BUSINESSTuesday 28 August 2018

PAGE | 15PAGE | 14Bank Indonesia says election won’t stop it

from raising rates

Economist to become Slovenian finance minister

US, Mexico reach Nafta deal as pressure turns on Canada

REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The United States and Mexico agreed yesterday to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), putting pressure on Canada to agree to the new terms on auto trade and other issues to remain part of the three-nation pact.

US President Donald Trump and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said talks with Canada would begin imme-diately, though Trump threatened he could put tariffs on Canadian-made cars if a three-way deal could not be reached.

“I think with Canada, frankly, the easiest we can do is to tariff their cars coming in. It’s a tremendous amount of money and it’s a very simple negoti-ation. It could end in one day and we take in a lot of money

the following day,” Trump said. Negotiations between the

three trade partners have dragged on for more than a year and repeated threats by Trump that he would ditch the 1994 accord have roiled financial markets, putting pressure on the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar.

The Mexico-US discussions focused on crafting new rules for the automotive industry, which Trump has put at the heart of his drive to rework the pact he has repeatedly described as a “dis-aster” for American workers.

Canada would continue to negotiate, but would only sign a new agreement that is good for the country, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

The United States, Mexico and Canada do more than 1 trillion dollars in trade between them every year.

The announcement of a US-Mexico agreement lifted financial markets. Trump said he would talk to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon. A senior US trade official said there are hopes that a final three-nation accord can be reached by Friday.

Trudeau spoke to Pena Nieto

on Sunday and shared their com-mitment to reaching a successful conclusion of Nafta “for all three parties” the prime minister’s office said. Pena Nieto said on Twitter that he had urged Canada to return to the talks with the aim of concluding a three-nation accord “this week.”

Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, said the group was optimistic about the new deal, though it was still reviewing the details.

The US-Mexico deal would require 75 percent of auto content to be made in the Nafta region, up from the current level of 62.5 percent, a second US official said. A draft fact sheet specified the content would be made in the United States and Mexico.

The deal also would require 40 percent to 45 percent of auto content to be made by workers earning at least $16 per hour, the second official said.

“We are now inviting the Canadians in as well and hope that we can reach a fair and suc-cessful conclusion with them as well,” a senior US trade official

told Reuters in an interview.“There are still issues with

Canada but I think they could be resolved very quickly,” the official said.

Trump is expected to send formal notice to the US Congress by the end of the week about his intentions to sign a new trade agreement within 90 days, which would give Mexico’s Pena Nieto

time to sign it before he leaves office, the senior US trade official said.

Some Republicans in the US Congress called the deal a pos-itive step but said Canada must be part of the new pact to avoid hurting US jobs.

“Millions of jobs in Texas depend on an updated Nafta, and it’s important that we get this

right,” said Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican.

US, Mexican and Canadian stocks opened higher yesterday on optimism about a trade deal.

Mexican stocks jumped 1.4 percent to a seven-month high, while the peso firmed about 1.3 percent against the dollar, heading for its best one-day gain in more than a month.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (second left), Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo (right) and White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow (standing) look on as US President Donald Trump announces the new deal at the White House in Washington, DC, in the US, yesterday.

Germany takes aim at Internet giantsBLOOMBERG

BERLIN: American technology giants such as Facebook Inc. will continue to face regulatory pressure in Europe, Germany’s antitrust chief warned.

The Federal Cartel Office is focusing on protecting compe-tition in the digital economy through a strategy “against big internet companies,” its Pres-ident Andreas Mundt (pictured)said at a press conference in Bonn yesterday. The approach consists of two layers: keeping markets open for new players, and making sure consumers can pick products and services in a fair and transparent environment.

Mundt’s comments signal there’ll be no let up in the way the internet is policed in the European Union’s biggest economy, after his agency opened a ground-breaking probe into how Facebook scoops up information on how users surf the web to drive its adver-tising revenue.

The German authority has been tackling the importance of big internet platforms, Mundt said as he presented the regula-tor’s 2017 report.

Aside from the office’s probe against Facebook, he cited so-called sector inquiries into online advertising, smart TV and

comparison website as examples of these efforts.

Mundt has been repeatedly vocal about threats he thinks companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google pose to democracy and free markets. His agency is cooperating with its French counterpart on algo-rithms and will take an even closer look at e-commerce issues, he said.

At the same time, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is also con-fronting key issues in the digital market, as its probes against Google show, according to the Cartel Office chief.

“With all of that, we have an extraordinary bandwidth of activities,” said Mundt.

“The European competition authorities are in the process of

setting out guidelines for the digital economy.”

Mundt is optimistic of taking “the next steps” by the end of the year in the Facebook probe -- which has focused on how the social network utilises some user information and whether it does so by taking undue advantage if its market position in Germany. The case, which started in 2016, won’t last as long as the EU’s lengthy procedure against Google, Mundt said.

Facebook in May announced the implementation of new fea-tures, “which we will now review to see what the effects are,” said Mundt.

“In that respect, Facebook is like a movable target to which have to adapt our review.”

The company didn’t imme-diately respond to a request for comment.

Mundt said it’s important for the office to conclude internet-related cases to pave the way for courts to rule on contested issues and he added that case law on these disputes will help guide future action of regulators.

Mundt also urged lawmakers to take a closer look at how com-panies may be able to collect data of users. More regulation is needed here, he said.

An important question is whether “the collection of enormous amounts of data” is

proportionate “to the efficiencies promised” he said. “That’s some-thing we’re also looking at in the Facebook probe.”

E-commerce is another sector the German regulator seeks to focus on, especially on the relationship between plat-forms and companies that use them for their sales, the Cartel Office chief said.

This is not only concerning Amazon, he said. There are more platforms which become more and more important and which will have to be monitored, he said, declining to name any of them.

In 2017, the Cartel Office issued a combined ¤66m ($76.6m) in fines. It received 37 leniency applications and con-ducted 11 raids targeting 60 companies. In the current year, penalties have risen to a com-bined ¤272m against 16 com-panies and 13 individuals. So far, seven searches took place at 16 companies and 13 homes.

Oil rises to $76 as Opec+ committee sees production increasingREUTERS

LONDON: Brent oil prices rose to near $76 a barrel yesterday as a committee monitoring a deal on oil output curbs between Opec and non-Opec producers saw production rising while a US-China trade dispute capped gains.

International Brent crude oil futures were at $76.04 per barrel at 1326 GMT, up 22 cents from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 13 cents at $68.85 a barrel.

Trading activity was limited due to a public holiday in Britain, traders said.

Members of an Opec and non-Opec monitoring com-mittee found producers in a supply-reduction agreement cut their July output by 9 percent more than called for in their pact, two sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The Opec+ committee agreed in June to return to 100 percent compliance with oil output cuts that began in January 2017.

The July findings compare with a compliance level of 120 percent for June and 147 percent for May, meaning par-ticipants have been steadily increasing production. The oil market is expected to tighten when US sanctions targeting Opec member Iran’s oil exports kick in in November.

“Falling US rig counts and last week’s decline in US inventories are supporting oil prices amid a protracted US-China trade war that could dampen global growth and weigh on oil demand,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures bro-kerage OANDA in Singapore.

US energy companies cut nine oil drilling rigs last week, taking the total to 860, the biggest reduction since May 2016, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their net long, or bullish, WTI futures and options positions in the week to August 21, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.

The US-Mexico deal

would require 75%

of auto content to

be made in the Nafta

region, up from the

current level of 62.5%.

The move aims at

protecting competition

in the digital economy

by keeping markets

open for new players,

and making sure

consumers can

pick products and

services in a fair

and transparent

environment

Bank Ielectio

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14 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018BUSINESS

9,802.63

+357.28 PTS

3.78%

QSE FTSE100 DOW BRENT7,577.49

+14.27 PTS

0.19%

25,985.06

+194.71 PTS

0.75% Dow & Brent before going to press

$68.77

+0.05

MarketWatchYuan hits 4-week high as China signals supportREUTERS

SHANGHAI: China’s yuan finished yesterday afternoon trade at a near four-week high to the dollar after the central bank revived a “counter-cyclical factor” in its daily fixing to support the currency, halting a record 10-week slide that rattled global markets and irri-tated Washington.

The announcement was seen as the latest signal from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) that is not comfortable with further depreciation in the yuan which could spark capital out-flows from the cooling economy.

The move late on Friday came a day after the latest Sino-US talks aimed at resolving the trade dispute ended with little progress, with tougher US measures expected to kick in next month that could add more pressure on the Chinese currency.

Yesterday’s domestic closing price was the strongest since August 1. Spot yuan opened onshore trade at 6.8080 per dollar and closed domestic

trade, at 0830 GMT, at 6.8171, firmer than the previous late night session close.

The PBoC said it was adjusting how the yuan’s official midpoint was calculated to keep the currency more stable amid dollar strength and trade ten-sions, but gave no details as to how the new “X” factor is derived.

With little sign of com-promise in the trade talks, most market watchers had predicted it was only a matter of time before the yuan tested the closely watched and psycholog-ically important support level of 7 to the dollar.

Prior to the market opening yesterday, the PBoC lifted its official yuan midpoint more than expected to 6.8508 per

dollar, 202 pips, or 0.3 percent, firmer than the previous fix of 6.8710 on Friday.

The currency firmed initially in spot trade before swinging between gains and losses.

The offshore counterpart rose to a high of 6.7818, its strongest since July 31. It traded at 6.8047 as of 0830 GMT.

Traders said the policy move had triggered some dollar selling since Friday night, but gains in the Chinese currency were capped by bargain hunting for cheaper dollars on Monday as many saw strong resistance at 6.8 per dollar for now.

The PBoC introduced the “X” factor in May 2017 when the yuan was firming against a weaker dollar. But Goldman Sachs said it has been used in both direction at various times: to slow yuan gains and to curb yuan losses.

Traders suspect the PBoC may already have been testing the waters in recent weeks for a re-activation of the measure as the dollar continued to climb. It was last believed to have been used early this year, when the yuan was firming.

EU-US trade truce boosts German business confidenceAFP

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Confidence among German business leaders swelled again in August after the European Union and United States backed off an escalating trade showdown, a regular survey showed yesterday.

The Munich-based Ifo institute’s monthly barometer based on a survey of 9,000 firms rebounded to 103.8 points this month, its highest level since February. “Confi-dence in German firms has improved noticeably... in addition to a robust domestic economic situation, the truce in the trade conflict with the US contributed,” Ifo president Clemens Fuest said in a statement.

Furthermore, “the German economy is growing robustly,” he added, with the latest data suggesting that third-quarter growth in the eurozone’s economic power-house could match the 0.5 percent q-o-q it booked between April and June.

US blocks WTO judge reappointment as dispute settlement crisis loomsREUTERS

GENEVA: The United States told the World Trade Organization yesterday it would block the reappointment of one of the WTO’s four remaining appeals judges next month, confirming trade experts’ fears of a crisis in the system for settling global rows.

US President Donald Trump has railed against the WTO, calling it a catastrophe and a disaster. He has said the United States loses cases because other countries have most of the judges. Trump faces a barrage of disputes at the WTO against his trade policies, including global tariffs on steel and a tariff war with China. Since he came to power, Washington has blocked all appointments to the appeals chamber as existing judges’ terms end.

There are normally seven WTO appeals judges, but if Shree Baboo Chekitan Serv-ansing (pictured), a trade judge from Mauritius, is not reap-pointed when his term expires on September 30, only three will remain -- the minimum for the system to function.

It looks set to break down finally when two more judges’ terms expire in December 2019, but it could seize up sooner if any judges need to recuse them-selves from a case for legal

reasons. If the US veto paralyses the dispute system, it would end 23 years of WTO enforcement, the keystone of international efforts to prevent trade protec-tionism, at a time of heightened global trade tensions.

At the WTO’s monthly dispute settlement meeting, 67 member states have repeatedly petitioned Washington to drop its veto and keep the system working.

But US Ambassador Dennis Shea told yesterday’s meeting that the Appellate Body had consistently over-stepped its authority by reviewing and reversing factual findings by trade arbitration panels, and by interpreting WTO members’ domestic laws. “The invention of an authority to review panel fact-finding... has added com-plexity, duplication and delay to every WTO dispute,” he told the meeting.

Poland to impose exit tax on firms & individualsREUTERS

WARSAW: Poland plans to introduce an “exit tax” of up to 19 percent on companies and wealthy individuals who move assets or production abroad, the finance ministry said in draft legislation due to come into force in 2019.

The tax will be imposed when assets are moved outside Poland and the country loses its

right to tax income from the sale of those assets, or when a person with shares or other financial assets worth at least 2m zloty ($533,000) moves abroad for good, the ministry said.

“The tax on unrealized income amounts to 1) 19 percent of the tax base, when the tax value of an asset is set 2) 3 percent of the tax base, when the tax value of an asset is not set,” the ministry said in a draft sent

to Reuters. The ministry said that the aim of the project is to implement the European Union’s tax evasion directive. The ministry also said it wanted to improve tax collection.

Next year Poland wants to keep the budget deficit at around 28.5bn zloty, at the same level as in 2018, while at the same time the economic growth is expected by analysts to slow down to 3.7 percent from 4.8

percent seen in 2018 denting budget revenues.

Polish daily Rzeczpospolita said, quoting tax experts, that the Polish government’s aim was to gather more budget revenues, especially since the EU directive concerns companies only, not individuals.

Some opponents of the exit tax say it would deter foreigners from starting businesses in the country.

Bank Indonesia says election won’t stop it from raising rates

BLOOMBERG

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s central bank, faced with a deepening currency rout, won’t let an upcoming presidential election prevent it from raising interest rates if necessary.

Bank Indonesia is inde-pendent and its future policy action will be determined by economic data, Deputy Gov-ernor Dody Budi Waluyo (pic-tured) said in Jakarta. The bank has raised interest rates four times since May to help stabilise the rupiah, including a surprise 25 basis-point move at its most recent meeting in August.

“The latest interest rate hike, for instance, was not driven by the government or others,” he said.

“It’s in Bank Indonesia’s cal-culation. If we see that it is the right time to increase the interest rate, we will do it.”

Campaigning for April’s presidential vote kicks off next month, with President Joko Widodo seeking to secure a second term in office in the world’s fourth most-populous nation. The rising cost of living is a key concern for voters, and less than a year ago Jokowi, as

the president is known, was making the case for lending rates to “fall, fall and fall.”

With Indonesia being swept up in the global emerging-market rout, Jokowi’s focus has turned to stabilising the cur-rency -- which is down 7 percent against the dollar this year to be the second-worst performing currency in Asia -- and keeping inflation under control.

The central bank has “cal-culated all the risks, including ones related to presidential and regional elections,” Waluyo said.

“All this time, we have taken the election factor into account in formulating our monetary policy. There’s still room to raise rates because global pressure is still there,” he said. Future policy action will be “data dependent and we’ll do it in a measured way,” he said.

The central bank, which has drained foreign reserves by more than 10 percent this year to halt the currency’s slide, will allow the rupiah to “depreciate gradually as long as it is still in line with its fundamentals,” Waluyo said.

Jokowi’s economic record has been mixed. While the economy has been growing steadily at about 5 percent, that’s lower than the 7 percent goal the president had when he took office.

Inflation is subdued -- reaching 3.2 percent in July, compared with 8.4 percent in December 2014 a few months after he was sworn in -- and forecast to be in a range of 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent next year.

The PBoC said it

was adjusting how

the yuan’s official

midpoint was

calculated to keep the

currency more stable

amid dollar strength

and trade tensions.

Turkey’s industrial capacity usage up in AugustANATOLIA

ANKARA: Turkey’s manufac-turing industry capacity utili-sation rate rose slightly at 77.8 percent in August, the Turkish Central Bank announced yesterday.

The capacity utilisation rate (CUR) saw a 0.7-per-centage point monthly gain from 77.1 percent in July, according to the bank.

The bank stated that the CUR figures are based on the responses given to its business tendency survey by local units operating in the manufac-turing industry.

It added that while some 2,607 companies responded to the survey in August, the monthly data does not reflect the bank’s views or predictions.

Among over 20 sectors, the highest capacity usage was seen in the manufacturing of coke and refined petroleum products with 88.4 percent in August, while the lowest CUR was seen in the leather and related products sector, with 59.7 percent. On the main industrial groups side, the highest CUR was 79.7 percent for intermediate goods, while the lowest capacity usage was 71 percent in F&B.

According to the central bank data, manufacturers of investment goods used 78.9 percent of their capacity this month while the CUR in con-sumer goods was 73 percent -- durable goods at 71.6 percent, and non-durable goods at 73.3 percent. Last year, the average capacity usage in the manufacturing industry was 78.5 percent.

15TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2018 BUSINESS

BREAK TIMEVILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

The Meg (2D/Action) 11:00am 01:30pm 04:00pm 06:30pm 09:00pm 11:30pm; The Equalizer 2 (2D/ATMOS) 10:30am 01:00pm 03:30pm 06:00pm 08:30pm 11:00pm; Christopher Robin (2D/Ani-

mation) 10:00am 12:15pm 2:30pm 4:45pm 7:00pm 9:15pm 11:30pmPloey: You Will Never Fly Alone (2D/ Animation) 10:15am 02:30pm 06:45pm 11:00pm;Down A Dark Hall (2D/Thriller) 12:15pm 4:30pm 8:45pm; Monkey King Reloaded 10:00am 2:30pm 7:00pmCrazy Rich Asians (2D/Comedy) 12:00pm 4:30pm 9:00pm 11:30pm; Nawret Masr (2D/Arabic) 11:00am 4:00pm 9:00pmMission Impossible 6 (2D/Action) 1:00pm 6:00pm 11:00pmElephant King 10:00am 12:00pm 02:00pmThe Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 12:15pm 3:00pm 3:45pm 8:30pm 11:15pm; The Equalizer 2 (2D/IMAX) 11:00am 01:30pm 04:00pm 06:30pm 09:00pm 11:30pm

Christopher Robin (2D/Animation) 2:00pm Lakshmi (2D/Tamil) 2:30pm; Geetha Govindam (Telugu) 2:15pmParwaaz Hai Junoon (2D/Urdu) 4:45, 9:00 & 11:30pm; Hotel Transylvania 3 3:45 & 5:30pm; El Badlah (2D/Arabic) 5:00 & 7:00pm; The Darkest Minds (2D/Thriller) 7:15pmMile 22 (2D/Action) 7:30pm; The Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 9:15pmMission Impossible 6 (2D/Action) 9:00 & 11:30pm; Satyameva Jayate

(2D/Hindi) 11:30pm

Geetha Govindam (Telugu) 4:00 & 10:30pmHotel Transylvania 3 3:30, 5:30 & 6:30pmEl Badlah (2D/Arabic) 8:30 & 10:30pm; Mission Impossible 6 (2D/Action) 7:30pmSatyameva Jayate (2D/Hindi) 3:00 & 5:30pm;The Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 10:00pmMile 22 (2D/Action) 8:00pm

Gold (2D/Hindi) 3:00pm; Hotel Transylvania 3 3:30 & 5:30pmGeetha Govindam (Telugu) 3:00 & 10:00pmMile 22 (2D/Action) 10:00pm; The Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 7:30pmSatyameva Jayate (2D/Hindi) 5:30 & 10:30pm;Charming (2D/Comedy) 6:00pm,Mission Impossible 6 (2D/Action) 8:00pmEl Badlah (2D/Arabic) 8:00 & 10:00pm

Satyameva Jayate (2D/Hindi) 12:15, 3:00, 5:45, 8:30 & 11:15pm & Kolamavu Kokila (Tamil) 12:15, 3:00, 5:45, 8:30 & 11:15pm; Gold (2D/

Hindi) 12:15, 5:45 & 11:15pm; Geetha Govindam (Telugu)12:30 & 6:30pm; Oru Pazhaya Bomb Kadha (2D/Malayalam) 8:30pm; Lakshmi (2D/Tamil)

12:15, 3:00, 5:45, 8:30 & 11:15pm

Mile 22 (2D/Action) 12:15, 4:30, 8:45pm & 1:00amCharming (2D/Comedy) 11:00am, 1:00, 3:00 & 5:00pmThe Darkest Minds (2D/Thriller) 10:30am, 3:15, 8:00pm & 12:45amEl Badlah (2D/Arabic) 2:30,6:45 & 11:00pm; Lakshmi (2D/Tamil) 7:00, 9:30 & 12:00pm; The Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 12:45, 5:30 & 10:15pm

Charming (2D/Comedy) 2:30, 6:30, 8:30 & 10:30pm; The Darkest Minds (2D/

Thriller) 5:00, 10:00, 9:30 & 11:45pm; El Badlah (2D/Arabic) 12:30,2:45, 7:15pm & 0:30am; Lakshmi (2D/Tamil) 12:30, 3:10 & 6:00pm; Mile 22 (2D/

Action) 12:30, 5:20, 3:00, 7:40pm & 30am; Papillion (2D/Thriller) 2:40, 10:50, 11:30pm & 0:15am; The Elephant King (2D/Thriller) 4:30 & 12:30pm; The Meg (2D/Action) 12:30, 5:10 & 12:30pm

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a 2018 American action spy film written, produced and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, and the second film to be directed by McQuarrie, after Rogue Nation (2015), making him the first person to direct more than one film in the franchise.

Charming (2D/Comedy) 10:30am, 1:25 & 4:20pm; Christopher Robin

(2D/Animation) 10:30am & 12:40pmm; Crazy Rich Asian 3:30pm; The Darkest Minds (2D/Thriller) 1:25pm; Duck Duck Goose 12:20pm; El Badlah (2D/Arabic) 10:25pm; Lakshmi (2D/Tamil) 8:15pm; Mile 22

(2D/Action) 2:50, 4:55, 7:40pm & 12:00 midnight; The Meg (2D/

Action) 11:10am, 1:30 & 9:40pm; Mission Impossible 6 (2D/Action)

6:20, 9:20, 11:25pm & 0:15am; The Equalizer 2 (2D/Action) 11:20am, 1:45, 4:10, 6:35 & 9:00pm; Ploey: You Will Never Fly Alone (2D/ Ani-

mation) 11:40am, 2:20, 6:10 & 5:15pm

ROYAL PLAZANOVO Pearl Qatar

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Economist to become Slovenian finance ministerREUTERS

LJUBLJANA: Economist Andrej Bertoncelj (pictured) is to become Slovenia’s finance minister in the minority centre-left government of Prime Minister designate Marjan Sarec, a spokeswoman for Sarec’s party said yesterday.

Bertoncelj’s main task will be to keep a lid on public spending in the small Alpine country and reduce public debt which

reached 73.6 percent of GDP last year, down from 78.6 percent in 2016, but was still well above the 60 percent of GDP level allowed for European Union members.

Outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar will become foreign minister, replacing Karl Erjavec who shifts to defence, while Economy Minister Zdravko Pocivalsek will retain his port-folio, the spokeswoman, Nika Vrhovnik, told Reuters.

Parliament is due to confirm

the new government in the first half of September after ministers have presented themselves to parliamentary hearings.

Bertoncelj, who is an inde-pendent, is a member of the management board of state investment fund Slovenian Sov-ereign Holding, which manages state assets and is in charge of privatisation of state firms.

Before that he worked at a university as a professor of man-agement after holding top

positions in two pharmaceutical companies previously. He will replace the outgoing finance minister Mateja Vranicar Erman.

Earlier in August parliament elected Sarec as the next prime minister following a June 3 election in which the centre-right anti-immigrant Slovenian Dem-ocratic Party got most votes but lacked coalition partners to form a government.

Sarec, who heads the The List of Marjan Sarec (LMS) party,

formed a coalition with four other centre-left parties - the Social Democrats, the Party of Modern Centre, the Party of Alenka Bratusek and pensioners’ party Desus.

One of the first tasks of the new government will be to sell a majority in Slovenia’s largest bank Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB). Slovenia has committed itself to selling the bank in exchange for European Commis-sion’s approval of state aid to the

bank in 2013. Slovenians will also be looking to the new gov-ernment to improve the ineffi-cient national health system.

Tesla shares dip 3% after Musk abandons buyoutREUTERS

WASHINGTON: Shares in Tesla Inc fell just under 3 percent yesterday after Chief Executive Elon Musk abandoned his plan to take the electric carmaker private, with analysts saying the company needed new blood among senior management to prop up its standing with investors.

The billionaire entrepreneur said in a blog post late on Friday that consultations, done with the help of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, had shown most of Tesla’s existing shareholders opposed the deal that he pro-posed on Twitter three weeks ago to widespread shock on Wall Street.

“We are hopeful that... the past 17 days will lead the Board down the path to bringing on a more operational CEO or at a minimum a COO,” Cowen and Co analysts said in a note to clients.

Tesla’s shares, already down nearly 15 percent from a peak on

August 7 when Musk tweeted that he had “funding secured” for a buyout at $420 a share, initially fell more than 5 percent in European and premarket trading in New York.

They recovered, however, to stand down just 2.8 percent lower at $314.

Notes from Wall Street ana-lysts questioned Musk’s credi-bility going forward in the face of a possible investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission into the factual accuracy of an August 7 tweet that funding for the buyout deal was “secured”.

“Musk’s involvement in the

company is critical, but now more than ever a solid number two - someone with strong oper-ational background that can help Tesla move from ideas to exe-cution - is crucial,” analyst Joseph Spak from RBC Capital Markets wrote in a client note.

Tesla said on Sunday it was not searching for a chief oper-ating officer.

“While we are always looking for highly talented exec-utives (...) there is no active COO search,” a spokesman said by email.

Tesla had $2.78bn in cash at the end of the second quarter, after a record $718m loss.

In early August, before the buyout plan was made public, Tesla reiterated a forecast that it

would achieve a profit in the third and fourth quarters, under normal accounting rules, and Musk said the company would not need to raise more cash.

A Tesla spokesman on Sunday also referred back to those previous comments.

“With its long term mission intact but short term growth shaky, serious gaps in execution skills and a board under pressure for not assuming its duties, now may be the time for third parties to get involved, be it from tech-nology or even oil,” Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois told clients.

One of Tesla’s biggest chal-lenges is ramping up production of its latest vehicle, the Model 3, which is critical to its profitability goals.

Yesterday’s fall would still leave shares in the company 27 percent above a low of $244.59 hit on April 2, a day before the electric carmaker released its production and Model 3 deliv-eries report for the first quarter.

Investors in Tesla’s bonds

and convertible debt had also already shown skepticism that the tens of billions of dollars needed for the buyout would materialise, unconvinced by Musk’s tweet or subsequent blog post in which he could only make the case for going private and not list clear backing.

Analysts have suggested a capital raise may be required soon to boost investor confi-dence but investment bankers who are not working for the company said over the weekend it would also contradict Musk’s promise that Tesla is adequately funded.

This week would also be an inopportune time for a capital raising, given that many bankers and investors are away ahead of the September 3 Labour Day holiday.

“We see the company raising $2bn in Q4,18, through con-vertible debt, which may prove a challenge if there still is an ongoing SEC case open,” Cowen and Co analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote in a client note.

Tesla vehicles stand outside of a Brooklyn showroom and service center in New York City.

Now more than

ever a solid number

two - someone with

strong operational

background that can

help Tesla move from

ideas to execution - is

crucial, analyst noted.