Business

WASHINGTON — After two weeks of talks, the International Monetary fund (IMF) said on Friday it has advanced efforts to secure an aid programme to help Lebanon overcome its "unprecedented and complex" economic crisis, but more work is needed.

The country will need fiscal reforms that ensure it can manage its debt load as well as measures to establish a "credible" currency system, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement at the conclusion of its virtual negotiation mission.

"During the mission, progress was made in agreeing on these necessary reform areas, although more work is needed to translate them into concrete policies," IMF team leader Ernesto Ramirez Rigo said.

The Washington-based lender launched talks last month to pull the Middle Eastern country out of its deepening economic crisis.

In 2020, Lebanon defaulted on its sovereign debt for the first time in its history.

Its currency has lost about 90 per cent of its value on the black market and four out of five Lebanese now live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations, a situation made worse by triple-digit inflation.

Ramirez Rigo said "strong upfront actions will be necessary to start turning the economy around and rebuilding confidence".

He also urged that "decisive action by the authorities is needed to tackle the deep-seated problem of corruption".

But any programme must include a fiscal plan that "allows the government to invest in critically-needed social spending to support the people", he added.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week described the country's situation as "very, very dire" and said that a comprehensive programme was required.

FRANKFURT — German industrial company Siemens ploughed ahead in the first quarter, booking an increased net profit despite the supply chain disruptions which have troubled many businesses, it said on Thursday.

The group, which makes products ranging from trains to factory equipment, made a profit of 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) between September and December last year, up 20 per cent on the same period in 2020.

The company's revenues over the same period increased by 17 per cent to 16.5 billion euros, while its orders jumped 52 per cent to a value of 24.2 billion euros.

Siemens achieved the result "despite a continuing complex macroeconomic environment influenced by the coronavirus pandemic", the group said in a statement. 

Siemens had also avoided "major disruptions from increased supply chain risks", it said. 

Widespread bottlenecks -- affecting everything from raw materials like wood to key components like semiconductors -- have created a drag on industry and limited production.

"We had a very successful start into fiscal 2022," Siemens CEO Roland Busch said in a statement.

The Munich-based group's results "impressively demonstrate that we are a leader in accelerating digitalisation and sustainability," Busch said. 

Siemens, long a producer of heavy industrial equipment, has shifted its focus in recent years towards digital industries and the automation of factories.

The new strategy led Siemens to part ways with its energy subsidiary, which was introduced onto the stock market in 2020.

The group announced on Wednesday it was selling its mail and parcels business to fellow German group Koerber for 1.15 billion euros, as well as exiting its electric motors joint-venture with Valeo.

In January the group also sold its road signalling subsidiary for 950 million euros.

LONDON — Stock markets climbed on Wednesday on the eve of highly anticipated US inflation data, with sentiment buoyed by easing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Sentiment has also been bolstered by easing COVID restrictions in many countries, with London's FTSE 100 hitting a two-year high as tourism stocks have taken off.

Oil prices rebounded from losses the previous day as US data showed stocks fell when analysts had expected an increase.

Nevertheless, investors remain cautious before Thursday's critical US inflation print for January.

Forecasts are for another pop up from the four-decade-high seven per cent seen in December, while a big miss in either direction could have big consequences for markets.

'Markets could get jittery' 

"Inflation figures from the US ... will be a major influence on the direction of markets as the figures will be digested by the Federal Reserve in its next decision on whether to raise interest rates or not," said AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould.

"With expectations that inflationary pressures are going to get worse in the near-term, markets could get jittery as we approach the data release."

A higher reading will pile pressure on the Fed to embark on a more aggressive tightening campaign — but a weaker figure would temper those worries.

"The inflation data has continued to rise faster than many anticipated and we're now in a situation where central banks are racing to catch up and get to grips with price pressures," said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.

"Many still expect we'll see an orderly return to inflation targets over the forecast horizon with moderate rate increases but the risk of inaction becomes far greater than the alternative."

With speculation swirling over the Fed's plans to battle soaring prices, global equities have fluctuated wildly since the start of the year as traders try to position themselves for a series of interest rate hikes that are likely to begin in March.

The prospect of the removal of cheap cash — which has pushed markets to record or multi-year highs — has particularly hit tech firms as they are more susceptible to higher rates.

However, the sector helped New York's three main indexes to healthy gains on Tuesday, and Asia followed suit.

Hong Kong led the way, jumping more than two per cent thanks to a 6.8 per cent surge in market heavyweight Alibaba after Japan's SoftBank allayed fears it was planning to offload some of its huge holdings in the e-commerce giant.

Earlier, Alibaba had taken a hit on speculation about the share sale, which compounded the Chinese firm's woes after suffering hefty losses owing to Beijing's crackdown on the tech sector.

Europe followed Asia's lead higher, with both Frankfurt and Paris posting climbing 1.6 per cent.

Wall Street also pushed higher, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbing over one per cent.

"Stocks have experienced a lot of volatility in recent weeks due to worries about the Federal Reserve potentially hiking rates, and rising political tensions in Eastern Europe," said market analyst David Madden at Equiti Capital.

"But the fear factor surrounding those potential outcomes has declined, hence why we are seeing indices drive higher again."

TOKYO — Nissan on Tuesday hiked its annual net profit forecast again on strong interim results, aiming to weather the global chip crunch as it shifts focus to electric vehicles.

The Japanese car company’s earnings have been boosted by a weaker yen, but the semiconductor shortage has hit its production figures and analysts warn the chip crisis may take longer than expected to resolve.

"Given the unpredictable environment surrounding us, we are approaching a period ahead of us with cautious optimism," Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta told reporters.

With global demand for cars currently sky-high, "our problem isn't how many we want to sell. Our problem is how many we can produce", he said.

Nissan now expects an annual net profit to March 2022 of 205 billion yen ($1.77 billion), having already tripled its yearly profit outlook in November to 180 billion yen.

The automaker, which has faced a series of trials in recent years including weak demand and fallout from the arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn, said its cost-cutting recovery plan had improved the profitability of its sales.

The "ongoing depreciation of the yen and a review of the impact of rising raw material prices" will also help it reach its targets, Nissan said in a statement.

It still aims to sell 3.8 million vehicles by the end of March — a target earlier revised down from 4.4 million — as the chip shortage and the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant continue to impact plant operations.

Electric vehicles 

Nissan reported a net profit of 201.3 billion yen in April-December 2021, compared with a net loss of 367.7 billion yen in the same period the previous year, when virus lockdowns hit the auto industry hard.

It also saw a year-on-year increase in revenue during the nine-month period, although revenue in the third quarter was slightly down at 2.2 trillion yen.

Nissan said its nine-month results were boosted by "favourable market conditions in the United States" and improvement in the quality of sales across the board.

This created "a significant increase in net revenue per unit of major, new models", while strict financial discipline also helped hike profits.

Satoru Takada, an auto analyst at research and consulting firm TIW, said ahead of Tuesday's results that a good sales environment had allowed Nissan to avoid big discounts.

"What remains to be seen is whether it can stay competitive in the long run, especially once rival companies start using more incentives," he said.

But Takada warned that the semiconductor situation "might take longer than expected" to improve as companies in different industries compete for the essential components.

Last month, Nissan and its alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi Motors pledged to boost cooperation as they plough more than $25 billion into the development of electric vehicles over the next five years.

Major global carmakers are increasingly prioritising electric and hybrid vehicles as concern about climate change grows.

Some of the headline figures had already been announced by each company, but it marks the first concrete target set collectively by the trio since the reorganisation of top executives at Nissan and France's Renault.

That restructuring was triggered by the saga surrounding the 2018 arrest of Ghosn, which exposed rifts in the alliance.

JAKARTA — Indonesia's economy returned to growth last year as surging commodity prices helped drive a recovery from a coronavirus-triggered recession, data showed on Monday, though officials warned the outlook depended on how well the fast-spreading Omicron variant is managed.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy expanded 3.69 per cent on-year, the country's statistics agency said, having contracted in 2020 for the first time since 1998 during the region's financial crisis.

The healthy rebound came largely on the back of declining coronavirus cases and robust exports, as prices for key commodities such as palm oil, coal and nickel rose significantly, Central Statistics Bureau head Margo Yuwono told a news conference.

In an optimistic sign, the economy grew a forecast-beating 5.02 per cent on-year in the final three months.

"We hope the momentum of the economic recovery will be maintained in 2022 as long as we all agree that health protocols are critical so daily cases will decline and mobility will get better," Yuwono said.

The country's trade surplus for 2021 reached $35.34 billion, its highest in 15 years, the statistics agency reported earlier.

Indonesia was hit hard in July as the Delta variant swept the country, forcing the government to impose tighter social-distancing restrictions that hobbled businesses.

A subsequent easing of those restrictions as cases declined in the fourth quarter allowed for a bounceback in some sectors, including transportation.

But daily caseloads are once again surging owing to Omicron, with the country reporting 30,000 cases a day compared with fewer than 1,000 in December, forcing officials to reimpose containment measures in Jakarta, Bandung and Bali.

The government expects daily cases to peak by late February or early March.

Despite worries over Omicron, the Central Bank of Indonesia has projected the economy to grow 4.7-5.5 per cent this year, while the International Monetary Fund has projected a 5.6 per cent expansion in 2022 and 6 per cent in 2023.

LONDON — Britain on Friday ordered Facebook parent Meta to pay another £1.5 million for breaching regulatory rules over its acquisition of animated graphics startup Giphy.

The Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement that Meta had failed to alert the regulator in advance of three key staff leaving Giphy as it probed the transaction.

The penalty, equivalent to $2 million or 1.8 million euros, comes after the CMA had already fined the group £50.5 million last October for failing to supply information linked to the deal.

"This is not the first time Meta failed to inform the CMA of staff changes at the appropriate time, having failed to do so multiple times in 2021," the watchdog said on Friday.

The penalty took into account the "nature and gravity of the breach in question".

In reaction, Meta said it would pay up — but described the fine as "problematic".

"We are disappointed by the CMA's decision to fine us because of the voluntary departure of US-based employees," said a company spokesperson.

"We intend to pay the fine, but it is problematic that the CMA can take decisions that could directly impact the rights of our US employees protected under US law."

Meta had announced the purchase of Giphy — a platform and search engine for "stickers" and other products using the graphics interchange format or GIFs — for a reported $400 million in May 2020.

The CMA then launched an investigation into the proposed acquisition one month later.

The British watchdog then ordered Meta to sell Giphy in November 2021, ruling the deal would harm competition and advertising.

However, Meta is appealing this verdict in a hearing due at the end of April.

FRANKFURT — Sales of German cars rose year-on-year in January, official figures published on Thursday showed, after the flagship industry was plagued by supply problems in 2021.

New car registrations were up 8.5 per cent in January in Europe's largest economy, the federal transport agency said in a statement.

"The car industry has little grounds at the beginning of the year to breathe," the president of the VDIK car importers' federation, Reinhard Zirpel, said in a statement.

The numbers were rosier than those for December, when sales fell by 26.9 per cent year-on-year, but "the market was still a way off its pre-crisis level in January", Zirpel said.

In 2021, sales fell by 10.1 per cent in Germany as a shortage of semiconductors, a key component in both conventional and electric vehicles, strangled production. 

The result followed a drop of 19 per cent in 2020, when the industry was contending with the economic impact of lockdowns at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sales of electric cars out-performed the market as a whole, with sales increasing 28.1 per cent on January last year.

After seven months in a row in which production figures fell by double digits, car manufacturers turned out 8 per cent more units in January this year than in 2021, the auto industry association VDA said.

Survey data from the "Ifo Institut" think tank also showed that auto businesses saw the supply situation improving. 

In January, 77.9 per cent reported problems procuring materials and components, down from 92.9 per cent in the same survey in December.