Economy

CARACAS: Venezuelan food delivery driver Pablo Toro has no stake in cryptocurrency or blockchain, but indirectly uses digital tokens every time he sends money to his family. Toro, who emigrated to Colombia in 2019, uses an app called Valiu to receive Colombian pesos from working on Bogota's streets and deposit the corresponding bolivars into a Venezuelan bank account. In Venezuela's economy, mired by hyperinflation and hemmed in by sanctions, the operation is not so straightforward. Valiu uses pesos to buy cryptocurrency that it then sells on LocalBitcoins, a global peer-to-peer site for trading tokens in local currencies. For Toro, the platform is more reliable than informal money changers, the main channel for Venezuelan migrants to send money home. And he need not buy traditional money orders in person. "When the power is out in Venezuela, when internet service is down, it has a huge impact on how long it takes to send a remittance to one's family," said Toro, who quit ... » Learn More about As Venezuela’s economy regresses, crypto fills the gaps

BANGKOK, June 16 (Xinhua): Thailand aimed to fully reopen to foreign visitors in 120 days and give at least one shot of vaccine to about 50 million people by October to revive the economy, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha had announced. Tourism destinations that are ready could reopen to fully vaccinated foreign visitors without quarantine requirements before the broader reopening, with Phuket as a pilot, Prayut said in a televised address. The country plans to administer an average of around 10 million doses of vaccine a month from July, and by early October about 50 million people will receive at least one shot, he said. Although the decision may risk an increase in infections, he said, "when we take into consideration of the economic needs of people, the time has now come for us to take that calculated risk. The priorities for our country must now advance to the next level." Battered by the pandemic, Thailand recorded its worst economic recession in more than two decades ... » Learn More about Thailand targets fully reopening in 120 days to reboot economy

DUBAI: Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Monday (Jun 21) backed talks between Iran and six world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal but flatly rejected meeting US President Joe Biden, even if Washington removed all sanctions. In his first news conference since he was elected on Friday, the hardline cleric said his foreign policy priority would be improving ties with Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours, while calling on Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia to immediately halt its intervention in Yemen. Raisi, 60, a strident critic of the West, will take over from pragmatist Hassan Rouhani on Aug 3 as Iran seeks to salvage the tattered nuclear deal and be rid of punishing US sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. "We support the negotiations that guarantee our national interests ... America should immediately return to the deal and fulfil its obligations under the deal," he said. Negotiations have been under way in Vienna since April to work out how Iran and the United ... » Learn More about Iran President-elect Raisi backs nuclear talks, rules out meeting Biden

PHNOM PENH (AFP): An Australian company on Monday (June 21)) officially launched operations for Cambodia's first commercial gold mine in the kingdom's resource-rich northeast, officials said. Renaissance Minerals (Cambodia) Limited -- owned by Perth-based Emerald Resources -- has begun work on the Okvau Gold Project in Mondulkiri province. It is expected to generate more than US$300 million in tax revenues and royalties over seven years for the country, according to a statement from the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh. The project has the backing of strongman premier Hun Sen, who wrote in a June 10 Facebook post that it was a "great achievement" to boost Cambodia's economy -- which has been battered by the pandemic. An average of three tonnes of pure gold will be produced per year in its first eight years of operation, he said. Located in Keo Seima district, the Okvau Gold project area has been carved from the once-protected land of Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, a ... » Learn More about Aussie firm begins Cambodia’s first commercial gold mine

BANGKOK, June 18 (Xinhua): Thailand announced on Friday to further ease restrictions on restaurant dine-in services in the capital Bangkok and three other provinces as the government struggled to strike a balance between pandemic containment and easing economic pains from the third wave of outbreak. From Monday, restaurants in Bangkok and its neighboring Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan provinces will be given two more hours for dine-in services and can receive customers up to half of their capacity, expanding from previous 25 percent, said Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson of the Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). This was in response to a letter of petition from the Thai Restaurant Association, calling for an extension to the dine-in hours for customers at restaurants in the four regions. Bangkok and the three provinces are the epicenter of the third wave of outbreak, which has seen a sharp surge in infections since early April. The four regions ... » Learn More about Thailand to further ease restaurant dine-in restrictions despite high case tally

LONDON: Hedge funds have rarely been more bullish about the outlook for oil in the last three years, even as prices have climbed to levels that have induced a strong response from producers in the past. Hedge funds and other money managers purchased the equivalent of 26 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to June 15, according to exchange and regulatory data. Last week's purchases were focused on Brent (+22 million barrels) and NYMEX and ICE WTI (+9 million), with small buying in European gas oil (+4 million), although there were sales of U.S. diesel (-1 million) and U.S. gasoline (-8 million). The combined position rose to 945 million barrels, only exceeded twice in the last 140 weeks – at the end of 2019 and start of 2020 after the trade truce between China and the United States but before the pandemic. Net positions in both crude (746 million barrels) and products (199 million barrels) were in the 83rd-84th ... » Learn More about Column – Oil bulls bet on restraint by OPEC+ and US shale firms: Kemp

DUBAI: Iranian police have seized 7,000 computer miners at an illegal cryptocurrency farm, their largest haul to date of the energy-guzzling machines that have exacerbated power outages in Iran, state media reported on Tuesday. In late May, Iran banned the mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for nearly four months as part of efforts to reduce the incidence of power blackouts blamed by officials on surging electricity demand during the searingly hot and dry summer. Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said the 7,000 computer miners were seized in an abandoned factory in the west of the capital, the state news agency IRNA reported. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are created through a process known as mining, where powerful computers compete with each other to solve complex mathematical problems. The process is highly energy-intensive, often relying on electricity generated by fossil fuels, which are abundant in Iran. According to blockchain analytics firm ... » Learn More about Iran seizes 7,000 cryptocurrency computer miners, largest haul to date

NEW YORK: The dollar edged higher on Tuesday before Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress, with investors anxious to see whether Powell pushes back against the view that the Fed is likely to raise rates sooner than previously expected as inflation rises. The dollar has surged since the U.S. central bank on Wednesday said that policymakers are forecasting two rate hikes in 2023. That led investors to re-evaluate bets that the U.S. central bank will let inflation run at higher levels for a longer time before hiking rates. “I think today Powell is going to be able to reset his message,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. “Investors want to get a better view to see whether or not Powell does pull back a little bit of that extra hawkishness that we got last week.” The dollar index gained 0.11per cent to 91.998, but is holding below a two-month high of 92.408 reached on Friday. The euro fell 0.09per cent to US$1.1906 and the ... » Learn More about Dollar edges higher before Powell; Bitcoin drops

LONDON/HANOI: Buoyed by powerful demand expectations as the world moves away from reliance on fossil fuels, prices of many industrial metals rocketed, but future price rises are likely to be limited to a select few energy transition ingredients. The narrative of a synchronised upswing, characterised by some as a supercycle, is at odds with expectations shortages of materials will occur at different times. "Energy transition metals will take off big time, but not all at the same time," Wood Mackenzie analyst Julian Kettle said. The easing of coronavirus restrictions and robust manufacturing demand for industrial metals ignited a speculative rally that has cooled. Copper, aluminium and tin prices are above the levels needed to incentivise new capacity. Rare earths are not yet at incentive levels. COPPER Wood Mackenzie estimates that copper demand from renewables, energy storage and transmission and electric vehicles and charging infrastructure will more than double ... » Learn More about Energy transition metals poised for uneven, explosive run higher

BOSTON/TOKYO: A former Japanese government adviser said he did not put pressure on Harvard University's endowment fund to influence its voting at Toshiba's contested shareholder meeting last year, and that the fund should "set the record straight". Hiromichi Mizuno, until recently an adviser to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, was identified by a shareholder-commissioned investigation this month as an important figure in what it said was management collusion with METI to block the influence of foreign shareholders. Mizuno told Reuters he had volunteered to METI officials to speak with Harvard Management Co as he was about to start a fellowship at the university last year. Mizuno, a member of the board of US electric vehicle maker Tesla, said he had discussed potential risks for the Harvard fund, known as HMC, over voting at Toshiba. The conglomerate's top shareholder, activist hedge fund Effissimo Capital Management, was pushing for board seats. HMC was also an ... » Learn More about Harvard wasn’t pressured over Toshiba, former Japan adviser says