BUSINESS | 05BUSINESS | 04

White House adviser

won’t rule out more

money for states and

small businesses

Bad start to May is

a sign of things to

come for global

markets

MONDAY 4 MAY 2020

BUSINESS

Total housing stock by the end of the first quarter was approximately 299,100 units with the addition of 900 apartments and 500 villas during the quarter. All new additions were during the first two months of 2020.

US Navy task force

60% of new residential supply comes from LusailLANI ROSE R DIZON THE PENINSULA

Approximately 60 percent of the new additions for resi-dential supply in Qatar during the first quarter of the year (Q1 2020) came from Lusail, with the completion of Maison Blanches compound and towers in Al Kharaej district and Al Erkyah district, consulting firm ValuStrat Qatar has said in its latest quarterly report ‘COVID-19 & The Qatar Housing Market’.

Total housing stock by the end of the first quarter was approximately 299,100 units with the addition of 900 apart-ments and 500 villas during the quarter. All new additions were during the first two months of 2020.

Approximately, 8,600 units are projected to be added during the remaining quarters of the year, assuming there are no construction delays, the report added.

Overall, during the first quarter, transactional volumes of residential houses decreased by 13 percent Y-o-Y and no change compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

However, this fall cannot be fully attributed towards the advent of COVID-19 as trans-actional volumes have been dipping annually since the second quarter of 2019.

As observed in previous years (2016-2019), volume has always picked up in March compared to January and Feb-ruary, though not in the first quarter of 2020, where a notable fall in March 2020 was observed.

Median transacted size for residential houses was QR2.5m where the five largest ticket sizes exceeding QR30m were seen in Muraikh, The Pearl, Al

Waab, Old Airport and Umm Salal Muhammed. Majority of the largest transactions during the first quarter occurred in March.

During the first quarter, The Pearl and West Bay Lagoon (freehold areas) saw transac-tional volume decrease by 3 percent Y-o-Y and this can be attributed to a notable fall in volume in March. During the first two months of the year, volume was higher by 16 percent Y-o-Y compared to 2019.

Qatar’s ValuStrat Price Index (VPI), a valuation-based index (100 points base set in Q1 2016), that tracks change in capital values for a repre-sentative fixed basket of prop-erties, showed an overall 3.4 percent annual dip in capital values for residential sector, with trivial quarterly fall of 0.5 percent.

The average capital value of a residential unit stood at QR7,876 per sqm. More specif-ically, apartments were QR11,435 per sqm and villas QR6,105 per sqm. �P2

The US Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) departing New York Harbor after treating patients in New York and New Jersey. The ship and its embarked medical task force remain prepared for future tasking. The Navy, along with other US Northern Command dedicated forces, remains engaged throughout the nation in support of the broader COVID-19 response.

Qatar ideal investment destination, says Sheikh Khalifa THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar has showcased itself as an ideal investment destination with a strong and vibrant economy, Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani has said.

In interview with the Oxford Business Group published in its issue “The Report: Qatar 2020”, he said that several global business indices and rankings agencies have recognised the advantages Qatar offers to busi-nesses, ranking it increasingly higher among attractive FDI destinations worldwide. For instance, Qatar ranked 29th globally and second among Arab countries out of 141 nations on the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Competitiveness Index.

He added, “To achieve this, the country has adopted a series

of measures and issued numerous legislative reforms, including a foreign capital investment law that allows for 100 percent foreign ownership of local companies across all sectors. We have also created new investment incentives,

some of which allow for the allocation of land to foreign investors,”

HE also noted that in 2018 the Qatar Free Zones Authority was founded with the aim of developing free zones and for-mulating policies tailored to businesses operating in these zones.

He affirmed that hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup would also enhance our image, dem-onstrating that Qatar is a nexus of commerce, investment and tourism.

In a reply of a question on the impact of the development of special economic zones (SEZs) and infrastructure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), he said that Qatar founded the Eco-nomic Zone Company (Manateq) to develop SEZs in order to promote economic diversification, and strengthen

the growth of the national private sector and SMEs.

He noted that further enhancements to transport infrastructure were needed to support the expansion of the economy, affirming that in response to these various chal-lenges, the country has accom-plished a number of achieve-ments over the past few years in the transport sector, in par-ticular with regards to the con-struction of roads, ports and airports.

“Qatar has succeeded in developing and enhancing an extensive transport network in line with international standards, which has con-tributed to increasing the coun-try’s growth rate and has had a positive impact on the private sector and SMEs. For instance, the opening of Hamad Port, Hamad International Airport and other transport projects, as

well as the establishment of adjacent SEZs, helped facilitate the growth of manufacturing industries and increase the country’s non-hydrocarbons exports. These projects have also contributed to the growth of SMEs and facilitated the diversification of the economy,” he added.

Responding to a question about to what extent is Qatar relying on public-private part-nerships (PPPs) to drive growth as part of the National Development Strategy 2018-22, he said that this strategy has put Qatar on a clear path towards economic diversification, and becoming a global economic player and business centre.

He pointed out that within the framework of this strategy; the private sector has an essential role to play.

“The government has made

significant progress since forming a technical committee to stimulate private sector par-ticipation in its economic development.

The Technical Committee specialises in several areas, such as the proposal of fields and projects in which both the government and the private sector can participate, as well as suggesting ways to support and stimulate the private sector to participate in such opera-tions,” he added.

“Many projects connected to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the Qatar National Vision 2030 were implemented under the PPP framework, yielding pos-itive results. To further support PPPs, the government also approved a draft PPP law in April 2019 that should pave the way for the launch of several new investment projects in Qatar” he said.

Qatar Chamber Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani

Lufthansa board hopeful of securing government bailout REUTERS — BERLIN

Lufthansa is hopeful its bailout talks with the German government can be concluded soon, the airline’s board told staff in a letter seen by Reuters, adding that it is also considering alternatives such as creditor protection.

Travel bans have forced the German group to ground 700 of its aircraft, leading to a 99 percent drop in passenger numbers and causing the group, which includes Swiss and Aus-trian Airlines, to lose about one million euros ($1.1m) in liquidity reserves per hour.

“We estimate that these talks can lead to a conclusion soon,” Chief Executive Carsten Spohr (pictured) and board members wrote in the letter, adding that they are also checking alternative options but do not expect to need them.

“We remain nevertheless convinced that we will not have

to fall back on alternatives given the talks with Berlin.” Lufthansa is negotiating a €10bn bailout that would result in the government taking a 25.1 percent stake in the airline, weekly paper Der Spiegel said on Friday.

Of that, €5.5bn would be in the form of non-voting capital,

for which the government wants a coupon of 9 percent, the paper said.

A further €3.5bn in loans would be provided by state bank Kreditanstalt für Wieder-aufbau (KFW), the paper said, adding that Belgium, Austria and Switzerland might con-tribute towards the bailout.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Lufthansa is negotiating a 9 billion euro bailout, with loans from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, citing a source close to the matter.

The slump in travel due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to a sweeping restructuring of the airline industry, with other carriers also seeking state bailouts.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper at the weekend that “taxpayers can count on us not to conduct these talks naively.”

Zimbabwe seeks IMF and WB helpBLOOMBERG

Zimbabwe, locked out of coronavirus-related aid programs because of debt arrears, has thrown itself at the mercy of organisations including the International Monetary Fund. It has received no response.

In an April 2 letter to the heads of the IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank, Paris Club and European Investment Bank, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube sought debt relief and an arrears clearance program, according to a copy of the letter seen by Bloomberg. The government hasn’t received any replies, said two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the request hasn’t been made public.

“The global COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a devastating health, human-itarian and economic impact on Zimbabwe,” Ncube said in the letter. “Domestic resources to allow the authorities to mitigate the impact of the pandemic are insufficient and access to external financing is severely constrained due to external debt arrears.” The outbreak and economic impact have hit Zimbabwe as it struggles to recover from the worst drought in 40 years, a cyclone and two decades of economic mismanagement that left the country short of fuel and wheat and with an annual inflation rate of 676%. Rela-tions with multilateral organ-izations have been soured by Zimbabwe’s inability to keep up with payments on $8 billion of external debt.

Zimbabwe, along with Sudan and Eritrea, is ineligible for recently announced aid from the IMF because of those arrears. Economic Outlook Ncube said the economy is set to contract by between 15 percent and 20 percent over 2019 and 2020, and cited a World Bank assessment that the nation’s funding gap will be $1bn this year.

02 MONDAY 4 MAY 2020BUSINESS

Preventive measure

Gold down, oil up on recovery hopesThe world, at least on paper, suddenly looked in a better place this past week with several pieces of COVID-19 related news spurring a recovery. Key commodities such as crude oil and gasoline found a bid following the recent collapse and mayhem while gold, the safe-haven metal, headed for its largest weekly decline in seven weeks.

Driving the change in sen-timent was the first glimmer of light at the end of the very long coronavirus tunnel. This, after several European coun-tries began preparations for partial re-openings together with the prospect or hope for a COVID-19 treatment drug emerging. These develop-ments did at least temporarily reduce to focus on the steep rise in global unemployment and collapsing consumer con-fidence. They also increase the talk in the market that a V-shaped recovery would begin to emerge, thereby reducing the fallout from what has become the worst collapse the world has seen since the Great Depression.

We view the road to recovery unfortunately as being anything but V-shaped. While the short-term tech-nical outlook for gold has deteriorated, the long-term fundamentals have not. On that basis we remain positive about the medium to long-term outlook for gold but also accept that the current drivers are evenly matched in terms of head and tailwind. We see the current and future price development being impacted by these risks:

Upside: Hedge against central

monetization of the financial market;

Yield curve control to push real yields - a key driver for gold – lower;

A rising global savings glut at a time of very low and neg-ative interest rates;

DM investment demand off-setting weak EM

consumer demand (China and India);

Rising geo-political risks as the COVID-19 blame game begins (China vs rest of world).

Downside: Easing lockdowns and a

potential treatment drug; V-shaped recovery hopes driving Wall Street further away from Main Street (rising unemployment and col-lapsing consumer confi-dence); Plummeting jewelry demand in China and India; Risk of central banks selling gold as budget deficits rise and currencies weaken.

Despite record-high demand for bullion-backed ETF’s, gold continues to find resistance ahead of $1750/oz. The lack of price momentum has already seen hedge funds begin to cut bullish gold bets. In the week to April 21, the net-long held by speculators dropped to a near ten-months low following a 37% reduction since February. Silver’s lack of performance, due to its industrial link, has led to an exodus from speculative investors. In the latest reporting week to April 21 the net long was cut to just 13,500 lots, down by 80% since the February peak.

Hedge funds, or CTA’s as some are also called, execute their models often not based on fundamentals but rather on technical and price-based signals. They tend to increase position size once they have

established a profitable position (buying into strength while selling into weakness) until a market reversal happens. While the gold market, in our opinion, is nowhere near a reversal, the current lack of momentum has driven long liquidation from this type of funds.

With this in mind we may see the short-term outlook being challenged with the risk of a deeper correction towards $1655/oz and perhaps even $1634/oz before the above-mentioned upside risks begin to reassert them-selves again.

Crude oil spent the week trying to recover from the recent carnage which sent the now expired May WTI futures contract deep into negative territory. In order to avoid a repeat ahead of the July con-tract expiry on May 19, several changes have been intro-duced. The CME have raised the margin for holding a position while also capping limits on positions being held by futures tracking ETF’s. Major commodity funds, such as the S&P GSCI, have already rolled exposure further out the curve, while several banks and brokers have introduced ‘reduce only’ rules on posi-tions being held by its cus-tomers in the June contract.

Natural gas futures rose to $2/MMBtu for the first time since February as the prospect of lower output from associated shale oil production helped lift the price. Bloomberg reported that gas production in lower 48 US states fell to 85.6 bcf/d to the lowest since July and down 10% from the record levels reached last December.

RBOB Gasoline jumped to a six-week high after the EIA reported a the first drop in stocks in five weeks and after US consumption recorded its third straight gain to 5.86 million barrels/day, still some 35% below the one-year average.

Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank

IN-DEPTH

FROM BUSINESS PAGE 1

All freehold apartment locations monitored by the VPI saw capital values quarterly decline of less than 1 percent. For villas, six locations out of 13 clusters (Al Khor, Umm Salal Ali, Duhail, Umm Salal Muhammed , Muaither and Al Waab) saw no quarterly change in capital values, except for Al Wakrah which saw a fall of 4 percent Q-o-Q. The remaining clusters saw capital values decline by less than 1 percent Q-o-Q. The report noted that Qatar’s VPI for residential sector and rents were falling quarterly by an average of 1.5 percent in resi-dential sector prior to the COVID-19 crisis.

However, any substantial fall in capital values or rents different from this trend will only occur if there are signif-icant increases in vacancy over time stemming from various adverse economic effects of the pandemic.

Therefore, at least in the short term, there is no pre-dicted notable decline in prices or rent. Depending on the length of the crisis, noticeable fall in prices and rents might

occur with a lag. Residential projects with high vacancy rate likely will be the first to change prices or rent. While, resistance to repricing of new construction and highly reno-vated redevelopment projects is expected.

Pawel Banach, General Manager at ValuStrat Qatar, said: “It is too soon to predict the extent to which the market will react, given we don’t know how long the crisis will sustain in Qatar or abroad. It is important to remember that there has been some positive signs. ValuStrat analysis of Chinese property market-the first country to be affected by COVID-19-shows that after an initial hard shock, it has bounced back relatively rapidly.

In addition, analysis of pre-vious SARS pandemic of early 2000s indicate similar tra-jectory, where there is cautious optimism that a strong public response to slow the spread of the virus and provision of financial support to affected households and businesses can counter the projected eco-nomic fallout to a certain degree”.

60% of new residential supply comes from Lusail

Trump aides saybusiness-loan planworking, ‘pause’ nextAFP — WASHINGTON

The Trump administration yesterday termed the second phase of an emergency job-saving program a success, with more than $175bn in loans already issued to smaller companies and more likely after a “pause.” The two phases of the so-called Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) have provided a total of $669bn, including $320bn in the latest tranche.

The program aims to pre-serve jobs threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed much of the US economy.

The number of individual loans issued under the second phase -- 2.2 million so far -- exceeds the number issued in the first phase, according to a joint statement from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (pic-tured)and Jovita Carranza, administrator of the federal Small Business Administration (SBA).

The PPP relief funds, part of a larger package of emer-gency relief measures worth more than $2.7 trillion, aim to help keep the huge network of small and medium-sized busi-nesses afloat until confinement measures linked to the pan-demic are more widely eased.

Some 30 million people in the US, a record, have applied

for unemployment benefits since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

“It’s going to be very dif-ficult in the months ahead,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNN. “The economy is still in a ter-rible contractionary phase, tre-mendous hardships every-where.” But he insisted he was optimistic, pointing to forecasts of “a very strong second-half economic rebound,” possibly followed next year by “one of the fastest growth rebounds in American history.” He said the federal effort to shore up smaller and medium-sized businesses had been “an extremely popular and effective program,” and that “there may well be additional legislation.” As Congress and the adminis-tration study next steps, Kudlow added, “There’s kind of a pause

period right now” of perhaps a few weeks.

The administration and congressional leaders of both parties are already in talks on a next round of economic support, but their priorities diverge on several points.

Trump would like to see the next round include tax breaks for workers and for the sports and entertainment industries, Kudlow said. The president also wants to see new spending for infrastructure upgrades across the country.

But Democrats want greater oversight over the vast spending programs and oppose Trump’s efforts to insist states ban so-called sanctuary cities that provide protections for undocumented immigrants.

The Trump administration has also been sharply criticized for funneling billions of dollars in the PPP’s first phase to large corporations that in principle should not have qualified for the conditional loans.

Mnuchin and Carranza noted in their statement that the average loan provided in the second phase has been $79,000, indicating the money is going, as intended, to smaller companies.

They said that since the first phase launched on April 3, the SBA has processed more than 3.8 million loans for a total of more than $500bn.

A man preparing to enter a supermarket presents his identity document to a staff member for verification before entering its premises, as a preventive measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus, in Singapore.

US sport shutdown will cost $12bnAFP — NEW YORK

The $100bn US sports land-scape will lose $12bn in revenue due to the corona-virus shutdown, ESPN reported Friday, with deeper cuts if NFL and college gridiron games are wiped out.

Analysis of the magnitude of business losses includes superstar salaries to pay for stadium workers but it might be a conservative estimate .

Patrick Rishe, sports business program director at Washington University in St. Louis, estimated the impact of the shutdown on major US pro and college sports leagues as well as youth sport for ESPN, which also had labor market analysis firm Emsi make sport-related job estimates.

Rishe estimated US pro sports would lose $5.5bn from the shutdown while college sports would lose $3.9 billion and youth sport tourism would fall by $2.4bn.

Hong Kong oil ETF’s broker refuses to let it buy more futuresBLOOMBERG

The manager of a $500m oil exchange-traded fund said its broker refused to let it increase holdings of crude futures, a sign of continued risk aversion in global oil markets after last month’s historic plunge below zero.

As a result of the broker’s ultimatum, the Samsung S&P GSCI Crude Oil ER Futures ETF will halt issuance of new shares starting today. The ETF also bought put options to protect against negative oil prices and will adjust its existing futures positions, moving from a 100 percent weighting in September West Texas Intermediate con-tracts to an equal weighting in September, October and December.

Samsung Asset Man-agement (Hong Kong) Ltd., which disclosed the moves in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, said it’s in “active discussions” to find a new broker. It didn’t disclose the name of the existing one.

Unprecedented oil-market volatility has wreaked havoc on ETFs and other products that were designed to give investors

an easy way to bet on the direction of crude prices. The Samsung ETF and the $3.5bn US Oil Fund, which trades in New York, are among those that have upended their strategies to reduce the risk of getting wiped out by another plunge below zero.

While the moves may help protect existing investors, they’ve introduced new layers of complexity and may cause the funds to diverge from their original goal of simply tracking front-month oil futures.

The Samsung ETF’s announcement will likely be closely watched by oil traders given its moves can have an impact on futures prices. The fund contributed to a sell-off in

June WTI futures last month after dumping its entire holdings to buy September contracts.

In its filing on Sunday, Samsung Asset said the latest changes are “in good faith and in the best interests of the unit holders” but have made it “impracticable” to meet the fund’s original investment objective. It repeated a warning that in a “worst case scenario,” investors could lose all their money.

The fund will start adjusting its futures positions after the market close in Hong Kong on May 4 and the process will take “at most” five trading days, subject to market conditions.On May 1, the fund purchased 6,750 put options on September WTI futures.

Samsung Asset said failure to do so would have potentially caused the fund’s broker to liq-uidate some or all of the fund’s futures positions “without giving the manager sufficient time to make any alternative arrangements.”Investors should “exercise caution” because the fund may trade at a larger premium or discount as a result of the suspension of new issuance.

Argentina to work with debt holders if offer rejectedBLOOMBERG

Argentina is willing to keep working toward a deal to restructure its debt if an offer that expires on Friday is rejected, the economy minister said.

Economy Minister Martin Guzman told Argentine daily Clarin in an interview published yesterday that he is seeing a “growing under-standing” with bondholders ahead of a May 8 deadline for the offer that creditor groups already criticized.

“We believe that the process in these days has been positive, yet it is still lacking and the dialog will continue,” Guzman said. “If there is no settlement on the 8th, Argentina will continue

working as long as necessary to restore the sus-tainability of the debt.” Argentina made a formal offer on April 17 to creditors to restructure $65bn of its debt, but analysts expect major bondholders to reject the deal. If no deal is reached by May 22, when a 30-day grace period for coupon pay-ments on some dollar bonds expires, the country would fall into default.

Guzman said that the country had informed the Paris Club that it did not have “the capacity” to pay and would seek to renegotiate its debt with the club of creditors. Last month, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said France was backing a request to delay by a year a $2.1bn payment due in May to the Paris Club.

Samsung Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, which disclosed the moves in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, said it’s in “active discussions” to find a new broker.

03MONDAY 4 MAY 2020 BUSINESS

Indian bank bad debt could double in coronavirus pandemic crisis: Source REUTERS - MUMBAI

India expects bad debts at its banks could double after the coronavirus crisis brought the economy to a sudden halt, a senior government official and four top bankers told Reuters.

Indian banks are already grappling with 9.35 trillion rupees ($123bn) of soured loans, which was equivalent to about 9.1 percent of their total assets at the end of Sep-tember 2019.

“There is a considered view in the government that bank non-performing assets (NPAs) could double to 18-20 percent by the end of the fiscal year, as 20-25 percent of out-standing loans face a risk of

default,” the official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

A fresh surge in bad debt could hit credit growth and delay India’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

“These are unprecedented times and the way it’s going we can expect banks to report double the amount of NPAs from what we’ve seen in earlier quarters,” the finance head of a top public sector bank told Reuters.

The official and bankers declined to be named as they were not officially authorized to discuss the matter with media.

India’s finance ministry declined to comment, while

the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks’ Association, the main industry body, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The Indian economy has ground to a standstill amid a 40-day nationwide lockdown to rein in the spread of coro-navirus cases.

The lockdown has now been extended by a further two weeks, but the gov-ernment has begun to ease some restrictions in districts that are relatively unscathed by the virus.

India has so far recorded nearly 40,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 1,300 deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused

by the coronavirus.Bankers fear it is unlikely

that the economy will fully open up before June or July, and loans, especially those to small- and medium-sized businesses which constitute nearly 20 percent of overall credit, may be among the worst affected.

This is because all 10 of India’s largest cities fall in high-risk red zones, where restrictions will remain stringent.

A report by Axis Bank said that these red zones, which contribute significantly to India’s economy, account for roughly 83 percent of the overall loans made by its banks as of December.

One of the sources, an executive director of a public sector bank, said that eco-nomic growth had been sluggish and risks had been heightened, even ahead of the coronavirus crisis.

“Now we have this Black Swan event which means without any meaningful gov-ernment stimulus, the economy will be in tatters for several more quarters,” he said.

McKinsey & Co last month forecast India’s economy could contract by around 20 percent in the three months through June, if the lockdown was extended to mid-May, and growth in the fiscal year was likely to fall 2 percent to 3

percent. Bankers say the only way to stem the steep rise in bad loans is if the RBI signifi-cantly relaxes bad asset rec-ognition rules.

Banks have asked the central bank to allow all loans to be categorized as NPAs only after 180 days, which is double the current 90-day window.

“The lockdown is like riding the tiger, once we get off it we’ll be in a difficult position,” a senior private sector banker told Reuters.

Indian banks are already grappling with 9.35 trillion rupees ($123bn) of soured loans, which was equivalent to about 9.1 percent of their total assets at the end of September 2019.

South African Airways says govt exploring funding options for the national carrierBLOOMBERG

South African Airways’ admin-istrators extended a deadline for workers to agree to sev-erance packages after Minister for Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan (pictured) said he needs time to explore funding options for the bankrupt state-owned carrier.

The business-rescue team led by Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana are trying to per-suade labor groups to sign off on retrenchment deals as a pos-sible alternative to liquidation proceedings, which could see the near 5,000-strong work-force made unemployed

without compensation. The plan is opposed by Gordhan, who wants to instead build a new airline.

Unions now have until May

8 to agree to the offer to workers, according to a letter signed by the administrators and seen by Bloomberg News. If they refuse, all employees -- whether represented or not -- may be given a further three days to make up their own minds.

The Department of Public Enterprises said Friday it wants to create a national carrier that’s both publicly and pri-vately owned, profitable and able to serve South Africa’s trade connections. SAA’s entire fleet is currently grounded as governments around the world close borders to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thailand reopens businessesCustomers look at the menu for takeaway meals in Bangkok yesterday, after the Thai government eased measures aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Thailand began easing restrictions related to the novel coronavirus yesterday by allowing various businesses to reopen, but warned that the stricter measures would be re-imposed should cases increase again.

Global oil demand starts a long, painful and uncertain recoveryBLOOMBERG

Few have a better watchtower over oil demand than Joe Gorder, CEO of major US refiner Valero Energy Corp. But this week Gorder didn’t even need his business insight to know that fuel consumption was starting to recover in America.

He only needed to look at the streets of San Antonio, the Texas city where he’s based, to see traffic emerging after weeks of lockdown.

“People are starting to get out more,” Gorder said. “I think there probably is a pent-up demand for folks to get out of their houses and get mobile.”

From the streets of San Antonio to Barcelona and Beijing, traffic data, sales at fuel stations, and pipeline flows all suggest that the slump in oil demand probably bottomed out around the middle of April, and has now started a modest -- and very tentative -- recovery. The signs matter beyond the petroleum industry as they provide a glimmer of hope after a torrent of negative economic data.

“I believe we have seen the bottom,” said Marco Dunand, co-founder of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., one of the world’s top-5 oil trading houses.

But the recovery is extremely slow. Oil traders believe it’s likely to take more than a year, and perhaps much longer, before global demand reaches the pre-pandemic levels of roughly 100 million barrels a day. A growing minority even speculate it may never get there again.

The likely shape of the revival has been a hotly con-tested topic. A V-shape was dis-carded a while ago. It’s possible it could be U-shaped, with a relatively long period along

bottom, or L-shaped, with demand never returning to where it once was.

Perhaps the Latin alphabet doesn’t have a letter for the right shape. The square-root mathematical symbol may offer, to a point, an alternative: first a V-recovery as lockdowns are relaxed, followed by a long, flat tail as lifestyle changes, such as more work-from-home, become more normal.

Certainly, airlines don’t expect a return to the 2019 level of demand for years to come. It’s what Ed Morse, a veteran oil watcher at Citigroup Inc., calls “the winding, bumpy road to an oil recovery.”

The sheer scale of the demand destruction -- about 30 million barrels a day in April -- means the comeback is going to be a painful process. The International Energy Agency estimates that consumption will be down 25.8 million barrels a day in May, and 14.6 million in June. In December, it would still be 2.7 million a day below 2019 levels.

“We’re seeing improve-ments really across all three markets, we’ve seen in May volumes trending up in Europe, we see that happening in the U.S., and we see that also in Asia,” Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., told investors on Friday. “There are some, I’d say, encouraging early signs.”

The very gradual improvement comes just as producers, from the OPEC+ alliance to drillers in Texas, accelerate their output cuts. Together they could progres-sively push supply and demand into balance over time. In the past week, more companies, including big American firms such as ConocoPhillips, have announced fresh production

closures.“Globally, we are at the

inflection point where we are past the worst for oil demand destruction but not for supply destruction,” Olivier Jakob, managing director at consultant Petromatrix GmbH. “This s h o u l d h e l p p r i c e stabilization.”

The process will take time, with unsold crude and oil products likely to accumulate well into June and perhaps even July. Storage tanks are nearly full, and brings with it the risk of New York crude gyrating wildly again when the June futures near expiry in the middle of this month, mirroring what happened when the May contract ended and sent prices below zero.

Even so, the physical oil market, where actual barrels change hands, is showing ten-tative signs of recovery, partic-ularly in Europe. Urals, Russia’s flagship export grade, has risen to a premium over Brent after Moscow cut exports to a 10-year low.

The epicentre of the oil recovery is the same as where the public health crisis started in January: Wuhan. Weekday traffic in the Chinese city has almost returned to pre-crisis levels, although it remains depressed on weekends. It’s completely back to normal during rush hour in other major cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, according to data from navi-gation company TomTom International BV.

“There are a few green shoots in some places like China,” said Jessica Uhl, finance head at Royal Dutch Shell Plc. “We have some of our retail stations where demand and volume is up above pre-Covid levels.”

Small firms still in dark on SBA loan forgivenessBLOOMBERG

Small businesses that struggled to get loans from a government pandemic relief programme still don’t know how much they may have to repay the money after the government missed a deadline to give specific guidance.

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) was sup-posed to clarify by April 26 how loans it approved under the Pay-check Protection Program -- part of the Trump administration’s multitrillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package -- can be spent and still qualify to become grants.

Companies and lenders say they need more guidance on how to calculate the amount that’s eli-gible for forgiveness and what documentation is required to support the claims. That could leave small firms on the hook to repay loan proceeds they thought would be a grant. As a result, some business owners are holding onto the loans and may even return them, according to

interviews with small business groups, lenders and borrowers.

The loans were designed as a lifeline for small firms, many of which were shuttered due to stay-at-home orders, have no revenue coming in, and may be forced to close for good. Time is short, since the funds must be spent within eight weeks after they’re received to qualify for forgiveness. Every day of uncer-tainty means making decisions is more difficult, the groups and business owners said.

“As soon as they got the money, they’re calling and saying, ‘OK, how do I spend this to make sure I get this forgiven, because I don’t want to mess this up,’” said Kimberly Rayer, a partner at Starfield & Smith in Pennsylvania, who advises lenders on SBA loan programs. “Borrowers are concerned, they would like to make sure that they don’t have to pay this money back.”

The uncertainty about how loans will be forgiven is just the

latest stumbling block in the SBA’s chaotic effort to funnel about $670bn to small firms across the country to counter the devastating effects of Covid-19 on their operations. The initiative was intended to keep them afloat and keep employees on payrolls to be ready to reopen.

The program provides loans of as much as $10m to small busi-nesses affected by the outbreak. The law says borrowers don’t have to repay the loans if the money is spent on payroll plus mortgage interest, rent and util-ities. An initial rule issued by SBA and Treasury said 75 percent of the proceeds must be spent on payroll and 25 percent on the approved expenses.

The amount forgiven is reduced if owners cut jobs or wages. Any amount that’s not forgiven must be repaid at 1 percent interest in two years, with the first payment deferred for six months. Business owners don’t have enough guidance about how to spend the money

to ensure they’ll avoid having to repay it, said Holly Wade, director of research and policy analysis for the National Feder-ation of Independent Business. Questions include whether expenses incurred during the eight weeks but paid later would qualify. They’d also like more flexibility about how the pro-ceeds can be used and still qualify for forgiveness. Small business and industry groups are lobbying Congress and the Trump admin-istration for changes.

“There’s just many questions where we don’t have an answer, and small business owners are concerned,” Wade said.

Congress said in the legis-lation creating the program that the SBA was to issue guidance and regulations for loan for-giveness “not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this act,” which would have been April 26. Almost a week on, the agency hasn’t said when it will issue the guidance and didn’t comment for this report.

Gilead Sciences exporting remdesivir, says CEOAFP - WASHINGTON

The head of the maker of rem-desivir, an anti-viral shown to reduce recovery times in COVID-19 patients, said yes-terday the company has been exporting the drug and is making it available to patients in the United States through the US government.

Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O’Day said the company is donating its entire existing supply of the drug -- 1.5 million vials, enough to treat 100,000 to 200,000 patients.

“We have been exporting for clinical trials and for compas-sionate use thousands of treatment courses,” O’Day said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“And our collaboration with the government has been such, we have been very transparent with them here in the United States and we have a good rela-tionship on future allocation.”

US regulators on Friday

authorised the experimental drug for emergency use against COVID-19 after a major clinical trial showed it shortened the time to recovery in some coronavirus patients by a third.

It is the first medicine to show beneficial results in treating COVID-19 since the new coro-navirus emerged in China late last year. O’Day said the US gov-ernment will determine how the drug is allocated in the United States based on where it is needed most.

“They will begin shipping tens of thousands of treatment courses out early this week and adjust that as the epidemic shifts and evolves in different parts and different cities here in the United States,” he said.

O’Day said there will be a significantly greater supply of remdesivir in the second half of the year.

In the meantime, the company has not been barred from exporting the drug, he said.

As a result of the sanctions, the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas, which was laying the pipeline, suspended work on it. Russia then said it was preparing to use an alternative vessel to complete the project.

04 MONDAY 4 MAY 2020BUSINESS

More than 30 million Americans have joined the unemployment benefit rolls over the past six weeks and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are discussing a fourth coronavirus relief bill.

White House adviser won’t rule out more money for states and small businesses

REUTERS - WASHINGTON

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow (pictured) said yesterday he would not rule out any element in the next potential coronavirus relief bill, including more money for state and local governments and the small business program.

More than 30 million Americans have joined the unemployment benefit rolls over the past six weeks and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are discussing a fourth coronavirus relief bill. Democrats are calling for aid to cities and states and some governors have warned of massive layoffs if they fail to get it.

Some advisers to Repub-lican President Donald Trump have said the need for another stimulus bill is not yet clear. Kudlow said “there may well be additional legislation” as officials study how the billions included in the last bill take effect.

“We know the economy is still in a terrible, contractionary phase, tremendous hardships, everywhere,” Kudlow said on

CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re trying to work

through this. I don’t want to rule in or out anything right now. We are in discussions internally and with leading members of Congress.”

He said authorities need to see what the results are before deciding on the next steps.

“Just trying to stabilize things and get folks through this, and then we’ll see, we will see in a couple of weeks, what needs to be done and perhaps how to do it,” Kudlow said.

Kudlow was asked whether aid given to small businesses would be increased again, given how quickly the money is being claimed.

“It may be,” Kudlow said. “We haven’t made a decision yet. This has been an extremely popular and effective program. Keeping folks on the payroll is extremely important.”

While Democrats have supported more money for state, local and tribal govern-ments, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, has demanded pro-tection for reopening busi-nesses from COVID-related lawsuits.

World’s oldest central bank hits legal roadblock in crisis fightBLOOMBERG

Sweden’s central bank may need to have some of its age-old laws changed if it’s to act on a pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the economy.

The Riksbank’s 352-year history gives it the distinction of being the world’s oldest central bank. But the legislation gov-erning it has yet to catch up with the kind of policy it needs to deliver to address the crisis trig-gered by COVID-19.

Specifically, the Riksbank doesn’t have the legal right to buy bonds issued by companies, even though it’s made clear it’s ready to do so as part of a recent package of emergency measures.

“The intention of the current Riksbank Act doesn’t allow the bank to make outright purchases of corporate bonds or other private securities on the primary or secondary markets,” said Niklas Schullerqvist, secretary to the parliamentary committee charged with overhauling the bank’s policy framework.

So far the Stockholm-based central bank has bought 5.6 billion kronor ($568m) of

corporate commercial paper as part of an emergency quanti-tative-easing plan. But it’s refrained from buying corporate bonds -- an important source of financing in the biggest Nordic economy -- despite repeated assurances it will so.

Schullerqvist says the Riksbank needs to consider European Union legislation on state aid as corporate bond

purchases “may be considered supporting some specific parts of the economy.”

Riksbank spokesman Tomas Lundberg said the bank’s legal team is looking into the matter, but wouldn’t comment further because “it’s an ongoing process.”

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves said purchases of investment-grade bonds are “certainly on our agenda.”

He also said “there are some legal issues when it comes to buying into the primary market.”

Sweden’s primary bond market is a vital source of funding for the country’s busi-nesses. And with record-low borrowing costs and a growing investor base flush with cash, the market’s growth has increasingly shaped Sweden’s economy.

But the market has been turned on its head since the COVID-19 crisis hit. Investors panicked and tried to redeem their cash, prompting 35 fixed-income funds to shut their doors.

Even so, clients withdrew record quantities of cash and a spike in yields locked out all but

a handful of top rated borrowers.

In April, Sweden’s syndi-cated public bond market only saw corporate issuance from investment-grade companies such as Volvo Group, Industri-varden AB and Scania CV AB, as well as state-owned entities including Jernhusen AB, Akad-emiska Hus AB and Sveaskog AB.

The crisis that’s hit Sweden’s corporate bond market has drawn pleas from the investor community for the Riksbank to intervene before it’s too late.

The Riksbank “should support new money rather than being very active in the sec-ondary market,” said Daniel Sachs, chief executive at credit manager Proventus Capital Management AB.

Magnus Nilsson, founding partner of Nordic Cross Asset Management, says that a “first step” toward making it easier for struggling businesses to access funding “would be for the Riksbank to get involved in the primary market for investment grade bonds.”

Pipe-laying vessel reaches Baltic as Russia’s ambitious Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project target loomsREUTERS - MOSCOW

The arrival of the Academic Cherskiy suggests that the pipeline project remains a pri-ority for Moscow despite US sanctions on Russia.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was designed by Moscow to increase gas supplies via the Baltic Sea to Germany, Russia’s biggest energy customer. Rus-sia’s energy ministry said in December that the pipeline was expected to be launched before the end of 2020.

Footage taken by Reuters from the coast showed the Aca-demic Cherskiy idle in a bay near the Kaliningrad region, which is separated from Rus-sia’s mainland and is sand-wiched between Poland and Lithuania.

The Academic Cherskiy, which Russian gas company Gazprom bought in 2016, was in the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka in December when the United States imposed sanc-tions on Nord Stream 2.

The United States says the pipeline would make the con-tinent too reliant for energy

on Russia, leaving it in Mos-cow’s political grip. Wash-ington has touted exports of US liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to provide Europe with alternatives to gas pipelined from Russia.

As a result of the sanctions, the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas, which was laying the pipeline, suspended work on it. Russia then said it was pre-paring to use an alternative vessel for the project, as 160-km (100-mile) stretch near the Danish island of Bornholm has not yet been completed.

Russia did not name the vessel at the time but said it was docked at a port in its far east.

Another vessel that could potentially be used was in

another location at the time, pointing to the use of the Aca-demic Cherskiy.

It would take less than two days for the Academic Cherskiy

to reach the Bornholm area from the Kaliningrad region if it started heading that way, according to a Reuters estimate.

Pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy owned by Gazprom, which Russia may use to complete construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, is seen in a bay near the Baltic Sea port of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region, Russia, yesterday.

Coronavirus cannot stop America or Berkshire Hathaway: Warren BuffettREUTERS - WASHINGTON

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett (pictured) yesterday said the United States’ capacity to with-stand crises provides a silver lining as it combats the corona-virus, even as he acknowledged that the global pandemic could significantly damage the economy and his investments.

Over more than 4-1/2 hours at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Buffett said his conglomerate has taken many steps responding to the pandemic, including providing cash to strug-gling operating units, and throwing in the total on a multi-billion-dollar bet on US airlines.

Buffett also said he remains keen on making a big acquisition, which he has not done since 2016, but has not provided financial

support to companies as he did during the 2008 financial crisis because he saw nothing attractive enough, even after the recent bear market.

The 89-year-old opened the meeting in Omaha, Nebraska with 1-3/4 hours of remarks to soothe anxious investors, urging them to stay committed to stocks despite this year’s bear market, even if the pandemic gets a second wind late this year. Illustrating his remarks

with dozens of plain black-and-white slides, Buffett called dealing with the pandemic “quite an experiment” that had an “extraor-dinarily wide” range of possible economic outcomes.

But he said Americans have persevered and prospered through such crises as the Civil War in the 1860s, the influenza pandemic a century ago and the Great Depression. American “magic” prevailed before and would do again, he said.

“Nothing can stop America when you get right down to it,” Buffett said. “I will bet on America the rest of my life.”

The meeting was held vir-tually for the first time because of the pandemic, without share-holders in attendance, and streamed by Yahoo Finance.

Buffett and Vice Chairman

Greg Abel, 57, spent nearly 2-1/2 hours answering shareholder questions posed by a reporter.

Abel has day-to-day over-sight of Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses, and is considered by many analysts and investors a top candidate to eventually succeed Buffett as chief executive.

The meeting began several hours after Berkshire reported a record $49.75bn first-quarter net loss, reflecting huge unrealized losses on common stock holdings such as Bank of America Corp and Apple Inc during the market meltdown. While quarterly oper-ating profit rose 6 percent, several larger businesses including the BNSF railroad posted declines, hurt by the negative impact of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Buffett said operating

earnings will, through at least this year, be “considerably less” than they would have been had the pandemic not occurred.

Berkshire’s cash stake ended the quarter at a record $137.3bn, though Buffett said “we’re willing to do something very big,” perhaps a $30bn to $50bn trans-action. But it won’t be in US air-lines, after Buffett confirmed that Berkshire in April sold its “entire positions” in the four largest: American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc, Southwest Air-lines Co and United Airlines Holdings Inc.

Buffett said he “made a mistake” investing in the sector, which the pandemic has changed “in a very major way” with no fault of the airlines, leaving limited upside for investors.

“It is basically that we shut off

air travel in this country,” he said. The meeting was devoid of

the surrounding three-day weekend of dining, shopping and other celebratory events that annually draw tens of thousands of people to Omaha for what Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists.”

Abel stood in for longtime Vice -chairman Charlie Munger, 96, who normally joins Buffett to answer shareholder questions.

Buffett said Munger was in “fine shape” and “good health,” and looked forward to attending Berkshire’s 2021 annual meeting.

Vice-Chairman Ajit Jain, 68, who oversees Berkshire’s insurance businesses and is also considered a possible CEO can-didate, was also absent from the meeting. Abel lives closer to Omaha than Munger and Jain.

Mexico halts new clean-energy plans amid virusBLOOMBERG

Mexico’s Centro Nacional de Control de Energia (Cenace), which oversees the electrical system, indefinitely suspended critical tests for new clean-energy projects as the nation grapples with the spread of the coronavirus.

Preoperative tests of inter-mittent power plants would be suspended along with other measures to increase

the reliability of the national electrical system, Cenace said in a statement released Friday. Tests that haven’t yet started will also be suspended.The agency said that it will apply the “actions and operational strategies to strengthen the reliability of the electrical supply.”

Critics worry that the new measures, which don’t mention older non-renewable plants operated by Mexico’s

state-owned utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), will hurt renewable producers at the expense of their state-run rival. Calls to Cenace outside of normal business were not answered.

“This is not in line with the care that one should take of consumers and markets,” said Eduardo Perez Motta, the former head of Mexico’s anti-trust regulator in an interview. “A company with market

power -- the CFE -- is probably trying to take care of and protect itself through these measures.”

Clean-energy producers may have a case to make before regulators as the new guidelines displace compe-tition, Perez Motta said. “It creates enormous uncertainty for these operators, because at any moment they can cut off the possibility of power distri-bution,” he said.

US processes over $500bn in SMEs loans to stem COVID-19

REUTERS — NEW YORK

The US Small Business Admin-istration has processed over 3.8 million loans for more than half a trillion dollars since the launch of the Paycheck Pro-tection Program on April 3 to deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a joint statement by the SBA and the Treasury Department.

SBA has processed about 2.2 million loans, whose value is over $175bn, since the start of the second round of the PPP loan processing on April 27, the statement added.

The second round of the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program was launched on Monday, allowing lenders to issue forgivable, government-guaranteed loans to small businesses shuttered by the outbreak. The average loan size in the second round of the PPP loan processing has been $79,000, according to the s t a t e m e n t r e l e a s e d yesterday.

So far the Stockholm-based central bank has bought 5.6 billion kronor ($568m) of corporate commercial paper as part of an emergency quantitative-easing plan. But it’s refrained from buying corporate bonds.

05MONDAY 4 MAY 2020 BUSINESS

Bad start to May is a sign of things to come for global marketsBLOOMBERG

Sell in May and go away? The negative start to the month raises concern that the partial recovery in April is going to be about as good as it gets for risk assets.

For all the optimism stemming from the gradual easing of lockdown measures in some of the biggest econ-omies, there are too many worries on the minds of traders to sustain the momentum from last month. The fear of a second wave of infections, the collapse in cor-porate earnings and the shocks reverberating from the eco-nomic data are toxic enough. Now throw in a fresh eruption of political sparring between the US and China.

“The smokescreen of another bilateral issue ahead between the US and China over the origins of the coro-navirus pandemic will pick up steam,” Jameel Ahmad, a markets analyst at FXTM in London, said in a message.

Middle East markets pro-vided a taste yesterday of what may be in store for the rest of the world. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index tumbled 7.4

percent, fanned by some dire fiscal warnings from the coun-try’s finance minister on the weekend.

Though US stocks clocked up their best month since 1987 in April, prices slipped Friday as a string of companies issued profit warnings and President Donald Trump stepped up condemnation of China over trade and the handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. The S&P 500 retreated 2.8 percent, the Bloomberg Dollar Index rallied 0.4 percent -- its first advance in six days -- and US Treasury yields dropped. Most Asian markets were closed.

Eric Stein,(pictured) Boston-based co-director of

global fixed income at Eaton Vance Corp, commented: “The biggest new development that could weigh on emerging markets -- and it certainly weighed on markets on Friday -- is the pick-up in geopolitical tensions between the US and China, and really in some ways the rest of the world versus China.

”The markets began to focus on the issue again after some comments about tariffs coming from President Trump. The anti-China rhetoric is not focused on trade as it used to be, but is now focused on the beginning of Covid-19 and what China knew or didn’t know at the beginning of the virus. In addition to pressure from the US, other countries, even the ones that seemed to mostly look the other way during the trade war, seem acutely focused on this issue.”

Ali Malik, a senior investment adviser at Bank of Singapore Ltd said:”We do believe that reopening is going to be the way forward, and that we are going to see that across countries gradually, starting from countries that have first experienced lockdowns.

“We are seeing bond issuance pick up globally. We’ve seen Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia. And for China, we are going to see com-panies and provinces follow suit. We are focused on dollar-denominated bonds in China and, within that sector, we are focused on the high-yield property sector, which has done pretty well recently."

There are “some very good propositions in tech in Asia. There are some names that we have tracked in the past, such as Alibaba and Tencent. I think companies need to take their cue from Amazon here -- just how Amazon has been been telling shareholders and companies that have been with the company for some time to please take a seat because things are going to take some time. We are still neutral on equities at this point.”

Iyad Abu Hweij, managing partner at Allied Investment Partners said:“The phased reo-pening of global economies, coupled with developments in new Covid-19 cases, will dominate trading activity in the coming weeks.

Wheat market in Pakistan to be restructured with World Bank assistanceINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Punjab government has decided to restructure its wheat market reform process under the World Bank’s Punjab Agri-culture and Rural Transfor-mation Programme.

The provincial government has decided to begin discus-sions with the World Bank on restructuring the project during the upcoming mid-term review.

The implementation of $300m ‘Strengthening Markets for Agriculture and Rural Transformation’ (SMART) began in February 2018 and overall progress of the pro-gramme has been on track.

However, the wheat market reforms were not implemented as envisaged under the original plan.

Under the SMART project, the provincial government was to deregulate the market to reduce wheat and flour prices while moving land released from wheat production into high value agriculture to raise farm incomes and employment.

Under the initial plan, the provincial government was to notify by 2018 its plan to grad-ually withdraw wheat pro-curement programme. The

wheat procurement was to be gradually reduced to 3m tonnes in 2019, 2m tonnes in 2020 and zero by 2021.

The provincial government was to reduce the strategic grain reserves to not more than 2m tonnes with excess quan-tities to be auctioned off. Modern bulk storage facilities for up to 2m tonnes were to be established under a public-private partnership basis.

The World Bank had esti-mated that withdrawal from the wheat market by the gov-ernment would save substantial fiscal resources that could be reallocated to help farmers transition to high value agriculture.

A World Bank report on the implementation of the project said the programme has made good progress with respect to modernising agri-cultural markets and rolling-out an agricultural insurance system.

The Punjab Agricultural Marketing Regulatory Authority (PAMRA) Act was approved by the Punjab Assembly in March this year, and the passing of the act symbolised a big step forward towards establishing a well-functioning agriculture produce marketing system.

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE Index 8,687.59 -0.87 %

QE Total Return Index 16,701.60 -0.87 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index - Price 1,903.66 -0.86 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,395.26 -0.87 %

QE All Share Index 2,700.03 -0.75 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 3,832.64 -0.97 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,296.62 +0.84 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,618.07 -1.39 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,283.62 -2.26 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,009.46 -0.17 %

QE All Share Telecoms 821.64 -3.54 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 7,007.04 -0.21 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

03-05-2020Index 8,687.59

Change -76.46

% -0.87%

YTD% -16.67

Volume 188,047,839

Value (QAR) 244,620,728.92

Trades 6,468

Up 19 | Down 28 | Unchanged 0030-04-2020Index 8,764.05

Change +62.99

% +0.72 %

YTD% -15.94

Volume 324,151,965

Value (QAR) 449,393,073.43

Trades 13,228

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR202.8618 grammeSILVER QR1.7958 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low All Ordinaries 4207.354 110.624 2.7 5069.5 3829.4

CAC 40 Index/D 3176.13 -0.06 0 4169.87 2979.87

DAX - Composit/D 531.14 8.71 1.67 667.98 485.74

DJ Indu Average 0 0 0 12876 9936.39

Egypt Cma Gn Idx 675.91 13.3 0.95 1567.23 143.08

Hang Seng Inde/D 19783.67 452.97 2.34 24468.64 18868.11

ISEG Overall/D 2510.71 44.36 1.8 3037.89 2333.35

Karachi 100 In/D 11311.29 276.37 2.5 12768.4 11032.2

Nikkei 225 Index 9038.74 94.26 1.05 10891.6 8227.63

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 1370.58 1039.7

Straits Times/D 2821.09 -62.91 -2.18 3280.77 2847

Currency Buying (QAR) Selling (QAR)US$ 3.6305 3.6500

Pound Sterlig 4.4682 4.5313

Swiss Frnac 3.7067 3.7591

Japanese yen 0.03355 0.0342

Australian Dollar 2.2895 2.3346

Canadian Dollar 2.5502 2.6003

Indian Rupee 0.0474 0.0483

Pakistan Rupee 0.0225 0.0231

Philipine Peso 0.0712 0.0726

Bangala Takka 0.0425 0.0433

Sri lanka Rupee 0.0187 0.0191

Nepalese Rupee 0.0297 0.0302

South African Rand 0.1887 0.1925

Euro 3.8966 3.9508