Archives for December 2018

“According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, the trade turnover between Russia and India has been hovering between $8 billion and $10 billion over the past several years. Machines and equipment, mineral commodities, oil and oil refining products, precious stones and metals account for the bulk of Russian exports,” Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko told TASS.

Also on rt.com Russia India seek to boost trade, switch to national currencies

He said that the leaders of Russia and India have “set a reasonable task of bringing the trade turnover between the two countries to $30 billion, and mutual investments to $15 billion by 2025.”

READ MORE: Russia to construct 6 nuclear power plant units in India

Padalko added that the expansion of Russia’s exports to India is possible by increasing supplies of energy, transport, metals and mining equipment, oil, gas, coal, agriculture equipment, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, timber and newsprint, chemical products and fertilizers, and so on.

Also on rt.com India suggests setting up special economic zone for Russian companies

In October, during his official two-day visit to India, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the expansion of trade and investment interactions is a priority for both nations.

New Delhi had earlier suggested setting up a special economic zone for Russian companies. The two countries also discussed creating a ‘green corridor’ for the smooth transit of goods. They want to create a list of entrepreneurs or companies whose goods will be exempt from regular customs inspections.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447650-russia-india-trade-growth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Chinese customs said the American rice was cleared for import after going through the required food safety check. The amount of rice Beijing is going to receive from the US was not immediately clear, while China already imports the cereal mostly from Asian countries, including its top exporters Vietnam and Thailand, to fulfill its growing demand.

Also on rt.com China’s imports to top $2 trillion in 2018 – Beijing

The move comes after more than decade-long talks on the matter. The two nations inked a deal for US milled rice in 2017. In April, nearly 30 American facilities completed China’s food safety questionnaires and were waiting for a Chinese inspection visit, according to the USA Rice Federation.

“We believe access for US rice can and should be part of the solution in trade talks between China and the United States,” USA Rice COO Bob Cummings said in April.

Despite not ever being allowed, US rice imports to China were targeted with 25 percent additional levies at the height of the trade row, when the Trump administration levied an additional 25 percent import duty on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Also on rt.com Womenomics 101: Chinese women are at the forefront of global luxury spending

Opening the market for American rice imports is believed to be another goodwill gesture from Beijing after Chinese and American leaders agreed on a 90-day truce. The US delegation, including some high profile officials, is to head to Beijing in January to hold a new round of talks, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this month, China confirmed that negotiations are to take place in January, but did not elaborate on the exact date.

Since the trade war was paused, Beijing has already bought more than 1.5 million tons of soybeans, resumed buying liquefied gas (LNG) and announced a temporary suspension of additional tariffs on US-produced vehicles and auto parts.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447599-china-us-rice-imports/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The national debt reportedly rose to $21,863,635,176,724.12 as of December 20 of the current year compared to $20,492,874,492,282.58 on December 25, 2017.

Also on rt.com US national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever

The current US population stands at 328,082,386 according to the December statistics produced by the Census Bureau, a unit of the US Department of Commerce. Rough calculations show that Christmas-to-Christmas growth in the federal debt equals approximately $4,178.10 per average US citizen.

According to Census Bureau estimates, there were 127,586,000 households in the country in 2018, which means that an average American family owes some $10,743.82.

Also on rt.com US students now owe Uncle Sam more than was spent on the entire Iraq War

Moreover, since the end of the last fiscal year through December 20, the federal government added some $340 billion to the country’s sovereign debt. That means the debt had been skyrocketing at around $3.8 billion per day, or nearly $44,000 per second.

US debt is expected to hit $22 trillion in the near future and the ongoing government spending will drive the debt to $33 trillion within a decade.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447586-us-debt-year-soaring/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

FinExpertiza’s research involved 14 investment instruments and 300,000 rubles ($4,330) as the basis sum, according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The study found that bitcoin investors would have lost more than 213,000 rubles ($3,000) or 71.2 percent of the investment this year.

Also on rt.com Bitcoin’s 3rd bear market in decade could be its worst, plunging 80 percent from last year’s high

The most profitable investment of the outgoing year, according to FinExpertiza analysis, was palladium. The price of the precious metal has been hitting record highs lately, making it the best performer among major metals. With the 300,000 rubles invested, purchasers would have increased their capital by 30,000 rubles ($433), or 10.2 percent, by the end of the year.

“And if we look in retrospect, for example of two years, we will see that palladium, in general, has become the only metal with a positive return,” Nina Kozlova, general director of FinExpertiza, was cited as saying by the newspaper.

READ MORE: Bitcoin mining rig maker holds fire sale after cryptocurrency crash

Once hailed as the future of money, bitcoin has lost more than 80 percent of its value since last year’s all-time high of $20,000.

Currently trading below $3,700, the cryptocurrency is likely to extend its losses to below $3,000, experts say.

Also on rt.com Gold losing its luster as palladium prices soar; so why is Russia smiling?

Worth just a fraction of a penny in 2010, bitcoin has been hitting the headlines and attracting attention from everyone, including Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jamie Dimon.

Bitcoin has divided opinion and has been called everything from a scam to the future of money.

The virtual currency has been declared dead 336 times now by 99bitcoins.com, a website keeping track of the crypto.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447585-bitcoin-failed-investment-2018/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

All the companies are subsidiaries of foreign firms that use aggressive advertising to lure Russian clients and focus on moving their money offshore, according to the regulator.

The forex platforms now have a month to cease operations in Russia’s securities market and pay off their customers, the regulator said announcing the measure on Thursday. Liabilities of the five forex platforms deprived of licenses amount to 35 million rubles ($504,000) and have some 2,000 clients, only 470 of whom are active, according to department head of the Russian Central Bank Larisa Selyutina.

Also on rt.com First Putin-Trump meeting of 2019? Russian president may attend World Economic Forum in Davos

The official reasons behind the move were repeated violations of Russian law, namely on securities. The Central Bank says the five dealers failed to fulfill the regulator’s requirements, had flaws in internal accounting and presented inaccurate information and false reports to the regulator among other violations.

The Central Bank also said that Alpari Forex, Forex Club, Fix Trade, Trustforex and Teletrade Group had few little clients through two years of their work as most of them were drawn not through licensed dealers.

“The clients were drawn through advertisements [of having a Russian bank license], but contracted foreign companies,” Selyutina said.

Also on rt.com Major Russian bank ready to shut off Visa Mastercard, halves dollar holdings

The head of the central bank’s market violations monitoring department, Valeriy Lyakh, explained that such companies enjoy offshore jurisdiction and can have no license at all. The regulator says it has repeatedly warned the forex dealers they must shift their Russian clients into Russia’s legal framework, but nothing was done.

Meanwhile, Alpari Forex, Teletrade Group, and Forex Club continued operations, despite revoked licenses. Forex Club told Russian media that it has no documents from the central bank on the decision and hopes for further dialogue on the matter. Teletrade Group said that the news on revoking their license came as a “complete surprise” for the company.

Also on rt.com Russian bank’s fat-finger error almost gives poor African country six times its GDP

Alpari-Forex also said it has not yet received official notification from the Central Bank, but if it gets it, the platform will file an appeal. The company’s representative told Tass it has 1,000 clients in Russia and their funds are protected in accordance with Russian legislation.

Thus only four forex dealers are to remain on the Russian market – Alfa-forex, VTB-forex, PSB-forex, and Finam-forex, mostly affiliated with top Russian banks.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447584-russia-shuts-down-forex-platforms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

As 2019 is drawing nearer, Wall Street has staked up the latest price projections—and there’s good news and there’s bad news for everyone watching investment banks’ estimates.

The good news for bulls is that the major investment banks expect oil prices next year in a range whose low end is higher than the current $45 for WTI Crude and $54 for Brent Crude.

The bad news for bulls and bears alike is that banks—as usual—warn that their projections might not turn out right because there will be a lot of uncertainties in the oil market next year that could tip oil prices either way.

Free fall: Oil slips to lowest since 2017 as fears over economic slowdown rattle market

The monthly The Wall Street Journal poll of 13 investment banks at the end of December showed that experts had drastically cut their Brent Crude price forecasts for 2019 compared to last month’s expectations. Investment banks now expect Brent Crude to average $69 a barrel next year, down from a $77 per barrel projection in the November poll.

Following the oil price slide in November that continued into December, the EIA revised down in its December Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) its 2019 price forecasts for Brent and WTI to $61 and $54, respectively, both slashed by $11 a barrel compared to the forecast in the November STEO.

Most of the largest investment banks have higher oil price forecasts than the EIA, according to data compiled by CNBC. For Brent, the major banks predict prices in 2019 at between $60 and $72.60 a barrel, with only Citi forecasting an average Brent price lower than EIA’s estimate—$60 a barrel. WTI Crude price forecasts range from $49 at Citi to $66.40 at JP Morgan Chase, with most estimates falling in the $55-66 range.  

The most bearish of investment banks, Citi, expects OPEC and allies’ production cuts in 2019 to encourage more US oil production that would “almost certainly” lead to more sell-offs in oil next year, according to Citi’s global head of commodities Ed Morse.

READ MORE: Russia’s largest LNG project kicks into high gear

Other banks see the production cuts stabilizing oil prices, but they cite other uncertainties in the market as possible key drivers next year. Bearish unknowns include the pace of demand growth in view of the still unresolved US-China trade war (that may not be resolved at all after the trade-war truce ends in March), the pace of global economic growth, and the pace of Chinese oil demand growth.

Bullish factors include OPEC and allies’ deal succeeding again in drawing down inventories, and the US not renewing waivers for Iranian oil customers when the current waivers expire in early May 2019.

Also on rt.com 2019 will be a wild year for oil

According to Barclays’ head of energy markets research, Michael Cohen, the US Administration will base its ‘waivers-or-not’ decision on the oil prices at the time it has to take the decision.

“If prices stay in the low $60s, the Trump administration would have even more leeway not to grant waivers,” Cohen told CNBC.

“In our view, only if prices spike above the $80 level would the US not enforce continued significant reductions in Iran’s ability to export,” Barclays’ Cohen reckons.

Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie has a base-case projection of Brent averaging $66 a barrel in 2019, but has identified five key uncertainties that could derail its base-case forecasts.

“Brent over US$80/bbl always seemed too good to last, defying the fundamentals,” Wood Mackenzie said earlier this month.

Also on rt.com What’s behind the crash in crude?

According to WoodMac’s Chairman and Chief Analyst, Simon Flowers, the five risks and uncertainties are: economic slowdown and subsequent lower oil demand growth; upside to production for US shale; Iran and the US waivers; the compounding effect of five consecutive years of the oil industry underspending on conventional drilling and projects; and the changes in the refining margins, differentials, and crude grade needs in view of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) sulfur cap on marine fuels coming into force on January 1, 2020.  

As always, lots of uncertainties surround the oil price predictions. Forecasts for 2019 are no different.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/447569-wall-street-oil-recovery/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS