Saudi Arabia bans poultry imports from India over bird flu

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has temporarily banned imports of live birds, hatching eggs and chicks from India after a form of bird flu that is highly lethal for poultry was found in the south Asian country, the Saudi agriculture ministry said on Thursday.

In January, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said, citing a report from the Indian agriculture ministry, that India had reported an outbreak of a highly contagious bird flu virus near Bengaluru in the southern state of Karnataka.

The Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture said in a statement that its ban was issued in accordance with the warning released by the Paris-based OIE, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

According to OIE report, posted on its website, the H5N8 virus was detected on Dec. 26 among birds in the village of Dasarahalli, killing nine out of 951 birds. The others were culled. No details were given on the type of birds involved.

Rarest White Diamond Ever To Be Sold in London

LONDON: A flawless diamond, the size of a large strawberry, is expected to fetch a world record price when it comes to market at Sotheby’s in London this month.

Weighing just over 102 carats, the round, brilliant white stone is smaller than a 118-carat oval diamond sold in Hong Kong in 2013, which currently holds the record price per carat.

But Sotheby‘s, which also handled that Hong Kong sale, expects the smaller stone’s rarity and high quality will see it attract an even higher price.

“That (stone sold in Hong Kong) fetched $260,000 a carat, currently the world record for any colourless diamond. This one being a round brilliant cut - the asking price will be north of that,” Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby’s Diamonds told Reuters.

The diamond is the only stone over 100 carats to have been given the highest grades in every criteria by the Gemological Institute of America, which judges a precious stone’s quality, Sotheby’s said.

It has not disclosed the asking price for the stone, which will be sold in a private sale.

State Bank of Pakistan maintains interest rate at 5.75%

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan held its main policy interest rate steady at 5.75 percent on Saturday, the bank's new governor said, citing low inflation expectations and the gathering pace of economic activity.

Tariq Bajwa, who was appointed earlier this month, said the economy was in an "expansionary phase" and added the balance of payments issues that have dogged Pakistan in the past will be kept under control.

The SBP Governor said the national economy was undergoing expansion given the rise in fiscal activity. He added the service sector has grown by 6%, while there has been a significant improvement on the construction front.

However, the rate of inflation is expected to rise to 5.5% from 4.5%.

The announcement has been made after a meeting of SBP's Monetary Policy Committee members.  During the meeting, the committee had discussed there was no margin left to lower the interest rate.

The interest rate has been at 5.75% since 2016.

IMF sees lower growth rate for Pakistan in 2017

DUBAI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook update on Monday projected slower growth rate for Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries in Middle East and North Africa regions.

The economic growth is forecast to slow considerably over oil prices as the Saudi economy slides, the report said.

After a better than expected performance with five percent growth in 2016, the economies of countries in the Middle East and North Africa as well as Pakistan and Afghanistan will subside to just 2.6 percent growth this year, it said.

Last year´s healthy regional economic performance was mainly attributed to Iran´s strong growth estimated at above 6.5 percent because of higher crude production, the IMF said.

In its WEO update, the IMF lowered economic growth of Saudi Arabia, the world´s top oil exporter, to just 0.1 percent in 2017, down 0.3 percent on its April projections.

This will be Saudi Arabia´s worst growth since 2009 when its economy contracted by 2.0 percent on the slump of oil revenues following the global financial crisis.

"The recent decline in oil prices, if sustained, could weigh further on the outlook for the region´s oil exporters," the IMF said.

After recovering to over $55 a barrel following a production reduction agreement by producers, oil prices receded on strong inventory levels and a pickup in supply.

The IMF projected that regional growth will rebound to 3.3 percent in 2018, however.

Saudi economic growth is also forecast to rebound to 1.1 percent next year, down 0.2 percentage points on April projections, it said.

Saudi Arabia´s economy, the largest in the region, grew by 4.1 percent and 1.7 percent in 2015 and last year respectively.

MENA oil exporters have lost hundreds of billions of dollars since the mid-2014 crash in crude prices, transforming huge surpluses into shortfalls.

They have since implemented some economic reforms that have included raising fuel and power prices.

Gulf states, which earn more than 70 percent of their revenue from energy, have been posting budget deficits since oil prices fell.

BMW to manufacture electric Mini in Britain

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: German luxury car manufacturer BMW said Tuesday it will build a future all-electric version of its Mini in Britain, easing fears that it might move production away after Brexit.

Electric drive trains will be built at two plants in Bavaria "before being integrated into the car at Plant Oxford, which is the main production location for the Mini 3 door model," the group said in a statement.

BMW chief executive Harald Krueger had issued what sounded like a veiled warning at the Munich-based firm´s annual general meeting in May.

Brussels and London should show "pragmatism" in Brexit talks to avoid pitfalls that could harm industry, he said.

BMW had other production facilities on the Continent that could take on Mini production, he added.

The car industry encapsulates many of the challenges the UK must address as it seeks to disentangle itself from 40 years of EU membership and strike a new trade deal before the March 2019 cutoff date.

As well as the potential for high tariffs on finished cars crossing a future UK-EU border, leaving the EU could also disrupt supply chains that see components crossing borders many times for different production processes before being built into vehicles.

Investment in Britain´s automobile sector fell in 2016 to less than £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion, 1.9 billion euros) from 2.5 billion in previous years.

Trump says Apple promised three new US plants: report

SAN FRANCISCO: The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported that US President Donald Trump said Apple has promised to expand manufacturing at home with three new US plants.

The Journal quoted Trump as saying that Apple chief executive Tim Cook committed to building "three big plants," in the United States.

No details were provided, and Apple did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

Cook in May announced the creation of an Apple fund to get more people in the US to do "advanced manufacturing," kicking it off with a billion dollars.

Apple building plants in the United States would come as rare common ground with Trump.

Cook has pointed out that Apple spent more than $50 billion in the United States last year -- buying from suppliers such as Corning Glass, working with developers behind applications for the California company´s devices and more.

Apple has about 80,000 employees in the US and plans to hire thousands more "in the future," according to Cook.

It is a sign of Apple´s success but also a thorny problem: a cash stockpile topping a quarter of a trillion dollars, sparking debate on what do with such massive reserves.

The tech giant has resisted the idea of bringing the cash home, because the US tax code allows multinational firms to defer profits while they are held overseas but taxes income at up to 35 percent when repatriated.

Trump vowed while campaigning that he would force Apple to bring production to US soil.

Apple is not in the same position as automakers which relocated US factories overseas to cut costs, IHS manufacturing processes chief analyst Dan Panzica told AFP earlier this year. Apple never moved jobs offshore, it created them there.

"The Apple jobs were never here," Panzica said.

"The entire supply chain grew in China."

Apple benefits in Asia from a network that goes beyond subcontractors assembling smartphones, tablets or laptops. The firm relies on a dense ecosystem of companies that make components and spare parts for its devices as well.

China also offers sources of important raw materials, along with cheap, flexible and abundant labor to keep iPhone assembly lines cranking along.

It would be challenging to replicate that situation with US workers without using more robotics, undermining the political aim of creating jobs here, according to some analysts.

Moving iPhone manufacturing to the US would also likely push up costs, which is not in Apple´s interests.

It was seen as more likely that Apple would make a symbolic move to appease Washington, such as investing more in making Mac Pro computers here, or in a facility for higher-priced, limited-edition devices such as an "anniversary edition iPhone" to mark the handset´s 10th birthday this year.