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India and countries of the Latin American and the Caribbean region have huge potential to boost economic ties in areas like agriculture, health, energy and information technology, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday.
Quoting Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu who addressed diplomats of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Strategic Economic Cooperation here Wednesday, it said there is a need for a multi-pronged strategy to enhance bilateral trade in merchandise and services.
The Ministry said Indian companies could form joint venture projects for cultivation of lentils, oil-seeds and food grains, which are crucial import items, besides conducting joint research in dairy farming, seeds and pulses.
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‘They won’t solve country’s problem of jobless growth without policy changes’
An increase in exports can lead to higher wages, mostly for educated and urban workers, and speed a move from casual to formal sector jobs. However, it would also lead to greater wage inequalities and would not actually grow the total labour market, the World Bank (WB) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a report released on Thursday.
To ensure that the gains from higher exports benefit a wider population, policy changes were needed, wrote the authors of the report titled ‘Exports to Jobs: Boosting the Gains from Trade in South Asia’. The report assessed the efficacy of increased exports in dealing with the phenomenon of jobless growth, whereby the labour market has not kept pace with the region’s high GDP growth.
A fresh econometric analysis proved that higher exports went hand-in-hand with higher wages.
“If the value of India’s exports increases by $100 per worker, average annual wages would increase by ?572 per worker,” they estimated. However, the wage improvement was larger for college graduates and urban workers; men benefited slightly more than women; and rural workers and less-educated workers did not benefit. Thus, higher exports also led to higher wage inequalities.
The report’s authors observed that there were some benefits for lower-skilled workers, in terms of the formalisation of jobs. “Increased exports can explain the conversion of about 8,00,000 jobs from informal to formal between 1999 and 2011, representing 0.8% of the labour force,” they wrote.
However, higher exports did not correlate with higher aggregate employment of local labour markets, they cautioned. While an increase in labour demand might change the mix between formal and informal sector populations, it would not increase the actual size of the local labour market, mostly because of the cost of moving and the lack of unemployment insurance or any other form of income support.
To spread the gains from exports more widely, the authors suggested policy changes.
“An increase in labour-intensive (as opposed to capital-intensive) production is likely to have a broader impact on the wages of workers across all educational backgrounds, even those in rural areas,” they opined. Greater participation of women and youth in export industries by providing targeted skilling opportunities could also help, they added.
With eight of the 16 high-frequency macroeconomic indicators in the red and only four in green, the Indian economy continues to remain weak, Mint Macro Tracker shows
The Indian economy’s momentum continues to slow, shows the latest update of the Mint Macro Tracker, launched in October last year to provide a state-of-the-economy report each month based on trends across 16 high-frequency economic indicators. The Mint Macro Tracker shows that out of the 16 macroeconomic indicators, only four were in the green (above the five-year average trend) as of January 2019, while eight indicators were in the red (below the five-year average trend). This reading is significantly worse than what it was six months ago, the data shows.
January’s score is also a shade worse than that of December 2018—which itself marked a downward slide compared to previous months—when five indicators were in the green, and eight indicators were in the red. The domestic consumer economy remains the weakest spot, with automobile sales falling, air passenger traffic sluggish, and tractor sales anaemic.
Data from the consumer confidence surveys of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows that the gap between respondents who claim to have raised non-essential spending and respondents who claim to have lowered non-essential spending has been shrinking in recent months, with 14.3% net positive response in December 2018 compared with 22.3% net positive response in September 2018.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a task force on the offshore rupee market. It will be headed by former Deputy Governor Usha Thorat and will recommend steps for ensuring the stability of the currency.
“The task force shall examine the issues relating to the offshore rupee markets in depth and recommend appropriate policy measures that also factor in the requirement of ensuring the stability of the external value of the rupee,” the central bank said.
The committee would submit its report by the end of June 2019.
The task force will assess the causes behind the development of the offshore rupee market, and study the effects on exchange rate and market liquidity in the domestic market.
It would also recommend measures to address concerns arising out of offshore rupee trading and propose measures to generate incentives for non-residents to access the domestic market..
Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani, launched five short term courses at NIFT Panchkula, Haryana, through a video link from New Delhi today.
The permanent campus building is under construction and is expected to be completed by June 2020. Till the completion of the permanent campus, the Institute will be run from a temporary campus in Polytechnic-cum-Multi Skill Training Centre in Sector 26 Panchkula. The campus is being set up with the support of Department of Technical Education, Government of Haryana.
Speaking on the occasion Smriti Zubin Irani urged the NIFT administration to conceive special projects to study the impact of Suraj Kund craft mela and made up industry in Haryana. She expressed hope that the students joining the new campus will not only be able to learn technology but also understand the process of entrepreneurship. The Textile Minister thanked the Haryana Government for providing land and infrastructure support. The Minister also released the brochure of the courses offered in the NIFT Panchkula.
The proposed one-year Certificate Programmes are:
Fashion Clothing & Technology
Design Development for Indian Ethnic Wear
Fashion & Media Communication
Textile for Interiors & Fashion
Fashion Knitwear Production and Technology
Fashion Clothing & Technology
The programme is tailor-made for professionals from the areas of fashion, apparel design, construction and technology. The curriculum is designed with a view to also help aspirants who would like to join the fashion industry.
Design Development for Indian Ethnic Wear
The programme focuses on dressmaking, value addition, pattern making and surface techniques for Indian ethnic wear. It aims to develop entrepreneurial skills for fashion, bridal market and designer market.
Fashion & Media Communication
The course aims at providing knowledge of the fashion industry, fashion editing, styling, fashion ethics and computer-aided designing and animation techniques and will benefit the existing and upcoming business in the vicinity.
Textile for Interiors & Fashion
The programme aims to train professionals and young enthusiasts to pursue careers in interiors and the apparel industry.
Fashion Knitwear Production and Technology
The programme aims to impart intensive training to prepare professionals for the knitwear garment industry, especially in the area of knitwear fashion coordination, merchandising and production.
The Continuing Education Programme will enrol students of any age group. A pre-requisite of 10+2 years of schooling is mandatory. The students will be selected based on their performance in the entrance examination and interview conducted by NIFT. The total numbers of students proposed in each programme will be 30.
Students will be exposed to experiential learning through laboratory and projects. Industry visits will be arranged to nearby industries which will make the students more prepared to take up jobs locally.
Ajay Sharma, has been appointed as the new Assistant Secretary General of The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry (ASSOCHAM) .
With post graduate degrees in Management (MBA) from Belgium and Law from the Delhi University, Sharma brings rich experience of working with Public Sector Company and the Business Chambers as he had a very long stint earlier and played a stellar role in reviving the ASSOCHAM from 2005 onwards.
In between he also had a brief yet enriching experience working with the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Sharma has a very fine understanding of the Government functioning and is well networked with industries including the Defence & Homeland Security, Telecom, e-Commerce, Luxury & Lifestyle, Auto Auto Ancillaries & Electric Vehicles, Private Equity, Cyber Security, Nuclear Energy, Civil Aviation, Electronics, Digital India & e-Governance, Media & Entertainment and Sports.
His present responsibilities at the ASSOCHAM, include sectors like the Banking & Financial Sectors, Insurance, Textiles, MSME, Private Equity, Capital Markets & Corporate Affairs, besides the domestic Exhibitions.
US companies that have suffered weaker demand and higher costs from the past year’s trade war are unlikely to welcome a final agreement based on no more than commitments to buy more farm produce and hydrocarbons.
You know that trade breakthrough we were all talking about a few days ago? It is not looking so close. Just three days after president Donald Trump reported “substantial progress” in talks with China, the man doing most of the talking was out pouring cold water. “Much still needs to be done”, US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer told Congress Wednesday, and it is still in doubt whether the two sides can come to terms. Lighthizer’s refusal to bend in pursuit of a deal is admirable in its way. As we argued earlier this week, the US companies that have suffered weaker demand and higher costs from the past year’s trade war are unlikely to welcome a final agreement based on no more than commitments to buy more farm produce and hydrocarbons.
At the same time, perhaps he has something to learn from the Trump administration’s approach to North Korea. Negotiators from Washington are no longer demanding Pyongyang make a full accounting of its nuclear programs, NBC News reported Thursday citing current and former senior US officials. That flexibility looks alarming in a nuclear-proliferation context. On trade, however, a Trumpian deal may be just what the world needs. Consider the previous trade pacts agreed by this administration, with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. In contrast to the ambition of the North American Free Trade Agreement or Trans-Pacific Partnership, each is essentially a modest adjustment to existing policies. China is a whole different ball game, as Lighthizer told the House of Representatives:
What the president wants is an agreement that, number one, is enforceable—but that changes the pattern of practice of forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, large industrial policy subsidies; and then a whole variety of specific impediments to trade, and unfair practices in the area of agriculture, in the area of services. What we want is fair trade. That requires structural change, and it has to be enforceable”.
Removal of forced technology transfers in manufacturing is a possibility that Premier Li Keqiang has raised and intellectual property reform is a pet project of president Xi Jinping, so movement on those areas ought to be quite achievable with the right combination of carrots and sticks. Even agriculture has potential, given China’s need to feed its growing population as cheaply as possible. The problems come with the other asks: industrial policy, services and enforceability.
There is no sign that China is rushing to reform the state’s role in the economy—quite the opposite. Bailouts of distressed debt seem overwhelmingly directed at state companies in strategic sectors, with local governments taking up the lion’s share of the dwindling supply of cash.
Removing impediments to services investment, meanwhile, opens an immense can of worms. Some areas, such as retail and hotels, are already reasonably accessible to foreign companies, while finance is being gradually liberalised. Perhaps there is a chance to crack the door ajar on aviation and logistics too, although it is hard to see much of an opportunity for American businesses there.
Beyond that, though, it is all but impossible to imagine the current Chinese government loosening foreign investment rules in closed sectors such as government services, healthcare and education—not to mention the media, information and technology industries where Beijing sees control as an existential issue. The same goes for enforceability. A deal that compels performance is essentially one where punitive tariffs aren’t removed until there is proof that China is upholding its side of the agreement, or at the very least, are kept suspended and ready to be reimposed at any moment. That is hardly going to inspire confidence that the current trade tensions are buried.
Lighthizer’s list of asks is a worthwhile one, and a China that reformed in the way he is pushing would probably be better both for its people and for the global economy. But if Beijing is set on resisting those changes, the trade negotiator is banging his head against a wall, and in the meantime, the tensions risk sucking about 0.4 percentage points from long-term global GDP, according to the IMF. If president Trump wants to put his name on a big, splashy agreement that ultimately just returns things to the status quo, let him have it. It is certainly better than tilting at windmills around Beijing’s industrial policy, or hoping to get a black-letter agreement to end industrial espionage that China doesn’t even admit is happening.
To quote Trump: The Art of the Deal, “I also protect myself by being flexible. I never get too attached to one deal or one approach”. Lighthizer could do worse than follow one of his boss’s oldest pieces of advice.
The rate of global manufacturing growth has slowed, mainly as a consequence of trade and tariff barriers, according to the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2019 published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
World manufacturing value added rose by 3.6 per cent in 2018, slightly lower than the 3.8 per cent recorded in the previous year. The slowdown is mainly attributed to emerging trade and tariff barriers involving the USA and China, as well as the USA and the European Union (EU), which has exposed markets to a significant amount of uncertainty, limiting investment and future growth. China, the EU and the USA account for over half of global manufacturing production.
The slowdown in production in 2018 was observed in industrialized economies as well as developing and emerging industrial economies. The manufacturing value added (MVA) growth rate for industrialized countries rose by 2.3 per cent in 2018, compared to 2.6 per cent in 2017. For the group of developing and emerging industrial economies, the MVA growth rate in 2018 was 3.8 per cent, down from 4.1 per cent in 2017.
In North America, manufacturing production maintained relatively higher growth, mainly thanks to the USA where manufacturing production rose at the higher pace of 3.1 per cent in 2018, compared to 1.8 in 2017. However, in the European Union and East Asian countries, the annual manufacturing growth rate decreased, from 3.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent, and from 3.1 per cent to 1.9 per cent, respectively.
The International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2019 also presents data at manufacturing sector level by country. For example, if China is excluded from a global ranking of developing countries, Indonesia ranked top among food manufacturing and rubber and plastic products, while India took first position in production of textiles, pharmaceuticals and basic metals. Similarly, Bangladesh stood as the largest producer of wearing apparel.
Overall structural change in manufacturing was characterized by the increasing share of high-tech sectors in manufacturing output. For example, the medium-high and high-technology sectors accounted for more than 75 per cent of manufacturing of Singapore. Japan and the Republic of Korea were among other leading manufacturers in high-tech sectors.
African countries continue to struggle in their efforts to catch up with the industrial development of the rest of the world. The average share of manufacturing in GDP of African least developed countries (LDCs) has further dropped to 8.3 per cent compared to the 19.6 per cent average of the developing countries and emerging industrial economies group. This represents a serious challenge to the Sustainable Development Goal 9 target of doubling the MVA share in GDP in LDCs by 2030.
UNIDO’s Yearbook presents detailed, country-specific, business structure statistics, which provide empirical evidence for formulating industrial policy and carrying out comparative analysis of structural change and productivity. An analysis of global manufacturing’s current growth trends is provided by quarterly reports.
UNIDO maintains an international industrial statistics database covering mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity gas and water supply and the international trade of manufactured goods. UNIDO data can be accessed online or obtained in CD products.
In the coming days, the Gilan Textile Park company will begin to export its first batch of yarn to Portugal, the company told Trend.
According to the source, the primary shipments there are expected to be in small quantities.
“Currently, the company is negotiating with European partners on the export of finished products. progress is also expected in this direction,” the company said. The company products are environmentally friendly and meet international quality standards. Based on its production potential, Gilan Textile Park is considered to be one of the largest processing enterprises not only of Azerbaijan, but also of the whole region.
Gilan Textile Park uses cotton grown in Azerbaijan as a raw material for the manufacture of various products, and provides great support for the development of industry and agriculture in the country. Weaving, dyeing and sewing factories operate in the base of the Gilan Textile Park, commissioned in 2012 in Sumgayit.
A long-awaited trade deal between Indonesia and Australia will be signed next week, Jakarta said Thursday, after months of diplomatic tension over Canberra’s contentious plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Indonesian trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham are set to sign the multibillion dollar agreement in Jakarta on Monday, according to a trade ministry invitation sent to journalists.
The pact includes better access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia’s 260 million people, while Australian universities, health providers and miners also benefit from easier entry to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Bilateral trade was worth $11.7 billion in 2017. Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia’s automotive and textile industries, boosting exports of timber, electronics and medicinal goods. The deal has been in negotiations since 2010 and was expected to be signed last year, but it stalled when Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia’s Embassy to Jerusalem.
Morrison first floated the shift in October, ahead of a critical by-election in a Sydney suburb with a sizeable Jewish population. Indonesia was angered by the proposal. Most nations have avoided moving embassies to Jerusalem to prevent inflaming peace talks on the city’s final status – until Trump unilaterally moved the US Embassy early last year.
