India's growth slowed due to demonetisation, GST: Donald Trump administration

Agencies
February 22, 2018

Washington, Feb 22: America's bilateral trade deficit with four major countries, including India, narrowed in the first three quarters of 2017 as compared to the previous year, the US administration said in a report according to which India's growth has slowed due to the effects of its structural economic reforms.

The Economic Report of the President (ERP) that shows a path for continued growth and paints a rosy picture for the American economy, alleges that countries, including India and Brazil - both GATT signatories since 1948 - have been far less open, preserving high bound rates and avoiding universal binding coverage.

"Growth in India has slowed due to the effects of its structural economic reforms. India's demonetisation of large-denomination notes in November 2016 invalidated 86 per cent of the cash in circulation in an economy where more than 90 per cent of transactions were cash-based," it said.

"The introduction in July 2017 of a single, country-wide sales tax replaced a vast number of different state and local tax rates, and has created short-term uncertainty," the report noted.

The report expressed concern over increasing share of non-performing loans (NPLs) in India's banking sector, which it said poses further risks.

According to country-sourced statistics provided to the IMF, NPLs as a share of all loans (i.E. NPL slippage ratio) in India stood at 9.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, compared with 1.7 per cent in China (IMF 2017).

"NPLs have increased at an alarming rate in recent years, with the current NPL slippage ratio in India almost double that in FY 2014/15 (IMF 2017b). Public sector banks, with the State Bank of India as a leading example, account for the lion's share of NPLs in the banking sector," it said.

The Reserve Bank of India predicts that gross NPLs as a proportion of all loans will increase to 10.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, and to 11. 1 per cent by September 2018.

"However, the stress of India's banking sector may be ameliorated in the future, given that the government recently announced a USD 32.4 billion package to recapitalise publicly- owned banks," the report said.

Noting that India has been the most frequent user of anti-dumping measures, the White House said delays in the approval of agricultural products derived from biotechnology in China, the EU, India, and other countries result in increased market uncertainty among technology providers, farmers, and traders of US corn, soy, cotton, and alfalfa—leading to reduced exports of these products.

The Trump administration also blamed India for not implementing the WTO ruling on poultry.

"India has failed to revise its requirements for poultry in a manner that would allow for US imports, and the case continues to be litigated in the WTO," it said.

"Since 2007, India has restricted various US agricultural products, including poultry meat, eggs, and live pigs, supposedly to prevent the entry of avian influenza into India," the report said.

The US has maintained that no scientific basis supports the ban.

In March 2012, the US initiated a WTO dispute by requesting consultations with India.

In emerging and developing economies, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, and certain other countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, strengthening the external environment continues to help output growth recover.

"There are, however, certain risks to future growth. As monetary policy normalises with higher interest rates in advanced economies, emerging and developing economies could face an outflow of capital," it said.

"Financial stability risks are also increasing due to the increase in nonperforming loans on the private sector balance sheets of two of the biggest and fastest-growing emerging market economies - China and India. Credit growth in China has arguably also become excessive, as it continues to shift from growth led by exports and investment to an economy led by internal demand," it said.

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News Network
April 4,2020

Madrid, Apr 4: Spain recorded a second successive daily drop in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities, official figures showed Saturday.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy. A record 950 people died on Thursday.

The number of new cases also slowed at 7,026, taking the total to 124,736.

Recoveries over the last 24 hours stood at 3,706, taking that total to 34,219.

The Madrid region was the worst affected accounting for 40 percent of the deaths, 4,723, and 29 percent of the cases at 36,249. The northeastern region of Catalonia was in second place with 2,508 deaths.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to decide whether to prolong the emergency measures and confinement declared on March 14 for another two weeks in order to get on top of the outbreak.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Stockholm, Jun 15: Nuclear powers continue to modernise their arsenals, researchers said Monday, warning that tensions were rising and the outlook for arms control was "bleak".

"The loss of key channels of communication between Russia and the USA... could potentially lead to a new nuclear arms race," said Shannon Kile, director of the nuclear arms control programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and co-author of the report.

Russia and the US account for more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.

Kile was referring to the future of the New START treaty between the US and Russia, which is set to expire in February 2021.

It is the final nuclear deal still in force between the two superpowers, aimed at maintaining their nuclear arsenals below Cold War levels.

"Discussions to extend New START or to negotiate a new treaty made no progress in 2019," the SIPRI researchers noted.

At the same time, nuclear powers continue to modernise their weapons while China and India are increasing the size of their arsenals.

"China is in the middle of a significant modernisation of its nuclear arsenal. It is developing a so-called nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land- and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft," SIPRI said.

The country has repeatedly rejected Washington's insistence that it join any future nuclear arms reduction talks.

The number of nuclear warheads declined in the past year.

At the start of 2020, the United States, Russia, Britain, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea together had 13,400 nuclear arms, according to SIPRI's estimates, 465 fewer than at the start of 2019.

The decline was attributed mainly to the United States and Russia.

While the future of the New START treaty remains uncertain, Washington and Moscow have continued to respect their obligations under the accord.

"In 2019, the forces of both countries remained below the limits specified by the treaty," the report said. But both nations "have extensive and expensive programmes underway to replace and modernise their nuclear warheads, missile and aircraft delivery systems, and nuclear weapon production facilities," it added.

"Both countries have also given new or expanded roles to nuclear weapons in their military plans and doctrines, which marks a significant reversal of the post-Cold War trend towards the gradual marginalisation of nuclear weapons."

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The number of nuclear arms worldwide has declined since hitting a peak of almost 70,000 in the mid-1980s.

The five original nuclear powers -- Washington, Beijing, Moscow, Paris and London -- in March reiterated their commitment to the treaty.

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Agencies
July 22,2020

Houston, Jul 22: China said on Wednesday that the US has ordered it to close its consulate in Houston in what an official called an outrageous and unjustified move that will sabotage China-US relations.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin condemned the action, which comes as tensions rise between the world's two largest economies. He warned of firm countermeasures if the US does not reverse its decision.

The unilateral closure of China's consulate general in Houston within a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against China, Wang said at a daily news briefing.

There was no immediate confirmation or explanation from the U.S. side.

Media reports in Houston said that authorities had responded to reports of a fire at the consulate. Witnesses said that people were burning paper in what appeared to be trash cans, the Houston Chronicle reported, citing police.

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