Business

TEHRAN — Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday said the United States must take concrete steps to encourage investors to engage with Tehran.

The Iranian official made the statement one day after Western powers said they backed legal business with Iran.

"More serious and concrete actions must be taken by the US in this regard," Zarif said at a press conference with his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully.

"Obstacles in the past decade on economic cooperations between Iran and other countries were created due to hostile American policies and sanctions," he said, according to the website of Iran's state television.

International sanctions related to Iran's nuclear programme were lifted under a nuclear deal that was signed last year and implemented in January.

The United States has maintained its sanctions targeting Tehran's alleged sponsorship of armed movements in the Middle East and its ballistic missile programme.

European banks, which often have subsidiaries on US soil, have therefore been slow to resume business with Iran, fearing prosecution in the United States.

On Friday, a joint statement by the United States, the European Union, France, Britain and Germany said foreign banks and businesses should not hold back from conducting legal business with Iran.

The governor of Iran's central bank, Valiollah Seif, has also called on Western powers to comply with the terms of the nuclear deal, in an interview published Thursday by the British daily The Guardian.

"Some movement and Western officials have made some positive pronouncements, but banks need tangible reassurances that they would be immune from baseless allegations [of sanctions breaches]," he said.

He also said that restricted access to the dollar system had created many obstacles for Iranian businesses.

"If we want to change Omani rials to euros, we don't need dollars, but the system is designed in a way that it has to be changed to dollars first, then euros. They should find a way to resolve this issue," he said.

AQABA — Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT), a gateway to Jordan and beyond, recently announced receiving “ISO 14001:2015”certification. This certificate is an international standard for an environmental management system (EMS) that helps businesses, such as ACT control and improves practices that are potentially harmful to the environment.

Coming after years of dedicated work necessitating collaboration among the environmental steering committee, managerial staff and employees, ACT obtained not only an “ISO 14001:2015”certificate but also official certification of its streamlined EMS. ACT is the only company operating in Jordan to have received the 2015 version of ISO 14001, as well as the only port to administer an ISO-certified EMS.

Commenting on the occasion, ACT Chief Exicutive Jeppe Jensen said, “for us, it is a driver by which ACT can enact even more positive environmental change, remaining dedicated to what is truly important: effectively managing responsible business practices that seek to limit negative environmental impact through control of greenhouse gas emissions and other potentially harmful actions.”

AMMAN — LafargeHolcim Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the A/E Business Council to initiate a strategic partnership with the council, which counts among its members a number of consulting architectural and engineering companies and offices.

Under the government, aimed at keeping the council members abreast of LafargeHolcim's latest achievements in the field of construction materials and building solutions, the architecture and engineering business council, known as the A/E Business Council, will also showcase the company’s new and innovative solutions to fulfil client needs.

On the occasion, Samaan Samaan, the general manager of Lafarge Concrete Jordan, said: "We at LafargeHolcim Jordan seek to establish a strategic partnership with the council in order to keep the sector of architects and engineers informed of what the company can do for them in terms of innovative products and sustainable solutions that will serve their future projects.

Sa'eed Abu Jaber, the chairman of the council’s managing board, said that the A/E Business Council seeks to improve the professional capabilities and the competitiveness of its members, enabling them to reach export markets and to elevate the economy on the local level. 

AMMAN – Musa Shihadeh, the chief exicutive  and general manager of Jordan Islamic Bank, was named among the top 50 influential financial people in the Middle East by Global Finance’s list of Who’s Who in Middle Eastern finance. In its April supplement on the Middle East, Shihadeh was recognised for the achievements he made during his service at the Jordan Islamic Bank, according to a bank statement that was received by The Jordan Times on Saturday. 

Shihadeh worked at conventional commercial banks from 1961 until 1980, when he joined the Jordan Islamic Bank, a subsidiary of Al Baraka Bank. He has also served as chairman of the accounting committee of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, and on the board of the General Council for Islamic Banks. 

LONDON — British house prices could fall by up to 18 per cent if the country leaves the European Union, the Treasury says — a claim dismissed as scaremongering by campaigners for a UK exit from the bloc.

Treasury chief George Osborne said leaving the EU would be a “profound economic shock” that would lower property values and raise mortgage rates.

Treasury analysis estimates property prices will be worth between 10 and 18 per cent less by 2018 if Britain leaves than if it stays.

British house prices rose 9 per cent in the year to March, and the value of property is something of a national obsession — especially in London, where the average home costs 535,000 pounds ($775,000), more than 10 times the average annual household income.

Some economists think a fall in house prices would be a good thing because it would help new buyers currently priced out of the market. Others argue any benefit would be offset by a rise in mortgage rates and economic instability.

Many international banks and ratings agencies have warned that leaving the EU would destabilise the economy, and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said earlier this month that a British exit, or Brexit, could tip the country into recession.

Osborne, who was attending a meeting of G-7 finance minister in Japan Saturday, said allies including France, Germany and the United States agreed that “it would be bad for the British economy if we left the European Union”.

But Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, who backs a “leave” vote in Britain’s June 23 referendum, said Saturday that “the greatest threat to the economy is the perilous state of the euro” currency used by 19 EU states.

“The safer option in this referendum is to take back control of the vast sums we send to Brussels every day and Vote Leave on 23 June,” she said.

AMMAN – Jordan and the United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Joint Committee convened at the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Thursday. 

At the opening session, Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Maha Ali said the Jordanian-US FTA, increased trade between the two countries, mainly the Jordanian exports to the US markets, expressing hope that the joint committee meetings will lead to further economic cooperation.  

In 2015, the Kingdom's exports to the US amounted to more than $1.4 billion compared to $63 million in 2000, according to the minister.  

During the same period, Jordan's imports from the US went up by more than threefold, reaching $1.2 billion from $306 million.

In the first quarter of 2016, trade between the two countries rose by 14 per cent compared with the figures recorded in the same period of last year. 

US Ambassador to  Jordan Alice G. Wells stressed the strong  relations between the US and Jordan, and asserted the US' continued support for the country in several areas that can enable it in confronting challenges.  

She noted that the Jordan-US FTA was built on shared goals to achieve peace, stability and security.

The delegations on Thursday discussed means to boost the joint trade volume and to increase cooperation in the areas of agricultural trade, customs and investments, in addition to bolstering regional commercial cooperation, according to a ministry statement.   

The US delegation, chaired by Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative Eurasia and the Middle East John Mowrey, included representatives of the US departments of agriculture, and labour, as well as from the US State Department, besides embassy officials. 

The Jordanian delegation included representatives from the ministries, and other trade and investment concerned entities. 

AMMAN — Iraq has reached a $5.4 billion standby loan agreement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that could unlock $15 billion more in international assistance over the next three years, Iraq's Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.

The IMF standby arrangements allow the fund to respond quickly to countries’ external financing needs, and to support policies designed to help them emerge from crisis, with lending tailored to member countries' needs. 

The IMF $5.4 billion loan to Iraq will have an annual interest rate of 1.5 per cent, Iraq's Central Bank Governor Ali Al Alak said at a press conference, following a week of talks with IMF officials in Jordan, Reuters reported. 

At the press conference, Alak did not state the loan's tenure.

The IMF deal will allow Iraq to secure additional financial aid of around $15 billion over the next three years, including securing international bonds, according to Zebari.

The deal was conditional on reducing Iraq's budget deficit and other unspecified measures, he said.

Iraq, a major OPEC exporter, is planning to lower its oil price forecast, widening its current fiscal deficit of 24 trillion Iraqi dinars ($21 billion) by several billion dollars.

Christian Josz, the head of the IMF's Iraq mission, told reporters the agreement was an important first step that would give confidence to other donors to extend more financing.

The agreement still needs the approval of the IMF board which meets in June.

Iraq's oil-reliant economy has been knocked hard by plummeting oil prices in international markets. 

The drop has wreaked havoc on the country's national budget, financed almost entirely by oil revenues.

Large-scale landgrabs by the extremist group (Daesh) since 2014 exacerbated economic decline, forcing the Iraqi government to divert large sums to fighting the militants.

In 2016, Iraq's budget stood at around $90 billion, with a deficit of about $20.5 billion. 

The government hopes to narrow the spending gap with loans from local and international lenders.

AMMAN — Jordan’s national exports dropped at the end of the first quarter of this year by 12.7 per cent, while the country's imports rose by 4 per cent. Subsequently, the trade balance deficit rose to 13 per cent during the same period, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS) report on external trade.

Pharmaceuticals and phosphate exports rose whereas garments, potash, fertilisers, and fruit and vegetable exports went down, according to the DoS report. With regard to imports, the value of cereals, electric appliances and vehicles recorded an increase by 263 per cent, 45per cent and 20 per cent respectively, whereas oil imports saw a drop by 22 per cent.   

TOKYO — Japan managed to sidestep a recession after its economy grew in the first quarter, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, but efforts to cement recovery in the world's number three economy were gaining little traction.

Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.4 per cent between January and March — or 1.7 per cent at an annualised rate — after a contraction in the last quarter of 2015.

A consumer spending rebound helped drive the better than expected figures, but the leap year added another day of production — and spending — to the economy's performance.

In January, Japan's central bank shocked markets with a negative interest rate policy, designed to boost lending to people and businesses.

Back then, the move was widely criticised as a desperate bid to prop up Tokyo's faltering economic plan.

However, the fresh data is not expected to do much in terms of buoying hopes for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's faltering growth blitz.

His bid to revive Japan's once-soaring economy, dubbed Abenomics, was shaken by a bloodbath on equity markets at the start of the year and a resurgent yen which has taken a bite out of Japan Inc.'s profits.

Local media have suggested that Abe will delay plans to raise Japan's consumption tax over concerns that the step may harm the country's already fragile economy.

But Abe on Wednesday insisted his growth plan was making headway, and that no final decision has been made on the levy increase.

"I will make the appropriate decision at an appropriate time," he told reporters.

A consumption tax rise in 2014 — seen as key to helping pay down Japan's enormous national debt — was blamed for ushering in a brief recession.

This week the government approved a 778 billion yen, an equivalent of $7.1 billion extra budget in response to April's deadly earthquakes, which prompted factory shutdowns in southern Japan. 

"But even if the government delays the tax hike, it still needs to set a course for getting public finances on a sound footing, which is not an easy job," said Yoko Takeda, on economist at the Mitsubishi Research Institute.

"The economy is in a tough situation with the strong yen hurting corporate earnings, stalled wages and a lack of confidence among consumers. There are going to be some tough times ahead."

Wednesday's figures came days before the meeting of the Group of Seven finance chiefs that Japan is scheduled to host, followed by a summit of their leaders next week.

 The group will chiefly look into ways to kickstart global growth.

AMMAN — South Africa and Jordan should work to increase the flow of trade between them, a top South African official said on Tuesday.  

Speaking at a seminar on South Africa's economy and trade that was hosted by the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, South Africa's Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Nomaindiya Mfeketo said it is important that Jordan and South Africa work to improve trade relations and increase the flow of trade between them. 

"The South African government wants to introduce South Africa to you as a potential trading partner, as a potential investment partner, as a partner that can offer Jordan an alternative to traditional trading partners, and as a reliable partner that can offer fairly balanced trade,” she told the attendees at the seminar, comprising Jordanian businessmen, industrialists and concerned officials.   

South Africa works to ensure a trading system that allows developing countries and middle-income countries, such as South Africa and Jordan, to have the chance to grow their local industries, their national economies and their trading footprint without being overwhelmed by the larger economies of the world, she explained. 

"Balanced trade is a key goal of the South Africa government," she told the gathering.

South Africa and Jordan are similar in many ways. They are upper middle-income countries that are still developing. They are also young democracies that have a young population which requires the creation of economic opportunities and sustainable employment, she pointed out

"Trade is thus important as it contributes to government revenue, economic growth, and job creation."

Political and trade cooperation between countries of the South is a priority for South Africa. With this in mind, and while maintaining strong trading ties with traditional partners in Europe and Southern Africa, the government has recently moved to diversify South Africa’s trade with the world, she pointed out, noting that this has resulted in positive growth in Asia, in particular, and also in South America.

Over the past 10 years, South Africa's trade with Asian countries such as China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam has increased by up to 300 per cent, however, trade growth with the Middle East has remained at lower levels, she conceded. 

"This is a situation that South African business, in coordination with government, needs to address," she stressed.

Although it is known for its mineral and agricultural products, South Africa actually has a diverse economy, that has been transformed into a manufacturing and service-based economy with the service sector contributing two-thirds of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) while the mining and agricultural sectors now contribute far less to the GDP, she told the gathering, highlighting the importance of making use of potential business cooperation.

Agro-processing, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, manufactured goods, financial services, and mineral processing are promising sectors that the Middle East region can avail on, she said, noting that these are areas that Jordanian business persons should target. 

"Jordan can act as a gateway for South Africa into the Levant and into the Middle East. South Africa can act as a gate-way into Southern Africa – a market of 200 million," she noted.