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AMMAN — Saudi Arabia suffered another cut to its credit rating on Saturday as Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the kingdom, along with Bahrain and Oman because of the slump in oil prices, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Moody’s has lowered its long-term rating for Saudi Arabia to A1, which denotes low credit risk, down from Aa3, saying lower energy prices have adversely affected the profile of the top oil exporter, the AFP reported.

Meanwhile, Moody’s raised the rating for Ireland’s sovereign debt by one notch to A3 from Baa1, adding that the outlook on the long-term rating remains “positive”.

Furthermore, Moody’s cut Poland’s outlook from stable to negative over “fiscal risks” posed by its right-wing government, but left its investment grade unchanged.

Today’s rating actions concludes the rating review for downgrade that Moody’s initiated on March 4, 2016.

With regard to Saudi Arabia, “a combination of lower growth, higher debt levels and smaller domestic and external buffers leave the kingdom less well positioned to weather future shocks”, the AFP noted.

However, ambitious plans announced by Riyadh to diversify its economy could lead to a credit rating upgrade in the future, Moody’s said, as cited by the AFP.

Fellow agencies Standard and Poor’s and Fitch have also downgraded Saudi Arabia in recent months, according to the AFP.

Crude oil price collapse, from above $100 in early 2014 to around $46 on Friday, has intensified Saudi efforts to diversify the economy away from oil which makes up the majority of its revenue.

The ratings agency has also lowered its rating for Bahrain to Ba2, which indicates substantial credit risk, from Ba1, with a negative outlook.

The main driver for the rating downgrade is Moody’s view that the credit profile of the Bahraini government will continue to weaken materially in the coming years, despite its fiscal consolidation efforts, according to Moody’s website.

In particular, the rating agency expects Bahrain’s government debt burden and debt affordability to deteriorate significantly over the coming two to three years.

Moody’s lowered its rating for Oman to Baa1, which denotes moderate credit risk, from A3, warning the Sultanate was “vulnerable to an oil price shock” given its heavy reliance on energy revenues.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service confirmed the Aa2 long-term issuer ratings of the UAE, and assigned a negative outlook. 

Moody’s negative outlook to the rating reflects the lack of clarity around the formulation and implementation of government policies to reverse the large deficits and the deterioration in the net asset position, according to Moody’s.

These have been created by lower oil prices, in the absence of which the UAE’s fiscal buffers will erode over time, exerting downward pressure on the rating, according to the global ratings agency.

Moody’s has also confirmed Kuwait’s Aa2 government issuer rating and has assigned it a  negative outlook

The decision to confirm Kuwait’s rating reflects Moody’s assessment that the negative impact of the low oil price is manageable because of Kuwait’s robust government balance sheet, characterised by low levels of government debt and large domestic and external assets.

This is in addition to Kuwait’s high per capita wealth; and its low fiscal and external breakeven oil prices, which limit the deterioration in fiscal and current account balances. 

In addition, Kuwait has extraordinarily large hydrocarbon reserves at very low production costs. 

As a result, Moody’s expects that Kuwait’s economic and fiscal strength are likely to remain consistent with an Aa2 rating.

With regard to Ireland, Moody’s cited confidence in the eurozone member’s ability to further cut its deficit after finally forming a government.

While a UK exit from the EU would have negative repercussions on Ireland, given the close economic ties, the risk would be manageable for the Irish economy, Moody’s said in a statement.

As for Poland’s outlook, Moody’s change in this regard was the first in over a decade and comes after a deeper ratings cut in January by Standard and Poor’s, which blamed the government led by the Law and Justice Party for “weakening institutions”.

Moody’s, however, said it would keep Poland’s foreign debt grade at A2, reflecting “the country’s economic resilience”.

Poland has a large, diversified economy that has shown robust real gross domestic product growth in recent years, despite being exposed to significant external headwinds at the time of the global financial and euro area debt crises, Moody’s reported. 

Poland’s finance ministry welcomed the unchanged rating following market speculation about another downgrade.

AMMAN — Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Maha Ali and Pierre Dubreuil, the executive vice president of financing at Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), on Saturday examined ways to increase cooperation between the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) and the BDC.

At a meeting with Dubreuil, who is currently visiting the Kingdom, Ali and Dubreuil reviewed scheduled meetings with private sector representatives to boost cooperation. Ali said JEDCO needs to benefit from the bank's expertise, especially in implementing small- and medium-scale enterprises.

The BDC offers financing and consulting services, besides supporting entrepreneurs, in particular. Canada is an important commercial partner for Jordan, she said, underscoring the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed between both countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Fully implemented in 2010, the FTA which grants Jordanian goods duty-free access to the Canadian market has also been accompanied by agreements on labour cooperation, the environment, and foreign investment protection and promotion. 

AMMAN — A Moroccan trade delegation will start a two-day visit to the country on Monday to look into ways to expand Moroccan-Jordanian commercial cooperation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

The Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC), in cooperation with the technical unit of the Agadir Agreement will organise B2B meetings for the visiting delegation to discuss business opportunities with their Jordanian counterparts.

According to JCC President Nael Kabariti, the commercial sector wants to boost its investment cooperation with Morocco and increase joint commercial exchange.

The delegates include producers of different products, including footwear, garments, food stuff, cosmetics, electric cables and generators. Currently, the Jordanian-Moroccan annual commercial exchange volume does not exceed $45 million, according to Petra.  

PARIS –– A global oil glut that has sent prices tumbling is set to "shrink dramatically" later this year, as wildfires have disrupted Canada's output and demand in India soars, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.

Demand for oil worldwide is set to grow at a "solid" rate in 2016, with India the "star performer" after making up nearly 30 per cent of the global increase in demand in the first quarter of the year, the IEA said.

"This provides further support for the argument that India is taking over from the China as the main growth market for oil," the 29-nation IEA said in its closely watched monthly report.

The oil market has for months been depressed by vast oversupply, badly hurting producers but meaning lower prices at the pump for consumers.

Oil prices surged to six-month highs this week and are well over $46 a barrel after plummeting below $30 early in the year. They are nevertheless far below the $100-a-barrel mark of mid-2014.

In Canada devastating wildfires near Fort McMurray forced a shutdown of 1.2 million barrels a day (mb/d) of production early this month.

The IEA said the events in Canada, however, had not sent oil prices sharply higher, as would have been expected some years ago, with crude having shown little reaction amid overall improved market sentiment.

Iran, the IEA said, had provided the other surprise. 

Its oil production and exports increased slightly faster than expected following Iran's return to the market after the lifting of sanctions in January under its nuclear deal.

'Dramatic increase' 

Iranian oil production in April was nearly 3.6mb/d, a level last achieved in November 2011 before Western sanctions against Tehran were tightened, the IEA noted.

"Even more important for global markets, oil exports reached 2mb/d, a dramatic increase from the 1.4mb/d seen in March," it added.

The rise in Iran helped push production within OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) 330,000b/d higher in April, the group's highest level in more than seven years.

The flow out of Iran also offset concerns about falling production in Libya, Nigeria — which is facing pipeline sabotage and security issues — and Venezuela, grappling with power cuts and other shortages, the agency said.

All eyes will be on OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, which has just replaced oil minister Ali Al Naimi after two decades in the post, at the June 2 OPEC meeting for signs of major policy changes on its oil supply.

Riyadh held production steady, IEA said. 

Heading towards 'balance' 

Outside of OPEC, the IEA said it now forecasts a bigger fall in production, of 800,000 mb/d, from its initial estimate of 700,000.

The agency said the latest figures confirmed "the direction of travel of the oil market towards balance".

Global oil stocks are now expected to increase by 1.3 mb/d in the first half of 2016 with a "dramatic reduction" in the second half, to 200,000 mb/d. 

The Paris-based IEA said it was leaving unchanged its outlook for global oil demand growth in 2016, at 1.2 mb/d.

Furthermore, on prices, the IEA said further rises were likely to be "limited" due to plentiful stocks.

Stocks within the OECD countries grew at the start of the year at the slowest pace since the fourth quarter of 2014, the IEA said. They declined in February for the first time in a year.

"This lends support to our view that the global supply surplus of oil will shrink dramatically later this year," it added.

KILMACANOGE, Ireland –– Irish perfumier David Cox is preparing for a sales drive across the sea in Britain, but fears that if the country votes to leave the European Union next month the expansion will be thrown into disarray.

From small exporters like Cox to the central bank, Ireland is finding that uncertainty is the biggest enemy in trying to anticipate the consequences of a British exit or "Brexit".

Cox, whose Fragrances of Ireland business operates from a bustling warehouse south of Dublin, says any blow to the confidence of the British gift shop owners he supplies and their customers will frustrate his plans.

"For a small company like us, we need people to be willing to take a chance and that requires them to be confident that the end consumer has got 20, 30, 40 pounds in his or her pocket to spend on something new. If they're worried, they won't."

Ireland has the EU's fastest growing economy but also more to lose than any other member state when its nearest and largest trading partner decides in a referendum on June 23 whether to quit the union that both countries joined together 43 years ago.

Brexit, which Prime Minister Enda Kenny has called "a major strategic risk" to Ireland, could have far-reaching implications not only for trade and an economy still recovering from a banking collapse in 2008-09.

Peace in British-ruled Northern Ireland, security of energy supplies and freedom of movement for the large numbers of Irish citizens working in Britain might also fall into doubt.

Ireland may not spring to mind as a perfumer producer. But Fragrances of Ireland — like so many firms in a country of only 4.5 million people — has built up its business in export markets from its base in the small County Wicklow town of Kilmacanoge.

Seventy per cent of sales are in the United States, compared with only 10 per cent in Britain. But Cox aims to raise the number of small, independent British retailers that his firm supplies from 150 to 1,000 within the next two years.

Two years is also the period laid down in the EU's Lisbon Treaty for any country to negotiate an EU withdrawal.

No one knows what relationship Britain might hammer out with the EU should it leave, and Cox fears the country's economy and consumer sentiment will weaken during such a period. This would make it tough for his business to establish its name alongside global rivals such as L'Oreal and Estee Lauder.

"Our plans would definitely be stalled because it's easy to cut back on a bottle of perfume you don't know," said Cox, whose firm employs 25 full and part-time workers.

Evidence is growing that the British economy is already slowing before the referendum and the pound has weakened against the euro. Though not yet critical, Cox says this depreciation is hurting his profit margins.

Some larger Irish firms have hedged against the currency risks. However, Cox said there is little a company of the size of his can do to protect itself.

In a survey of members last month, the Irish Exporters Association said 60 per cent reported that the sterling weakness had already affected their business. Just 5 per cent were in favour of Britain leaving the EU.

Ireland's finance ministry warned last month that the level of uncertainty from abroad generally was higher than at any stage since the financial crisis. A further five percentage point depreciation of sterling against the euro would reduce Irish gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.8 per cent a year for the next six years, it estimated.

Ireland is vulnerable to any Brexit-related recession in Britain. Research by Davy Stockbrokers shows that a 1 per cent decrease in UK economic output has led in the past to a 0.3 per cent drop in Ireland.

The Irish economy is still forecast to expand by almost 5 per cent this year, but the country needs all the growth it can achieve to cut a public debt that at almost 90 per cent of the GDP remains a problem.

Contingency plans?

Historic and personal links between Britain and what is now the Irish Republic, which broke away in the 1920s after a guerrilla war of independence, are also strong. Many Britons have family roots in Ireland and Irish citizens resident in Britain can vote in the referendum.

Kenny used his re-election as prime minister last week to highlight the "profound importance" of the referendum and has told his British counterpart David Cameron, who is campaigning to remain in the EU, that he will do whatever he can to help.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan also said this week that Dublin would be urging the Irish community in Britain and Northern Ireland to vote to stay in.

Ireland acknowledges there are limits to its own contingency planning. A Brexit group of senior officials has been set up in Kenny's department, government sources have said. Dublin is "exploring the potential risks and planning accordingly", Noonan told parliament last month.

The central bank has warned that Irish banks, which have lent heavily to the British property sector, would be hurt by a Brexit and has been working with them on their preparations.

But generally advance planning is extremely difficult. "It's unambiguous that the economic effect on Ireland is negative — the question is how big," central bank chief economist Gabriel Fagan said last month. "That depends very crucially on the scenario you envisage regarding the relationship between Britain and the rest of the EU."

Long-term implications

Irish farmers and food producers, major suppliers to the UK, are also vulnerable, but the risks go beyond economics.

Dublin officials worry about the impact on Northern Ireland, which has the only land frontier between the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU. During three decades of violence, this was marked by military checkpoints until a 1998 peace deal.

The fear for many is that any new border restrictions could endanger peace by reenergising demands for a united Ireland which would raise tensions with pro-British unionists. Northern Ireland's nationalist deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, has already called for a vote on unification if Britain leaves the EU.

Doubts also surround the right of Irish citizens to live and work in Britain, which long predates the EU.

Pro-Brexit campaigners want tougher controls on immigration from the EU. While these demands have been directed at Eastern Europeans, an Irish government-commissioned report said last year that a Brexit also opens the possibility of restrictions on the free movement of workers between Ireland and Britain.

Brexit may not be all bad. The report noted some companies keen to stay in the EU might move from Britain to Ireland.

AMMAN —Inflation rate in the first four months of 2016 was down by 1.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2015, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Thursday.

Main item groups that contributed to the drop were transportation, which went down by 6.3 per cent, meats and poultry (7.6 per cent), fuel and lighting (8.2 per cent), vegetables and dried and canned legumes (4.4 per cent) and fruit and nuts (4.3 per cent), according to a DoS report sent to The Jordan Times.

An increase in prices during the January-April period was witnessed in rents (3.2 per cent), culture and entertainment (5.7 per cent), clothes (3.9 per cent), and education (1.1 per cent). 

DUBAI –– Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) states will need to invest $334 billion over five years to meet rising power demand in the region, a development bank said Wednesday.

The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) said in a report that more than half the amount, $198 billion, will be needed to add 147 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity until 2020, to the existing 315GW capacity.

The rest will go for transmission and distribution networks, said APICORP, the development bank of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Electricity demand in the MENA region has been growing, driven by population growth, industrialisation and low power prices, the report said.

Despite projections for lower economic growth for the region, APICORP estimates that MENA demand for electricity will grow at an average of 8 per cent per year through 2020.

It estimated that 96GW of the required additional capacity are already in the execution stage.

The energy-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) currently has 47 per cent, or 148GW, of the MENA power generation capacity.

Still the GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates — will need investments worth $136 billion to add a further 69GW until 2020, the report said.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia is expected to account for $71 billion of the investments.

Non-Arab Iran is estimated to need $63 billion in investments to boost its power production by 23 GW to 93 GW over the next five years, the report said.

Iraq will need to spend $40 billion to double its electricity production to 29GW.

Egypt, the most populous nation in the region, is estimated to need $43 billion investments to raise its power production to 56 GW from 35GW.

APICORP however said several challenges and constraints face power investments in MENA states.

Oil-exporting countries, especially the GCC, are reducing expenditure and shelving capital investments, including in the power sector, due to the sharp decline in oil revenues, it said.

Financing power projects is becoming more challenging after rating agencies have lowered the credit worthiness of many MENA countries, APICORP said.

Price reforms are also expected to suppress demand for electricity in many countries.

NEW YORK — Internet giant Google said Wednesday it will ban all ads from payday lenders, calling the industry "deceptive" and "harmful".

Google's decision could have as much or even more impact on curtailing the industry than any move by politicians, as many payday loans start with a desperate person searching online for ways to make ends meet or cover an emergency.

Effective July 13, Google will no longer allow ads for loans due within 60 days and will also ban ads for loans where the interest rate is 36 per cent or higher. The industry will join Google's other banned categories of ads, such as counterfeit goods, weapons, explosives, tobacco products and hate speech.

"Our hope is that fewer people will be exposed to misleading or harmful products," said David Graff, Google's director of global product policy, in a blog post that announced the policy change.

Payday lenders have long been a target of criticism by politicians and consumer advocates, who argue the industry charges extremely high interest rates to customers, who are often the poor. Payday loans are often used to cover an unexpected expense or to make ends meet before the next paycheck. But for many borrowers, short-term loans wind up being difficult to pay off, leading to a cycle of debt that can drag on for months.

A 2012 study by Pew showed the average payday borrower is in debt for five months, spending $520 in fees and interest to repeatedly borrow $375. The annual per cent rate on a payday loan is 391 per cent, according to Pew.

"There is nothing fair about triple-digit interest rates being charged on loans to working families," said Keith Corbett, executive vice president with the Centre for Responsible Lending, in a statement. Payday loan stores reap billions of dollars in interest and fees on a product designed to force borrowers into repeat loans. Google is to be praised for doing its part to limit use of these abusive loans."

In response to critics, the payday lending industry has long argued it provides a necessary financial service to people in need of emergency funds.

"These policies are discriminatory and a form of censorship," said Amy Cantu, a spokeswoman with the Community Financial Centers Association of America, the trade group representing payday lenders.

State legislatures have long looked for ways to target payday lenders, but the payday lending industry has often found ways around new regulations. When several states capped the interest rates on payday loans, the industry pivoted into loans tied to auto titles or moved their operations onto Indian reservations.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering new regulations to further restrict the payday lending industry. The rules are expected to be released later this year.

In a way, Google's announcement will likely have more of an impact than any new regulation. The majority of Internet searches happen on Google and the company also controls the Internet's largest advertising platforms. Google generates most of its ads through keyword searches, showing ads that are related to the subjects that its users are searching for.

Under this ban, users searching for words like "loans" or "places to get money" will no longer pull up ads from payday lenders in the advertising section of the search results.

Google, and its parent company Alphabet, has had a history of corporate activism. The company's previous motto was "don't be evil" which was replaced with "do the right thing" last year.

TOKYO – Mitsubishi Motors said Wednesday that its years long cheating on fuel-economy tests did not affect cars sold overseas, potentially limiting the scope of a scandal that has plunged the automaker into crisis.

The company also said it was probing nine more models sold only in Japan, but ruled out a bailout from its top shareholders.

Vehicles sold overseas "were tested using methods appropriate to those markets", Mitsubishi Chairman Osamu Masuko told reporters.

"We believe the vehicles sold overseas are not affected."

The company was still investigating why cars sold in Japan were caught up in the scandal, he added. 

However, it said "overly optimistic" fuel-economy targets could be to blame for some employees fudging the tests.

In some cases, cars appeared to be about 15 per cent more fuel-efficient than they were in reality.

Mitsubishi is reeling after it admitted last month to the improper testing, and that unnamed staff manipulated data.

Despite fears about Mitsubishi's future, executives ruled out a bailout.

"As far as assistance is concerned, there have not been any concrete talks," Masuko said Wednesday, as the firm submitted a report on its internal investigation to the transport ministry.

"Our company's finances are relatively healthy. At this point, we think we can do this on our own."

Mitsubishi was pulled from the brink of bankruptcy a decade ago after it was discovered that it covered up vehicle defects that caused fatal accidents.

The vast Mitsubishi group of companies stepped in with a series of bailouts, saving the embattled firm.

But it is not clear if they would be so willing to help this time around as the automaker faces possibly huge fines, lawsuits and customer compensation costs.

Earlier Wednesday, Japan's Asahi newspaper said the under-fire company had cheated on tests for almost every model it sold in its home market over the past 25 years.

Citing unnamed company sources, the report said dozens of models sold in Japan have been affected since 1991, including sedans and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) such as the popular Pajero model.

So far, Mitsubishi has confirmed that four models and over 600,000 vehicles — all sold in Japan — were involved in the cheating scandal, but warned the number of cars affected would likely rise.

On Wednesday, it said it was probing nine more existing models for misstating their fuel efficiency, as well as those no longer in production.

Mitsubishi sold about 1 million vehicles globally last year.

The company has said it could not make financial forecasts for the current fiscal year in light of the potential damage from the scandal, including the possibility of big fines, lawsuits and compensation costs.

Mitsubishi's Tokyo-listed shares rose 2.27 per cent to 495 yen on Wednesday, but investors have lopped more than 40 per cent off the stock's value in the wake of the scandal.