continue our reform and to build an investment-friendly environment,” Suu Kyi said in the capital Naypyitaw, launching the first government-backed investment conference hosted by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“Please do come to Myanmar, soak in an atmosphere brimming with opportunities and witness our new-found economic vibrancy with your own eyes,” she told a crowd of business people, diplomats and journalists gathered at a conference hall.

While there were relatively few details on planned reforms, the conference itself could signal a shift in the government’s approach to the business community.

Until now, investors have complained the government has focused largely on ending the country’s myriad armed conflicts, neglecting economic reforms and their needs.

Suu Kyi did not mention in her speech the Rohingya crisis and the chilling impact it has had on investment. Many businesses worry that some of the Western sanctions that stifled the economy under army rule could be reinstated.

About 730,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from western Rakhine State into Bangladesh since a military crackdown in 2017 after Rohingya insurgents attacked security posts.

A U.N. mandated fact-finding mission said that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings.

The International Monetary Fund said last year its data indicated that some foreign investors were delaying final approval of projects until there was clarity about how the situation may unfold.

The European Union is considering trade sanctions on Myanmar over the crisis, potentially stripping the country of tariff-free access to the world’s largest trading bloc. The measures could include Myanmar’s lucrative textile industry and potentially put thousands of jobs at risk.

Separately this month, the EU imposed tariffs on rice from Myanmar and Cambodia to curb a surge in imports.

Suu Kyi did not mention the EU measures in her speech.

The World Bank said last month it expected Myanmar’s gross domestic product to fall to 6.2 percent in 2018-19 fiscal year from 6.8 percent the year before. It saw “elevated downside risks from intensifying impacts of the Rakhine crisis,” among other factors contributing to slowing growth.

Investors have credited the government’s appointment of a new finance minister, Soe Win, who has a background in international finance.

The government has also continued to reform the legal framework for investing and establishing companies, liberalizing some of the junta-era restrictions on investment, and has created a bank of key projects it wants to implement.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc said it will start taking orders in China on Friday for a lower-priced version of its Model 3 vehicle, whose price will start at 433,000 yuan ($64,300.56).

Tesla, which is building a factory in Shanghai, said in a statement that it will start selling a long range, rear-wheel-drive Model 3 variant in China. Previously, the starting price for a Model 3 in China was 499,000 yuan.

Feb 1 (Reuters) – The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

– Apple Inc on Wednesday revoked Facebook Inc’s special access to apps and updates that run on its iPhone software after Facebook violated Apple’s rules by publicly distributing a research app that allowed it to snoop on users’ online activity. nyti.ms/2G0wgk4

– Chip-maker Intel Corp ended a seven-month search for a new chief executive on Thursday by naming Robert Swan, the man who was running the company on an interim basis, as its permanent leader. nyti.ms/2D1zIXN

– U.S. President Donald Trump declared he has all but given up on negotiating with Congress over his border wall and will build it on his own, calling the talks a “a waste of time” in an interview with the NYT on Thursday. nyti.ms/2D2bpZC

– The polar vortex that arrived in the Midwest earlier this week has for days disrupted life across the entire region and at least 21 deaths are believed to be related to the bitter weather system, according to government officials. nyti.ms/2CXqgVj (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

CARACAS (Reuters) – Global jostling intensified on Thursday between countries that want Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in power and those trying to force him to resign, as opposition leader Juan Guaido made overtures to his rival’s allies Russia and China.

Guaido told Reuters he had sent communications to both powers, which are Venezuela’s top foreign creditors and support Maduro in the U.N. Security Council despite worries about the cash-strapped country’s ability to pay.

The 35-year-old leader argued that Russia and China’s interests would be best served by switching the side they back in Venezuela, an OPEC member which has the world’s largest oil reserves but is in dire financial straits.

“What most suits Russia and China is the country’s stability and a change of government,” Guaido said. “Maduro does not protect Venezuela, he doesn’t protect anyone’s investments, and he is not a good deal for those countries.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, asked if China had been in touch with Guaido, said they were “maintaining close communication with all parties through various means regarding the situation in Venezuela.”

China’s cooperation with Venezuela was based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and joint development, he told reporters in Beijing. 

“We believe that no matter how the situation develops or changes, cooperation between China and Venezuela will not be damaged.” 

The intense pressure is led by the United States, which along with most other countries in the Western Hemisphere recognizes Guaido as the country’s legitimate interim president, arguing that Maduro stole his second-term election.

The United States on Monday imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm, aimed at pressuring Maduro to step down.

A former union leader, bus driver and foreign minister, the 56-year-old Maduro, who first took office in 2013, has faced waves of protests in recent years as he presided over hyperinflation and chronic food shortages.

Some 3 million Venezuelans have left the country. A U.N. expert on Thursday warned that the U.S. oil sanctions could worsen the humanitarian crisis.

With Venezuela in deep economic crisis, the geopolitical tussling has also drawn in Europe and Latin American nations as well as parts of the Middle East.

The U.S. government warned Russia and other countries from “last-minute looting” of oil and gold on Thursday, after Reuters reported Venezuela was planning to sell gold from its central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash, citing a senior source.

Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio sent a tweet to the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington on Thursday warning that anybody transporting Venezuelan gold would be subject to U.S. sanctions.

The United States is also monitoring trade between its NATO ally Turkey and Venezuela and will take action if it judges any sanctions have been violated, a senior U.S. official said in Istanbul.

Turkey’s president, Tayyip Erdogan, has stood by Maduro, calling him last week to express support.

CRACKING DOWN?

Guaido said on Thursday that agents from a feared special police unit had called at his home and asked for his wife, who was at home with their 20-month-old daughter while he was out at an event.

“Such acts of intimidation are seen as very serious, very egregious by the United States,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters on a conference call. “There will be consequences for those engaged in such acts.”

Guaido appeared at his building with his wife and daughter, saying, “They will not intimidate this family.” Neighbors said men who identified themselves as belonging to the Special Actions Forces arrived at the gate of Guaido’s apartment building in a white SUV. There was no obvious police presence by the time journalists arrived at Guaido’s house.

Maduro, who says he will remain for his second six-year term, has accused the opposition of attempting a U.S.-backed coup.

Venezuela’s interior minister, Nestor Reverol, said on Thursday that security forces captured five men including a retired army colonel and other army officers on accusations of plotting a coup.

The men were captured over the last few days, Reverol said. He said they had with them two AK-47 rifles, two satellite phones and 500 bracelets bearing the symbol of Operation Constitution, a political group dedicated to toppling Maduro.

The government accuses one of the leaders of the group, retired Colonel Oswaldo García Palomo, of participating in an apparent attack at a Maduro event last yet. Garcia Palomo was among the captured men.

Maduro frequently accuses the opposition, Colombia and the United States of backing coups or assassination attempts. Such claims have usually been dismissed as a smokescreen to distract from problems at home, but a drone exploded at a Maduro event last year, in an apparent attack.

Maduro also says the opposition strategy of trying to push him from office is illegal and led by hawks in the Trump administration, such as the recently appointed U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, a veteran diplomat involved in the armed interventions in Central America in the 1980s.

OIL TROUBLE

A United Nations human rights expert denounced the U.S. oil sanctions imposed on Monday, saying they would compound a grave humanitarian crisis.

“Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state,” said Idriss Jazairy, a U.N. special rapporteur studying the negative impact of sanctions.

“The use of sanctions by outside powers to overthrow an elected government is in violation of all norms of international law,” he said in a statement in Geneva.

In the tussle over oil, Guaido worked this week with Washington to wrest control of PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiary Citgo from its board. Citgo and Maduro’s government responded by ordering dozens of Citgo’s expatriate staff in the United States to return to Caracas by the end of February, people familiar with the matter said.

PDVSA has said it will pursue legal efforts to block a Citgo takeover.

LONDON (Reuters) – Miner and trader Glencore said on Friday cobalt production in 2018 soared 54 percent while copper output rose 11 percent due to the restart of operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The London-listed company stuck to its 2019 production guidance set out in an update to investors in December.

Production of cobalt, used in batteries for electric vehicles, reached 42,200 tonnes in 2018 while copper hit 1.453 million tonnes.

Glencore’s Katanga Mining unit in Congo ramped up in late 2017.

MILAN (Reuters) – In less than 12 months Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi has turned the Middle East from a sideshow to a strategic hub for the Italian energy major. And the shift is not over.

Since last March the 63-year-old has clinched nine deals in the United Arab Emirates, gained a toehold in Bahrain and expanded in Oman to reshape the group’s future.

In the latest deal on Sunday, Eni pledged $3.3 billion to buy part of the world’s fourth-biggest refinery in the UAE, increasing its own refining capacity overnight by more than a third.

But the buying spree is not over and the company is looking to further bolster its presence in the Gulf region, according to three banking and industry sources with knowledge of the matter.

They said Eni was now primarily targeting “upstream” exploration assets – oil and gas fields – rather than downstream operations.

The company is looking to buy more assets in the UAE, as well as entering Qatar, the sources said, without giving further details.

“Descalzi was in the UAE 20-odd times last year to personally build relationships to secure the deals,” said a separate industry source. “And there’s more on the way.”

Eni declined to comment.

The Gulf drive is part of Descalzi’s plans to cut Eni’s traditional reliance on Africa, which accounts for more than half its production, while gaining more exposure to refining assets in an oil-rich region closer to Asian markets.

In recent years, weakness in the company’s downstream businesses like refining and chemicals have dragged on profits and placed more of a premium on securing success in exploration.

Its heavy presence in Africa, with the risk associated with working in places like Libya and Nigeria, has also weighed on share price performance.

A banking source with knowledge of the matter said Eni was targeting the Gulf area of the Middle East because it did not have the political and security risks of countries like Iraq.

PRIZE ASSETS

The Gulf region has in recent years attracted the world’s top oil companies seeking stakes in big and easy-to-develop oil and gas fields at a time of uncertainty over oil prices.

Long-term contracts in the region also guarantee stable revenues even if the returns are lower than other, riskier fields.

But while majors like BP, Total, Shell and Exxon have had a strong presence in the Gulf for decades, Eni has not.

The Italian firm’s strategy of selling down assets like its prize Zohr gas field in Egypt has been key to its recent expansion in the region.

Last March Eni traded a stake in Zohr with Emirates fund Mubadala to get its first foothold in the country, since when it has clinched a flurry of more deals with UAE oil giant ADNOC.

“Zohr was used as a way in. Since then the group has ramped up operations lightning fast in an area that has some of the world’s biggest resources and that’s on the doorstep of Asia,” said Mediobanca oil analyst Alessandro Pozzi.

In Qatar, Eni can count on good relations with the state petroleum firm which recently bought Mexican oil blocks from the Italian company.

A decade ago Eni was struggling to replace reserves and lost credibility over its management of the huge Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan.

But giant gas discoveries in Mozambique and Egypt have since given it the strongest discovery record in the industry, boosting its credentials with oil-producing nations.

In 2017 ADNOC presented its 2030 strategy plan to open up its energy markets to foreign operators and attract the skills needed to develop the exploration and production, refining and petrochemical industries.

“When you are a country thinking, who can find the stuff, you look to Eni with its track record,” said a source familiar with Eni management.

Feb 1 (Reuters) – ULUSOY ELEKTRIK:

* SAYS SIGNS AGREEMENT TO TRANSFER 82.275 PERCENT SHARE TO EATON CORP’S UNIT EATON CAPITAL UNLIMITED COMPANY

* SAYS PURCHASE PRICE FOR SHARES IS SET APPROXIMATELY AT $214.0 MILLION

* SAYS SHARE PURCHASE PRICE CAN BE CHANGED ACCORDING TO COMPANY’S CASH POSITION ON THE SHARE TRANSFER DAY

Source text for Eikon:

Further company coverage:

* Nikkei sheds 0.1 pct for the week

* Nintendo tanks, most traded stock by turnover

* Murata soars, 3rd most traded stock after strong results

By Ayai Tomisawa

TOKYO, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei ended nearly flat on Friday, as dismal results from firms such as Nomura Holdings and Nintendo trimmed earlier gains from upbeat earnings in other sectors and a stronger Wall Street finish.

The Nikkei share average ended just 0.07 percent higher at 20,788.39, after climbing to a peak of 20,929.63, its highest since Dec. 19. For the week, the index dropped 0.1 percent.

“The market was split between a small number of strong gainers and losers,” said Chihiro Ohta, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities. He added that the market could see similar moves next week as many companies post quarterly earnings.

Murata Manufacturing soared 8.5 percent and was the third-most traded stock by turnover after the electronic components maker posted a 55 percent rise in its operating profit for the April-December period on strong demand for automotive capacitors. Yoshito Takemura, a director of the company, told a news conference, it had managed to weather the impact from the U.S.-Sino trade dispute.

Nintendo Co stumbled 9.2 percent and was the most traded stock by turnover after it slashed its full-year hardware forecast for the hybrid home-portable Switch console, revising a figure that had been treated with scepticism by investors.

Separately, Nintendo said on Friday is was developing a mobile title with Line Corp in the company’s latest push into mobile gaming, which lifted Line’s shares by 8.9 percent.

Nomura Holdings tumbled 4 percent after the brokerage put its wholesale business under review, as the segment drove it to its heaviest quarterly loss in nearly 10 years.

Zozo Inc, a fashion e-commerce website operator, fell 4.7 percent and was the sixth most traded stock by turnover after the company cut its annual profit outlook and dividend forecast.

The broader Topix shed 0.2 percent to 1,564.63 after hitting its highest level since mid-December. (Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sam Holmes)

Feb 1 (Reuters) – The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

– The U.S. and China moved closer to settling their trade dispute, with President Trump saying he expects to meet again with Chinese President Xi Jinping to resolve the conflict that has rattled the global economy. on.wsj.com/2t0O7yR

– Apple Inc is flexing its power as a self-appointed privacy protector, punishing Google and Facebook Inc over violations of its developer policies governing personal data in moves that harden battle lines over one of the technology industry’s most sensitive issues. on.wsj.com/2BdFZPT

– The Trump administration’s sanctions against Venezuela’s oil sector are forcing the country’s Citgo Petroleum Corp , one of the largest refiners in the U.S.,to consider bankruptcy as a way to protect its operations amid the battle for political control in Caracas. on.wsj.com/2TqQc2K

– Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc said on Thursday that they removed hundreds of fake accounts from Iran and Venezuela spreading misinformation on their social-media platforms. on.wsj.com/2D313IT

– The Trump administration on Thursday proposed curbing billions of dollars in annual rebates that drugmakers give middlemen in Medicare, a move it said would drive down the prices consumers pay for prescription drugs. on.wsj.com/2CX1Awa