India will emerge as the fastest growing economy again, says Sailesh Raj Bhan
India far ahead of China in IT but Chinese firms catching up on IT tech: Chinese IT expert
EAM Jaishankar speaks to Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly with focus on Indo-Pacific
INTERNATIONAL
Sweden to takeover EU presidency on Jan 1; to push for India-EU FTA
Turkiye's home textile export to Germany may miss last year's shipment
US textile & apparel exports up 11.89% during Jan-Oct '2022
US, UK to intensify efforts to back energy security, sustainability
Median expectation of UK rate of inflation over 2023 4.8%: Survey
Better container handling at Bangla ICDs to cut cost up to 50%: Study
69% of EU firms in EuroCham study want to expand operations in Vietnam
Germany commits to extend another grant of €191 mn to Bangladesh
India’s free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia, effective from 29 December 2022, will benefit Indian garment and home textile exporters, according to the data by India Ratings and Research. Given China accounts for almost 60 per cent of textile imports into Australia (around $12 billion in 2020), with India at 5–6 per cent, Ind-Ra expects the volume of exports to gradually increase in 2023 and thereafter based on producer capacities. Australia’s zero import duty access to India (earlier 5 per cent) will create a level playing field with exports from China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, according to Ind-Ra. A long-term shift for meaningful volume increases, which encourages incremental capex, would necessitate improving the cost competitiveness and availability of a pool of skilled labour. The availability of domestic sources of cotton and long-term visibility of demand (combined with other FTAs being signed) could encourage domestic entities to diversify exports and manage demand cyclicality better. Given the economic challenges being faced by some exporting nations and the increasing need to diversify supply chains, Indian home textile/garment producers are likely to benefit. Given the slowdown being experienced by the US and Europe, this could provide partial relief along with other FTAs likely to be signed with UAE, UK, Canada, and Israel. These markets have an aggregate textile import of $60 billion and even an incremental gain of 5 per cent for India would be a 50 per cent gain on the existing exports of $6 billion. The total textile export from India to the world aggregated $43 billion in financial year 2022 (FY22). India exports a significant proportion of its low value-added products (25–30 per cent in FY22) such as yarn and fabrics to China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam which use them to value add and export to countries such as Australia and other potential FTA partners. Ind-Ra expects removal of these tariff barriers through FTAs to increase the incentive to create value addition within the country and increase the proportion of such products in the overall export basket. This will aid the process of diversification and limit the inherent cyclicality associated with the industry. The textile industry, especially lower down the value chain, remains susceptible to booms and busts, and it is likely that with a less cyclical demand, the risk of defaults and restructuring is reduced significantly over a period of time, according to the data by Ind-Ra. Cost competitiveness is required for structural shift. The removal of duties under the FTA would need to be complemented with improved cost competitiveness with other Asian exporters. China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh continue to hold major market shares in the import basket of Australia and a meaningful shift in volumes would necessitate looking at addressing tax anomalies, shortage of skilled labour and increasing the focus on sustainable practices including use of green energy. As wage costs in China continue to rise, India would stand to benefit, although, India’s costs are still higher in relation to Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Ind-Ra further suggested. Ind-Ra as part of its mid-year outlook for FY23 has revised the sectoral outlook for textiles to deteriorating to reflect the slowing demand in the US and Europe. The build-up of inventories on account of the cut back on discretionary product expenditure and the reallocation of expenses to services have reduced imports into the key US market. Consequently, the home textile segment continues to experience a demand slowdown, whereas other segments of cotton, apparel, and man-made spinning continue to benefit from the China-plus-1 sourcing and continuing US ban on the use of cotton from Xinjiang, China. However, given the discretionary nature of textile products, Ind-Ra expects the slowing demand in Europe, the US and other parts of the world to have an impact on textile exports. In addition, small yarn players facing cotton availability issues are likely to get impacted. “Our rating Outlook on textile companies remains stable, and while we expect a demand slowdown in exports to developed markets, some of that may be mitigated by domestic demand and softening cotton prices. The benefits of FTAs are likely to be at the margins in the initial couple of years, but over a period of time, this will provide opportunities for diversification and moving up the value chain for the Indian cotton industry,” said Rohit Sadaka, director at Ind-Ra.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
India ITME 2022, the mega technology and engineering B2B exhibition for textiles that is currently underway in Greater Noida, has witnessed a number of new product launches from textile machinery manufacturers such as ColorJet and Yamuna. The ITME Society, organiser of the event, has also hosted the second edition of its awards today to recognise the contributions of the textile engineering sector of India. Digital printing technology company ColorJet Group launched a sustainable pigment solution called the Earth series and high-speed digital textile printer Metro NXT at India ITME 2022. The Earth Series offers sustainable textile printing solutions for fashion apparel, kidswear, home furnishings, and many other segments, while the Metro NXT printer addresses various market segments such as fashion apparel, home furnishings, etc and can be used to print shirts, skirts, scarves, and sarees. India-based textile machinery manufacturer Yamuna Machine Works has launched three knitting machines—Open Width Knit Compactor, Open Width Knit Singeing Machine, and Alea-Yamuna Multilayer Stenter—at the trade fair. Yamuna, which has a strong market position in India as well as US, Europe, Brazil, Portugal, and Argentina, aims to cater to the demands of Indian textile processors with these state-of-the-art machines. The organiser also hosted the second edition of the ITME Society Awards that set the tone for the start of the biggest textile engineering show. An award category specifically targeting youth, research, and innovations has also been introduced by the India ITME Society. The award for Top Performance in Textile Engineering Industry went to Lakshmi Machine Works Limited for the spinning segment; Rabatex Industries for the weaving and preparatory segment; Texfab Engineers (India) Pvt Ltd for the finishing segment; ColorJet India Ltd for the printing segment; and Lakshmi Card Clothing Manufacturing Company Private Limited for the entire textile machinery segment. Best Initiatives for Pollution Control Technology winner is S A Pharmachem Pvt Ltd. The Special Award for Women went to Deepa A Kumar for the Women Entrepreneur segment; Neha Jhunjhunwala, director, Sarla Performance Fibers Ltd for the Nurturing Women Empowerment segment; Santoshi Kewat for the Woman Master Weaver segment; and Kumari Raita for the Restoring Traditional Skills segment. The Research Excellence winner is Dr. Rekha Ramakrishnan from SASMIRA and the Textile Maestro winner is S P Oswal, chairman and managing director, Vardhman Group of Companies. India ITME 2022 is being held at the India Exposition Mart in Greater Noida.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
ColorJet Group has launched Metro NXT, high quality, and high-speed digital textile printer today at India ITME 2022. It is an industrial textile printer that combines digital advantages of high-speed incorporating 32 industrial grade Kyocera print heads with high quality print using ColorJet recommended inks. It is available in configuration of 8 colour options with speeds reaching up to 9,000 sqm/day. Madhu Sudan Dadu – chairman, Arun Varshney - vice president and business head textiles business and Smarth Bansal – GM – product/brand management, ColorJet Group along with their print head partner Hironobu Fujihashi – general manager and Anshul Prashar - deputy senior marketing manager, Kyocera Asia, unveiled the high speed, high quality direct to fabric digital textile printer - Metro NXT at the event, the company said in a media release. Madhu Sudan Dadu said, “The new Metro NXT will bring a new dimension to the existing portfolio of machine providing a high productive solution to big textile mills, processing houses, exporters who are looking for high production along with high precision printing.” Hironobu Fujihashi said, “I am expecting the future of the digital printing for textile. Digital printing, which uses less ink and water, is a promising technology not only for the textile industry but also for humanity as a whole, from the perspective of reducing the environmental pollution and from the perspective of sustainable development goals, which are to reduce unsold and discarded textiles and produce what is needed when needed. We are very excited that the company has emerged in India that can make such a high-performance digital inkjet printer for textile application.” Metro NXT addresses various market segments such as fashion apparel (women’s, men’s, and kids clothing), home furnishings (curtains, bedsheets, and sofa covers), etc and can be used to print shirts, skirts, scarves, and sarees. Metro NXT prints on cotton, viscose, polyester, polyamide, silk, and wool and is suited to produce high-quality products as well as home decoration fabrics. Visitors can see the live demo of the printer at India ITME in Hall No 5, and Booth No H5F3G4. The event is current underway at India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Nippon India Large Cap Fund is a top performer in the large cap mutual fund category. Shivani Bazaz of ETMutualFunds spoke to Sailesh Raj Bhan, Deputy-CIO, Nippon India Mutual Fund, to find out how the scheme managed the impressive performance. We also asked him about his views on the market and his advice to readers. “From an investor’s perspective it’s important not to be too distracted by the market narratives and focus on the fundamental strengths and possibilities of the domestic economy ver the next few years,” says Bhan. Edited interview. Nippon India Large Cap Fund has been a topper in the large cap category in 2022. As the year comes to an end, what are your thoughts? Large cap remains a promising risk- reward category given the consolidation of market share in most sectors like telecom, banks, etc. Strong recovery in earnings, deleveraged balance sheets, start of an investment cycle creates a lot of medium term opportunities to up growth and profitability. Domestic macro-outlook appears to be improving even as the weakness in Europe, US and China can impact the global demand. In line with the same Nippon India Large Cap Fund continues to maintain bias towards domestic businesses while having lower exposure to global factors. Correction in Oil prices, overall peaking of inflationary trends in soft commodities and metals are positive trends for earnings in India. With the decline in cost inflation over time, medium term earnings trajectory can get better. Nippon India Large cap fund is suitably positioned to capture some of these likely market distortions in line with our attempt to create alpha over a period.
Large cap schemes were supposed to gain the most as there were a lot of challenges in the market and economy, both domestically and overseas. What’s your assessment?
It’s quite natural that as uncertainty or volatility increases, there is increased preference for established leaders who have navigated many such hurdles and emerged successful. Large cap funds by mandate invest significantly in Top 100 companies by market capitalization or market leaders and hence are potentially well placed to efficiently manage higher than usual market swings. Current year performance has reflected this preference towards market leaders wherein the large cap indices have outperformed.
You may be tired of answering this question in your interviews - are actively-managed large cap schemes going to lose their share in the coming years? Many investors have started betting on passive large cap funds. Capital markets investing in India is still evolving and there is enough space for different product categories based on the investor preference, either products which attempt market like returns with relatively lower costs or active products which can potentially outperform over the medium to long run. Market phases are usually cyclical and each of these phases may result in market distortions (even within the large cap space) thereby creating opportunities to create alpha. These opportunities can be potentially best captured in active strategies as the changes in benchmark indices (usually based on M-Cap) is reflected with a lag. In our view the Alpha possibilities exist across all spectrum of market caps including large caps and the Indian investment landscape offers enough room for both Active & Passive strategies to register meaningful growth.
What’s your strategy for managing the scheme? Many investors believe it is almost impossible to be different or offer anything extraordinary in the large cap segment because of the limited investment opportunities. Nippon India Large Cap fund has adopted the strategy of ‘Right Risk investing’ which involves taking a fundamental stance i.e, benefiting from market distortions without compromising on quality. The fund adopts a high conviction approach by Buying Businesses with meaningful allocations and having a medium-term timeframe. The framework is to focus on ‘sustainable growth at reasonable prices’ investing and avoid overpaying for growth. Nippon India Large cap fund while being ‘benchmark aware’ is not ‘benchmark constrained’ and adopts an active stock selection approach within the universe compared to benchmark hugging. Large cap universe comprises Top 100 companies by free float Market Capitalization across multiple sectors offering meaningful stock selection optionality. Interestingly the top one-third holdings in the benchmark indices account for approximately 75%-80% of the total allocations highlighting the skew and hence the possibilities to create a return differential Thus, in our view the category offers meaningful differentiation possibilities and Nippon India Large cap fund with its active investment style seeks to participate in some of these potential opportunities.
Though the scheme has fared well in different horizons- both short and long- its five-year record is disappointing. What happened? Performance evaluation especially on a point-to-point basis can be significantly impacted by the base effect. For instance, Nippon India Large cap fund had registered reasonable outperformance in CY 2017 which in turn created a higher base period for a 5- year evaluation in 2022. However, the same data evaluated on a daily rolling basis over this time-frame indicates better fund performance as the extremes (events/performance) if any, are smoothened.
The scheme is betting heavily on financial and services. What’s the thought process?
Overall, the fund is overweight domestic growth themes including financials services, as the theme is a key catalyst for the anticipated economic growth. Within the theme our focus is largely on the leaders in the banking space with some exposure to housing finance. The potential outperformance of the theme is supported by key drivers like improved asset quality, lower provisioning, stronger corporate balance sheets, revival in capital expenditure expected to provide impetus to the credit demand, pick up in retail credit etc. Further India’s private sector debt is low and combined debt of Corporates and Households at around 60% of the GDP provides tremendous scope for leverage driven domestic growth.
Talking about the large cap universe is almost like talking about the market as the major indices reflect the overall market. What is your outlook for 2023? How do you see crucial factors like interest rates, inflation, growth, etc. Going into 2023, global demand appears to be slowing meaningfully. The lag effect of tightening of monetary policies in various economies may lead to further weakness in global demand in 1HCY23. Hence, we are likely to witness an environment where both inflation and growth might slow down. India most likely will again emerge as the fastest growing economy with perhaps limited macro volatility. While there is no doubt that both from a cyclical and structural perspective Indian economy is in far better shape versus the rest of the World, one can’t ignore India’s increased linkages with global demand and global financial conditions. Ideally investors should consider equities with a long-term view despite near-term moderation, if any, as the asset class can potentially deliver superior real returns.
Any special advice for ET Mutual Funds readers for the coming year?
Disciplined asset allocation is the key to smooth investment experience across market phases and must be practiced rigorously. From an investor’s perspective it’s important not to be too distracted by the market narratives and focus on the fundamental strengths and possibilities of the domestic economy over the next few years. Domestic high frequency indicators remain resilient despite the global headwinds underlining the domestic recovery possibilities. Policy reforms, huge under investments in Capex, stronger corporate Balance Sheets have created a platform for a likely virtuous growth cycle. While the near-term market behavior can be influenced by the global uncertainties it's important to look at the medium to long-term possibilities and maintain appropriate allocation to equities.
Source: economic times
India's IT sector, one of the mainstays of its economy, is much ahead of its Chinese counterpart in the global markets but the firms from China are catching up and doing well in e-commerce, autonomous driving, AI and cloud services, according to a top Chinese IT executive. Mike Liu, the author of the book titled 'The Rise of Indian IT', said unlike the Indian firms, who still have a sway in the global markets, especially in IT outsourcing, China's software revenue is mostly from home. Over 95 per cent of China's IT earnings come from the domestic Chinese market, he said. "In the global IT market, India is leading much ahead of Chinese market players," he said. "The Chinese companies are not a threat to the Indian firms in the global markets," Mike, one of the rare Chinese IT executives who worked with the top Indian company Infosys for years, told PTI here ahead of his book launch. The book that provides an insight into the Indian and Chinese information technology development over the decades has been just published in the Chinese language. It will be published in English soon. Mike was the first Chinese-born country head of Infosys and worked both in Indian and Chinese firms, besides multinational companies like HP. According to a recent report by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China's software business revenue from January to July this year reached 5.456 trillion yuan (USD 797.26 billion), a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent. IT sectors in both countries contribute about eight per cent to their GDPs, though China's IT revenues are far higher considering the size of the Chinese economy, Mike said. While Indian IT firms ruled the global markets, the Chinese firms have established dominance in technology, he said. He said the Chinese firms have a long way to go to make a dent in the global international markets. "I foresee Chinese players still have a long learning curve to compete in English market. Chinese people often ask, why have Indians become so predominant in business in America? The typical view is Indians speak good English. But that is maybe one per cent of the factor," he said. For their part, the Chinese companies need to learn many things such as mindset, management systems and governance, he said, adding that an abundant supply of human resources in IT was key for India's success. He said the Indian IT phenomenon is not made possible through either deregulated efforts or government subsidies and policies but due to the strong conviction by the Indian tech leaders and software engineers to make a difference. However, on the tech front of IT and innovation, China has taken the lead, he said. "The scenario has changed today. The Chinese companies have become a global phenomenon in the B2B, and doing well not only in e-commerce but autonomous driving, AI, cloud services, where you don't see Indian players, unfortunately, having had the same impact," Mike said. Chinese firms like Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent made a big leap in technology development, while the Indian IT sector is broadly confined to software outsourcing, spending little on innovation and R&D, he said. On India's constant complaint that China is not providing market access to Indian IT firms, he argued that the issue of market access should not be an excuse for Indian IT firms' inability to penetrate Chinese markets. While keeping their focus on English language global markets, it is time for the Indian firms to shift their focus to non-English speaking markets such as China to rework their strategy to tap big future revenues, he said. "The question for Indian IT companies now is how to break into fast-growing non-English speaking countries," he said. "Market access alone is something of an easy excuse. If you are determined to engage in a market, then you will figure it out" he said, highlighting the success of firms like HP in which he worked earlier and made big inroads into the Chinese markets. For years, China has been stonewalling Indian demand to provide market access to its biggest products in the IT and pharmaceutical firms which struggled to make headway in the Chinese markets despite their global success. Mike argues that while the Indian IT firms are doing well in the multinational firms based in China, they made limited headway into the burgeoning Chinese market adopting a "cost-conscious" strategy and looking for short-term returns. "You cannot have the same formula to work in two very different, highly complex markets and societies," he said.
Source: economic times
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday spoke to his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly with a focus on possible areas of cooperation between the two countries in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of growing global concern over China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the region. The telephonic conversation came over two weeks after Canada came out with a comprehensive strategy for the Indo-Pacific that aimed to promote peace, resilience and security while listing challenges emanating from China's aggressive behaviour in the region. "Good to talk to Canadian FM @melaniejoly. Spoke about enhancing our bilateral cooperation and promoting people to people ties. Also exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific and how Canada's new strategy can contribute to our relationship," Jaishankar tweeted. Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy also listed India as a key player in the region and said Ottawa will focus on expanding economic engagement with New Delhi including through deeper trade and investment, as well as cooperating on building resilient supply chains "India's strategic importance and leadership -- both across the region and globally -- will only increase as India, the world's biggest democracy, becomes the most populous country in the world and continues to grow its economy," the Canadian policy mentioned. "Canada will seek new opportunities to partner and engage in dialogue in areas of common interest and values, including security, and the promotion of democracy, pluralism and human rights," it said. In a tweet, Joly said, "we discussed our new Indo-Pacific Strategy and how we plan to work together to strengthen our people-to-people ties and advance our shared interests as India chairs the G20 next year." Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy also mentioned concerns over China's growing assertive behaviour. "China has benefitted from the rules-based international order to grow and prosper, but it is now actively seeking to reinterpret these rules to gain greater advantage," it said. "China has benefitted from the rules-based international order to grow and prosper, but it is now actively seeking to reinterpret these rules to gain greater advantage," it said. "China's assertive pursuit of its economic and security interests, advancement of unilateral claims, foreign interference and increasingly coercive treatment of other countries and economies have significant implications in the region, in Canada and around the world," it noted. The policy framework further said that respect for the sovereignty of other states is a cornerstone of the rules-based international order and of governments' ability to work together to solve shared problems.
Source: economic times
INTERNATIONAL
Early finalisation of India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) is among the priorities of Sweden when it will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for a six-month period from January 1 to June 30 next year. The Scandinavian country will also work on the 18-month programme jointly drafted with its predecessors France and the Czech Republic. Sweden will act as an “honest broker” and will do its best to conclude FTA negotiations, the visiting Swedish foreign trade minister Johan Forssell told journalists in India. Forssell also discussed the FTA with Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal during his India trip. Stating that India’s growth story has just begun, Forssell, who took office under the new Swedish government on October 18 this year, said that Sweden wants to be a part of the story. The negotiations for India-EU FTA re-started in June 2022. They were launched in June 2007 but were suspended in 2013 after several rounds of talks as both sides failed to agree on crucial issues, including the movement of professionals and tariffs on certain goods.
Turkiye’s home textile exports to Germany are witnessing headwinds due to economic challenges and may fall below the exports in 2021. High inflation and economic worries across the world are hurting consumers’ purchasing capacity, thus affecting the demand of discretionary products. Home textile exports have fallen from many countries including Turkiye. Turkiye’s exports to Germany reached $761.958 million in 2021. COVID years of 2020 and 2021 were considered the golden period for home textiles. Home textile’s demand surged during the pandemic as consumers were forced to stay at home due to lockdowns and restrictions. Therefore, the shipment scaled to reach the highest level of the last five years. The exports jumped to $716.574 million in 2020 from $610.564 million in 2019. They maintained the upward trend since 2018 when the shipment was recorded at $573.544 million. The shipment was noted at $685.424 million during 2017. Turkiye exported home textiles worth $546.831 million to Germany in the first ten months of 2022, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro. Turkiye exported bedroom furnishings worth $235.431 million in 2021, which was the largest product among home textiles with a share of 30.90 per cent of the total exports of $761.958 million. The other major products were flooring items at $160.646 million (21.08 per cent), made ups at $98.089 million (12.87 per cent), bathroom and kitchen products at $94.158 million (12.36 per cent), sacks and bags at $87.788 million (11.52 per cent), window furnishings at $44.722 million (5.87 per cent) and furnishing articles at $33.076 million (4.34 per cent), as per TexPro.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The exports of textile and apparel from the United States went up by 11.89 per cent year-on-year in the first ten months of this year. The value of exports stood at $21.039 billion during January-October 2022 compared to $18.802 billion in the same period of 2021, according to data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, US department of commerce. Category-wise, apparel exports increased by 24.10 per cent year-on-year to $6.189 billion, while the exports of yarn ($3.907 billion) and fabric ($7.454 billion) increased by 20.02 per cent and 3.62 per cent, respectively in the period under review. While made-up and miscellaneous article exports grew by 3.61 per cent to $3.487 billion. Country-wise, Mexico (27.48 per cent) and Canada (23.97 per cent) together accounted for more than half of the total US textile and clothing exports during the period under review. The US supplied $5.810 billion worth of textiles and apparel to Mexico during the ten-month period, followed by $5.034 billion to Canada and $1.496 billion to Honduras. In recent years, the US textile and clothing exports have remained in the range of $22-25 billion per annum. In 2014, they stood at $24.418 billion, while the figure was $23.622 billion in 2015, $22.124 billion in 2016, $22.671 billion in 2017, $23.467 billion in 2018, and $22.905 billion in 2019. The value had dropped to $19.330 billion in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but rose again in 2021 to $22.652 billion.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The United States and the United Kingdom recently committed to intensify their collaboration to support international energy security, affordability and sustainability, as Europe reduces its dependence on Russian energy. A joint action group for energy security and affordability was set up to accelerate immediate cooperation on short-term action to support energy security and affordability in the United Kingdom and across Europe. “Our immediate shared goal to stabilise energy markets, reduce demand, and ensure short-term security of supply is underpinned by the longer-term objective of supporting a stable energy transition to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, which in itself will strengthen our energy security,” a White House press release said. Both sides will explore targeted, data-driven measures that will save customers on their bills and increase efficiency without sacrificing comfort. The United Kingdom will establish a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce to reduce the UK’s energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15 per cent by 2030 against 2021 levels. The £1.5-billion Help to Heat programme provides energy efficiency upgrades to low-income households, and the United Kingdom has committed an additional £6 billion in energy efficiency schemes to 2028. Meanwhile, the United States is investing more than $30 billion in energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for low-income communities. Both sides will work with G7 and G20 partners to drive forward a high ambition energy transition agenda, reduce the risk of future fossil fuel dependency in emerging markets and developing countries, avoid any backtracking on previous commitments, enhance and accelerate ambition toward the achievement of net-zero energy sectors, incorporate implementation of the Glasgow Climate Pact and ensure energy security in the current geopolitical context. They will advance Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) with international partners, alongside advancing the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). The joint action group will be convened by a representative from the offices of the US President and the UK Prime Minister. It will particularly focus on intensifying further commercial and scientific ties between the two countries.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
The median expectation of the UK rate of inflation over the coming year in a survey conducted for the Bank of England (BoE) by market research firm Ipsos recently was 4.8 per cent, down from 4.9 per cent in August this year. Asked about expected inflation in the 12 months after that, respondents gave a median answer of 3.4 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in August. In the bank’s quarterly survey of public attitudes to inflation, when respondents were asked about expectations of inflation in the longer term, say in five years’ time, they gave a median answer of 3.3 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent in August this year. Asked to give the current rate of inflation, respondents gave a median answer of 9.2 per cent, up from 7.6 per cent in August. Thirty-five per cent of respondents thought the inflation target was ‘about right’, up from 32 per cent in August. The proportions saying the target was ‘too high’ or ‘too low’ were 29 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, the bank said in a release. Asked about the future path of interest rates, 74 per cent of respondents expected rates to rise over the next 12 months, down from 75 per cent in August. Eleven per cent said they expected rates to stay about the same over the next twelve months, the same proportion compared to August. Asked what would be ‘best for the economy’—higher interest rates, lower rates or no change— a fifth thought rates should ‘go up’, compared to 30 per cent in August 2022. Thirty per cent of respondents thought that interest rates should ‘go down’ compared to 24 per cent in August. A quarter thought interest rates should ‘stay where they are’, down from 26 per cent in August.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Better container handling at inland container depots (ICDs) will reduce the handling cost by up to 50 per cent, said a study by the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity. Improved efficiency of ICDs can increase their yard capacity in the empty container stacking yard by up to 20 per cent, implying more trade and income, it said. The study, titled ‘Improving the Capacity and Efficiency of ICDs’, recommended fixing grounds, marking yards, setting up a planning department, upgrading terminal operating systems to include planning and equipment control modules, and connecting container handling equipment to the system. The study also suggested ICDs to work with the port authority, shipping lines and freight forwarders to streamline requirements and improve health and safety-related practices, Bangla media outlets reported. The Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity provides technical assistance, training, institutional strengthening, and other direct support to the government of Bangladesh and non-governmental partners. It also encourages greater collaboration among the government, private sector, and civil society organisations.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
With half of the enterprises polled in a recent the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam survey remaining optimistic about Vietnam’s economic recovery, European businesses are hopeful of expanding operations in Vietnam in a range of sectors. Sixty-nine per cent of those surveyed want to expand operations in the southeast Asian country. Business confidence is expected to rise in the wake of the post-pandemic growth momentum, according to chairman of the chamber Alain Cany. In particular, the environmental conservation sector is regarded as a high-potential investment, particularly in urban areas like Ho Chi Minh City, a Vietnamese newspaper reported. The HCM City Urban Environment Company Limited (CITENCO) recently sought approval for a waste-to-energy project in Cu Chi district. With a daily capacity of 1,000 tonnes, the project is aimed at helping the city reach its target of recycling and reusing 80 per cent of its garbage by 2025 and cent per cent by 2030.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Germany has committed to extend another grant of €191 million to Bangladesh at the latest round of bilateral development cooperation talks. With this, the amount now stands at €275.1 million since the last government-level negotiations, the German embassy in Dhaka said in a statement. Since 1972, the overall amount has reached more than €3.2 billion. The two-day negotiations concluded on December 8. The two sides discussed issues like climate change and energy, training and skill development, biodiversity, human rights and good governance. Barbara Schsfer, head of division for South Asia in the German ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ), welcomed Bangladesh's decision to give up plans to construct new coal-fired power plants and explore the possibilities of alternative sources for energy generation." Germany has made commitments for mutual cooperation in renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, technical and vocational education and training, socially and environmentally sound supply chains, trade and sustainable infrastructure and biodiversity, according to Bangla media reports.
