Business

AMMAN — The 14th International Machinery and Electromechanical Exhibition (JIMEX) held along with the Solar Near East Exhibition (SONEX) will open on Monday at the Amman Motor Show, according to a statement of the organisers.

JIMEX is considered an important industrial, engineering and trading platform, targeting markets of near east countries.

It covers infrastructure sectors, different industries, energy, electricity, automation, water, contracting and consultancy services, while SONEX focuses on solar and renewable energy, according to the statement. Both events are organised with the support of Jordan Engineers Association and national / international energy and industrial organisations and institutes.

Renewable energy and industry digitalisation are major topics in the event.  This year’s exhibitors are from different countries, including China, Taiwan, Turkey, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

PARIS — French carmaker Renault on Saturday said it had been hit by the wave of cyber attacks sweeping the globe, forcing it to shut down production at several sites to keep the virus from spreading.

“We have been affected,” a spokeswoman told AFP, saying they were assessing the situation to try to find a solution. “Work is going on since last night. We are doing what is needed to counter this attack.”

The attack prompted Renault to stop production at several sites in France, part of measures being taken to stop the virus from spreading.

It did not identify the sites, but a union source said the factory at Sandouville in northern Normandy was one of the main sites affected.

A spokesman at the site, whose 3,400 employees normally produce about 640 utility vehicles a day, confirmed it had been a victim of the cyberattack.

“Production was affected overnight but luckily there was no full production scheduled for this weekend, only some ‘stamping’ operations,” he said.

Teams were working on the problem, and he estimated that work would resume on Monday morning.

Another factory that was hit, at Douai, also in northern France, was not paralysed because operations were halted for the weekend, but teams were working to evaluate the extent of the breach, a plant official said.

 ‘Bad surprises’ 

Car production was also halted in Slovenia after computers at the headquarters of Renault’s Revoz subsidiary in Novo Mesto were affected, a spokeswoman told AFP. 

“We can confirm that on Friday, May 12, some problems occurred on certain parts of Revoz’s information system that led to the halting of production during the night,” the spokeswoman said. 

Production remained suspended Saturday, she added.

Renault also said malfunctioning IT systems had led it to curtail activity at a plant operated by its Dacia subsidiary in Mioveni, Romania, that it was forced to send many employees home on Saturday.

Renault is the first French company to confirm it has been affected by Friday’s wave of cyberattacks, which apparently exploited a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

France’s ANSSI digital security agency said that for the moment, it knew of no other French victims of the attack.

But the agency’s director, Guillaume Poupart, told AFP there were probably others who would discover breaches in the coming hours or days.

“There’s a fear that, on Monday morning especially, we’ll have some bad surprises when people turn on their computers,” he said.

CAIRO — In his workshop near Cairo’s pyramids, Ahmed Saeed Omar has manufactured a mini four-wheeled vehicle that he hopes will fill a gap in the market.

Omar’s “mini car”, a rectangular vehicle made of a solid steel body which seats up to six people, is cheaper than the widely-used imported auto rickshaw — not much more than a covered three-wheel scooter with a passenger bench — because it is almost entirely locally produced.

Prices of imported products have soared since Egypt devalued its currency in November as part of measures to stimulate the economy. 

A rickshaw can cost around 38,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,105) and has a 175cc engine, while Omar’s mini car costs 34,000 pounds and has 300cc engine.

“This is a better alternative to the [rickshaw], more cost-efficient and more spacious,” Omar, aged 35, told Reuters.

Three-wheeled rickshaws are widespread in many Egyptian cities, usually in neighbourhoods with narrow alleyways, and are mostly imported from India.

Since the cost of imports has soared, Omar thinks there may be market for his design.

“The cars are in some showrooms and people have bought them,” he said. “There is demand.” 

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit dropped by 71 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the government said on Thursday, after spending cuts and a major rebound in oil revenues.

The world’s top crude exporter has made an aggressive push to diversify its traditionally oil-dependent economy after the drop in global prices since 2014 slashed its revenues. 

Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan on Thursday said the deficit had dropped to 26 billion Saudi riyals ($6.93 billion) in the first three months of the 2017 fiscal year. 

Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit was initially projected at $53 billion for the whole year, after an even bigger deficit last year that prompted subsidy cuts, delays in projects and a temporary government salary freeze. 

“This is a very encouraging figure and clearly reflects our aim to achieve a balanced budget in 2020,” Jadaan said. 

This is the first time that Saudi Arabia has released budget figures on a quarterly basis, a measure it says is aimed at boosting transparency.

Total revenues for the first quarter were at 144.076 billion riyals ($38.41 billion), an increase of 72 per cent from the same quarter last year.

Oil revenues were notably up in the first quarter at 112 billion riyals ($29.86 billion) with a growth rate of 115 per cent from the same quarter last year, driven by a hike in crude prices in international markets.

Non-oil revenues for the first quarter were reported at 32 billion riyals ($8.53 billion), a 1 per cent increase from the same quarter last year.

Expenditure stood at 170 billion riyals ($45.3 billion) for the first quarter of this year, down 3 per cent from the corresponding period last year.

Expenditure is projected at $237 billion for this year, down from $260 billion last year. 

The Saudi government last year announced a sweeping “Vision 2030” plan aimed at developing its industrial and investment base and boosting small- and medium-sized businesses in a bid to create more jobs for Saudis and reduce reliance on oil revenue.

The plan also aims to include more women in the workforce in Saudi Arabia, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women. It is the only country where women are not allowed to drive.

In September, the country froze salaries and reduced benefits for civil servants — who comprise the bulk of the workforce — as part of a package of austerity measures. 

King Salman revoked the measures in a royal decree last month.

High on the diversification agenda is the kingdom’s plan to sell some 5 per cent of state oil giant Aramco to private owners next year.

Saudi Arabia has also announced foreigners would no longer be allowed to work in Saudi Arabia’s numerous shopping malls, in a measure to boost employment of Saudis.

About nine million foreigners worked in the kingdom at the end of 2015, the most recent official figures available. 

CAIRO — Egypt’s inflation rose to a three-decade high in April, piling pressure on the government to keep a lid on prices as it embarks on politically sensitive economic reforms likely to push them higher.

Import-dependent Egypt has been hit by soaring inflation since it floated its currency in November, allowing it to roughly halve in value. The float marked the opening salvo in a three-year, $12 billion International Monetary Fund reform programme that includes tax hikes and subsidy cuts.

Annual urban inflation rose in April to 31.5 per cent from 30.9 per cent in March, the official statistics agency, CAPMAS, said. That was the highest since June 30, 1986, when it reached 35.1 per cent, according to Reuters data.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like food, decreased marginally to 32.06 per cent in April from 32.25 per cent in March.

Rising prices present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and his government, which have pledged to push ahead with sensitive austerity measures like fuel and electricity price hikes.

Food prices have spiked, rising by 43.6 per cent year-on-year in April ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, when demand peaks because of heavy consumption following dawn-to-dusk fasting.

On Tuesday the government allocated 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($55 million) in subsidies to ease Ramadan food purchases.

“Everything is so expensive. We can’t afford to eat. I don’t know what to buy,” said Baheega Mostafa, a housewife shopping for food. “I voted for Sisi. Unfortunately. I regret it very much.”

Though month-on-month inflation has eased in recent months, suggesting the worst of the price rises has passed, yearly inflation above 30 per cent has confounded expectations and sown uncertainty into Egypt’s economic reforms, analysts said.

“The higher inflation comes contrary to what the ministry of finance, the prime minister and the IMF was expecting — that inflation should cool down so they would be ready for some kind of subsidy cuts starting in July,” said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage in Cairo.

An IMF delegation is in Cairo to review Egypt’s progress with the reforms, a condition for disbursing a second instalment of the loan programme, expected in June.

The fund said this month that lowering inflation is key to keeping the country’s economic reforms on track, but how Egypt can rein in prices remains uncertain.

The IMF has suggested that raising central bank rates could help bring down inflation, but analysts say lending activity has already slowed since Egypt hiked rates 300 basis points after the float, and further tightening could sap economic activity.

The central bank’s monetary policy committee is due to meet on May 21 to discuss interest rates.

KUWAIT CITY — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday his country's trade with the energy-rich Gulf had yet to reach its full potential, as he visited a region where Ankara aims to strengthen ties.

"We want to develop trade volume with the Gulf states, which last year reached $17.4 billion [15.9 billion euros]," Erdogan said in Kuwait.

"Compared with the potential we have, this size is below the required level," the Turkish leader said. 

Negotiations between Ankara and the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are under way for a free trade agreement.

The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Erdogan, who told reporters he was happy with his government's political ties with the GCC, had previously said he aims to boost cooperation in the economic and defence sectors.

The Turkish president arrived in Kuwait on Tuesday to lay the foundation stone for an airport terminal project awarded to Turkish firm Limak Holding and a local partner, Al Kharafi International.

The expansion of Kuwait International Airport will triple capacity to 25 million passengers a year, and is the largest contract to date for a Turkish company in the Gulf state.

The new terminal was initially scheduled to be completed within six years, but Limak Chairman Nihat Ozdemir predicted it may be done within four years.

The project is part of an $8.2 billion (7.5 billion euros) strategic development plan for the Kuwait airport that also includes a new runway, a control tower and a smaller passenger terminal, civil aviation chief Sheikh Salman Humoud Al Sabah said. 

The development plan is expected to be completed in 2020.

Turkish firms have been involved in projects worth a total of $6.5 billion (5.9 billion euros) in Kuwait.

Turkish companies have been awarded around $51 billion (46.79 billion euros) of contracts across the GCC over the past 14 years, Erdogan said.

 TUNIS — Protests over jobs and development in southern and central Tunisia have halted production or shut fields of two foreign energy companies, local radio and companies said on Monday, in a new challenge to Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.

Tunisia is only a small oil and gas producer compared to its OPEC neighbours Libya and Algeria, but protesters targeting energy output have erupted at a sensitive time as Chahed's government tries to enact austerity reforms.

State-run Tataouine radio and Mosaique FM radio said sit-ins halted production at energy company Perenco's Baguel and Tarfa fields, which are joint ventures for gas and condensate output, according to the Perenco company website.

A Perenco spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for Canada-based Serinus Energy said by e-mail that its Chouech Essaida field in southern Tunisia had been shut-in since February 28 due to labour and social unrest.

Protests have centred in southern Tataouine province where Italy's ENI and Austrian firm OMV have mainly gas operations, but have also started to emerge in central Kebili region.

Since its 2011 uprising brought democracy to Tunisia, successive governments have struggled with social unrest in the south and central provinces where unemployed youth feel they have been left out of the economic benefits of the revolution.

In Tatouine region, a group of demonstrators has camped out for several weeks in the Sahara desert and threatened to blockade roads used by oil and gas companies unless they see more jobs and a share in the region's energy riches.

OMV said last week it had demobilised around 700 non-essential staff and contractors from its southern Tunisia operations as a precaution. But it said production had not been affected.

ENI did not give details on Monday about any impact on its operations.

Tunisia's Energy Minister Hela Chikhrouhou told a conference on Tuesday that total oil production fell to 44,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 100,000 bpd in 2010 because of protests and low investment due to a lack of energy legislation.

Oil revenues fell from 3 billion Tunisian dinars ($1.24 billion) in 2010 to 1 billion Tunisian dinars ($413.96 million) in 2016, the minister said.

In the past, Tunisian protesters targeted the state-run phosphate business, where production falls since 2011 caused about $2 billion in losses. Output in phosphate — a key source of foreign income — has risen this year after agreements were reached with protesters.

The revival of the state-run phosphate production will help the North African country's economic growth, which also suffered from a decline in revenues from the tourism sector after major militant attacks in 2015.

ATHENS — Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens to protest against plans to increase Sunday trading hours in a rally organised by unions and communist groups. 

Sunday's demonstration largely drew members of the PAME communist labour union alongside others representing small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) who oppose reforms demanded by Greece's international creditors. 

Demonstrators rallied in the city centre carrying flags and banners in Greek reading "Never work on Sunday," an AFP correspondent said. 

Shops in Greece are currently compelled to open on the first Sunday of every month in a step imposed three years ago by the country's creditors.

The reform would increase the number of Sundays from 12 times a year to 30.

Extending Sunday trading is one of a list of demands by the creditors, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which are among the measures that must be approved by the Greek parliament by mid-May. 

Unions have called a 24-hour general strike on May 17 to protest against the new measures, whose adoption is a prerequisite for unblocking a new seven-million-euro ($7.7 million) tranche of loans that Athens needs to meet its debt repayment schedule in July. 

Deregulation has been at the heart of the "reforms" demanded by Greece's creditors since the explosion of the country's debt crisis in 2010, with the aim of boosting growth. 

Following an unprecedented six-year recession, the Greek economy is still struggling to recover with growth flat in 2016. 

For 2017, the European Commission has revised down its growth projections for Greece, from 2.7 per cent to 2 per cent.

PARIS — French bank Societe Generale said on Thursday that net profits were hit in the first quarter by a provision covering the settlement of a long-running legal dispute with Libya’s sovereign fund.

Societe Generale said in a statement that its net profit fell by 19.2 per cent to 747 million euros ($813 million) in the period from January to March, short of analysts’ expectations. 

The decline was largely attributable to a 350-million-euro provision to settle litigation with the Libyan Investment Authority(LIA), the bank explained. 

Societe Generale and the LIA said on Thursday they had signed “a confidential settlement agreement that resolves all matters between both parties concerning five financial transactions entered into between 2007 and 2009”.

The LIA sued the French bank at the end of 2014 for $1.5 billion for allegedly channelling bribes to allies of Muammar Qadhafi’s son, and the case had been about to go to court in Britain.

While the terms of the settlement remained confidential, Societe Generale said it “regretted... the lack of caution of some of its employees” and it “apologised” to the LIA. 

The settlement totalled 963 million euros.

On an underlying level, the latest charge did not affect the bank’s operating performance, Societe Generale said. 

Revenues, or net banking income, increased by 4.8 per cent to 6.47 billion euros. 

Neither did it diminish the bank’s capital buffers, with the core capital ratio increasing by 10 basis points to 11.6 per cent, the statement said. 

“Once again, Societe Generale has demonstrated the quality of its diversified and integrated banking model, with a good performance in all its businesses,” said Chief Executive Frederic Oudea.