Friday 12 October 2012

Italy eyes UAE investments in sovereign funds

Italy has asked the United Arab Emirates for help in the current economic crisis, inviting it to increase investments in Made in Italy products, but also to contribute to its sovereign debt.

Italian exports rose by 23 percent in the first four months of the year and are expected to reach a record of 5.5 billion euro ($7.08 billion) in 2012. Rome is now relying mainly on interest in maxi sovereign funds.

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti is planning to visit the Gulf states at the end of November and is scheduled to meet with UAE financial experts on Nov. 20 in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.

Chubu Electric to buy LNG from Qatar for 15 yrs from 2013 | Reuters

Japan's Chubu Electric Power Co has signed a contract to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar for 15 years from 2013 to ensure a stable electricity supply, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Chubu Electric, whose reliance on gas-fired power plants is among the highest in Japan's power utilities, said it will buy 1 million tonnes per year of Qatari LNG between 2013 and 2017 and 700,000 tonnes per year between 2018 and 2028.
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Pakistan: rate cuts bring little joy outside a booming stock market | beyondbrics

Pakistan’s businesses should be celebrating this month’s interest rate cut of 50 basis points, which brought down the rate down to a maximum of 10 per cent.

But many critics argue it will take more than rate cuts to pull Pakistan’s economy out of trouble.

The latest rate cut on October 5 has reduced interest rates altogether by 400 basis points since July 2011, making it a record reduction in interest rates for the south Asian economy.

UPDATE 1-Iran fin min: FX reserves in a good position - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Iran's foreign exchange reserves are in a "good position", its finance minister said on Friday, as the government grapples with a steep decline in its currency and sanctions from Western countries over its nuclear programme.
Shamseddin Hosseini, Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance, told reporters that the government was taking steps to stabilise the currency, such as curbing speculative demand. In the past two weeks, the rial-dollar exchange rate has emerged as a fault line in Iran's economy as the country resists foreign pressure, denying Western accusations that its nuclear programme is aimed at making weapons.
"We have had to make changes to our currency system after the strengthening of sanctions on our country," Hosseini told reporters at a briefing.