Tag: InternationalNews

{{The World Bank trimmed its 2014 growth forecast for developing East Asia but said the region’s economies were likely to see steady growth in the next couple of years, helped by a pick-up in global growth and trade.}}

The Washington-based development bank expects the developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region to grow 7.1% in 2014 and 2015, down from the 7.2% rate it had previously forecast for both years.

Growth in 2016 is also seen at 7.1%, staying slightly below the 2013 growth rate of 7.2%, according to the World Bank’s latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report issued on Monday.

“For East Asia, we believe that the drivers of growth are going to be increasingly from the external front, because of the recovery in advanced economies,” World Bank East Asia and Pacific chief economist Bert Hofman told reporters.

In its report, the World Bank said improving global trade would offset headwinds from the tightening of global financial markets.

Emerging markets, including those in Asia, had been roiled by capital outflows from around May to September last year as investors began positioning for the U.S. Federal Reserve to start tapering its monetary stimulus.

While financial markets in the East Asia Pacific region have shown a muted reaction to the Fed’s actual decision in December to begin scaling back its quantitative easing, the possibility of capital flow reversals remains a concern for developing countries in the region, the World Bank said.

The prospects for a normalization of U.S. policy rates will put upward pressure on interest rates and could trigger more sizeable capital outflows from weaker economies, as well as make debt management more difficult in countries where leverage has risen, the bank said.

“Vigilance on capital flows remains warranted,” Hofman said, although he added that most of the capital flows in East Asia were now from foreign direct investment rather than portfolio flows, making them less volatile than in the past.

{reuters}

{{US fast-food giant McDonald’s said on Friday that it had closed its restaurants in Crimea, prompting fears of a backlash as a prominent Moscow politician called for all the chain’s Russian outlets to be shut down.}}

However, in a Press statement, McDonald’s said the decision was strictly based on business and that it hoped to reopen the restaurants soon.

“Like many other multinational companies, McDonald’s is currently evaluating potential business and regulatory implications which may result from the evolving situation in Crimea,” the statement read. “We believe it is prudent and responsible to sort through these details thoroughly.

Additionally, due to the suspension of necessary financial and banking services, we have no option but to close our three restaurants in Crimea. It is important to note that this is strictly a business decision which has nothing to do with politics.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party, or LDPR, said in televised comments that he would welcome the closure of McDonald’s restaurants throughout Russia.

“I will give an order to the LDPR local branches to place pickets outside all of McDonald’s restaurants,” he said.

His provocative statements are aimed mostly at his core support base of nationalist voters and do not represent official policy.

Other pro-Kremlin lawmakers quickly indicated the government has no intention of cracking down on McDonald’s. Sergei Zheleznyak, a deputy speaker of the lower house and a leading member of the main Kremlin party, United Russia, was quoted by the “Moskovsky Komsomolets” newspaper as saying that there is no plan to shut down McDonald’s.

The company has more than 400 restaurants in Russia. The Crimean outlets are not franchises but owned and operated by McDonald’s itself.

Its move to temporarily close restaurants in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta is likely to be seen as emblematic of the rift in Western-Russian relations, now at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

{france24}

{{The US Treasury has granted plane manufacturer Boeing a licence to export certain spare commercial parts to Iran, a company spokesman says.}}

Boeing has had no public dealings with Tehran since 1979.

In a statement, the US company said the licence had been granted for the safety of flight.

The step is being seen as part of a temporary agreement to ease sanctions on Tehran that US Secretary of State John Kerry reached with Iran last year.

Under the deal brokered in November, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for sanctions relief from nations including Britain, China and the US.

US company General Electric said late on Friday it had received US permission to overhaul 18 engines sold to Iran in the late 1970s. That work would be carried out at GE facilities or at German firm MTU Aero Engines, it said.

Iran Air is still flying passenger planes bought before the 1979 hostage crisis, during which 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days.

Iran has reportedly argued that sanctions imposed after the hostage ordeal have prevented Tehran from upgrading its plane fleet and reduced the safety of its aircraft.

There have been more than 200 accidents involving Iranian planes in the past 25 years, leading to more than 2,000 deaths, reports say.

Boeing has said the licence covers only components required to ensure ongoing safe flight operations of planes it sold before Iran’s revolution in 1979.

No discussions are to be allowed over the sale of new aircraft when and if sanctions are completely lifted, correspondents say. If a permanent deal is agreed, it is thought likely that Iran would require the purchase of hundreds of new aircraft.

BBC