UAE and Jordan considering reducing diplomacy with Israel

The Jordanian parliament voted on Wednesday to demand that the government expel Israel's ambassador, according to Jordanian newspaper Al-Dustur.

The vote came after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people" in Paris at a podium that showed a map of Israel whose borders extended into Jordan.

Saudi reports on Monday also claimed that The United Arab Emirates is considering reducing its level of diplomatic representation in Israel.

According to the report, the Emirati Foreign Ministry ordered Emirati Ambassador to Israel Mohammed Al Khaja not to meet with any Israeli government officials.

Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the senior advisor to the President of the UAE, is currently visiting Israel, according to Walla News.

Miri Regev, Israel's transportation minister Miri Regev wrote an update on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, saying that she spoke with her friend, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Al-Khaja. He also understood what the media was trying to do - take things out of context. The attempt [to create] conflict between countries became an invitation for another visit."

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied allegations by Channel 12 that Israel is experiencing a crisis in its relations with the UAE after the country announced that it plans to stop a purchase of Israeli-made defense systems in protest of Netanyahu's government, The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this month.

“Until we can be sure that Prime Minister Netanyahu has a government he can control, we will not be able to jointly operate,” Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed had reportedly told Israeli officials.

Last month, the UAE was among numerous countries that condemned a comment by Smotrich that the West Bank Palestinian town of Huwara needs to be wiped out, calling the comment racist.

Smotrich had later claimed that his comment had not been sincere and had apologized for it.

OPEC Plus likely to stick to output plan

OPEC Plus is likely to stick to its deal on output cuts of 2 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of the year 2023, even after a banking crisis sent crude prices plunging, three delegates from the producer group told Reuters.

Oil prices hit 15-month lows on Monday in response to the banking crisis that followed the collapse of two US lenders and resulted in Credit Suisse being rescued by Switzerland's biggest bank UBS.

Brent crude was trading around US$75 a barrel on Wednesday morning.

Last October OPEC Plus, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, agreed steep output cuts of 2 million bpd from November until the end of 2023 despite major consumers calling for increases to production.

That decision helped to push Brent close to $100 a barrel, but prices have come under pressure since then as rising interest rates to combat high inflation threaten to stymie oil demand growth.

Falling oil prices are a problem for most of the group's members because their economies rely heavily on oil revenue.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Tuesday said that Moscow will continue with a 500,000 bpd production cut it announced last month, lasting until the end of June.

"This is only a unilateral cut of Russia," one of the delegates said.

"No changes for the group until the end of year," he added.

Another delegate added that no further cuts were planned by the group.

A third delegate said the recent slump in oil prices was related to speculation in the financial market, not market fundamentals.

The heads of top oil traders and hedge funds that spoke at an industry event this week said that they expected oil prices to strengthen by the end of the year as continued easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China drive up demand in the world's biggest oil importer.

Pierre Andurand, founder of hedge fund Andurand Capital, was the most bullish and forecast a potential Brent oil price of US$140 a barrel by the end of the year.

In its most recent monthly report, OPEC upgraded its forecast for Chinese oil demand growth this year but maintained its projection for global demand growth at 2.32 million bpd.

OPEC Plus is due to hold a virtual meeting of its ministerial committee, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, on April 3 before a full ministerial meeting in Vienna on June 04, 2023.

 

Syngenta fourth quarter profit falls

Swiss agrichemicals and seeds group Syngenta on Wednesday reported a 25% drop in fourth quarter earnings due to higher raw materials and energy costs.

Syngenta, which plans to list within the next few months, also spent more on reorganizing its business and set cash aside to cover macro-economic uncertainties such as further raw material spikes or potential bad debts by customers.

The Chinese-owned company said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped 25% to US$900 million in the three months to the end of December 2022.

Sales rose 4% to US$7.5 billion boosted by strong growth in its seeds business.

"As previously indicated, farmers accelerated their purchases earlier in the year due to supply concerns, moderating fourth quarter growth," the company said.

"The group continued to maintain higher prices necessary to offset elevated raw material and other costs," it added.

During 2022 Syngenta's sales increased 19% to US$33.4 billion while EBITDA rose 20% to US$5.6 billion.

Much of the growth came from China, where the company added 136 more MAP training and sales centers to take its total to 628 sites.

Syngenta, which competes with US entity Corteva and Germany's BASF and Bayer, was bought in 2017 for US$43 billion by ChemChina, which was folded into Sinochem Holdings Corp in 2021.

The parent company plans to keep a majority stake after its US$10 billion flotation, which is expected to value Syngenta at around US$50 billion.

 

 

United States: Deadly fungal infection spreading at an alarming rate

A drug-resistant and potentially deadly fungus has been spreading rapidly through US health care facilities, NBC News reported quoting a new government study.

The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems. The number of people diagnosed with infections — as well as the number of those who were found through screening to be carrying C. auris — has been rising at an alarming rate since it was first reported in the United States.

The increases, “especially in the most recent years, are really concerning to us,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Meghan Lyman, chief medical officer in the CDC’s Mycotic Diseases Branch, said in an interview. “We’ve seen increases not just in areas of ongoing transmission, but also in new areas.”

The CDC's new warning, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, comes as Mississippi is fighting a growing outbreak of the fungus. Since November, at least 12 people have been infected with C. auris with four "potentially associated deaths," according to the state's health department, Tammy Yates, spokesperson for Mississippi State Department of Health said in an email.

There has been ongoing transmission at two long-term care facilities, although cases have been identified at several other facilities in the state.

"Unfortunately, multi-drug resistant organisms such as C. auris have become more prevalent among our highest risk individuals, such as residents in long-term care facilities," said Yates.

The fungus can be found on the skin and throughout the body, according to the CDC. It's not a threat to healthy people, but about one-third of people who become sick with C. auris die.

In the CDC report, researchers analyzed state and local health department data on people sickened by the fungus from 2016 through December 31, 2021, as well as those who were “colonized,” meaning they were not ill but were carrying it on their bodies with the potential of transmitting it to others who might be more vulnerable to it.

The number of infections increased by 59%, to 756, from 2019 to 2020 and then by an additional 95%, to 1,471, in 2021.

The researchers also found that the incidence of people not infected with the fungus but colonized by it increased by 21% in 2020, compared to 2019, and by 209% in 2021, with an increase to 4,041 in 2021 compared to 1,310 in 2020.

Most concerning was the increasing numbers of fungus samples resistant to the common treatments for it. Lyman hopes the paper will put C. auris on health care providers’ radar and spur facilities to practice “good infection control.”

The new findings are “worrisome,” said Dr. Waleed Javaid, an epidemiologist and an infectious disease expert and director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York.

“But we don’t want people who watched 'The Last of Us' to think we’re all going to die,” Javaid said. “This is an infection that occurs in extremely ill individuals who are usually sick with a lot of other issues.”

Even if C. auris moves beyond health care facilities and into communities, it’s unlikely to become a problem for healthy people who do not have invasive medical devices, such as catheters, inserted into their blood vessels, Javaid said.

The main problem is preventing the fungus from spreading to patients in hospital intensive care units, Javaid said. Unfortunately C. auris can colonize not only people who come in contact with the fungus, but also patient rooms.

“By its nature it has an extreme ability to survive on surfaces,” he said. “It can colonize walls, cables, bedding, chairs. We clean everything with bleach and UV light.”

While the fungus was first identified in 2009 in Asia, scientists have determined that C. auris first appeared around the world about a decade earlier, after they re-examined older data and discovered instances where C. auris had been mistakenly identified as a different fungus, Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said in an interview.

“It’s the pattern we’ve observed with these types of pathogens,” he said. “Often they start out extremely rare, then they emerge in more and more places and become widespread.”

It's important to stop the pathogen so it doesn’t spread beyond hospitals and long-term facilities like the drug-resistant bacteria MRSA did, Snyder said.

“It’s not unusual to see MRSA in the community now,” Snyder said. “Will that happen with C. auris? I don’t know. That’s partly why the CDC is raising the alarm.”

Dozens of platforms in UKCS to go standstill

Unite the union announced on Monday, March 20 that major oil and gas operators in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) face a tsunami of industrial unrest within weeks as around 1400 offshore workers across five companies demand a better deal on jobs, pay and conditions.

Unite, whose members will take action at companies enjoying record-busting profits, predicts that platforms and offshore installations will be brought to a standstill due to the specialized roles its members undertake. 

The action will hit major oil and gas operators including BP, CNRI, EnQuest, Harbour, Ithaca, Shell and Total.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “Oil and gas companies have been given free rein to enjoy massive windfall profits in the North Sea; drilling concessions are effectively licences to print money.

“1400 offshore workers are now set to take strike action against these employers who are raking it but refusing to give them a fair share of the pie. This will create a tsunami of industrial unrest in the offshore sector.  

“Unite will support these members every step of the way in their fight for better jobs, pay and conditions.”

The prospective action includes electrical, production and mechanical technicians in addition to deck crew, scaffolders crane operators, pipefitters, platers, and riggers working for Bilfinger UK Limited, Stork construction, Petrofac Facilities Management, the Wood Group UK Limited and Sparrows Offshore Services.

John Boland, Unite industrial officer, added: “Unite has received unprecedented support in favour of industrial action in the UK Continental Shelf. It is the biggest mandate we have received in a generation in the offshore sector. There is no doubt that this is directly linked to oil and gas companies reaping record profits while the workforce gets scraps from the table. 

 “Unite’s members are angry at the corporate greed being shown by offshore operators and contractors. Now these major global companies are set to face the consequences as dozens of offshore platforms will be brought to a standstill in a matter of weeks.”

Around 700 offshore workers at Bilfinger UK Limited are set to down tools after Unite members voted in favor of taking industrial action as part of a pay dispute.  Bilfinger workers are demanding an increase above the base rate of pay set in the Energy Services Agreement (ESA) for 2022.  

Meanwhile, 350 Stork construction workers are set to take strike action after Unite members also supported industrial action in a dispute over working rotas and rates of pay.

Unite members employed by Petrofac Facilities Management Limited on the FPF1 platform also voted in favour of strike action. Around 50 workers are involved in the dispute over holiday entitlements. Offshore workers can be asked to work at any time for no additional payment. The operator, Ithaca Energy, has a clawback policy of 14 days, double the industry norm of 7 days.

Unite members employed by the Wood Group UK Limited on TAQA platforms similarly voted to take strike action. Around 80 members are involved in the dispute which is focused on a 10% cut made to salaries in 2015 worth around £7,000 a year.

The mandates for industrial action follow the recent announcement by Unite that around 200 Sparrows Offshore Services workers will take strike action across more than 20 oil and gas platforms in disputes over pay. Strike action is set to hit various platforms from 29 March and until 7 June in a series of 24, 48 and 72-hour stoppages. This action will hit a number of major operators including BP, Shell, Apache and Harbour Energy. 

A further two industrial action ballots are due this week at Petrofac BP involving around 80 workers (21 March), and at Worley Services UK Limited on Harbour Energy platforms involving around 50 workers (24 March) in disputes over pay. The pending ballot results could bring the final total to around 1500 offshore workers taking industrial action.

Unite recently blasted the UK Government's inaction on taxing oil firms as BP posted the biggest profits in its history as it doubled to £23 billion in 2022. BP’s bonanza profits come after Shell reports earnings of £32 billion, bringing the combined total profits of the top two energy companies in Britain to a record £55 billion.

Sri Lanka to receive first tranche of IMF bailout funds in two days

Sri Lanka will get the first $330 million tranche of the International Monetary Fund's bailout in the next two days, the global lender said on Tuesday, putting the onus on the cash-strapped nation to rein in its debt to sustainable levels.

Economic mismanagement coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic left Sri Lanka severely short of dollars for essential imports at the start of last year, tipping the island nation into its worst financial crisis in seven decades.

The IMF's Executive Board on Monday approved a nearly US$3 billion bailout for Sri Lanka with the endorsement expected to catalyze additional external support for the country to the tune of US$3.75 billion from the likes of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other lenders.

The office of the country's president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said the program will enable it to access up to US$7 billion in overall funding.

"Sri Lanka is no longer deemed bankrupt by the world," Wickremesinghe said in a video statement released by his office. "The loan facility serves as an assurance from the international community that Sri Lanka has the capacity to restructure its debt and resume normal transactions."

The IMF funding will, however, not immediately help millions of Sri Lankans, who are being squeezed by soaring costs of living, high income taxes of up to 36% and a 66% increase in power tariffs. The economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year after contracting 7.8% in 2022.

Half of the families in Sri Lanka have been forced to reduce the portions they feed their children, according to a survey by Save the Children released this month.

Shehan Semasinghe, Sri Lanka's state minister of finance, said the IMF bailout was absolutely essential for the country.

"But now we have to patiently focus on very difficult reforms going ahead. We have to continue to work together to rebuild Sri Lanka's economy and move it towards recovery," he said in a statement late on Monday.

The Colombo Stock Exchange All-Share index was down 0.6% as of 0629 GMT, while the Sri Lankan rupee strengthened 6.45% against the dollar.

Bonds were up by 0.73 cents to 1.50 cents across tenors, with the March 2029 bond leading the gains.

Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, Asia and Pacific Department at IMF, said debt sustainability was one of the key criteria for the IMF to approve a bailout for any economy.

Going forward, Sri Lanka's disbursements from the bailout package would be tied to reviews that take place every six months, Breuer said, adding that the IMF has not set any growth target but has put in place an inflation band of 12-18% for the country to achieve by end of 2023.

Sri Lanka's retail prices have eased from last year's peaks but still hover over 50%.

Securing financing assurances from China and India and all its major bilateral creditors was key to Sri Lanka's efforts of unlocking the IMF bailout and putting its economy back on track.

The island nation aims to announce a debt-restructuring strategy in April and step up talks with commercial creditors ahead of an IMF review of the bailout package in six months, its central bank governor told Reuters earlier this month.

"We need to keep in mind that it's still going to be a difficult road no matter how much potential funds or support is being thrown at Sri Lanka," Katrina Ell, senior economist at Moody's Analytics, told Reuters.

"Ultimately, it comes down to them being able to successfully address some of the systemic problems in terms of economic management, fiscal management."

 

 

 

 

Al-Qasabi meets with Iraqi Prime Minister

Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, who is also the head of the Saudi side of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council, is visiting Iraq to strengthen economic relations between the two countries and follow up on the outcomes of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council.

During the visit, Al-Qasabi met with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, conveying greetings and appreciation from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the Crown Prince, wishing Iraq further progress and prosperity.

The minister also met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning Dr. Muhammad Ali Tamim (Head of the Iraqi side of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council), the Iraqi Minister of Trade Atheer Al-Ghurairy, and the President of the Supreme Judicial Council Dr. Faiq Zaidan.

The meetings dealt with ways of consolidating the strategic partnership within the framework of the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council.

The Coordination Council aims to enhance communication between the two countries and to elevate bilateral relations in various fields, including economics, development, security, investment, tourism, culture, and media.