Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 21 January 2020

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 21 January 2020

 


 

 


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ü  South African rand flat in early trade, eyes on ANC leaders' meeting

ü  Australia's FAR takes final investment decision for Senegal oil project

ü  South African Airways says flights operating normally after bailout talks
stall

ü  Kenyan shilling stable, underpinned by commodity flows

ü  Rwanda GDP to grow 8% in 2020 -IMF

ü  Nigeria to talk to concessionary lenders about $2.8 bln borrowing: debt
office

ü  Kenya in talks with World Bank for loan of as much as $1 bln

ü  Amid Kenya power struggle, IMF says investment programme in crisis

ü  Meng Wanzhou case: Huawei executive's extradition hearings begin

ü  ‘I turned down 50,000 francs to rent my shop during Davos’

ü  More precious than gold: Why the metal palladium is soaring'

ü  GBP/USD: A bad recipe being cooked-up for the bulls

ü  Yorkshire polyhalite mine: Investors may lose money

ü  India drags down IMF global economic growth forecast

ü  In 2019 China’s Blockchain Startups Received Billions In Funding

 

 

 

 

 

 


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South African rand flat in early trade, eyes on ANC leaders' meeting

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s rand was little changed early on
Monday as investors held off from placing large bets while the governing
African National Congress (ANC) party held an important meeting on the
economy.

 

At 0650 GMT, the rand traded at 14.4520 versus the dollar, less than 0.1%
firmer than its previous close.

 

ANC leaders were due to wrap up four days of meetings on Monday, with the
flagging economy and struggling state-owned enterprises taking centre stage.

 

Statistics South Africa is scheduled to release consumer and producer
inflation data this week, giving clues about whether price pressures are
picking up in Africa’s most industrialised economy.

 

Relatively benign inflation readings allowed the central bank to cut its
main lending rate last week, with some analysts predicting another cut will
follow in the first half of the year.

 

Government bonds were also flat early on Monday, with the yield on the
benchmark 2026 instrument up 0.5 basis points at 8.185%.

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Australia's FAR takes final investment decision for Senegal oil project

(Reuters) - Australian oil minnow FAR Ltd said on Monday it has lined up
loan funding for its share of the $4.2 billion Sangomar project, Senegal’s
first oil development block, and made a final decision to proceed.

 

FAR, a minority partner in the project, said it received credit approvals
for an underwritten $300 million senior secured reserve-based lending
facility by Macquarie Bank, BNP Paribas and Glencore.

 

The Senegal government recently gave the greenlight for the project, which
is expected to produce 231 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil resources in its
initial phase of development and strike first oil in the next three years.

 

The project is a joint venture (JV) between Woodside Petroleum, Cairn Energy
Plc, FAR and Senegal’s state-owned Petrosen.

 

Woodside, as project operator, has issued a notice to proceed for the
drilling and subsea construction and installation contracts, FAR said.

 

The partners in the project are eager to push ahead even as they await the
outcome of an arbitration over a dispute.

 

FAR contends it was denied its right to pre-empt the sale of a 35% stake in
the Sangomar field by ConocoPhillips to Woodside in 2016. The dispute is
expected to be resolved early this year.

 

 

South African Airways says flights operating normally after bailout talks
stall

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Airways (SAA) said on Monday that its
flights to all destinations were operating normally, after talks over the
weekend on a bailout plan for the state carrier ended with no solution.

 

Government officials are scrambling to work out how they can provide 2
billion rand ($138 million) of funds they promised when SAA entered a form
of bankruptcy protection last month.

 

The airline’s business rescue practitioners held talks with the government
at the weekend to try to find a solution on the funding gap. But as of
Sunday evening, no solution had been found, a person briefed on the talks
told Reuters.

 

Last week, a senior trade union official said SAA could have to suspend some
flights and delay salary payments if the government didn’t come up with a
plan to provide the 2 billion rand soon.

 

“Flights to all its destinations continue as normal,” SAA said in a
statement.

 

“Where there may be flight schedule amendments, such operational changes
will be managed and communicated in accordance with the industry norms.”

 

On Sunday, the public enterprises ministry said it was talking with the
National Treasury to raise funds for SAA.

 

The airline is one of several South African state entities, including power
company Eskom, mired in financial crisis after nearly a decade of
mismanagement.

 

State companies’ financial problems are seen as the single greatest threat
to South Africa’s economy and have been largely responsible for pushing the
country’s credit rating down to the brink of junk status.

 

($1 = 14.5400 rand)

 

 

 

Kenyan shilling stable, underpinned by commodity flows

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was firm on Monday supported by
inflows from the agricultural sector and offshore investors buying stocks
and government debt, traders said.

 

At 0630 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 100.80/101.00 per
dollar, the same as Friday’s close.

 

 

 

Rwanda GDP to grow 8% in 2020 -IMF

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda’s economy is expected to grow by 8% this year and
in 2021 versus an estimated 8.5% in 2019, boosted by private investment and
trade, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

 

The small East African nation’s economy relies largely on agriculture,
tourism and mining. The government also forecasts it will grow 8.5% in 2019.

 

It grew 11.9% in third quarter versus 7.7% in the third quarter of 2018,
reflecting an improved performance in manufacturing, construction and
services.

 

“Upside risks (to growth) are a continuation of strong private investment,
more regional trade, and growth payoffs from large public investment
projects,” the IMF said.

 

Factors that could slow growth include high fuel prices, unpredictable
weather and regional issues, the IMF said in a statement late on Friday.

 

It did not elaborate on those regional issues.

 

Early last year, Rwanda closed its main border crossing with neighbouring
Uganda. It was briefly re-opened to cargo trucks in June but then closed
again.

 

Rwandans were banned from travelling to Uganda, which has accused Rwanda of
effectively imposing a trade embargo.

 

In August, the two countries’ presidents signed a pact agreeing the two
sides would respect each other’s sovereignty, refrain from action that
destabilises the other’s territory, and resume cross-border activities.

 

 

 

Nigeria to talk to concessionary lenders about $2.8 bln borrowing: debt
office

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria plans to talk to concessionary lenders about 850
billion naira ($2.8 billion) in external borrowings earmarked in its 2020
budget, the head of the debt office said on Friday.

 

“The 850 billion naira does not mean Eurobonds. We will still talk with
concessionary lenders,” Debt Management Office Director General Patience
Oniha told reporters.

 

Nigeria has been borrowing to fund growth after a 2016 recession slashed
income and weakened its currency. The government is now seeking to raise
revenues through value-added tax hikes, but the cost of debt service is also
rising.

 

Oniha said the strategy is to seek concessionary loans first due to the
lower interest rate and longer maturities, and any shortfall might be raised
from commercial sources.

 

Nigeria has budgeted to spend 10.59 trillion naira ($34.6 billion) for 2020,
which assumes a deficit of 1.52% of the estimated gross domestic product -
around 2.18 trillion naira - to be funded through foreign and domestic
borrowing.

 

The debt office said Nigeria has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 18.47% - below its
limit of 25% and comparing favourably with those of developed countries,
some of which are above 100%.

 

However, Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, spends more than half of its
revenues in debt service, the debt office said.

 

Total public debt rose to 26.2 trillion naira as of September, up 16.88%
from a year earlier. The debt office said it has managed to stretch out the
maturity profile of its borrowings in favour of longer term debt.

 

For new local financing, the debt office said the government would issue 150
billion naira worth of sukuk this year, in addition to bonds and treasury
bills.

 

In a presentation seen by Reuters on Thursday, the debt office said it would
introduce a 15-year maturity for the first time and sell a new 30-year bond,
after launching the tenor last year, to extend the maturity profile of its
debt.

 

Last year, foreign investors cut their participation in Nigerian government
bond auctions after yields fell and an oil prices drop reignited fears that
the currency could come under pressure.

 

Yields have fallen from as high as 15% to around 11% for the benchmark
10-year bond.

 

 

Kenya in talks with World Bank for loan of as much as $1 bln

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya is in advanced talks with the World Bank for “a
fairly priced” loan of up to 100 billion shillings ($991.57 million), nearly
half of its required external funding this fiscal year, a senior Treasury
official said on Friday.

 

The East African nation wants to cut debt from overseas capital markets,
after a borrowing binge in recent years, including Eurobond offerings, a
package of Chinese loans and syndicated commercial loans.

 

The World Bank, which has multiple development funding programs with Kenya
worth billions of dollars, is seen as one of the viable alternatives to
commercial debt.

 

The Washington D.C.-based financier lent money straight to the Kenyan
ministry of finance for the first time last year, changing past practice
where it channelled cash straight to the projects, bypassing the Treasury.

 

The size of the loan from the World Bank will be determined by how much its
own funders can put together, said Julius Muia, the principal secretary in
the ministry of finance.

 

“We are thinking something between 50-100 billion (shillings) depending on
what kind of interest there will be,” he told Reuters.

 

The loan will be cheaper than commercial debt, the official said, in line
with the government’s policy of cutting its funding costs.

 

“It is very competitive, it is fairly priced,” Muia said, adding it was
likely to be just above the bank’s concessional rate of 200 basis points in
interest.

 

Kenya became a middle-income country in 2014 after it rebased the economy,
meaning it cannot secure funds from the World Bank at the concessional rates
offered to low-income states.

 

The finance ministry has set a budget deficit of 6.3% of GDP for this
financial year to the end of June and Muia said about 213 billion shillings
is expected from external sources.

 

The balance of the funds will be raised through Kenya’s first sovereign
green bond, he said, with the country taking advantage of next week’s
UK-Africa investment summit in London to gauge investor demand for the
potential issue.

 

“It is taking shape as we go,” Muia said.

 

The Treasury projects that the budget deficit will shrink to 5.7% of GDP in
2020/21. The gap, which peaked at 9.1% of GDP in 2016/17 financial year, is
expected to narrow further to the desired level of 3.3% in 2023/24.

 

Muia said he was confident that this year’s deficit will be fully covered
through affordable loans.

 

“We are very clear in our minds that we want to keep the cost of debt down.”

 

($1 = 100.8500 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

Amid Kenya power struggle, IMF says investment programme in crisis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Hundreds of mismanaged infrastructure projects have
stalled in Kenya and it will cost around $10 billion to revive them, the IMF
said in a report whose findings point to a growing power struggle at the
heart of government.

 

Amid mounting public anger over ballooning state debt and a series of graft
scandals, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday confirmed acting finance
minister Ukur Yatani in the post after its previous incumbent, Henry Rotich,
was charged with financial misconduct - an accusation he denies.

 

The government has acknowledged that some past investment projects did not
pass muster, and Yatani told a budget preparation meeting on Wednesday that
available resources would be “dedicated only to projects and programmes that
will ensure higher economic and social returns.”

 

Yatani, an ally of Kenyatta while Rotich was closer to Deputy President
William Ruto, has won support from voters since provisionally taking over at
the ministry in July.

 

The International Monetary Fund report, published on Wednesday, lays bare
the scale of the task Yatani now faces.

 

It said an estimated 500 projects - around half of the total - had ground to
a halt due to “non-payment to contractors, insufficient allocation of funds
to projects, and litigation cases in court.”

 

The state would need to raise around 1 trillion shillings ($10 billion) to
complete them, the report said.

 

Kenya has ramped up public investment projects since 2010.

 

But that increase “occurred without enough screening for project viability
and readiness before they entered the budget,” the IMF said.

 

“There has been a subsequent squeeze on ongoing projects in the absence of
fiscal space, which is now accruing large costs to the government.”

 

The fund named no specific projects, but construction of roads, markets and
stadiums has stalled all over the country.

 

Unpaid bills from the infrastructure department to suppliers and contractors
totalled 78 billion shillings as of June, the IMF said.

 

Yatani said the government was reconstituting its planning and project
monitoring unit to “ensure timely completion of projects and realisation of
value for money.”

 

His confirmation as finance minister was part of a government reshuffle that
adds to signs of a rift between Kenyatta, who must step down when his second
five-year term finishes in 2022, and Ruto, who considers himself the heir
apparent but has begun to fall out of favour.

 

($1 = 100.8000 Kenyan shillings)

 

 

 

Meng Wanzhou case: Huawei executive's extradition hearings begin

A Canadian court has begun hearing the case of a senior Huawei executive
fighting extradition to the United States.

 

Meng Wanzhou, 47, made no comment as she arrived at a Vancouver courthouse
on Monday for a scheduled hearing.

 

The US wants Ms Meng to stand trial on charges including fraud linked to the
alleged violation of US sanctions against Iran.

 

Ms Meng, who was arrested in late 2018 in Canada, denies any wrongdoing.

 

The case involving Huawei's chief financial officer is being closely watched
in Canada, the US and China.

 

Her arrest has created a rift between China and Canada. On Monday, Beijing
repeated its calls for Canada to release Ms Meng.

 

"This is entirely a serious political incident that grossly violates the
legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese citizen," Chinese foreign
ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

 

Huawei charges: The 100, 400 and 800-word story

Meanwhile, the Chinese telecoms giant said it stood by its executive "in her
pursuit of justice and freedom".

 

In a video statement released on its social media platforms as the hearing
got underway, Huawei said it trusted in Canada's judicial system "which will
prove Ms Meng's innocence".

 

This first phase of hearings is scheduled to run from 20-24 January in the
British Columbia supreme court in Vancouver.

 

The court will hear arguments on whether the crime Ms Meng is accused of by
the US would also be considered a crime in Canada.

 

The judge must be satisfied that it meets the so-called "double criminality"
test before agreeing to an extradition.

 

What is the background?

Ms Meng is the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei
and daughter of its founder Ren Zhengfei.

 

Ms Meng has been out on bail but under house arrest in Vancouver, where she
owns property, since shortly after she was detained in December 2018.

 

Shortly after her arrest, China detained two Canadian nationals - Michael
Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman - and has
accused the pair of espionage.

 

The move by Beijing is widely viewed as "hostage diplomacy" - a tactic to
put pressure on Canada to release the Huawei executive. Their detention has
been called "arbitrary" by Canada and its allies.

 

Ms Meng's arrest also led to a trade row between Canada and China, with
China blocking tens of millions of dollars of canola exports.

 

Meng Wanzhou: Trapped in a gilded cage

China says the case is political persecution by the US.

 

Washington has been lobbying its allies - including the UK - to not use
Huawei's 5G technology services in critical communications infrastructure,
alleging it could be a security threat.

 

How does the extradition process work?

If a judge is satisfied with the evidence presented, he or she will
authorise that the individual be committed for extradition.

 

If not, the accused will be discharged and released from custody.

 

Even if the judge recommends extradition, it is the federal justice minister
who makes the ultimate decision.

 

A second phase, focusing on allegations of abuse of process and whether
Canadian officials followed the law while arresting Ms Meng, is due to be
heard in June.

 

It is highly likely the overall process could be lengthy. Ms Meng has
avenues to appeal throughout the process.--BBC

 

 

 

‘I turned down 50,000 francs to rent my shop during Davos’

"I was offered 50,000 Swiss francs (£40,000) last year by a Japanese firm to
rent my shop out during Davos," Catherine Kull Bineschedler tells the BBC.

 

"But I would like to keep my shop open for people living here. It's sad
because it's all become about money, money, money during Davos."

 

MOB, her clothing boutique on Davos Promenade, is one of just a few local
shops that refuses to hire out their premises during the World Economic
Forum (WEF) - the high-end business conference that is held in the Swiss
Alps every January.

 

Hundreds of stores are taken over by big international firms like Facebook,
Accenture and HSBC for the week and turned into branded outposts, while
local landlords are said to get paid handsome fees.

 

But Ms Kull Bineschedler believes this corporate "invasion" leaves many of
Davos's around 11,000 year-round residents in limbo, with hardly any places
to shop, eat, or even go for a coffee.

 

She also thinks preparation for WEF - which begins in mid December - makes
life "impossible" for many residents, as temporary conference buildings are
put up, lorry shipments come in and out, and thousands of soldiers and
police descend upon the small Alpine town.

 

"My daughter can't even work for two weeks because of WEF," says Ms Kull
Bineschedler. "She is a figure skating coach, but the council of Davos rents
out the training hall she uses, so she doesn't get paid."

 

Pub for locals

The Ex Bar pub is another business on Davos Promenade that refuses to rent
out its premises during WEF, although it does have a backroom lounge that
can be booked by delegates.

 

Manager Sabrina Wealte says the pub could make lot more money if it took the
offers it got, but stays open for "normal people who live here".

 

"It's cool during WEF, you meet people from around the world. But we want to
cater for local people too - it's been that way for 50 years."

 

Of course, the renting out of stores is a big boost for the local economy,
which depends heavily on tourism. And the bigger the premises - and closer
it is to the main conference centre - the more a big business will pay to
use it as it seeks to maximise its publicity.

 

That said, one or two shops that are still open as usual on the Promenade
say they make more by not shutting their doors. The manager of a luxury
watch shop, for example, tells me the week of WEF can be one of his best, as
the wealthy delegates tend to like buying high-end goods.

 

Huge changes

Meanwhile, Esther Heldstab, who manages the souvenir shop Swiss Alpine
Fantasy, says she has been offered the equivalent of a year's rent to hire
out her premises, but she couldn't deal with the stress of having to pack
everything away.

 

"I probably make 20% less than if I had rented it, but so be it," she told
the BBC.

 

Jens Scheer, who manages Restaurant Gentiana, doesn't rent out his premises
because it's a period building and could get damaged. But he is conscious of
the huge changes wrought upon the town by WEF.

 

"Over 30 shops on the Promenade are empty all year round, just so they can
be rented out during WEF, because that's enough for them. It's not the best
for the city but it's a trend you can't stop."

 

The World Economic Forum has been approached for a comment.--BBC

 

 

 

More precious than gold: Why the metal palladium is soaring

The price of the precious metal palladium has soared on the global
commodities markets.

 

It has jumped by more than 25% in the last two weeks alone, and almost
doubled in value over the last year.

 

At about $2,500 (£1,922) an ounce of palladium is more expensive than gold,
and the pressures forcing its price up are unlikely to ease anytime soon.

 

But what is palladium, what is it used for, and why is its price rising?

 

What is palladium?

It is a shiny white metal in the same group as platinum, along with
ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium.

 

The majority of the world's palladium comes from Russia and South Africa.
Most of it is extracted as a byproduct in the mining of other metals,
usually platinum and nickel.

 

Its key commercial use is as a critical component in catalytic converters -
a part of a car's exhaust system that controls emissions - found mainly in
petrol and hybrid vehicles.

 

The vast majority of palladium, more than 80%, is used in these devices that
turn toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide, into less
harmful nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour.

 

It is also used, to a far lesser extent, in electronics, dentistry, and
jewellery.

 

The metal's soaring value in recent years has seen a jump in the theft of
catalytic converters around the world.

 

London's Metropolitan police said the number of thefts in the first six
months of 2019 were more than 70% higher than the whole of the previous
year.

 

Why is its price rising?

In short, it is because demand for palladium outstrips supply, and it has
done for some time.

 

The amount of the metal produced in 2019 is forecast to be below global
demand for the eighth year in a row.

 

As a secondary product of platinum and nickel extraction, miners have less
flexibility to increase palladium output in response to rising prices.

 

And that shortfall looks set to continue, with South Africa, which produces
around 40% of the world's supply, last week saying its output of platinum
group metals, including palladium, fell by 13.5% in November compared to a
year earlier.

 

Meanwhile, demand for palladium from car makers has increased sharply for a
number of reasons.

 

Around the world governments, notably China, are tightening regulations as
they attempt to tackle air pollution from petrol vehicles.

 

At the same time the diesel emissions scandal in Europe has also had an
impact. Consumers there have been shifting away from diesel cars, which
mostly use platinum in their catalytic converters, and are instead buying
petrol-driven vehicles, which use palladium.

 

The US-China trade deal, which was signed earlier this month, has also
boosted prices. Traders expect the agreement to help ease downward pressure
on global economic growth and slow the decline in Chinese car sales.--BBC

 

 

 

GBP/USD: A bad recipe being cooked-up for the bulls

It is a bad recipe being cooked up for GBP bulls whee considering CFTC
positioning, poor UK data, Brexit and a dovish BoE. 

GBP/USD pair is technically bearish and keeps developing below the 23.6%
retracement of its latest daily slide.

GBP/USD is trading between a low of 1.2961 and 1.3008, relatively flat on
the day at this juncture, in a market for the pound immersed in dovish
rhetoric from the Monetary Policy Committee members ahead of the 30th Jan
Bank of England interest rate decision as well as mixed sentiment
surrounding Brexit trade negotiations. 

 

GBP CFTC positioning over-stretched 

At the time of writing, GBP/USD sitting at 1.3000 while net longs pile up to
16% of open interest accordion to the week 8-14 January CFTC data, a
potentially bearish prospect for the pound, just as we start to see a
widespread drop in USD long positions.

 

 

"With net longs piling up to 16% of open interest, GBP downside potential
may be exacerbated in the coming weeks should negative headline news
persist, not least on a possible rate cut or on the UK/EU trade
negotiations," analysts at ING Bank argued. 

 

Brexit back in focus

As for Brexit, following a Parliament end of year recess, news feeds are
concentrated again and are starting to dish out mixed messages to keep
sterling traders on high alert. 

At the start of the week, we witnessed a bearish opening gap following a
report doing the rounds quoting the UK's Finacial Minister pessimism for
Brexit negotiations and an adverse effect on UK businesses. Sajid Javid has
admitted businesses will be hit by Brexit as he fired off a warning to
manufacturers that "there will be no alignment" with EU rules. More on that
here. 

 

BoE meeting 30th Jan critical for sterling's lifeline 

We have seen mixed data of late from the UK  economy as we head towards the
BoE meeting at the end of the month.  Crucially, the inflation data for the
UK for December remains weak. The 12-month Consumer Price Index was seen
easing to 1.3% and core inflation falling to 1.4% YoY. "Both are at their
lowest level since late 2016 prompting calls for the BoE to cut the official
cash rate," analysts at ANZ Bank argued, adding, "Sterling is treading water
ahead of next week’s BoE meeting and the UK’s 31 January departure from the
EU. Clarification on the UK’s negotiation priorities is needed to give GBP
direction."

 

Additionally, the fact that services inflation is easing suggests the
economy is slowing, as warned by analysts at RBS Economics. "The BoE’s MPC
are sharpening their interest rate cutting spears. A cut on 30th January
looks a distinct possibility. Financial markets certainly think so."

 

Moreover, the UK's Gross Domestic Product contracted by 0.3% last November
and the latest retail sales were also exceptionally weak for December and
given that consumers were the main contributors to UK economic growth last
year, December’s slump is especially disappointing. All in all, a bad recipe
for GBP bulls.

 

GBP/USD levels

GBP/USD Forecast: Brexit and BOE weighing on Sterling

Valeria Bednarik, the Chief analyst at FXStret, explained that the GBP/USD
pair is technically bearish:

 

"It keeps developing below the 23.6% retracement of its latest daily slide.
Furthermore, the 4-hour chart shows that it spent the day below all of its
moving averages, which lack directional strength, while technical indicators
remain within negative levels, although without clear directional strength.
The risk of additional slides will increase on renewed that sends the pair
below 1.2965."--fxstreet.com

 

 

 

Yorkshire polyhalite mine: Investors may lose money

Thousands of people who invested in a £4bn mining project may be left out of
pocket as a result of a takeover bid.

 

Up to 85,000 small investors sank cash into the Sirius Mineral development
near Whitby before it ran into financial difficulty last year.

 

Mining giant Anglo American has offered to buy the project for £405m, with
investors set to receive 5.5p a share.

 

The company said it was "sensitive to the fact that the price is lower than
what many people may have invested".

 

About 10,000 of the investors live near the mine, which would extract
polyhalite from beneath North York Moors National Park before transporting
it on an underground conveyor belt to a processing plant near the former
Redcar steelworks.

 

Scott Murphy, a "seasoned investor" from London, looks set to lose about
£12,000, but said his thoughts were with investors in the local area.

 

"A lot of them have no real investment experience," he said. "They're
'Ordinary Joes' who have been sold the dream and that's what I find
disgusting.

 

"I've got no excuse for losing my money and I accept it for what it is, but
many of these people are not going to get an opportunity to get their money
back."

 

The takeover of the Sirius Minerals project may secure jobs but there will
be dismay and anger behind the front doors of plenty of houses in North
Yorkshire and Teesside.

 

This scheme attracted a large number of small investors, individuals who saw
an opportunity to buy into a local project.

 

It was the talk of the area, a huge project to mine a valuable resource.
There was gold - well, polyhalite actually - in them there hills.

 

I remember going to a prospective investors meeting at Ravenscar several
years ago where there were dozens of people in their forties, fifties and
sixties, thinking of buying in to help their retirement.

 

It got under way and soon seemed too big to fail, but not, it seems, too big
to be taken over.

 

Now, anyone who bought shares for more than 5.5p each will be taking a hit.

 

The other side of the coin is the old argument that shares can go down as
well as up and perhaps you should not invest what you can't afford to lose.

 

But many investors had an altruistic take on getting involved; it was local,
some of them can literally see the project from their homes.

 

That view could now be a painful outlook instead of a pleasant one.

 

Shares in Sirius Minerals hit a high of about 45p in August 2016 and were
worth more than 22p a year ago.

 

But share prices dropped when Sirius Minerals slowed construction work at
the end of 2019 due to funding problems.

 

 

Sirius chairman Russell Scrimshaw said the company had searched for a
partner who would provide cash in return for a minority stake, but in the
end the full acquisition by Anglo American was the only "viable proposal".

 

The deal is subject to shareholder approval but the firm, which has its head
office in Scarborough, will recommend they accept Anglo American's offer.

 

Mr Scrimshaw said that if the offer was not approved then there was a high
probability Sirius could be placed into administration or liquidation within
weeks.

 

Mark Cutifani, the chief executive of Anglo American, said the company will
look at opportunities to improve the project but stressed "this process is
about preserving and creating jobs, not cutting them".

 

--BBC

 

 

 

India drags down IMF global economic growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday trimmed its 2020 global
growth forecasts - a revision it credits mostly to a sharper-than-expected
slowdown in India, and, in certain cases, intensifying social unrest.

 

On a more optimistic note, the international crisis lender says overall
risks are less tilted to the downside compared to October, thanks to
tentative signs that a slowdown in manufacturing activity is bottoming out,
a shift by central banks to lower borrowing costs (which is growth-boosting)
and sporadic "favorable" news on negotiations to resolve the trade war
between the United States and China.

 

The IMF said global growth would reach 3.3 percent in 2020, compared to 2.9
percent in 2019, which was the slowest pace since the financial crisis a
decade ago. Estimates for both years were cut by 0.1 percentage point from
forecasts made in October.

 

Growth will improve slightly to 3.4 percent in 2021, but that estimate, too,
was cut by 0.2 percentage point from October, said the Washington-based
international crisis lender.

 

The reductions reflect the IMF's reassessment of economic prospects for a
number of major emerging markets, notably India, where domestic demand has
slowed more sharply than expected amid a contraction of credit and stress in
the shadow banking sector.

 

The IMF also said it marked down growth forecasts for Chile due to social
unrest and for Mexico, due to a continued weakness in investment.

 

The Fund said that an easing of tensions between the US and China, which had
stunted economic growth in 2019, had boosted market sentiment, amid
"tentative" signs that trade and manufacturing activity were bottoming out.

 

"These early signs of stabilization could persist and eventually reinforce
the link between still-resilient consumer spending and improved business
spending," the IMF said. The fund has cited uncertainty over tariffs and its
negative effects on business investment as the biggest factor in limiting
growth.

 

"However, few signs of turning points are yet visible in global
macroeconomic data," the Fund added.

 

US-Iran tensions

The Fund's cautious outlook assumes that there are no additional flare-ups
in US-China trade tensions, and that the United Kingdom executes an orderly
exit from the European Union at the end of January.

 

The IMF upgraded China's 2020 growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point to 6.0
percent because the phase one trade deal between Washington and Beijing
included a partial tariff reduction and cancelled levies on Chinese consumer
goods that had been scheduled for December. These tariffs had been built
into the IMF's previous forecasts.

 

But the Fund did not give a boost to its US growth forecast despite China's
pledges to increase purchases of US goods and services by $200bn over two
years. Instead, the IMF said 2020 US growth would be 0.1 percentage point
lower than forecast in October, at 2.0 percent because of the fading
stimulus effects from US President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and the
Federal Reserve's monetary easing.

 

Eurozone growth also was marked down 0.1 percentage point from October, to
1.3 percent for 2020, largely due to a manufacturing contraction in Germany
and decelerating domestic demand in Spain.

 

India saw a sharp, 1.2 percentage point cut to its 2020 growth forecast to
5.8 percent, the IMF's biggest markdown for any emerging market, because of
the domestic credit crunch. Monetary and fiscal stimulus is expected to lift
India's growth rate back to 6.5 percent in 2021, although this is still 0.9
percentage point lower than forecast in October.

 

Other emerging markets saw forecast downgrades, the IMF said, including
Chile, which has been hit by social unrest. Mexico is predicted to grow just
1.0 percent in 2020, down from 1.3 percent forecast in October.

 

Although downside risks had diminished in the wake of the US-China trade
deal, the IMF said they were still considerable.

 

"Rising geopolitical tensions, notably between the United States and Iran,
could disrupt global oil supply, hurt sentiment and weaken already tentative
business investment," the IMF said. "Moreover, intensifying social unrest
across many countries - reflecting in some cases, the erosion of trust in
established institutions and lack of representation in governance structures
- could disrupt activity, complicate reform efforts and weaken sentiment,
dragging growth lower than projected."--aljazeera.com

 

 

 

In 2019 China’s Blockchain Startups Received Billions In Funding

China is vehemently anti-Bitcoin and anti-cryptocurrency. The country, which
used to be a hub for all things Bitcoin, started to disassociate itself from
the rising power in the decentralized cryptocurrency in 2017, when it banned
all domestic trading of Chinese yuan and other currencies for BTC, Ethereum,
and their ilk.

 

China doubled down on this stance over the past few months, with the
country’s central bank continuing to assert that firms dealing with
cryptocurrency would be “disposed of,” per one translation, and with other
reports indicating that companies dealing with Bitcoin were raided by police
or forced out of the country.

 

Not to mention, articles from state media Xinhua and People’s Daily asserted
that Bitcoin is a speculative “air coin” used in dark markets. 

 

Despite this crackdown on cryptocurrency, the country has been all for
blockchain, which some like to say is the “technology that underpins
Bitcoin.” And this has been evidenced by the country’s blockchain funding
numbers.

 

China is All For Blockchain

According to a report co-authored by both Xinhua Finance and Rhino Data, the
former being the financial news branch of one of China’s top state-run
media, Chinese blockchain startups bagged 245 investment and financing deals
in 2019.

 

These deals purportedly amounted to a sum of $3.5 billion in capital, which
is purportedly 50% lower than the invested sum for 2018 according to a
Decrypt Media translation.

 

The deals were purportedly focused on three main sectors in the blockchain
space:

 

Blockchain media and industry information

Digital asset exchanges (which can operate outside of China but be developed
within the country)

Decentralized finance (DeFi).

Cryptocurrency giant Binance, for instance, this year made a large deal with
Chinese blockchain information and news outlet Mars Finance, cementing the
trend aforementioned.

 

An especially interest part of the report read (per Google Translate): “The
financing enthusiasm in the blockchain sector picked up in
October-December.”

 

This seems to imply that President Xi Jinping’s comments lauding blockchain
as a “core technology” to the nation’s future success worked in catalyzing
the nation’s growing love for the technology, which it is seemingly
prioritizing alongside 5G and artificial intelligence.

 

Indeed, blockchain is so important that some of the nation’s largest
companies and organizations — including state-run commercial bank Bank of
China, TikTok operator ByteDance, and Baidu — have launched initiatives that
involve this technology.

 

Crypto Winter Hit Rest of the World Harder

China, compared to the Western world at least, saw a great year for
blockchain investment.

 

This data from Crunchbase published at the end of the third quarter of 2019
showed that the volume for “private funding & ICO events involving
blockchain and cryptocurrency companies” had fallen from $12.8 billion in
2018 to $3.38 billion in 2019 (year to date through August 30th), while
there were around one-third of the deals taking place.

 

(It isn’t clear of Crunchbase had access to all Chinese data, as the total
funding for Q1 to Q3 of 2019 was $3.38 billion, which is almost as much as
only Chinese blockchain startups received in funding for the entire year.

 

Regardless, this shows that Chinese blockchain firms fared relatively well
compared to their Western compatriots.)

 

 

Data from Crunchbase

This harrowing trend seems to have much to do with the collapse of altcoins
in 2019. Last year, Bitcoin dominance surged from 52% to over 70% at its
high as a majority of altcoins posted relative losses against BTC, as many
projects, especially those birthed in 2017, failed to deliver successful
products.

 

It isn’t clear whether or not blockchain funding will recover in
2020.--https://blockonomi.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Bindura Nickel Corporation

 

 

 


Padenga Holdings

 

 

 


Delta Corporation

 

 

 


Meikles Limited

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


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