Posts tagged ‘iran’

18/05/2015

India beats own target to contain fiscal and revenue deficits | Reuters

The government said on Sunday it managed to better its target for containing the fiscal and revenue deficits in the last financial year.

A money lender counts rupee currency notes at his shop in Ahmedabad, May 6, 2015. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files

The fiscal target was 4 percent of gross domestic product for the year ending March 31, compared with a goal of 4.1 percent, the government said in a statement. The revenue target was 2.8 percent, compared with the aim of 2.9 percent.

Over the past year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a slew of measures to stabilize the economy and attract investment. But while inflation has cooled, in large measure due to the dramatic fall in global oil prices, recovery in India’s domestic demand-driven economy remains sluggish.

via India beats own target to contain fiscal and revenue deficits | Reuters.

09/04/2015

China to Build Pipeline From Iran to Pakistan – China Real Time Report – WSJ

China will build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan to help address Pakistan’s acute energy shortage, under a deal to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials said. As the WSJ’s Saeed Shah reports:

The arrival of President Xi Jinping is expected to showcase China’s commitment to infrastructure development in ally Pakistan, at a time when few other countries are willing to make major investments in cash-strapped, terrorism-plagued, Pakistan.

The pipeline would amount to an early benefit for both Pakistan and Iran from the framework agreement reached earlier this month between Tehran and the U.S. and other world powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. had previously threatened Pakistan with sanctions if it went ahead with the project.

Dubbed the “Peace Pipeline,” the project will further bolster improving ties between Pakistan and Iran, which had been uneasy neighbors for decades as a result of Pakistan’s ties to Iran’s long-term adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

“We’re building it,” Pakistani Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told The Wall Street Journal, referring to the pipeline. “The process has started.”

The pipeline will bring much-needed gas to Pakistan, which suffers from a crippling electricity deficit because of a shortage of fuel for its power-generation plants. Pakistan has been negotiating for months behind the scenes for China to build the Pakistani portion of the pipeline, which will cost up to $2 billion.

via China to Build Pipeline From Iran to Pakistan – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

08/04/2015

China Life, Ping An take majority stake in $500 million Boston property project | Reuters

China’s two biggest insurers are funding the majority of a $500 million commercial real estate project in the United States, a person with knowledge of the deal said, in the latest offshore property investment by China’s cash-rich financial institutions.

China Life Insurance Co Ltd (601628.SS)(2628.HK) and Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd (601318.SS)(2318.HK) have partnered New York developer Tishman Speyer Properties LP in a deal that will see each party invest about $167 million in the first phase redevelopment of Boston‘s Pier 4, the person said.

Tishman Speyer declined to provide immediate comment, while China Life declined to comment and Ping An could not be reached. The Wall Street Journal reported the tie-up early on Wednesday.

Chinese insurers have been on a shopping spree over the past three years since a ban on foreign property investment was lifted. They are permitted to invest abroad up to 15 percent of their roughly 10.5 trillion yuan ($1.69 trillion) in assets.

China Life and Ping An have invested in property in London, and Boston would be their first project in the United States.

via China Life, Ping An take majority stake in $500 million Boston property project | Reuters.

21/02/2014

India doubles Iran oil imports in Jan from Dec -trade | Reuters

India’s oil imports from Iran more than doubled in January from a month earlier, with one state refiner returning from a three-month break as a buyer after sanctions on Tehran were eased due to the interim deal on its nuclear programme.

Yet, the jump may not signify a sudden flood of Iran’s oil to the market as clients bump up imports. India was able to take more of the crude because it earlier cut its buys the most among Tehran’s top clients and more than what was needed under the Western sanctions aimed at Iran’s disputed nuclear ambitions.

India’s oil purchase from Iran in January surged to 412,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from 189,100 bpd in December and 44 percent higher than a year ago, data compiled by Reuters showed.

January shipments from Iran were the highest since February 2012, shortly after new toughened sanctions from the United States and Europe went into effect, the data also showed. Iran was also India’s second biggest supplier for a month for the first time since March 2012, the data showed.

The big jump last month brings India’s imports from Iran over April-January to about 201,000 bpd, still a decline of 26 percent from the same 10 months a year earlier.

That’s below a target of 220,000 bpd for the fiscal year that ends March 31, but if imports are held at close to the January levels, the earlier cuts could be wiped out.

via India doubles Iran oil imports in Jan from Dec -trade | Reuters.

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17/02/2014

India defence spending seen rising 10 pct to $36 bln in 2014/15 | Reuters

India is a top market for defence hardware, buying some $12.7 billion in arms during 2007-2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

via India defence spending seen rising 10 pct to $36 bln in 2014/15 | Reuters.

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13/02/2014

* Rice Exports From India Climbing to Record on Mideast Demand – Businessweek

Rice shipments from India, the world’s largest producer after China, will probably expand to a record as buyers from Iran to Saudi Arabia boost purchases of aromatic basmati grain used in biryani and pilaf dishes.

Exports are set to increase 7.8 percent to 11 million metric tons in the 12 months through March from a year earlier, said M.P. Jindal, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association. Sales of basmati may jump 14 percent to 4 million tons as cargoes of non-basmati varieties advance 4 percent to 7 million tons, he said in a phone interview.

Shipments are increasing from India as Thailand, once the world’s biggest supplier, is also set to boost exports. The Southeast Asian country has built record stockpiles big enough to meet about a third of global import demand under a buying program that started in 2011. Farmers are demanding the government sell the reserves to pay for their crop.

via Rice Exports From India Climbing to Record on Mideast Demand – Businessweek.

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13/02/2014

Iran asks India for $1.5 bln in oil payments under nuclear deal -sources | Reuters

Iran has asked India for $1.5 billion in back oil payments under the nuclear deal that provides Tehran some relief from Western sanctions, Indian sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

If the payments are approved, this could make India the third of Iran’s major buyers, after Japan and South Korea, to start processing frozen back payments. The payments are contingent on Iran holding to its agreement to start curbing its nuclear programme.

Indian refiners are holding about $3 billion in payments due the Middle Eastern crude producer, one of the sources said.

Other funds owed to Tehran are held in a rupee-denominated account at India’s UCO Bank.

Under the Nov. 24 agreement with six major powers, Iran won access to $4.2 billion of its oil revenues frozen abroad. The fund will be paid out in eight money transfers on a schedule that started with a $550 million payment by Japan on Feb. 1.

via Iran asks India for $1.5 bln in oil payments under nuclear deal -sources | Reuters.

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31/12/2013

BBC News – View from China on the threats to world peace

Which country poses the biggest threat to world peace? Syria? Iran? North Korea?

Well, according to Gallup International\’s end of year survey of nearly 68,000 people in 65 countries, the US takes the top spot, followed by Pakistan and China.

The Chinese people we spoke to on the streets of Beijing weren\’t so sure China deserved to come in at number three.

via BBC News – View from China on the threats to world peace.

06/05/2013

* Abbas and Netanyahu on separate China visits

China, the new peace-maker.

BBC: “Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in China for separate talks with top officials.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (06/05/13)

Mr Abbas, who met President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, said he would explain obstacles to talks with Israel.

Mr Netanyahu, who is visiting Shanghai before flying to Beijing later this week, was due to sign trade deals and discuss the issue of Iran.

The two men are not expected to meet while they are in China.

China would assist if they wanted to, a foreign ministry official said, but the two leaders were not expected to be in the same city at the same time.

Mr Abbas, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, signed agreements on technical co-operation and cultural exchange with Mr Xi on Monday. The Palestinian leader was also expected to meet Premier Li Keqiang during his visit.

Speaking to Xinhua news agency ahead of the visit, he said he would update Chinese leaders on “what are the obstacles that block” dialogue with Israel, and would ask Beijing “to use its relationship with Israel to remove the obstacles that obstruct the Palestinian economy”.

Xinhua quoted him as saying: “It is very good that Netanyahu will visit China too because it is a good opportunity that the Chinese listen to both of us.”

Mr Netanyahu’s visit is the first to China by an Israeli leader in six years.

He was expected to meet business delegates in Shanghai before heading to Beijing. Israeli officials say he is expected to sign a number of trade deals.

He is also expected to raise the issue of Iran, which many nations including Israel believe is trying to build nuclear weapons – something Iran denies.

Beijing is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, and has opposed unilateral Western sanctions on Tehran.

“China and Israel have both much to gain from enhanced co-operation, and that’s our goal,” Mr Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.”

via BBC News – Abbas and Netanyahu on separate China visits.

08/08/2012

* Dollar losing its attraction

The Times: “Soft power is sometimes defined as a way of achieving the outcome you desire without using force. In Britain’s case, this has traditionally been exercised using subtle diplomacy, cultural and legal institutions.

The United States exercises soft power through its culture, films and music, too, but it also does through the ubiquity of the US dollar.

With power comes responsibility. There is a danger now that, in seeking to use the dollar’s reserve currency status to achieve US foreign policy aims, America is undermining that power. A key criticism of the US sanctions on Iran, particularly the ban on Iranian banks from using the Swift payments system, is that it has created incentives for other countries to trade with Iran without using dollars. Iran itself has exploited this by using its own currency in bilateral trade deals with India, China, Russia and Japan.

It is a small step from finding ways of trading with Iran without using dollars to trading with each other without using dollars, something that has been noted by the People’s Bank of China, whose officials are talking increasingly loudly about how and when the yuan might become a global reserve currency.

The aggression shown by the New York State Department of Financial Services towards Standard Chartered has just created another incentive to avoid doing business in dollars.”

via It may be unfair, but the damage is done | The Times.

It’s called shooting oneself in the foot. It’s also another case of the Law of Unintended Consequences.  See also:

 

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