China, Angola agree to promote ties as presidents meet in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and his wife in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. Xi held talks with Joao Lourenco in Beijing on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with visiting Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing Tuesday, agreeing to continue developing bilateral ties.

Xi said he is glad to see the second visit to Beijing in about a month by Lourenco, who came to attend the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in early September.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Angolan President Joao Lourenco before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Xi said the success of the summit has injected vigor and opportunities into the development of China-Africa and China-Angola ties, calling on the two sides to work together to actively and quickly promote the development of ties.

"China is confident of the future of bilateral cooperation," Xi said, urging the two sides to "cement political mutual trust, strengthen high-level contacts, deepen strategic communication, and understand and support each other's core interests and grave concerns."

Xi said that China has empathy with the historical experiences of African countries and firmly supports people of African countries in opposing foreign interference, and independently choosing their path of development.

Xi said he expects the two sides to implement the results of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC, promote the eight major initiatives unveiled at the summit to realize early progress, and advance the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Angolan President Joao Lourenco before their talks in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

The Chinese president called on the two sides to advance the strategic integration of each other's development plans, strengthen cooperation in traditional areas, expand new growth points in mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the industrialization and economic diversification of Angola.

Xi also said it is necessary to expand people-to-people exchanges and exchanges between local areas.

He called for r multilateral coordination, expecting the two sides to jointly safeguard multilateralism, build an open world economy and make the international order more just and equitable.

The Angolan president said that Angola and China have maintained high-level exchanges, which shows the two sides attach great importance to the relations.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

Noting that for a long time, bilateral cooperation has played a positive role in the economic and social development of Angola, Lourenco said that Angola looks forward to further strengthening bilateral cooperation in infrastructure construction and people's livelihood, to better promote Angola's development.

Lourenco said that the FOCAC has promoted cooperation between China and Africa as a whole, and that African countries highly appreciate China's cooperation with Africa "on the basis of Africa's actual needs and its taking tangible measures without attaching any political conditions or interference in African countries' internal affairs."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

"The cooperation plans proposed by China within the framework of the FOCAC has a very positive impact on the development of African countries," Lourenco said.

"It is hoped that cooperation between Angola and China will become a model for Africa-China cooperation."

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

He said Angola values China's important influence in international affairs, and hailed China's constructive role in addressing hot-spot issues in Africa.

The Angolan president said that Angola supports multilateralism and advocates that the world's future should be decided by all countries, expressing the will to cooperate ly with China in multilateral affairs.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), meets with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

The two presidents also watched the signing of a series of bilateral cooperative documents.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and China's top legislator Li Zhanshu also met with Lourenco Tuesday.

Source: (people.cn)

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Britain expects 5,000 financial services jobs to leave by Brexit Day

LONDON: Britain’s financial services minister said he would do all he can to ensure that the City of London continues to be major financial center after Britain leaves the European Union, although thousands of jobs will move to the continent.

John Glen told lawmakers that he agreed with Bank of England estimates that 5,000 financial services jobs will have moved to continental Europe by the time Britain is due to leave the EU next March.

“My sole objective in respect of the City is to ensure as much continuation as possible in respect of economic value able to be generated by the City,” Glen told a committee in parliament’s House of Lords.

“We have not seen wholesale moves of large institutions to other cities in continental Europe,” Glen said.

He “fully expects” that Britain and the EU will agree on a deal that would introduce a transition period from next March to avoid a disorderly Brexit.

A no-deal Brexit, however, might not necessarily be as hostile and difficult as some might anticipate, he added.

Source: (Reuters)

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Turkish gov’t launches plan against surging inflation

Unveiling a new set of measures to fight inflation, Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak vowed an “all-out war” on inflation with the support of the private sector on Oct. 9.

Under the program, Turkey’s private sector has agreed to cut prices on its goods by at least 10 percent across the board, the minister said at an event in Istanbul, as he called on businesses “to join a national struggle to tame soaring inflation.”

“The fight against inflation and for price stability is not a fight that can be conducted by the state and institutions alone,” Albayrak said.

The voluntary discount would be reflected in all the goods that make up Turkey’s inflation basket and prices would be lowered by a minimum 10 percent until the end of the year, he said.

Companies that try to increase profits under the current circumstances would cause greater losses in the near term, he warned.

It was not immediately clear how many goods would ultimately be impacted or how many companies would take part, but Albayrak called on the public to support those that push through with the price cuts.

The new program also included a freeze on energy prices until the year-end and an acceleration of VAT rebates.

The banks will give a 10 percent discount to high-interest loans given after Aug. 1, the minister also noted.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on Turkish people to report unusual price hikes in shops, saying it was the government’s responsibility to raid the inventories of stores if necessary.

As the currency crisis deepened in August, the government made it illegal for companies to arbitrarily impose price increases if they were not impacted by a rise in input costs or the exchange rate.

According to the country’s statistical authority, Turkey’s annual inflation reached 24.52 percent in September, up from 17.9 in August.

Over the past five years, annual inflation saw its lowest level at 6.13 percent in April 2013, while the figure reached its highest level this September.

As noted in Turkey’s new economy program announced last month, the country’s inflation rate target is 20.8 percent this year, 15.9 percent next year, 9.8 percent in 2020 and 6 percent in 2021.

Under the new program, Turkey’s state-run Meat and Milk Board (ESK) will also make a 10 percent cut in the prices of some products as of Oct. 9, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said at the event.

“As of today, Gübretaş will apply a 10 percent cut in prices of a series of liquid and powder fertilizers,” he said, adding that chain markets would slash 10 percent in a total of 50 products.

Turkey ‘to lower finance costs, cut dependence on imports’

Turkey will lower financing costs and cut dependence on imports, Industry Minister Mustafa Varank said at the same event on Oct. 9, as it aims to rein in costs for investment and production and tame double-digit inflation.

“We will offer up to 14 percent financing support to companies for their [Turkish] lira-based loans,” he said, adding that a new Libor-based incentive of $200,000 was also in the pipeline for small and medium-sized enterprises, which plan to make exports.

Varank also said the repayment of the Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) loans would be postponed for the next three months.

“Under three different KOSGEB programs, we will offer almost 25 percent of incentives for 1 billion liras or more of machinery and equipment investments,” he said.

Source: Hurriyet

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China tells US to stop criticism, Says relations suffering

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from left, meets with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, third from right, before a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Picture: Daisuke Suzuki/Pool Photo via Kyodo. Source: AP

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo faced a testy exchange with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday, days after a blistering US denunciation of the Asian power’s global and domestic policies.

Pompeo and Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted the schism after the chief US diplomat arrived in Beijing on the final leg of an Asian trip focused on North Korea’s nuclear issue.

Meeting at the Diaoyutai Guest House, Wang told Pompeo that the United States has “stepped up rhetoric over trade tensions” after a raft of tit-for-tat tariffs on billion of dollars in US and Chinese goods.

He also accused the United States of making “a series of moves” on Taiwan — a self-ruling democratic island that Beijing considers a rebel province — and “other issues” that hurt Chinese sovereignty.

“These actions have affected the mutual trust between both sides, and has cast a shadow over the prospect of China-US relations, which completely go against the interest of our two peoples,” Wang said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced a testy exchange in Beijing. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

“We require that the US stop such misguided actions,” he said, adding that the two countries should pursue co-operation “and not descend into conflictand confrontation.”

Wang and Pompeo met after US Vice President Mike Pence delivered a searing speech on Thursday accusing China of military aggression, commercial theft and rising human rights violations as he cast the Communist regime as a villain bent on interfering in upcoming US elections.

The United States has also angered China with arms sales to Taiwan and new rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to the island, though Washington still recognises Beijing over Taipei.

Responding to Wang’s remarks, Pompeo said he wanted to come to Beijing to “have discussions”.

“The issues that you characterised, we have fundamental disagreements,” Pompeo told Wang.

“We have great concerns over the actions that China has taken and I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss each of those today because this is an incredibly important relationship.”

The United States has also angered China with arms sales to Taiwan. Picture AP Source AP

Pompeo also invoked the cancellation of a meeting between US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his Chinese counterpart, which was supposed to take place this month in Beijing.

“I regret that the strategic dialogue between our two countries is something you all chose not to undertake,” he said.

But Wang retorted: “The strategic dialogue was not called off by the Chinese. I am stating a fact.”

The two diplomats had warmer words regarding efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

China has backed United Nations sanctions on its Cold War-era ally, though it recently called for them to be eased.

Wang said the North Korean issue shows that Beijing and Washington “can and should increase communication and co-operation”.

Pompeo said he expected to have “good, candid, frank conversations” with Wang about his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

But unlike his last visit to Beijing in June, Pompeo did not have a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un greeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS.Source:AFP

He met with senior Communist Party foreign affairs official Yang Jiechi, who recalled that Beijing has lodged official protests with the United States to express its “dissatisfaction” over a series of US actions.

“China and US relations are at an important juncture and facing challenges,” Yang said.

“We hope the US and China will be on the same page.”

Pompeo replied that it was “important that we listen to each other, work through and find constructive solutions so we can find a good outcome for both our countries.”

In a statement released after Pompeo’s meetings, the State Department said both sides agreed on the importance of a “constructive, results-oriented bilateral relationship”.

“The secretary directly addressed areas where the United States and China do not agree, including on the South China Sea and human rights,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

Both sides are also committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Nauert added.

After spending about five hours in Beijing, Pompeo headed for the airport to return to Washington.

Source: news.com.au

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China Launches Licensed Blockchain ‘Pilot Zone’ to Further Tech Usage

China’s Hainan Province became the host of the country’s “first” officially licensed “‘blockchain pilot zone” Monday, Oct. 8, China’s official state-run press agency Xinhua reports.

With its base at the Hainan Resort Software Community (RSC), a dedicated tech space and software park, the pilot zone incorporates several partnerships, chief among which are a blockchain research institute and innovation center.

According to Xinhua, Wang Jing, head of Hainan's provincial department of industry and information technology, the zone will bring in international talent to China: “The pilot zone will commit to attracting blockchain talent around the world and exploring the application of blockchain in areas such as cross-border trade, inclusive finance and credit rating.”

The research institute comes as a joint venture between RSC and the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Centre at Oxford University, U.K. Beijing’s Remin University will meanwhile collaborate with RSC on the innovation center geared specifically towards institutions.

Wang also noted that the pilot zone would “deepen cooperation with top research institutions across the globe and key players in the blockchain industry.”

Despite its crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges and promotion continuing this year, China appears to remain committed to supporting blockchain in both the public and private sector.

At the end of last month, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com announced the opening of its own institute fostering smart cities using a combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). Also in September, the Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) said that the bank will focus on blockchain technology development.

Source: CoinTelegraph

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Leader of Northern Ireland's DUP says wants Brexit that works for Ireland

FILE PHOTO: Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, waits for a television interview at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples/File Photo

The Northern Irish party which props up Prime Minister Theresa May’s government said on Monday that it wanted a Brexit that worked for the Republic of Ireland too, as its leader travels to Brussels for talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier.

The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is the last major sticking point in Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union, and both sides are trying to work out how to monitor and regulate trade over the border.

Last week the Democratic Unionist Party’s leader, Arlene Foster, said avoiding a customs border which separates Northern Ireland from mainland Britain was a “blood red” line for the party, ratcheting up rhetoric on the issue.

On Monday, Foster said this remained a red line but struck a more conciliatory tone.

“I want to see the United Kingdom exit the EU in a sensible manner which works for each part of the UK but also importantly in a way that works for our nearest neighbour in the Republic of Ireland,” she said in a statement ahead of talks.

Foster will meet Barnier and representatives of EU states in Brussels over the next three days.

EU sources told Reuters on Thursday that EU negotiators see the outline of a compromise on the Irish border issue which is holding up Brexit talks, raising hopes that a new British offer could unlock a deal.

A second source said Barnier was looking at where the bloc could make improvements to what it has offered London as both sides race to overcome the remaining obstacles to a Brexit deal before a high-stakes EU summit on Oct. 17-18.

Source: Reuters

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Euro hits seven-week low on Italy budget row

Europe: The European euro fell to a seven-week low against the dollar on Monday on a spat between Italy and the European Union over Rome’s budget plans, while the yuan weakened as Beijing’s move to spur more lending failed to ease concern about economic growth.

Sterling retreated as traders booked profits on recent gains tied to optimism about a Brexit deal.

Nervous investors piled more money into the dollar, as speculators’ bullish bets in the greenback grew to their highest level since December 2016 last week.

The greenback’s gain was limited by a third day of losses on Wall Street, which was stoked by anxiety about the U.S.-China trade tension and rising U.S. bond yields.

“What’s been weighing on broader markets has been supporting the dollar: rising interest rates around the world for both fundamental and worrisome reasons,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington. “Italian borrowing rates have climbed, a sign of investor worry in the nation’s debt crisis.”

On Monday, Italian 10-year bond yield IT10YT=RR increased nearly 20 basis points to 3.60 percent, the highest level in 4-1/2 years, while the country's stock market .FTMIB fell to its weakest since April 2017.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, speaking at a media conference with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, denounced European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici as enemies of Europe.

The single currency fell 0.26 percent against the dollar EUR=EBS to $1.14900 and not far from a more-than one-year low of $1.1355 hit in mid-August.

The euro fell 0.31 percent to 1.14015 Swiss franc EURCHF=EBS, and shed 0.92 percent EURJPY=EBS against 129.790 yen.

Source: Reuters

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IMF cuts global economic growth forecast to 3.7%

A cargo ship at an industrial port in Tokyo. REUTERS/file photo

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019, saying that trade policy tensions and the imposition of import tariffs were taking a toll on commerce while emerging markets struggle with tighter financial conditions and capital outflows.

The new forecasts, released on the Indonesian resort island of Bali where the IMF and World Bank annual meetings are getting underway, show that a burst of strong growth, fueled partly by U.S. tax cuts and rising demand for imports, was starting to wane.

The IMF said in an update to its World Economic Outlook it was now predicting 3.7 percent global growth in both 2018 and 2019, down from its July forecast of 3.9 percent growth for both years.

The downgrade reflects a confluence of factors, including the introduction of import tariffs between the United States and China, weaker performances by eurozone countries, Japan and Britain, and rising interest rates that are pressuring some emerging markets with capital outflows, notably Argentina, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa.

"U.S. growth will decline once parts of its fiscal stimulus go into reverse," IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said in a statement. "Notwithstanding the present demand momentum, we have downgraded our 2019 U.S. growth forecast owing to the recently enacted tariffs on a wide range of imports from China and China’s retaliation."

With much of the U.S.-China tariff war's impact to be felt next year, the Fund cut its 2019 U.S. growth forecast to 2.5 percent from 2.7 percent previously, while it cut China's 2019 growth forecast to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent. It left 2018 growth forecasts for the two countries unchanged at 2.9 percent for the United States and 6.6 percent for China.

The eurozone's 2018 growth forecast was cut to 2.0 percent from 2.2 percent previously, with Germany particularly hard hit by a drop in manufacturing orders and trade volumes.

Obstfeld said the IMF does not see a generalized pullback from emerging markets, nor contagion that will spill over to those emerging economies which have stronger economies and have thus far avoided major outflows, such as those in Asia and some oil exporting countries.

"But there is no denying that the susceptibility to large global shocks has risen," Obstfeld said. "Any sharp reversal for emerging markets would pose a significant threat to advanced economies."

Brazil will see a 0.4 percentage-point drop in GDP growth to 1.4 percent for 2018 as a nationwide truckers strike paralyzed much of the economy. Iran, facing a new round of U.S. sanctions next month, also saw its growth forecast cut, the IMF said.

Some energy-rich emerging market countries have fared better due to higher oil prices, with Saudi Arabia and Russia seeing forecast upgrades.

The IMF said the balance of risks was now tilted to the downside, with a higher likelihood that financial conditions will tighten further as interest rates normalize, hurting emerging markets further at a time when U.S.-led demand growth will start to slow as some tax cuts expire.

Trade tensions are expected to continue although Fund officials view U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement as a positive sign.

"Where we are now is we’ve gotten some bad news. Our probability that we would attach to further bad news has gone up," Obstfeld said.

TRADE WAR RISKS

In a new simulation exercise to show trade war risks to the global economy, the IMF modeled the effect of an all-out U.S.-China trade war, coupled with threatened global U.S. automotive tariffs and retaliation from trading partners. The model also includes the effects of a reduction in business confidence that reduces investment and leads to a tightening of financial conditions.

It found that global GDP output under this scenario would fall by more than 0.8 percent in 2020 and remain roughly 0.4 percent lower in the long-term compared to levels without these effects, which "inflict significant costs to the global economy, especially through its impact on confidence and financial conditions."

The effects on the United States and China would be particularly severe, with 2019 GDP losses of more than 0.9 percent in the United States and 1.6 percent in China in 2019.

The exercise assumes that U.S. President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on the remaining $267 billion worth of Chinese goods imports not already under punitive tariffs and China retaliates in kind. It also assumes that Trump imposes a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and auto parts imports.

Adjustments would occur as domestic production displaces higher-priced imports, the model shows, but in the long run, the U.S. GDP would still be 1.0 percent below a baseline without these tariffs, while China's GDP output would be one half percent below the baseline.

Source: Reuters

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