Business

AMMAN — Investment volume in the private hospitals sector in the Kingdom exceeds JD2 billion, Private Hospitals Association President Fawzi Hammouri said Monday. Hammouri made these remarks after his participation in the 1st National Conference for Investment where he indicated that private hospitals employ 30,000 workers, 95 per cent of whom are Jordanians. He said that 64 private hospitals constitute 60 per cent of the total number of hospitals in the Kingdom. He added that the attractive investment environment has contributed to developing the sector, referring to the investment law that exempts hospitals from customs fees and sales tax on construction materials and medical equipment. He pointed out that there are more than 25,000 Jordanian doctors in the Kingdom, noting that with 28.6 doctors to each 10,000 citizens, this ratio is considered among the highest in the world. 

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Monday received Yousef Nuwais, chairman of Maabar Company Jordan, the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Imad Kilani and Maabar International CEO Abdullah Al Haj Ali. 

Ensour was briefed on the company’s investments in Jordan, most important of which is Marsa Zayed in Aqaba, and the challenges facing the company. 

The premier praised the investments of the United Arab Emirates in Jordan, and welcomed more investments by virtue of the brotherly relations between the two countries. 

He also expressed the government’s interest for the success of these projects, and its readiness to remove any challenges they may face. 

AMMAN – The government and the private sector are pinning hopes on the new investment law for whetting the appetite of Jordanian and foreign investors. 

Officials and businesspeople, including Arab investors, gathered on Monday at the 1st National Conference for Investment to explore ways to increase capital flows and obstacles hindering the development of the business environment in the Kingdom. 

Industry, Trade and Supply Minister Hatem Halawani described the new investment law, endorsed by the Parliament just few months ago, as a modern bill that would attract local, regional and international investors to benefit from wider incentives and easier measures to start new businesses. 

The new law merged all entities that used to be in charge of investment issues in one agency, the Investment Commission, and also removed investment obstacles, he said, adding that under the legislation an investment council will be headed by the prime minister to oversee the development of businesses and to guarantee more transparency. 

"Investors will no longer wait for long periods to have their projects approved," Halawani stressed, adding small and medium businesses will also benefit from tax exemptions and incentives under the new bill. 

Former finance minister Mohammad Abu Hammour said Jordan's economy needs to return to pro-2008 growth figures of 6 per cent to 7 per cent to create more jobs for Jordanians and to reduce poverty. 

"This can be achieved through large investments," he added, but questioning if the new investment law was enough to stimulate the appetite of investors at a time when a draft income tax law, currently at the Lower House for deliberations, is a concern for businesspeople.

Jordanian Businessmen Association President Hamdi Tabbaa called on the government to withdraw the income tax bill and to re-draft it in consultation with the private sector. 

"The income tax bill is a major concern for the private sector," Tabbaa said. 

The controversial draft law imposes 35 per cent tax on several sectors such as the telecommunications, banking and insurance. 

Taxes in Jordan are higher than regional countries, Tabbaa added, noting that the new investment law in addition to the Kingdom's stability and strategic location should be an advantage for investors. 

Amman Chamber of Industry President Ziad Homsi said the private sector was eagerly waiting for approving the new investment law as it merged government investment bodies and laws in one entity, adding that instability in economic legislation over the past years have negatively affected the performance of businesses. 

Halawani said a one stop window will be available for investors with the help of representatives from concerned government agencies, who will have authority to make decisions. 

The event was organised by the National Association for Investor Protection.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will keep its production ceiling steady at its "toughest ever" meeting this month, a former adviser to oil kingpin Saudi Arabia said after global crude prices hit a four-year low.

The 12-nation OPEC group, including the world's biggest crude producer Saudi Arabia, will meet on November 27 in Vienna.

Mohammed Suroor Al Sabban, who until last year was chief adviser to the kingdom's petroleum ministry, said the group's talks will be "the toughest OPEC meeting ever as some OPEC ministers had not anticipated prices would drop to this level, and so quickly".

He said he expected OPEC members to stick with the current output ceiling.

"In my personal opinion, the next meeting will confirm the current production ceiling... at 30 million barrels a day and OPEC will adhere to that in the coming period," he told businessmen in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah late Saturday.

Sabban said that some OPEC members, such as sanctions-hit Iran, "cannot be obliged" to cut their output.

At the same time Saudi Arabia has sent a clear message that "it cannot lower production alone, or carry the burden of reductions". 

OPEC nations currently produce around 600,000 barrels of oil a day over the output ceiling.

In early November, Riyadh sent global oil prices tumbling when it cut its price for crude on the US market while raising it for Asia, the country's major outlet.

Analysts said the kingdom wanted to strengthen its market share in the United States against a flood of oil being extracted there from shale rock, which had helped to create a global supply glut and lowered prices.

Oil rebounded slightly on Friday, with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rising to $75.82 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January advanced to $79.41 in London.

Prices have fallen by about one-third since June.

Saudi Arabia's Petroleum Minister Ali Al Naimi last week rejected talk that the country was leading a price war in global oil markets.

On Saturday, Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz told fellow members of the Group of 20 (G-20) most powerful world economies that the kingdom wants oil market stability, official media reported.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues its balanced and positive role in cementing the stability of oil markets, taking into account the interests of the producing and consuming countries," he told the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia.

Saudi Arabia produced around 9.6 million barrels a day in October, according to data cited by OPEC.

KUWAIT CITY — Government revenues in Kuwait dropped 4.4 per cent in the first half of the fiscal year due to sliding oil prices, but the energy-rich emirate still reported a healthy provisional surplus.

Official figures posted Sunday on the finance ministry website put April-September public income at 15.1 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($52.1 billion) compared with 15.8 billion dinars in the same year-ago period.

Oil income, which accounts for 94 per cent of revenues, dropped 5.3 per cent to 14.2 billion dinars in the first half from 15 billion dinars previously, according to the new figures.

Despite the fall, the emirate still managed to post a provisional budget surplus of 9 billion dinars.

Spending was 6.1 billion dinars, up 19.6 per cent on last year's 5.1 billion dinars.

The sharp dive in global oil prices did not reflect fully on the Kuwaiti figures because most of the slump took place in October and deepened in November.

The average price for Kuwaiti oil in April-August was $103.92 a barrel, according to Adnan Abdul Samad, the head of the parliamentary committee on budgets.

Abdul Samad said Wednesday the price for Kuwaiti oil dropped to an average of $95.4 and $84.3 a barrel in September and October, respectively.

The slide has continued this month, with the price of oil closing Friday at $71.40 a barrel, less than the breakeven rate of $75 a barrel estimated in the 2014-2015 budget, according to Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

Abdul Samad also warned that Kuwait, which posted a budget surplus in each of the past 15 fiscal years due to high oil prices, could see its first shortfall at the end of this fiscal year if the trend continues.

As a result of the windfall, Kuwait's fiscal reserves reached $548 billion as of June 30.

The fiscal year starts on April 1 and ends on March 31 in Kuwait, a tiny Gulf state which has a native population of 1.25 million and is also home to about 2.8 million foreigners.

Separately, Kuwait warned Sunday that action was needed from members of the organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to halt the "sharp decline" in oil prices after the value of global crude hit a four-year low. 

A joint meeting by the oil-rich emirate's Cabinet and its Supreme Petroleum Council — the highest decision making body on energy — chaired by Prime Minister Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah reviewed "necessary steps that need to be taken" to halt the price slide, said a statement cited by the official KUNA news agency.

The measures included "consultations with OPEC members to discuss taking the best means to support oil prices and safeguard the interests of all sides".

The statement did not call for any change in OPEC production, which is currently 600,000 barrels a day above its recommended output ceiling of 30 million.

The 12-nation OPEC cartel, which accounts for a third of global oil output, will meet on November 27 in Vienna.

Oil Minister Ali Al Omair briefed the meeting about the slide in oil, the statement said. 

No new measures were announced.

AMMAN — Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) Chairman Ziyad Homsi reiterated Sunday the importance of developing economic relations between Jordan and the UK. Speaking during a meeting with British Ambassador to Jordan Peter Millett and attended by ACI council members, Homsi described the 2nd Arab British Economic Forum which was held in London last month with the participation of a Jordanian economic delegation, as a good opportunity to promote investment in the Kingdom.

Millett called on Jordanian companies to benefit from the cumulative expertise of their British counterparts, especially in renewable energy, constructions and technology sectors. British investment volume in Jordan until the end of 2013 reached $1.2 billion, with the industrial and hotel investments constituting 55 and 44 per cent of the total investments respectively. Jordan’s exports to the UK in 2013 stood at JD17 million compared to JD193 million of imports from the UK.

BRISBANE, Australia — President Barack Obama on Saturday said the United States cannot "carry the world economy on our back" and urged Group of 20 (G-20) leaders to work harder to create jobs by revving up growth.

His appeal during a speech on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Brisbane comes with the US economy finally kicking into gear just as challenges emerge elsewhere to the world growth outlook, notably in Europe, China and Japan.

"Over the last few years the US has put more people back to work than all other advanced economies combined," Obama said, with the US unemployment rate falling to 5.8 per cent in October, its lowest level since July 2008.

"But America can't be expected to just carry the world economy on our back," he added. "So here in Brisbane, the G-20 has a responsibility to act, to boost demand and invest more in infrastructure and create good jobs for the people of all our nations."

The leaders of the world's top industrial economies are set to pledge at their summit in Brisbane to boost their combined growth by at least $2 trillion via domestic policy reforms, and so generate millions of new jobs.

They were initially expected to sign off on a vow to lift growth by 2 per cent over the currently projected level in the next five years.

But a draft copy of the Brisbane Action Plan said that, owing to worries about sluggish conditions worldwide, the leaders will agree to reforms that could accelerate growth by 2.1 per cent.

"We have developed comprehensive growth strategies that address these challenges," the plan says, according to The Australian newspaper. "Analysis by the IMF and OECD indicates that full implementation of these strategies will lift our collective gross domestic product by 2.1 per cent through to 2018 above the trajectory implied by the policies at the time of the St Petersburg summit [last year]."

G-20 nations, which make up 85 per cent of the world economy, plan to meet the goal by accelerating infrastructure investment, financial reform and encouraging free trade.

Obama, who jetted into Brisbane early Saturday after attending an East Asia summit in Myanmar and the APEC forum on Asia-Pacific trade in Beijing, mentioned abolishing protectionism and cracking down on corruption as key to hitting the growth goals.

He said the US "will continue to promote economic growth that is sustained and shared" and work to "tear down barriers to trade and investment and combat the corruption that steals from so many citizens".

AMMAN — Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) maximised its operational profit by 217.3 per cent, or JD22.9 million, during the first nine months of this year, according to a disclosure the corporation sent to the Amman Stock Exchange.

As a result of achieving a JD33.5 million operational profit, compared to JD10.5 million registered during the January-September period of last year, JPMC succeeded in emerging from a JD6.7 million loss posted at the end of June 2014 to a JD8.7 million net profit as of September 30, 2014.

"This shows that the corporation generated a JD15.4 million profit during the third quarter of this year, JD10.1 million higher than the JD5.3 million posted during the same period of 2013," JPMC indicated in the disclosure.

The corporation noted that the profit was attained after making a  JD6.5 million provision for staff incentives in the third quarter, or an accumulated JD19.5 million for the incentives for the full period until the end of September 2014, as per labour deals agreed in previous years.

The disclosure revealed that JPMC's sales during the first nine months of this year amounted to JD523.1 million, 25.3 per cent higher than the JD417.5 million recorded during the same period of last year.

JPMC attributed the rise in sales to a noticeable increase in phosphate exports at the end of the third quarter as the volume went up by 997,000 tonnes reaching 4.3 million tonnes.

This volume represented a 41.7 per cent surge as exports during January-September 2013 stood at 3.1 million tonnes.

Sales of fertilisers also soared by 61.2 per cent, or 172,000 tonnes reaching 453,000 tonnes at the end of September 2014 compared to 281,000 tonnes at the end of September 2013.

"Sale prices were affected this year by stiff competition in the international market," the corporation indicated in the disclosure pointing out that the phosphate average sale price per tonne dropped by $16 compared to the price level that prevailed at the end of last year's third quarter.

Similarly, the fertiliser sale price went down by $43 per tonne by the end of this year's third quarter compared to the price level at the end of September 2013.

Furthermore, JPMC listed other factors that affected production costs, mentioning, as examples, higher mining fees, an increase in fuel prices, and a rise in water and electricity charges.

"To counter the effect of these increases on the costs per each unit of    output, the company resorted to ramp up phosphate and fertiliser production at the end of this year's third quarter," the disclosure said.

Consequently, it added, the phosphate third quarter output went up to 5 million tonnes at the end of September 2014, compared to 4 million tonnes at the end of September 2013.

Similarly, the fertiliser third quarter output shot up to 431,000 tonnes  at the end of September 2014 compared to 319,000 tonnes at the end of  September 2013.

Financially, the disclosure showed that JPMC's total assets at the end of September 2014 amounted to JD1,200.5 million, of which JD459.5 million were current assets and JD741 million were fixed assets. At the end of 2013, total assets stood at JD1,112.5 million.

Total liabilities amounted to JD429.6 million, of which JD344.6 million were current liabilities and JD85 million were long term. At the end of last year, total liabilities stood at JD350.2 million.

Shareholders' equity totalled JD771 million at the end of September 2014, higher than the JD762.3 million as of December 31, 2013. 

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON/GENEVA — India and the United States settled a dispute on Thursday that had paralysed the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and risked derailing a $1 trillion package of reforms of global customs procedures.

The deal, which needs to be backed by all 160 WTO members, has resurrected hopes that the trade body can now push through those reforms, opening the way up for further negotiations.

India had plunged the WTO into the deepest crisis in its 20-year history in July by vetoing a deal on streamlined customs rules due to a lack of progress on its demands to be allowed to stockpile food without observing the usual WTO rules on agricultural subsidies.

That put the WTO's future in doubt just months after it appeared to have overcome decades of stalemate on the issue at a meeting in Bali in Indonesia.

"This breakthrough represents a significant step in efforts to get the Bali package and the multilateral trading system back on track," WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said.

"Implementation of all aspects of the Bali package would be a major boost to the WTO, enhancing our ability to deliver beneficial outcomes to all our members," he added.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which has said streamlining customs procedures could add $1 trillion and 21 million jobs to the world economy, said the breakthrough would open the door to new trade talks.

"Today's breakthrough is a real victory for all of us: Governments, consumers and business," said ICC Secretary General John Danilovich.

Linda Dempsey at the US National Association of Manufacturers described the customs deal as "an unparalleled opportunity to boost global growth and commerce by the simple task of cutting red tape, streamlining border processing and adding transparency to customs operations worldwide".

The breakthrough is the second at the WTO in days, following a US-China pact to cut tariffs on IT products, also billed as a $1 trillion advance. It also comes hot on the heels of a US agreement with China on carbon emissions.

The US-Indian deal is likely to be hailed as a victory for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has stressed the importance of ensuring that its 1.25 billion people have enough to eat. His tough stance had also risked isolating him at his first Group of 20 (G-20) summit of world leaders in Brisbane, Australia, this weekend.

But Thursday's compromise included no major revision of the original WTO deal struck last December, which provided for India's food stockpiling to be shielded from legal challenge by a "peace clause".

A source familiar with the negotiation said the compromise replaced the "constructive ambiguity" about the duration of the peace clause with clear language that it would remain until a permanent solution was found.

"There's no renegotiation of Bali," the source said.

The peace clause is subject to disclosure requirements that India has not yet met and also requires that its policy does not distort trade.

Modi instructed aides early last week to strike a deal.

"From Modi's perspective, it's a major victory to say we've got an indefinite stay of execution on our food subsidy scheme," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC in Singapore.

A food security law passed by India's last government expanded the number of people entitled to receive cheap food grains to 850 million.

In a recent disclosure to the WTO, India said its state food procurement cost $13.8 billion in 2010-11, part of the total of $56.1 billion it spends on farm support. Wheat stocks, at 30 million tonnes, are more than double official target levels.

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday stepped up calls on European policy makers to do more to avoid a "lost decade" of low growth, saying steps taken by the European Central Bank (ECB) may not be sufficient on their own.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew gave an unusually blunt assessment of what he thinks Europe needs to do, arguing that France and Italy should rein in budget deficits more slowly and that it was "critical" Germany and the Netherlands open their fiscal purse strings.

"Resolute action by national authorities and other European bodies is needed to reduce the risk that the region could fall into a deeper slump," Lew said at the World Affairs Council in Seattle.

Speaking ahead of the summit of leaders from the Group of 20 (G-20) nations in Australia this week, he said eurozone countries should pursue a combination of fiscal, monetary and structural policies to support growth.

His comments suggested the eurozone's sluggish recovery will come under the G-20 spotlight, as it has during their last two sessions.

The 18-nation
eurozone is skirting close to recession, growing just 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, and the currency bloc is also not far from outright deflation.

To prop up the economy and move inflation higher, the ECB has started to pump more money into the region's banking system, and has said it is ready to take further action if needed.

In contrast, the US economy is growing solidly. Lew warned, however, that the world could not rely on strong US growth alone to support demand. He urged countries to use fiscal policies to boost demand if they could afford to.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has been under particular pressure to increase government stimulus to support demand in the eurozone.

Lew also said Italy and France should pursue structural reforms but cautioned it was still unclear whether such reforms will be enough in the case of Japan.

Japan has launched a broad programme of monetary easing, spending and reform to generate economic growth and pull out of damaging deflation. At the same time, Tokyo has raised taxes in a bid to rein in its large deficits.

Lew said that if Japanese officials decided to go ahead with another planned consumption tax increase, they should use other policies to more than offset the drag on the economy.

He held out the US recovery from the 2008-2009 Great Recession as an example for Washington's main G-20 partners.

"Over the past four and a half years, the private sector has created more than ten and a half million new jobs, the longest stretch of private sector job growth in our nation's history," he said.

"In fact, we have created more jobs since the pre-crisis peak than Europe and Japan combined," the treasury secretary added.

But he also said that the United States itself needs to do more to strengthen economic momentum, citing President Barack Obama's proposals for immigration and tax reforms, a higher minimum wage, and more spending on infrastructure.

Separately, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday warned of downside risks to its growth projections for the eurozone, and urged the ECB to act if prices in the currency bloc continue to drift lower.

The IMF's warning echoes an increasing fear among global policy makers that Europe is not on track to spur economic growth, something that should be a key topic for discussion when leaders of the G-20 economies meet in Australia.

The IMF, the Washington-based lending institution charged with policing global economic and financial stability, in October predicted the eurozone would expand 0.8 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent next year.

But a raft of disappointing data in the last month has put even those modest economic projections in doubt, including "surprisingly" weak data for domestic demand in Germany, the eurozone's biggest economy, the IMF said in a report prepared for the G-20 meeting.

A report on Friday is expected to show the eurozone's economic growth in the third quarter is in line with the 0.1 per cent pick-up posted in the prior three months. Prices have risen just 0.4 per cent over the past year.

The ECB has a mandate to keep inflation below but close to 2 per cent.

The IMF said it welcomed recent moves by the ECB to keep interest rates low and pump more money into the region's banking system.

"But if the inflation outlook does not improve and inflation expectations continue to drift down, the ECB should be willing to do more, including purchases of sovereign assets," the IMF said in its report.

It also warned of the risks tied to geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East, and of financial market corrections due to divergent policies from the world's major central banks.

The US Federal Reserve last month decided to end its bond-buying stimulus programme, while the Bank of Japan has dramatically increased its pace of money creation and the ECB agonises over whether to follow suit.

A deep stock market sell-off in mid-October also spooked policymakers concerned that a market rout could hurt confidence.

"The recent increase in volatility is a reminder about the challenges ahead," the IMF said.