สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 4 กันยายน 2556

India to ask US for orderly exit from QE at G-20

As the rupee is being hammered, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will prod US President Barack Obama to go for orderly exit from quantitative easing, instead of sudden withdrawal, at the upcoming G-20 meeting in St Petersburg, Russia. Leaving for the Russian city to take part in the two-day G-20 Leadership Summit from tomorrow, Singh today  said,"I will emphasise in St Petersburg the need for orderly exit from the unconventional monetary policies being pursued by the developed world for the last few years so as to avoid damaging the growth prospects of the developing world." India's capital markets have been witnessing sharp fluctuations, while the rupee has been depreciating against the dollar since US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at tapering of quantitative easing in US. Same is the case with other developing countries. In a statement, the Prime Minister said he would emphasise that G-20 countries should ensure primacy of development dimension in its deliberations, focus on job creation, promote investment in infrastructure as means for stimulating global growth and create potential in the developing countries to sustain high growth in the medium term.

(Source: Business Standard)

PM leaves for G20 Summit, calls for an "orderly exit" from unconventional monetary policies

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left for St Petersburg to attend the eighth G20 Summit during which he is expected to push for a coordinated plan to avoid disruption in India and other large developing economies by imminent phasing out of fiscal stimulus by US Federal Reserve. While the dispute between Russia and the US over the conflict in Syria is likely to overshadow the two-day summit starting tomorrow in the Russian city, splits between emerging markets and the US over its winding down of stimulus and the slowing growth of India and other four BRICS countries are expected to remain in focus.  Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa -- grouped in the informal BRICS bloc seen as an alternative economic powerhouse -- all go into the meeting experiencing slowing growth, embattled currencies and huge capital outflows.In a statement before leaving for the Summit, Singh called for an "orderly exit" from unconventional monetary policies being pursued by the developed world for the last few years to avoid damaging growth prospects of the developing world.

(Source: The Economic Times)

Oil, gold stay volatile on Syria tension

Global crude oil and gold prices remained volatile in early trade on Tuesday after a missile test by Israel jointly with the US in the Mediterranean raised worries that an escalating Syrian conflict may disrupt supplies from the West Asian region. Strong manufacturing and services data from China also brightened prospects for commodities. After an initial fall, brent crude oil gained 74 cents at $115.07 a barrel.US crude oil, however, dropped 33 cents to $107.32 from Friday's close as there was no Monday settlement for the US benchmark oil variety due to due to the Labor Day holiday. Brent crude oil increased by more than $1 a barrel on geopolitical tensions after a Russian media report cited the country's defence ministry saying it had detected two ballistic "objects" fired in the Mediterranean. Israel later said it carried out a test of a missile, used as a target in a US-funded anti-missile system on Tuesday. Spot gold also gained in intraday trade as its safe-haven appeal came to the fore again. Spot gold rose 0.40% to $1,395.26 an ounce, while US gold futures for December was little changed at $1,394.90. The metal had hit a three-and-a-half month high of $1,433.31 an ounce on August 28 when a US strike on Syria seemed imminent. However, the precious metal lost some appeal after US President Barack Obama chose to seek congressional support for the war and the UK parliament rejected participation in any military action.

(Source; Financial Express)

India slips to 7th rank in global coffee production

India’s ranking among major coffee producing countries has slipped to 7th position despite increasing production, albeit marginally, in 2012. It stood in the 6th position in the previous year. In 2012, the coffee output in India increased 0.48% to 5.25 million bags (each bag = 60 kilograms) compared to 5.23 million bags in the previous year. With this, India’s share in global coffee production stands at 3.6%, while Honduras’ share is 3.7%. Republic of Honduras, the Central American country, which was behind India till 2010, has improved its ranking to climb the 6th position even after recording 5.35% drop in production to 5.4 million bags from 5.7 million bags in the previous year. The area under coffee planting and bearing area in India has shown an upward trend, due to the expansion of cultivation in non-traditional areas. This suggests that growth in production was on account of area increase rather than productivity increase. As per FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), yield level in India at 837.8 kg per hectare in 2011 was much below the Vietnam yield levels of 2,187.9 kg per hectare and Brazil’s 1,256.7 kg per hectare.

(Source: Business Standard)

Nepal's smugglers cash in on India's love of gold

After a long drive from across the border in China, the white truck arrived in Nepal's capital at dawn with a seemingly innocuous cargo of Chinese-made clothes.But hidden in a cylinder inside the vehicle's front bumper was the latest haul of gold smuggled from Tibet bars weighing some 35 kilograms (77 pounds) and worth several million dollars on the black market. Nepal's police were waiting for the truck and its 24-year-old driver just inside the city, after tracking them for several days along the highway that connects Nepal with China. The seizures in India coincide with the government's campaign in recent months to deter legal imports of the precious metal -- including by hiking import duties. Under pressure over a faltering economy, the government is trying to break that country's obsession with gold. Imported in vast quantities, it is partly blamed for blowing out the current account deficit and pushing down the rupee to record lows. Almost all of India's gold is imported, making it the second-biggest contributor after oil to the current account deficit -- the broadest measure of trade. The widening deficit has caused alarm among ratings agencies and contributed to India's slowing economic growth. India must sell rupees to buy the gold in largely dollar-denominated trades, which is putting downward pressure on the ailing local currency, the worst performing in Asia this year. The government, desperate to kickstart the economy ahead of elections due next year, has announced a series of measures, including raising duties on bullion imports in August to a record 10 percent, the third hike this year.

(Source: The Economic Times)

Economic Section

Royal Thai Embassy