Business

AMMAN — Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) President Issa Murad on Monday called on the government to extend exempting fines on taxpayers from sales and income taxes. He said that extending the exemption period would contribute to continuing receiving tax revenues and encouraging institutions to pay their taxes without any fines, especially under the deteriorating commercial activity and scarce liquidity.

In a memo sent to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Murad underscored the importance of boosting private-public cooperation in this phase to stimulate economic activities and increase the pace of growth. The decisions include ways to collect cumulative public money from previous years, where taxpayers are exempted from fines and legal interests once they pay the original sum.

AMMAN — Exports from the East Amman Industrial Zone in 2015 dropped by 6 per cent compared to 2014, as some main markets closed and international commercial demand weakened.

Exports of the zone last year stood at JD321 million compared to JD343 million during 2014, according to a statistics report from the Eastern Amman Investors Industrial Association.

Chairman of the association, Iyad Abu Haltam, said the drop is mostly in manufacturing industries as a result of a decrease in exports to Iraq, Egypt and Libya in light of political and security conditions there, in addition to Algeria, which is not committed to the Greater Arab Free Trade Area and collects fees amounting to 30 per cent.

Abu Haltam added that exports to the US, Europe and some non-Arab Asian countries decreased as well because of weaker demand on products resulting from the regression in world economy.

Supplies, food, agricultural and animal products exports stood at JD95 million followed by chemical industries and cosmetics at JD60 million, and then the engineering, electricity and information technology sector at JD41 million. 

DAMASCUS — In his cramped workshop in Damascus, Mohammad Abdallah delicately etches away at wooden panels inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a craft he perfected over a decade before the outbreak of Syria's war.

As he worked, Abdallah expressed concern that his craft, the intricate process of filling carved wooden decorative pieces with shells, bone, or ivory, could be forced into "extinction" by the conflict raging across his country.

"I worry for the fate of the Damascene mother-of-pearl craft because of the lack of labour and the difficulty in acquiring and transporting raw materials," the 43-year-old said.

Like many other craftsmen, Abdallah was forced to abandon his spacious warehouse on the outskirts of Damascus when fighting broke out.

"My heart aches because the mother-of-pearl workshops in Damascus and its outskirts have dropped from 30 to only three or four workshops," he added.

His own workforce "has faded in recent years because the labourers have joined the fighting or have fled" Syria altogether.

And local purchasers, stung by the devaluation of the Syrian pound, can no longer afford the stunning designs, he continued.

Since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, more than 260,000 people have been killed and millions have fled their homes.

But the war has also taken a toll on the country's renowned traditional craft, from ornate wooden furniture to the rich, golden stitching of its famed brocade fabrics.

Dearth of craftsmen 

The artisanal designs were popular among tourists, who generated about 12 per cent of Syria's pre-war gross domestic product.

But with tourism virtually nonexistent and travel across the country growing more difficult by the day, craftsmen in Damascus are in despair.

Traditional cultural products in Syria, from songs and poetry to beautiful handicrafts, "have been completely damaged by the crisis", said Mohammad Fayyad, a researcher on cultural heritage.

"If the situation continues like this, there will be no more craftsmen" left in Syria, Fayyad told AFP.

In 2009, Syrian craftsmen registered with the national union had numbered some 18,000, alongside an estimated 39,000 who were unregistered, Fayyad indicated.

By the end of 2015, between 70 and 80 per cent had left the trade, many emigrating after the destruction of their workshops around Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo, another handicrafts hub, according to Fayyad.

Fabric specialist Samer Al Nuqta contemplates the vibrant pieces of cloth on wooden shelves in his workshop, which dates back to 1929 and stands in the famed Hamidiyeh market's "tailor row".

He said he doesn't know what has happened to his factory in Ain Tarma, on the outskirts of Damascus.

"We haven't produced a single metre for about five years. Right now, we're selling what we had in store in the warehouse," he added.

"I will sell what we have left in store, and after that I may be forced to change my trade, which I grew up on," Nuqta continued.

Bahaa Al Takriti, who weaves the richly embroidered aghbani cloths often used as tablecloths, says his "weekly production has dropped from 60 covers to six, and sometimes only three".

"Out of six people that knew how to set the designs, only two are left," Takriti lamented.

British queen's wedding fabric 

As it nears a sixth year, Syria's conflict has also diminished the production of Damascene brocade, handwoven silk fabric ornately decorated with brightly coloured thread.

Brocade became world-famous when former Syrian president Shukri Al Quwatli gifted a slot of the fabric in 1947 to the future Queen Elizabeth II, who used it as part of her wedding gown.

But few foreigners now come to Damascus to purchase the lavish cloth, and Syrian buyers can no longer afford it.

Ibrahim Al Ayubi, who has produced brocade in the Syrian capital for decades, said good quality silk is hard to come by, and anyway, the price has gone up "tenfold".

"The crisis had a really big effect on us because of the lack of tourists, who made up about 95 per cent of our customers," Ayubi indicated.

And in the corner of Ahmad Shakaki's brocade shop in Damascus, a large wooden loom stands next to a small stool made of coloured bamboo.

Narrow shelves display the elegant brocade fabric that Shakaki painstakingly produces.

"Our craft [is] essentially dependent on our sales returns, which in turn depend on tourists. Our situation is tough now, and we're working with whatever we have," Shakaki said.

"The war has made the new generation reluctant to learn the trade," he added. "I am worried that this loom will stop weaving."

Separately, Saad Chouihna believes that if you can make it in Turkey, you can make it anywhere.

"The Turkish market is the hardest," said the 28-year-old Syrian from the city of Aleppo, bemoaning the tangled bureaucracy, cut-throat competition and a business culture that depends on long-term relationships.

But armed with a knowledge of Turkish and the local culture, Chouihna is finding his way.

He has opened a branch of his family's plastics business in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, where the many Syrian restaurants and Arabic signs in some districts bear witness to the proximity of the border and the growing Syrian population.

His firm is one of nearly 2,000 set up by Syrians in Turkey in the almost five years since their homeland descended into civil war. 

A quarter of a million people have been killed since then and millions more displaced, with Turkey now home to 2.2 million Syrians, the world's largest refugee population.

"Our business is plastic — that's what we know," Chouihna said. "But the established companies here have the contacts and experience locally so as a new company here it is really hard to get contacts or get contracts from big medical companies, for example. A lot of them don't even come to the phone."

But Chouihna, who has a wife and baby daughter, said he saw "no difference between me and a Turkish company" because he employs Turks as well as Syrians and pays his taxes.

Some Turks concerned

In November, Ankara promised to help stem the flow of refugees trying to reach Europe in return for $3.2 billion in aid and renewed talks on joining the European Union.

Ankara has spent more than $8.5 billion on feeding and housing Syrian refugees since the start of the war, but has yet to introduce a policy to allow them to work legally.

Echoing concerns voiced in other countries about the flow of refugees, lower-income Turks fear that Syrians, including the estimated 250,000 now working illegally in Turkey, will undercut them and take their jobs. But data suggest Syrians such as Chouihna are a boost for the Turkish economy.

According to TOBB, an umbrella body for local chambers of commerce, more than 1,000 companies were established in Turkey with at least one Syrian partner in the first seven months of 2015, compared with 30 in 2010, before the start of the war.

Although there is no estimate yet of the increase in output from these firms, economists say they have boosted trade with Syria in parts of Turkey where instability and violence in border areas have dented trade with neighbours.

"There has been a big jump in the numbers of businesses founded by Syrians probably because they are finally realising they are likely to remain in Turkey for many more years," said Esra Ozpinar, a researcher from economic think tank TEPAV.

Boost to exports

In Gaziantep, new buildings have sprung up beside the city's mediaeval fortress and old market, thanks to modern investments and economic incentives offered by the government which have helped it become an economic hub and the most industrialised city in Turkey's south.

Chouihna exports to Egypt, Lebanon, Romania, Tunisia and Yemen and does some trade in Turkey. He also sells his products in Syria, helping Turkey's exports to its neighbour get back close to their pre-war levels.

Turkish exports to Syria dipped in 2011 and 2012, but have recovered significantly. 

In the first 10 months of 2015, Turkey exported $1.3 billion in goods and services there, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, compared to less than half a billion dollars in 2012.

TEPAV research suggests the rising number of Syrian firms in border provinces such as Kilis, Mardin and Hatay has helped the recovery in exports. But their composition has changed, reflecting the needs of a war economy, with food, generators and pickup trucks eclipsing building materials and cars.

According to economist Harun Ozturkler of the Centre For Middle Eastern Strategic Studies in Ankara, these businesses could in the long term be crucial to the Turkish economy.

"The most important contribution will be their network in the Arab world because the owners of these firms were merchants in Syria," he indicated. "Finding new markets for Turkey is going to be the most important."

But there is animosity in Gaziantep among some businessmen who see firms like Chouihna's as a threat.

"We know there are many unregistered firms and they cause unfair competition," said the chamber's communications chief, Senay Copur.

"The advantage is they [Syrian firms] are serving generally their own citizens and create employment opportunities," she said, adding that efforts were under way to bring such companies into the tax system.

Chouihna said the authorities turn a blind eye to his Syrian staff since he also employs some Turks, but he would rather they were officially documented.

Another Syrian living in Gaziantep, Abu Tareq, said he had found investors for his plan to start a company producing $1 million worth a year of refrigerators for restaurants, food stores and factories.

He plans to base his firm in the same industrial district as Chouihna's and intends to hire 14 people, the majority of whom will be Syrian, he added.

After working in the same business in Syria, he saw an opportunity in the Turkish market.

"There are business options here for Syrians and I realised I will be here for a long time," he said.

KABUL — Afghan software entrepreneur Farshid Ghyasi, chief executive of the Netlinks company, is struggling to keep his best employees, as more plan to join a wave of migrants leaving for Europe that risks causing long-term damage to the country and its economy.

He is not alone in bemoaning the mass exodus, triggered by poor job prospects and worsening security as Taliban insurgents grow more powerful after the bulk of NATO troops withdrew at the end of 2014.

Many of those going are young city dwellers who should be spending their productive years at home as their country struggles to emerge from war, and nearly 15 years of international support, to build a self-sustaining economy.

"It's a huge loss," said Ahmed Siar Khoreishi, an economist and chief executive of Ghazanfar Bank. "The majority of these people are under the age of 30. This is really scary, we have very limited qualified, specialist people."

There are no accurate figures for the number of Afghans who leave each year in search of a better life abroad, but more than 160,000 have gone to Europe this year, UNHCR data show. The majority of those have been in the last few months.

"It's not necessarily everyone with master's degrees, but you have a large number of youth, the most dynamic, potentially productive strata of society, who are leaving," indicated Richard Danziger of the International Organisation for Migration.

The exodus has put pressure on the Afghan currency, the central bank says, but Khoreishi says that's not the problem.

"The most important factor is the workforce. The brains are leaving," he said.

A 30-year-old Kabul University law graduate seems typical of those heading off.

"I know it isn't good for the country, but I've got my own life," said the man with a trim beard and Western clothes, who declined to be identified.

He has a good job in a law firm but said he has been threatened because of an old job with NATO forces. He hopes to set off overland to Europe within days.

"I know the difficulties I'll face, but it's a final decision," he added.

The government has urged young people to stay, but such calls ring hollow for many Afghans who know children of the elite are mostly abroad. President Ashraf Ghani said this month that rich children who study overseas should pursue careers at home.

"If they live abroad they become dishwashers. They don't become part of the middle class," he told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in an interview.

‘Hope for the future’

While many take the overland route to Europe, some better-off Afghans fly out on visas to study or go to conferences and don't come back.

Esmat Gulistani, director of a marble industry organisation, noted that his sector had been hit by the disappearance of up-and-coming professionals.

"Those new managers were the hope for the future, not only of the industry but the country. They know computers, they know languages, they know the new system, how to do business," Gulistani said.

"They are fleeing and that's really a problem. Replacement isn't impossible, but a very difficult and lengthy process," he added.

Gulistani noted that he regularly turns down people asking to go to trade shows abroad because he fears they will not return.

Netlinks' Ghyasi said four employees had gone and another 20, including some of the best in his 160-strong workforce, were planning to go. He said he could only wish them luck.

"Whoever gets an opportunity leaves," Ghyasi added in his Kabul office.

With job opportunities withering as big aid projects are wound up, Ghyasi said he had no trouble finding replacements.

"Twenty people going means 20 opportunities for new people," he added.

The government does not have reliable unemployment data but economists estimate the rate has risen to about 40 per cent.

One advantage of the departures, economists say, is that in the future Afghans overseas are likely to send remittance payments back home, helping to stabilise the country's finances.

The government was trying to stem the flow with a jobs programme and information campaigns, said Deputy Minister of Labour Ahmad Shah Salehi.

"They should trust the government, they have to be patient," Salehi told Reuters.

But for Kabul University student Nisar Ahmed, it was not trust, but a job in an upmarket food shop paying $170 a month, that persuaded him to put off his departure, at least for now.

"I was not sure about the future. No one knows what will happen tomorrow. But the most important reason is I was jobless," Ahmed said. "If I can't find good work, maybe I'll think again."

FRANKFURT — German top-of-the-range carmakers Audi and Mercedes-Benz on Friday reported record sales in 2015, even holding their own in China despite difficult market conditions. 

Mercedes-Benz, flagship brand of Daimler, indicated that it sold 1.872 million vehicles worldwide last year, an increase of 13.4 per cent over the previous year.

Rival Audi, the high-end brand of embattled auto giant Volkswagen, said it sold 1.803 million cars, up 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

"Last year, we sold more cars than ever before," said Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche. 

"We were able to increase our unit sales in all three core regions — Europe, NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] and Asia-Pacific. And with 373,459 units sold, China developed into our biggest individual market worldwide in 2015. With growth there of 32.6 per cent, Mercedes-Benz grew significantly faster than the overall automobile market," Zetsche added. 

Daimler said Mercedes-Benz launched more than 15 new or updated models in China last year, where it also expanded the dealer network to approximately 500 dealerships. 

Local production capacities were also expanded.

At Audi, which has been affected by the massive pollution-cheating scandal that has engulfed its parent company VW, sales growth was more modest. 

"2015 has proved that Audi is solidly on track and that we are able to master a year that presented various challenges very successfully," said Chief Executive Rupert Stadler. 

In China, Audi's sales slipped by 1.4 per cent to 570,889, but the level was still "very high", Stadler insisted. 

"Over the course of the next months, [we] will introduce various new models throughout our Chinese product portfolio: by the summer of 2016, successors will be launched for models that represent around 60 per cent of total Audi sales in China," Audi said. 

Embattled German auto giant Volkswagen (VW) Friday posted its first drop in sales in over a decade, as it struggled to recover from a massive pollution cheating scandal.

Sales of vehicles bearing the Volkswagen badge fell 5 per cent to 5.82 million, the company indicated, marking the first such decline in 11 years.

Overall VW group sales, which also include brands like Audi, Porsche and Skoda, reached 9.93 million, 2 per cent less than a year ago and the first fall since 2002.

"Almost 10 million vehicles sold, that's an excellent result given a difficult situation in certain regions and for diesel in the last quarter," said Chief Executive Matthias Mueller.

He acknowledged that challenges await in 2016, and said the company needed to be "more efficient for a successful future".

Volkswagen sank into its biggest crisis over its stunning revelations in September that it had fitted 11 million of its vehicles with devices designed to cheat pollution tests.

Last week, the US government said it was sueing VW for $20 billion (18 billion euros) in civil penalties.

Mueller is travelling to the United States where he will attend a media reception in Detroit on Sunday.

He has vowed to press on with the company's diesel marketing offensive in the US despite the government lawsuit. 

Separately, industry experts said on Thursday that Europe's second biggest auto market Britain recorded its highest ever car sales in 2015, but the continent will likely need a continued recovery in southern European markets to drive growth this year.

Western European new car registrations rose 9 per cent to 13.2 million in 2015 based on national data and estimates compiled by LMC Automotive, with cheap credit boosting British sales.

However, Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders forecast 2016 registrations would be roughly flat, and analysts predicted western European growth would need to come largely from further recovery in Mediterranean countries.

"We're going for 5 per cent growth [in western Europe in 2016] and that's largely focused in southern Europe and partly in France," Exane BNP Paribas analyst Dominic O'Brien told Reuters, citing Italy and Spain as key growth areas.

The two countries recorded the biggest rises among the five major western European markets last year, with Italian sales up 16 per cent and Spanish sales up 21 per cent, according to LMC.

Spain's economy has shown signs of a recovery over recent months, though an inconclusive election result in December could jeopardise growth. Italy's economy also improved in 2015.

O'Brien said French carmaker Renault and Germany's Daimler were likely to be among the best performers this year.

"You've still got quite good sales momentum at [Daimler-owned] Mercedes... and Renault are launching new cars in new segments at the moment," he said, pointing to the new Megane and Scenic models due this year.

In Britain, cheap credit, rising consumer confidence, falling unemployment and low inflation all helped to bolster sales, which rose 6.3 per cent to 2.63 million in 2015, beating a previous record set in 2003.

But most economists polled by Reuters expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates in the second quarter of this year for the first time since before the financial crisis, making it more costly to meet repayments on car purchases.

Sales of Volkswagen-branded cars in Britain, which fell 10 per cent in October and 20 per cent November in the aftermath of firm's diesel emissions test cheating scandal, recovered somewhat in December, recording a fall of 0.4 per cent.

VW brand Seat performed the worst of the German carmaker's major brands last month, falling 46 per cent, ending the year down 11 per cent.

Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said there was less loyalty to the formerly Spanish brand, forecasting Seat's western European sales would be flat or fall next year.

However, he predicted VW group sales would rise 2 per cent, with the namesake VW brand seeing some difficulties at the start of the year but ending it flat due to strong customer loyalty.

"The VW brand behaves amazingly strongly but... there are still going to be some hiccups at the beginning of the year because you will still see the cancelling of orders from fleet for instance will only impact registrations early this year."

NEW YORK — Boeing aircraft orders fell by nearly half in 2015 even as deliveries rose to an annual record, the aerospace giant said last week.

Boeing indicated that net orders for new commercial aircraft dropped to 768 last year from 1,432 in 2014, putting it behind rival Airbus, which is expected to report well over 1,000 orders for last year.

But, encouraged by continued healthy passenger growth in the airline industry and sharply lower fuel prices, Boeing was able to step up production and increase commercial aircraft deliveries to 762, slightly above its own forecasts and bettering the previous record of 723 deliveries in 2014.

In deliveries, Boeing was expected to best Airbus, which appeared on track to turn over about 635 aircraft to customers for the whole of 2015, up just six from a year earlier. The European company is slated to publish its figures on January 12.

The deliveries underscore another likely banner year for the Chicago-based Boeing's earnings. Full-year financial numbers will not be released for several more weeks, but third-quarter revenues were up 8.7 per cent from a year earlier and net earnings were 25.1 per cent higher.

Boeing has forecast 2015 revenues for its Commercial Airplanes division in a $65-66 billion range, up from $60 billion in 2014.

"We had a solid year of orders in 2015, maintaining a strong, balanced backlog that will help ensure a steady stream of deliveries for years to come," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Ray Conner.

Large order backlog       

Boeing highlighted its delivery record on Thursday, as a metric of performance that represents firm, paid-for orders.

Deliveries have taken on more importance because both Boeing and Airbus have large order backlogs that have raised questions about their capacity to keep to their respective production calendars.

On December 31, 2015, Boeing's backlog of orders stood at 5,795, representing more than seven and a half years of production at the current rate.

Both manufacturers have boosted the pace of production of their medium- and long-range aircraft to keep up with demand.

Boeing has ramped up production by 60 per cent over the past five years. The company said on Thursday it would step up the current pace of 63 aircraft per month to more than 70 in 2017.

Output of its popular 737 passenger jet will rise from 42 per month to 52 a month in 2018.

Production of the 787 Dreamliner, built largely with lightweight composite materials that reduce fuel use, will rise from a current 10 per month rate to 14 by 2020.

"Our team did a fantastic job achieving higher deliveries and getting our products to our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. This will continue to be our focus," Conner said.

While it was likely Boeing will beat Airbus in deliveries in 2015, the France-based rival will outshine in net orders.

As of November 30, 2015, Airbus, which set an industry record with 1,503 orders in 2013, had booked 1,007 net orders thanks largely to its best-selling A320, which dominates the medium-range market.

LONDON — Finance Minister George Osborne said last week that Britain's economy was not immune from a "dangerous cocktail" of threats from abroad, and urged against complacency after two years of solid growth.

Osborne, whom Prime Minister David Cameron has named as a possible successor, said in a New Year's message that Britain faced headwinds from slower growth in China, Brazil and Russia as well as tensions in the Middle East.

"The economy has slipped down the list of many people's everyday concerns. But the biggest risk is that people think that it's 'job done'," Osborne said.

Britain has been the fastest growing of its peers for the past couple of years, but Cameron and Osborne regularly focus on the danger of economic mismanagement. Cameron spoke of "red warning lights" from the world economy in late 2014.

Since becoming finance minister in 2010, Osborne has made reducing Britain's large budget deficit his priority, and more than halved it to just under 5 per cent of the gross domestic product during his first five years in office.

In the run-up to May 2015's national election, Osborne said he wanted Britain to run a budget surplus in normal economic times, a goal the opposition Labour Party and many economists think is too stringent and risks hurting growth.

Public borrowing during the current financial year has come in above forecasts, raising doubts about whether Osborne will meet his most immediate fiscal goals.

Business surveys have also suggested the outlook for economic growth is darker than thought a few months ago. The British Chambers of Commerce said on Thursday that manufacturing exports had stagnated for the first time since 2009.

"This year opens with a dangerous cocktail of new threats," Osborne said. "We are only seven days into the New Year, and already we've had worrying news about stock market falls around the world, the slowdown in China [and] deep problems in Brazil and in Russia."

While a big fall in oil prices was good for most British consumers and businesses, it would hurt oil and gas output and investors who had lent to the sector, he added. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran were also a worry.

Osborne made no mention of the referendum on European Union membership which Cameron has promised to hold before the end of 2017 but which many analysts expect to take place as early as June. They warn it could cause businesses to delay investment.

Senior bankers told lawmakers last week that Britain's financial sector has thrived in the European Union (EU) and quitting the 28-country bloc could limit access to a huge market and trigger an "investment pause" due to inevitable disruptions.

Britain is expected to hold a referendum on EU membership later this year.

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to keep Britain in the bloc if he can persuade other EU leaders to agree to his demands for reform before the vote, though he has cautioned he could campaign to leave if he doesn't get a deal.

Eurosceptic lawmakers have criticised Brussels for piling new rules on banks in Britain at the risk of making the sector less competitive globally.

Officials from two UK banks, HSBC and Barclays, said access to the EU's single market and its common rules was "crucial" and a key factor in London's success as Europe's biggest financial centre.

"Harmonisation does make it easier for us," James Chew, HSBC's head of regulatory policy, told parliament's Treasury Select Committee.

London's financial strength outside the EU would hinge on whether there was a "soft" or "hard" exit, meaning how accommodative terms of business would be with Europe, Chew said.

"We know that under any circumstances it's going to be a very big disruption," Chew added. "There will undoubtedly be some sort of investment pause."

HSBC could be forced to "realign" some operations on the continent if access to the single market was restricted following a British exit, Chew indicated.

It would take time for the economic consequences of a "Brexit" vote to sink in, such as whether China would focus on developing relations with the EU, rather than with Britain, he elaborated.

Mark Astaire, vice chair of Barclays' investment banking unit, said that while London had thrived within the EU and the single market was crucial, the capital would remain Europe's biggest financial centre in 10 years' time even if Britain left the bloc.

But Barclays' business customers say it makes sense to stay in the EU from an economic point of view, and an exit would be an expensive exercise for the bank and risks Britain being sidelined when it comes to shaping financial rules, he added.

HSBC and Barclays have begun Brexit contingency planning but Astaire and Chew were unable to give a figure for the costs of exit. The government should set out the terms of any exit ahead of the vote to help banks prepare, they said.

Some lawmakers argued Britain could create a more competitive financial services sector by setting its own financial rules outside the EU. HSBC is reviewing whether to keep its head office in London or move to Asia or elsewhere, partly to escape heavy regulation.

Chew said most EU rules were based on globally agreed principles, and Britain had introduced tougher versions in some cases.

The EU has imposed conditions on non-EU countries that want to do business in the single market, such as having equally strict regulation of their own.

Astaire said the ability of a Britain outside the EU to make radical changes to its financial rules would be quite limited.

"It would not be easy to go very far," agreed Chew.

Separately, two more investment banks have reported paying zero tax in Britain in 2014, prompting the opposition Labour Party to urge the government to reverse a tax change it made for banks last year.

Citigroup and Credit Suisse disclosed that their main UK subsidiaries paid no corporate income tax in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available. 

This means seven of the 10 biggest foreign investment and commercial banks operating in Europe's main investment banking centre have said their main British arms paid no tax in that year.

In total, the 10 banking groups generated over $40 billion in fees in Britain in 2014, reported $6.5 billion in profit and employed almost 50,000 people. But they contributed just $205 million in corporate income tax.

"These are damning findings that make a real mockery of the government's approach to taxation of the financial sector," said John McDonnell MP, the opposition Labour Party's shadow finance minister.

The other five banks, as reported by Reuters last month,  are JP Morgan Chase & Co., Nomura Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. All declined to comment. There is no evidence that they broke any tax rules.

Most companies engage in tax planning to manage their bills, and banking lobby groups say corporate income tax is just one of many taxes the investment banks pay. Britain benefits richly from income taxes on bankers' bonuses.

"The government believes it is crucial that the banks make a fair contribution to restoring stability to the public finances and has taken important steps to ensure they do this," a  spokesman for the finance ministry said. 

The tax authority said it ensures that all businesses pay tax due under British law, but declined to comment on the banks.

Bank levy

In July, following pressure from banks which threatened to move operations from London, Finance Minister George Osborne said he would halve a levy banks must pay as a percentage of their assets, and he would restrict the base on which it is calculated.

At the same time he increased the tax rate banks must pay on corporate income, to 8 percentage points above the standard rate.

Tax experts say corporation tax is easier to avoid than the bank levy.

McDonnell said the figures showed Osborne was already pursuing a "soft touch" approach. "This report should be setting off alarm bells at the Treasury and he should be reversing his decision on the bank levy immediately," he said.

Tax avoidance has become a hot political topic in Britain after revelations in recent years of profit shifting by big groups including Apple Inc. and Amazon.com. Last year, banks were required to disclose how much tax they have paid on profits generated country-by-country. 

On December 31, 2015, Citigroup said that its two main UK subsidiaries had a combined profit of $308 million, but losses from the past reduced the tax it actually had to pay to zero.

Credit Suisse did not have a tax bill because it reported a loss in Britain for 2014. The bank reports most of its European profits in Switzerland, where effective tax rates can be much lower than in Britain.

Of the 10 biggest foreign investment banks measured by fee income, only three paid corporate income tax in 2014. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid $27 million in tax on $2 billion of profit generated by its London arm, while Switzerland's UBS Group AG paid $4 million on $140 million in UK profits. Both declined to comment.

The biggest taxpayer of the 10 was Paris-based BNP Paribas, which paid $174 million on $954 million profit generated by its UK unit, which focuses on investment and commercial banking.

"BNP Paribas is determined to do its civic duty in the field of taxation," the bank said in a statement.

It is not possible to compare the contributions of British banks including Barclays and HSBC, because even though they have large investment banking businesses, their country-by-country reports also include taxes paid on retail operations. Barclays declined to comment and no one from HSBC was available.

ROME — Global food prices plunged 19 per cent in 2015 following a fresh decline in December on the back of plentiful supplies and a slowing global economy, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday.

It was the fourth consecutive annual fall in food prices.

The FAO's food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 154.1 points in December versus a revised 155.6 points the month before, a fall of some 1 per cent.

"Abundant supplies in the face of a timid world demand and an appreciating dollar are the main reason for the general weakness that dominated food prices in 2015," said FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian.

December's reading was dragged down by falling prices for meat, dairy and cereals, which counterbalanced gains in quotations for sugar and vegetable oils.

Expectations of high supply of cereal following the removal of export taxes in Argentina weighed on wheat prices, and maize prices fell as export competition intensified and international demand remained sluggish.

The dedicated cereal price index shed 15.4 per cent in the course of the year, vegetable oils dropped to a nine-year low and dairy prices registered their lowest annual average since 2009.

Sugar prices rose 0.6 per cent in December but on average throughout the year were 21 per cent lower than in 2014.

Separately, researchers said that droughts and extreme heat have cut national cereal production by 9 to 10 per cent on average around the world in the last half-century, and the impact has worsened since the mid-1980s.

Cereal production losses averaged 13.7 per cent in drought years from 1985, compared with 6.7 per cent during earlier droughts, a new study published in the journal Nature found.

It examined the effects of some 2,800 weather disasters on 16 cereals in 177 countries from 1964 to 2007.

The trend could be due to any combination of rising drought severity, although whether droughts have got worse is still under debate, increasing vulnerability and exposure to drought, and greater reporting of drought events, the researchers indicated.

The study highlights the urgency for the global cereal production system to adapt to extremes in a changing climate, they said.

"Our findings may help guide agricultural priorities and adaptation efforts, to better protect farming systems and the populations that depend on them," said senior author Navin Ramankutty, professor of global food security and sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

The analysis did not identify any impact on crop production from floods and extreme cold in national data, they noted.

While the damage to cereal production from droughts and extreme heat was considerable, the effect was short-term, as agricultural output rebounded and continued to grow after the disasters, the study showed.

Droughts, which can last for several years, appear to be more harmful, reducing cereal yield and causing complete crop failure in some areas, whereas extreme heat only affected yield, it said.

Rich countries suffer

According to the study, production took a bigger hit from extreme weather in technically advanced agricultural systems in North America, Europe and Australasia than in developing countries.

In wealthy nations, production dropped by nearly 20 per cent due to droughts, double the global average.

In comparison, the average production deficit was around 12 per cent in Asia and just over 9 per cent in Africa, while extreme weather had no significant effect in Latin America and the Caribbean, the study indicated.

This could be explained by the differing approaches of large and small-scale farming, the authors said.

"Across the breadbaskets of North America, for example, the crops and methods of farming are very uniform across huge areas, so if a drought hits in a way that is damaging to those crops, they will all suffer," explained Corey Lesk, a recent graduate of McGill University.

"By contrast, in much of the developing world, the cropping systems are a patchwork of small fields with diverse crops. If a drought hits, some of those crops may be damaged, but others may survive," Lesk said.

As farmers in wealthier countries rarely depend on harvests for food and can usually insure crops against bad weather, the best strategy for them may be to maximise yields rather than minimise the risk of weather-related crop damage, as subsistence farmers would seek to do, the researchers concluded.

AMMAN — The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) announced Thursday that 10.6 million cheques were presented for clearing last year, compared to 11.1 million during 2014. It indicated that the number of bounced cheques declined to 4.9 per cent in 2015 from 5 per cent in the previous year.

The cheques that bounced due to insufficient funds last year came at 3 per cent and those for other reasons stood at 1.9 per cent. In terms of value, the cheques that bounced amounted to JD1.7 billion, representing 3.6 per cent of the total JD48.1 billion that were processed. 

AMMAN — The preparatory meetings for the 15th session of the joint Jordanian-Saudi economic committee started on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply. 

Secretary General Yousef Shamali and undersecretary of the Saudi ministry of transport for planning affairs Faisal Al Zaben are heading the meetings. 

Shamali described the meetings as an indication of the depth of bilateral relations that reached a high level of political and economic understanding thanks to Royal directives and continuous follow-ups from His Majesty King Abdullah and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The leaderships of both countries aim at boosting relations in all fields, especially the economic, trade and investment fields, which require effective measures that ensure growth and development of commercial and investment exchange to serve mutual interests.

He said the 15th session's meetings are being held after a year and a half since the previous session, which brought favourable results in light of recent developments, and added, "we are looking forward through our meeting today to review the implementation of what was agreed upon during the previous session and evaluate the activation of agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding that were signed in several cooperation fields...". 

Shamali said the most important means to develop commercial exchange lie in the continuous support to Jordan through the general secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council and he referred to an economic agreement signed with Saudi Arabia on October 30, 1962, which he said reflects the history of commercial relations.

Saudi Arabia is the top commercial partner to Jordan, Shamali said, noting that commerce between the two countries constituted 49.9 per cent of the Kingdom's commerce with the Arab world in 2014 and 18.1 per cent of Jordan's trade with the world during the same period. 

Moreover, commerce between Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the first 10 months of 2015 constituted 47.4 per cent of Jordan's trade with the Arab world and 16.1 per cent of trade with the world, according to Shamali.

The secretary general said Jordan is looking forward to enhancing bilateral relations also in the fields of health, medicine, tourism, agriculture, industry, energy and transport.

Shamali indicated that the volume of commercial exchange between the two countries stood at $5.458 billion during 2014 as Jordanian imports from Saudi Arabia stood at a value of $4.59 billion and Jordanian exports at $999 million, which means that Jordan is under huge responsibility to find means of developing commercial exchange and allow the trade of goods without hindrances or obstacles. 

For his part, Zaben highlighted the importance of the joint Jordanian-Saudi economic committee's meetings to enhance bilateral cooperation and stressed the depth of relations. 

Also on Wednesday, Jordanian and Saudi businesspeople discussed ways to develop bilateral commercial and investment relations at the private sector level, in addition to establishing joint investments in many economic sectors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Such plans were discussed at a meeting hosted by the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) with a Saudi economic delegation representing the Saudi chamber council, in the presence of Saudi Prince Khalid Bin Al Waleed Bin Talal and Jordan’s Ambassador to Riyadh Jamal Shamaileh. 

JBA President Hamdi Tabba said the Gulf neighbour topped the list of the biggest investors in Jordan with around $10 billion in the industrial, tourist, grand hotels, agricultural, hospital, financial, transportation and communications sectors.

The Saudi capital's share in the Amman Stock Exchange exceeds $3 billion, which constitutes around 10 per cent of the total value of the Jordanian shares, he said, adding that some 600 Saudi businesspeople run investments in the Kingdom in various economic sectors, Petra reported.

The president also stressed the availability of a major opportunity to move economic cooperation to a higher level, such as cooperating in railway transportation to enhance trade exchange, as well as major strategic schemes Jordan has decided to implement in the energy and water resources sectors.

Other projects include installing an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company and then to Aqaba, and cooperation in the electricity connection project, Tabba added according to Petra.

Mohammad Odeh, head of the Saudi side in the Jordanian-Saudi Business Council, said Saudis are interested in being acquainted with investment projects Amman intends to implement and participating in them, expressing his country's keenness to enhance its commercial ties with Jordan.

The council has referred a recommendation to the joint higher committee, suggesting providing a special window for Jordanian businesspeople at Saudi border crossings to facilitate their entry to Saudi Arabia, Odeh noted.

In a council meeting on Tuesday night, members called for intensifying visits and holding conferences aimed at showing investment opportunities in both countries, Petra reported.

Attendants also highlighted the significance of activating the technical cooperation agreement between the Saudi commission for standards, metrology and quality and the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation in a way that achieves integration in the field.

First Deputy President of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce Ghassan Khirfan expressed hope that Saudi Arabia will show more attention to Jordanian exports, limit obstacles, unify technical standards and facilitate visa procedures for Jordanian traders, according to Petra.