by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Reports, Economy, Large Enterprise, Markets, News, Politics
Kapil Sibal
New Delhi : The Congress on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “patting himself in the back” over the World Bank report on India’s ease of doing business, saying it was only for the “creamy layer of businesses” and that the Prime Minister was “not well-informed about its facts”.
The party said that Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should also hold a press conference on India’s slide in the global hunger index.
Prime Minister Modi on Saturday attacked the Congress for questioning the World Bank Report on ease of doing business in India and said with GST and other reforms, its report next year would show further improvement in ranking.
“I don’t know whether the Prime Minister is informed about all the facts or not. I don’t think he is aware of the concept of ease of doing business.
“Prior to 2015, there was only one city in every country that was taken into account and that was Mumbai (for the World Bank Report). Now, in 2015, they changed it to two cities. So, Mumbai and Delhi are the two cities for business in India,” said Congress leader Kapil Sibal.
“The businesses don’t take place only in these two cities of the country. The PM has forgotten that there are crores who do small businesses in other cities of the country. Is the PM thinking about them – the informal sector, small traders and factories,” he added.
Sibal said: “He is the Prime Minister of the country and all the business communities, and not just a handful of them. This is called creamy layer of businesses.
“He is not the Prime Minister of the creamy layer of businesses who are located at the top end of the pyramid in Delhi and Mumbai,” he added.
Sibal said the two factors taken into consideration for the report were e-filing, which he said was started by the UPA government, and Insolvency Act which was also conceived by the Congress-led UPA.
“Now the World Bank does not consider the impact of all this. So, I do not know why the Prime Minister is patting himself on the back. Does he realise that our Health Index has gone down from 87 to 108. Why does not he (Modi) or Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) do a press conference on that?” Sibal asked.
“The global Hunger Index in India is worse than most countries of the world. Why does the Finance Minister not do a press conference on that?” he asked.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : The World Bank on Tuesday approved $400 million in additional funding to help rebuild services to Iraqi areas recaptured from Islamic State (IS) militants after a three-year military campaign, the global development bank said.
The World Bank also said it would fund studies on how to involve the private sector in the reconstruction of Mosul’s airport and restore public transport terminals as well as parts of the railway network, Reuters reported.
“The package represents an additional financing to the Iraq Emergency Operation for Development Project [$350 million] approved back in July 2015 and already underway in seven cities in Diyala and Salah Ad-Din governorates,” the World Bank said in a statement.
It said the new funding would focus on rebuilding in five sectors – water and sanitation, electricity, health, transport and municipal services. The funds will also help with the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage sites in Mosul’s Old City, which was heavily damaged in fighting.
Iraqi government forces, backed by a US-led coalition, retook Mosul in May – by far the largest city to fall under militants’ control – after nearly nine months of urban warfare. Iraqi government officials have estimated it will take at least five years and billions of dollars to rebuild Mosul.
—AB/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New Delhi: India signed a $200 million loan agreement with World Bank on Monday to facilitate investment in the agricultural sector and increase productivity in Assam, an official statement said.
“The Government and the World Bank today (Monday) signed a $200 million loan agreement for the Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation Project,” said the Union Finance Ministry statement.
“The project will support the Government of Assam to facilitate agri-business investments, increase agriculture productivity and market access, and enable small farm holders produce crops that are resilient to recurrent floods or droughts in the state,” it said.
The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a 7-year grace period and maturity time of 16.5 years. It will be implemented in over 16 districts of Assam and over 5 lakh farming households will directly benefit from the project.
“At least 30 per cent women are expected to participate in project activities. Specific focus will be given to women- led enterprises and their participation in the decision-making process of farmer producer organisations,” the statement said.
Assam aims to double farm income and transform its agricultural sector into a stable source of growth and economic development, according to World Bank Operations Manager Hisham Abdo.
A key component of the project is promoting market-led production that can deal with the vagaries of climate change.
“Assam’s agriculture sector is highly vulnerable to climate variability and the state experiences recurrent floods and droughts,” the release said.
Currently, more than 50 per cent of the state’s paddy growing areas are prone to flooding, submergence and drought.
“A market-led production system will take advantage of the rapidly changing market, introduce crops that are resilient to climate change, increase production and manage risks for farmers,” the statement added.
IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodity Market, Economy, Investing, Markets, News
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : India has called for a new global partnership to stimulate the weak economic growth through long-term investments in critical sectors and enhancing trade.
The global economic recovery is only progressing slowly and growth is weaker than expected while risks persist, Ashish Sinha, a First Secretary in India’s UN Mission, told the General Assembly committee dealing with economic and financial matters on Thursday.
In this scenario, there was great need for a renewed global partnership to promote longer-term investment, including foreign direct investment, in critical sectors such as transportation, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and information and communications technology, he said.
“Policies for enhancing economic growth and growth inducing investment should be our top priority,” he said.
In July, the World Bank projected the global growth rate for this year to be just 2.7 per cent, marginally up from last year’s 2.4 per cent.
Sinha said: “The new partnership should also identify effective mechanisms to mobilise additional resources for financing sustainable development.”
He recommended trade liberalisation and integration into the global economy as a way to spur growth in developing countries citing the case made by Arvind Panagariya, the former vice chairperson of the Niti Aayog, in his keynote address to the committee.
“Open trade is a means to create employment and contribute to achievement of SDGs (UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) through greater economic activity and revenues,” he said.
“Developing countries derive significant benefit from an open, fair, rule-based, predictable, and non-discriminatory trading and financial system.”
Sinha gave an assurance of India’s support for a multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) “as the cornerstone”.
“India believes that multilateral negotiations such as those envisaged under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) are aimed at addressing existing inequities in the trading system and must be given high priority,” he said.
The DDA the WTO negotiation launched in Doha in 2001 aimed at lowering trade barriers and revising trading rules to mainly benefit developing countries.
Sinha said that additional measures such as improving rural infrastructure were needed to help integrate rural households into world markets.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Beijing : The World Bank has raised China’s growth forecast for 2017 from 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent and from 6.3 per cent to 6.4 per cent in 2018, authorities said on Thursday.
In its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report, the World Bank pointed out the new forecast follows an improvement in forecast for the entire Asian region, which is expected to grow at 6.4 per cent in 2017 as compared to 6.2 per cent that was announced in April, and of 6.2 per cent in 2018, as compared to 6.1 per cent six months ago.
According to the Washington-based institution, the upward revision of the forecast is partly owing to government measures to check overcapacity, credit expansion and restructuring of state corporations, and streamlining the country’s shadow banking sector, reports Efe news.
The report added geopolitical tension, rising trade protectionism and economic nationalism could, however, affect growth elements such as exports, whose recovery this year contributed to growth.
China’s growth is expected to be moderate in 2018 and 2019, although it will still be higher than that of many other Asian economies, the report said.
In the first quarter of 2017, China grew at 6.9 per cent, partially due to increased consumption that contributed 4.4 per cent to the country’s growth, while investment contributed 2.8 per cent.
The World Bank’s forecast is in line with the Asian Development Bank, which at the end of September had said China’s economy is expected to grow at 6.7 per cent this year.
—IANS
