Archives for June 2021

The support measures, announced by Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, include the provision of loan guarantees of around $35 billion that are aimed at helping small businesses and sectors adversely affected by the pandemic.

According to Sitharaman, businesses in such sectors as health care and tourism are set to receive additional credit of $14.8 billion. Moreover, the emergency credit-line guarantee scheme will be expanded by another $20.2 billion (1.5 trillion rupees), from an earlier limit of 3 to 4.5 trillion rupees.

Also on rt.com Younger Indians prefer cryptocurrencies to traditional gold

The ministry also announced a credit guarantee scheme for micro finance institutions providing loans to the country’s smallest borrowers, including small business owners. Authorities will also allocate another $12.6 billion to provide free food and grain to millions of people within the next six months.

However, analysts are expressing skepticism over the measure, saying that the bulk of the support is provided in the form of loan guarantees instead of direct stimulus that could be sent directly to households.

“While the headline impact of the announcements is sizeable, for much part these were credit guarantees, making the net impact on the fiscal math smaller,” Radhika Rao, an economist with Singapore’s DBS Group, told CNBC.

According to the expert, the latest support measures are similar to those introduced by New Delhi during the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak.

Also on rt.com India considers taxing crypto purchases from overseas exchanges

The success of loan guarantees will depend on how many new loans are disbursed by the lenders, according to Aditi Nayar, principal economist at credit ratings agency ICRA, the Indian affiliate of Moody’s.

The fiscal stimulus announced during the second wave of Covid-19 outbreaks amount to about 0.59% of GDP, Nomura’s Sonal Varma and Aurodeep Nandi said, as quoted by CNBC.

Overall fiscal impact for the current year may amount to 0.65% of GDP, taking into account additional spending on free Covid-19 vaccines, the Nomura analysts added.

India is the second-worst-hit country in the world by coronavirus after the United States, with over 30 million cases and nearly 400,000 deaths.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527872-india-stimulus-economy-coronavirus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The central bank will reportedly consider raising the key interest rate by up to 100 basis points to 6.5%, possibly as soon its July meeting.

“We will discuss the hike ranging from 25 basis points to one percentage point,” Nabiullina said in an interview with Bloomberg, stressing that the decision will be made on the back of data that is currently coming to light.

Also on rt.com Ruble strengthens to 11-month high as Russia squeezes out US dollar from its economy

The key rate has seen three hikes since the beginning of the year. The latest increase, by 50 basis points to 5.5%, came in June.

If the regulator approves the one-time step of increasing the key rate by 100 basis points during the upcoming meeting, the measure will mark the sharpest hike in nearly seven years.

In December 2014, the Russian central bank raised the key rate from 9.5% to 10.5% in response to Western sanctions and crashing crude prices. However, during an emergency night-time meeting, carried out just several days later, the rate was raised to 17%.

Also on rt.com SP upgrades Russia’s economic outlook for 2021

According to Nabiullina, the central bank’s push for tightening the policy is attributed to accelerating inflation, rising inflationary expectations, as well as to the fact that demand is currently exceeding supply.

“In line with the increased and unrooted inflationary expectations, this is forcing us to regulate our policies faster than we previously thought,” the regulator’s chief said.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527848-russian-central-bank-rate-hike/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The billionaire drowned at Playa Hermosa de Garabito, Puntarenas, in Costa Rica, according to a Spanish-language publication, Teletica.com, which described the deceased as a “41-year-old foreigner.”

Popescu, a Romanian entrepreneur and blogger, launched bitcoin securities exchange MPEx in 2012,  and was something of an evangelist for cryptocurrency.

Also on rt.com Death of John McAfee, bitcoin evangelist and digital outlaw, ruled suicide as family demands second investigation

His fortune would have been worth nearly $2 billion during bitcoin’s mid-April peak this year, but has since likely decreased dramatically. He reportedly had control of more than a million coins.

The news of Popescu’s death triggered speculation across crypto-related channels as to what will happen to his vast holdings. If the billionaire had not established a prior arrangement for others to access his wallets, those tokens will end up being lost. Given the huge number he held, and the limit on the number of bitcoin that can be mined, this could well have an impact on the price of bitcoin.

As of 13:00 GMT on Tuesday, bitcoin was trading around $36,000, up 4.5% on the day before.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527833-bitcoin-billionaire-death-controversy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The billionaire drowned at Playa Hermosa de Garabito, Puntarenas, in Costa Rica, according to a Spanish-language publication, Teletica.com, which described the deceased as a “41-year-old foreigner.”

Popescu, a Romanian entrepreneur and blogger, launched bitcoin securities exchange MPEx in 2012,  and was something of an evangelist for cryptocurrency.

Also on rt.com Death of John McAfee, bitcoin evangelist and digital outlaw, ruled suicide as family demands second investigation

His fortune would have been worth nearly $2 billion during bitcoin’s mid-April peak this year, but has since likely decreased dramatically. He reportedly had control of more than a million coins.

The news of Popescu’s death triggered speculation across crypto-related channels as to what will happen to his vast holdings. If the billionaire had not established a prior arrangement for others to access his wallets, those tokens will end up being lost. Given the huge number he held, this could well have an impact on the price of bitcoin.

As of 07:40 GMT on Tuesday, bitcoin was trading at $35,062, up 0.36% on the day before.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527833-bitcoin-billionaire-death-contraversy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The New York-based ratings agency expects the Russian economy to grow by 2.5% next year, while projecting further growth of 2% in 2023 and 2024.

The forecast for Russia’s economic growth has been raised due to “faster-than-expected recovery in domestic demand” thanks to the easing of Covid-related restrictions, it reported.

Also on rt.com World Bank projects sustainable post-Covid economic recovery in Russia

Moreover, the agency mentioned strong consumer lending as one of the reasons for the forecast upgrade.The analysts highlighted that the extended program of preferential mortgage loans would support demand in the country’s housing market.

An expected increase in oil production amid the potential easing of supplies caps under the OPEC+ deal will result in a surge in oil exports this year, as well as in 2022.

According to SP analysts, inflation in Russia rose to 5.7% in 2021, and is expected to drop to 4.1% next year, and to a target of 4% in 2023 and 2024.

Also on rt.com Russian drillers rejoice as oil continues to rally

The agency expects the Russian central bank to tighten its monetary policy this year. However, potential impact of a worsening pandemic could influence decisions on whether to move the key interest rate into the restrictive zone of above 6%.

Earlier this month, the regulator raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, saying that more hikes would be needed to rein in high inflation.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527790-russia-economy-growth-outlook/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also issued a warning to consumers about Binance Markets Limited, the network’s only regulated UK entity, as well as the wider Binance group.

“A significantly high number of crypto-asset businesses are not meeting the required standards” under money-laundering regulations, the FCA said in an email cited by MarketWatch. 

Also on rt.com China’s central bank calls for tougher measures on digital currencies

“Of the firms we’ve assessed to date, over 90% have withdrawn applications following our intervention,” the regulator added.

The watchdog has obliged the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume to display a notice saying that it is not “permitted to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA” in a prominent place on its website and apps.

Binance was planning to launch its own digital asset marketplace in the UK, but it was one of several crypto companies that withdrew applications to register with the FCA due to not meeting anti-money laundering regulations.

Also on rt.com India considering TOTAL BAN on cryptocurrencies – media

The scope of the ban is reportedly limited, as non-registered firms can still interact with UK consumers. Binance Markets Limited is still able to provide its British customers with crypto-trading opportunities through its website despite being banned from offering regulated services in the country.

“We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take our compliance obligations very seriously,” a Binance spokesperson told CNBC, adding that the notice has no direct impact on the services provided on Binance.com.

Also on rt.com Trump calls bitcoin ‘scam’, denounces it for ‘competing against the dollar’

“We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules and laws in this new space,” the spokesperson added.

On June 25, Japan’s financial watchdog issued a statement saying that Binance isn’t registered to do business in the country, while Chinese authorities have been mounting a nationwide campaign to pin down crypto-related activities. In China, digital currency miners were ordered to cease operations in a number of regions, while banks and payment firms were told not to offer crypto-related services.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527767-uk-bans-cryptocurrency-exchange-binance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

In the US, Samokat (the Russian for ‘scooter’) will operate under the name Buyk. The founders of the St. Petersburg-based company are targeting 10,000 orders a month in New York by year-end.

“We understand that there are higher costs in New York. But there is also a higher check,” the service co-founder Vyacheslav Bocharov said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Also on rt.com Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries launches sales in US

Buyk has already found dark stores in New York. Dark stores are small, centrally-located warehouses that commonly help couriers fill orders quickly.

Buyk’s service will offer free delivery, with its couriers expected to deliver food and other goods by bike within a radius of a mile (1.5 kilometer).The firm is reportedly hiring about 100 people for operations, as well as 500 couriers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a boom in grocery delivery services, as customers developed a habit of ordering food while self-isolating or avoiding crowded spaces.

In Russia, orders have reportedly surged 14-fold since 2019, pushing Samokat to the top three food delivery service providers by sales volume. In terms of orders, the firm remains the largest in the country.

Also on rt.com Germans go gaga for Russian food discounter Mere amid nostalgia for ‘Iron Curtain’ era

Samokat has an unmatched advantage over its rivals, as the company is familiar with “scaling a project very quickly in new cities,” co-founder of Data Insight Boris Ovchinnikov said, stressing that “a big challenge will be that it’s impossible to use such a cheap workforce in New York as they’re used to in Russia.”

Samokat couriers in Russia get an average hourly payment of 190 rubles ($2.63). Meanwhile, the median hourly wage for food and grocery delivery drivers in the US is reportedly around $16.

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

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/527753-samokat-grocery-delivery-us-market/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS