Gold rises on Fed minutes Page III Gold climbed about 1 percent on Friday in a delayed reaction to minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting that showed the US central bank was in no hurry to hike rates.

Ins IdeIssuance of LCs more than halvesIssuance of Letters of Credit (LCs) by banks has dropped significantly amid restrictions imposed by India on Nepal-bound cargos. Businessmen import industrial raw materials and other commercial goods from third countries through India’s Kolkata port. The goods then arrive in Birgunj Dry Port via Raxual, Bihar. Clearance of imported goods at Raxaul customs has largely stopped for the past two months, resulting in a 20km queue of 4,000 Nepal-bound trucks on the Indian side of the border. Bankers said LC issuance by commercial banks has dropped by 60 percent. A branch manager of a commercial bank in Birgunj said very few traders were opening LC to import industrial raw materials, goods meant for upcoming festivals and edibles like spices, crude oil, pulse, peas and gram. Pg: II

The divisive issue of reaching $100bThe movers and shakers of the world economy are trying to close in on the magic number of $100 billion a year to fight climate change as they meet this week in Peru. But with the world well shy of that target, everyone seems to think the rest of the money should come from somewhere else. The glob-al talks on fighting climate change have stumbled over the issue of get-ting money to the countries that are most vulnerable to global warming and often least responsible for caus-ing it. Wealthy nations have pledged to come up with $100 billion a year by 2020, but with two months to go to clutch United Nations climate talks, a new report this week found the world is less than two-thirds of the way there. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, whose country will host the December talks, said Thursday that governments have given pretty much all they can, and called on institutions like the World Bank and European Investment Bank to step up. Pg: III

Saturday, OctOber 10, 2015 (23-06-2072) kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

moneymoneyfinance&economyfinance&economy

kathmandupostthecross currency

US Dollar 103.94

Euro 117.78

Pound Sterling 159.79

Japanese Yen 8.65

Chinese Yuan 16.38

Qatari Riyal 28.54

Australian Dollar 76.15

Malaysian Ringit 25.17

Saudi Arab Riyal 27.72How to read tHe tableThe chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two currencies. One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally.

USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR

NR 103.9400 117.7800 8.6500 159.7900 107.9600 80.4200 76.1500 1.6015

INR 64.8256 73.715 0.5387 99.306 67.389 49.91 47.481 0.6244

GBP 0.653 0.7409 0.0054 0.6784 0.503 0.4774 0.0101 0.0063

JPY 120.29 136.51 185.1852 124.98 92.66 88.0200 1.8563 0.1156

EUR 0.8811 0.0073 1.3497 0.916 0.6800 0.6444 0.0136 0.0085

USD 1.1349 0.0083 1.5314 1.0399 0.7717 0.7318 0.0154 0.0096

F o r e X

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

C M Y K

REUTERSLIMA, OCT 9

Central banks have little room for error in a low-growth world in which over-leveraged and com-modity-dependent emerging econ-omies and a slowing China are major risks, top international financiers told the International Monetary Fund’s meeting.

Despite $7 trillion in quantita-tive easing from banks in indus-trial nations since the global financial crisis, the world is stuck in a “new mediocre” growth pat-tern, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

In a bid to shore up finances and punish companies that arbi-trage tax regimes, governments pushed ahead with plans to improve tax collection. The IMF meeting comes as the Bank of

Japan looks poised to extend its money printing program, known as quantitative easing, as it sees fifth year of recession.

The European Central Bank is also expected to extend quantita-tive easing, while the two major central banks closest to raising rates, the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, are holding their fire. “It is not the kind of economy in which you can make a mistake,” Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said.

For both the Fed and the Bank of England, inflation targets are far out of reach, although both central banks insist they are ready to hike rates. The Fed’s chair, Janet Yellen, has said the US central bank is on track to raise rates this year.

Markets, however, are not pric-ing in hikes until next year for

both. The IMF has urged the Fed and the Japanese and European central banks to wait for more signs of recovery before tighten-ing. Lagarde repeated her plea to Yellen to stay her hand.

Many emerging markets, once the world’s fastest-growing econo-mies which had been expected to shape a new world economic order, are now in turmoil. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, is facing a leadership crisis and is in recession. Russia is engaged in conflicts in Ukraine, and Syria and has been hit by low oil prices.

China’s growth is slowing, although Lagarde was optimistic that the slowdown was managea-ble. While the world’s central banks’ money-printing programs have staunched losses in the financial sector, they have failed to reach their goal of boosting

global credit. With widening cur-rent account balances and exces-sive lending to local firms, the IMF estimates emerging market companies are over leveraged by the equivalent of 15 percent of their economic output, raising the risk of a sudden collapse in credit and of banking crises.

The IMF cut its estimate for growth in emerging economies for a fifth successive year this week, citing the collapse of the “commodities supercycle” in which buoyant demand for raw

materials had boosted prices.From a record of $145 per bar-

rel in 2008, oil prices have fallen to around $50, driving holes in the budgets of major producers like Russia and Angola, among emerging economies.

Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy called on Thursday for cash-rich pension funds and institutions to invest in infra-structure projects, although few seem willing to do so as returns are uncertain in a low-demand world with the risk of financial contagion. “There are plenty of savings in the world,” he told the IMF meeting.

Lagarde repeated the IMF’s mantra for structural economic reforms and for those countries with the room to raise spending to do so. However, that appears politically impossible in the euro

zone, while in the United States, Congress is deeply divided.

Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem shrugged off dire predictions on future growth, at least for Europe, and said policies there were working. “Already this year, except for Greece, all euro-zone countries will have returned to growth,” Dijsselbloem said.

His comments came after a stark message from former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has long warned of the risks of “secular stagna-tion,” or permanent damage to growth. Summers chided policy-makers for relying on the same old tools to boost demand.

“Traditional approaches of focusing on sound government finance, increased supply poten-tial and the avoidance of infla-tion court disaster,” he wrote in

editorials published to coincide with the IMF conference. “Moreover, the world’s principal tool for dealing with contrac-tion—monetary policy—is largely played out.”

The G20 group of leading emerging and developed economies is also pushing at the IMF meeting to move ahead with measures to end a situation that allows multi-national companies such as Apple Inc and Vodafone Group Plc to pay almost no tax on their profits in many jurisdictions.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the amount of money moved by com-panies into tax havens was $100 billion to $240 billion annually, suggesting tens of billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

Amid ‘new mediocre’ no room for mistakes by central banksg l o b a l g r o w t H c o n c e r n s

Despite $7 trillion in quantitative easing since the

global financial crisis, the world is stuck in a new

mediocre growth pattern

China Eastern halts Kathmandu flights

SANGAM PRASAINKATHMANDU, OCT 9

Aviation fuel crisis at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) caused by the unofficial trade blockade imposed by India has hit yet another Chinese airline.

On Friday, China Eastern Airlines announced temporary suspension of its Kunming-Kathmandu flights, starting from October 15-26.

The airline informed travel agen-cies here that if the jet fuel situation did not improve, it would be forced to extend the flights suspension further.

On Sept 29, China Southern Airlines had temporarily cancelled its Guangzhou-Kathmandu flights until October 10. The airline has extended its cancellation until October 25.

Citing the jet fuel crisis, the air-port authority on Sept 29 barred for-eign carriers from refuelling at the TIA. The tough decision was taken in response to requests from the Nepal Oil Corporation.

“This is to kindly inform you all that due to the present situation of Nepal and fuel crisis, we are going to cancel more flights of Guangzhou-Kathmandu-Guangzhou effective from Sept 29 to Oct 25,” the China Southern said on its Facebook page. “If the situation gets better before this date we will recov-

er our flights soon.”The flights cancellation comes on

the eve of the festive season—Dashain and Tihar—when thou-sands of migrant workers and other Nepalis living abroad return home to celebrate with their families.

Frustrated, travellers have criti-cised the airlines for the flights can-cellation at the last hour, said the travel agencies. “As inbound flights to Nepal are almost full, the travel-lers have been affected largely.”

“I have a flight on Oct 26 from Guangzhou to Kathmandu. I just want to make sure the flight will be on schedule or not. If not how we gonna manage out trip to Kathmandu?” US-based Upahaar Gurung posted on China Southern’s Facebook page.

Another traveller Subodh Dhakal said: “Can you please let us know the latest situation on Guangzhou-Kathmandu flights update on CZ 3067 flight on Oct 22? We are in dilemma.”

Dhiraj Chandra Shrestha, deputy sales manager of China Southern,

said they were arranging alterna-tives for the passengers.

“For travellers who wish to cancel their reservations, we are providing full refund, and for those who do not want to cancel, we have arranged seats in other airlines,” he said, adding the flights cancellation has affected around 2,000 passengers.

China Eastern that used to operate double daily flights on the Kunming-Kathmandu sector had cut its flights to two weekly after the April 25 earthquake and increased the fre-quency to thrice weekly recently. It had planned to resume normal oper-ations from October 25.

“However, due to the refuelling problem at TIA, the airline that oper-ates 145-seater Boeing 737 on the Nepal route has temporarily can-celled its flights,” said Deepak Basnet, senior ticketing executive at Osho World Travel Nepal. “Most of the foreign carriers are in wait-and-see mode,” he said, adding if the jet fuel crisis prolongs, there will be more flights cancellation.

Basnet said both the airlines have temporarily suspended their flights to Nepal due to operation difficulties as their aircraft cannot carry a full load of passengers, cargo and full load of fuel. “Advance inbound book-ings in these two carriers were more than 80 percent.”

Among the four Chinese carriers, Air China that operates flights to Chengdu via Lhasa flies a wide-body aircraft and Sichuan Airlines has been refuelling at Lhasa.

The Chinese carriers had recorded a healthy passenger growth last year. Air China, China Southern and China eastern received a combined 241,851 travellers in 2014, up 28.93 percent. Sichuan had started its daily flights along the Chengdu-Kathmandu-Chengdu route via Lhasa in April.

63 oil tankers, gas bullets enter Nepal

POST REPORTBIRATNAGAR, OCT 9

A total of 63 petroleum tank-ers and gas bullets and 214 goods carrier trucks entered Nepal through Jobani, Rupaidiha and Panitanki bor-der points on Friday as India continued to tighten the clear-ance of fuel tankers while adopting some flexibility on trucks carrying other goods.

Of the 36 petroleum tankers and 134 goods carrier trucks that entered through the Biratnagar-Jogbani customs point on Friday, 23 were diesel tankers, four petrol tankers and nine cooking gas bullets, according to Birtanagar Customs chief Krishna Bahadur Basnet. The trucks were laden with industrial raw materials and commer-cial goods imported from countries other than India.

Meanwhile, 23 tankers reaching the Barauni depot of Indian Oil Corporation were

refilled on Friday, according to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

At the Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha border point, the Indian cus-toms authority continued to tighten the clearance of petro-leum products, while easing the movement of goods like rice and wheat. Tanker diesel tankers, a LPG bullet and 21 trucks entered Nepal through Rupaidiha on Friday.

After the cadres of Madhes-based parties started obstruct-ing the entry of cargo trucks, the border point remained closed for the day.

At the Panitanki-Kakarvitta border point, India has somewhat relaxed the clearance of Nepal-bound goods. On Friday, 21 petrole-

um tankers, including two LPG bullets, entered Nepal, besides 75 trucks carrying other goods, according to the Mechi Customs Office.

“The blockade has been somewhat eased,” said Bhim Prasad Adhikari, chief at Mechi Customs. He said all trucks and containers that had queued on the Indian side entered Nepal.

According an Indian cus-toms staffer Palden Bhutiya, no good-loaded trucks have stranded at Panitanki. “Indian security personnel have not been stringent in clearing goods from Friday,” claimed Bhutiya. “The situation is heading towards normalcy.”

After India eased supply five days ago, around 780 trucks have so far entered Nepal through the Panitanki-Kakarvitta border point. During the period, 67 petrole-um tankers and six cooking gas bullets crossed the border.

n A file photo shows goods carrier trucks entering Nepal through the Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha customs point. Post Photo

imf-world bank annual meetings

n G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reunited for the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings pose for a family photo in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. Central banks have little room for error in a low-growth world in which over-leveraged and commodity-dependent emerging economies and a slowing China are major risks, top international financiers told the International Monetary Fund’s meeting AFP/rss

At Panitanki-Kakarvitta border point, India has somewhat relaxed the

clearance of goods

Foreign fims take away Rs7.21 billion dividendPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 9

Foreign companies operating in Nepal took away Rs7.21 bil-lion in dividends in 2014-15, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) statistics.

The country received for-eign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs6.16 billion out of the total FDI commitment of Rs67.25 billion in the last fis-cal year, according the Department of Industry.

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) President Pashupati Murarka there are big companies like Unilever, Dabur Nepal and Surya Nepal which were established way back take away dividend based on their business. “However, the FDI flow into the country continues to remain low,” he said.

The hydropower sector topped the list in terms of the dividend outflow (Rs2.87 bil-lion). Industrial sector (Rs2.29 billion) and financial sector (Rs1.79 billion) rounded out the top three. Major hydro-power companies with foreign investment include Khimti and Bhotekoshi projects.

According to the NRB, no dividend was paid in the first month of 2015-16, while FDI inflow stood at Rs44.3 million. During the same period a year

ago, the FDI inflow stood at Rs 2million.

Official data show the coun-try receives large foreign direct investment (FDI) com-mitments, but only a fraction of them are translated into actual funding.

According to the NRB, the total foreign funding received after the country was opened to FDI totalled Rs63.42 billion as of mid-July 2015, up 10.8 percent compared to Rs57.26 billion as of mid-July 2014.

The airline informed Nepal-based travel agencies that if the jet

fuel situation did not improve, it would be forced to extend the

flights suspension further.

DiviDenD PAyment (2014-15)

Sector AmountFinancial sector 1794.43m Communication sector 4.00mhydro Power sector 2874.48mindustry sector 2299.19mservice sector 238.61mtotal 7210.71m

moneyeconomy IISaturday, October 10, 2015 | thekathmandupost

NKorea food output could drop ‘14pc’SEOUL: North Korea’s sta-ple food production could plummet by 14 percent this year because of bad weather, sparking fears of exacerbating chronic food shortages in the impoverished nation, according to the UN agri-cultural agency. The gloomy forecast from the Food and Agriculture Organization comes as the reclusive communist country prepares for a lavish military parade Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party. The North is expected to produce 3.7 million tonnes of rice and corn this year, down from 4.3 million tonnes last year, according to a report from the FAO early warning system. Pyongyang plans to import 500,000 tonnes of rice and corn from abroad, the FAO said, but it will not be enough to feed its 25 million people. The country, plagued by regular droughts, will face a total shortfall of 1.2 million tonnes of its staples. (AFP)

Dollar remains under pressureTOKYO: The dollar on Friday remained under selling pressure against major and emerging cur-rencies with the ringgit on track to make its big-gest weekly advance since 1998. The Malaysian currency jumped 2.64 percent against the US unit in afternoon trade—a more than six percent rise for the week—while the Indonesian rupiah advanced 3.68 percent, a nine percent weekly jump. Federal Reserve meeting minutes from Thursday have raised expectations the US cen-tral bank will not hike rates any time soon, boosting many high-er-yielding, or riskier, units. Emerging market currencies have been hammered in recent months as expectations of a US rate rise built up, while China’s economic growth slowed. Beijing’s shock devaluation of its yuan in Aug triggered a sweeping sell-off (AFP)

Alcoa trims China biz outlookNEW YORK: Alcoa report-ed lower third-quarter earnings Thursday due to falling aluminum pric-es as it trimmed its out-look for key Chinese businesses. Earnings for the quarter ending September 30 were $44 million, down 70.4 per-cent from the year-ago period. Revenues fell 10.7 percent to $5.57 billion. The results translated into seven cents per share, compared with the analyst projection of 14 cents per share. Alcoa faced “economic head-winds and significant volatility in some of our markets” during the quarter, said chief execu-tive Klaus Kleinfeld. Much of the year-over-year earnings decline was due to special charg-es totaling $65 million, partly in restructuring costs and the shutting of less-profitable assets. Lower aluminum prices were also a factor. (AFP)

news digest

C M Y K

vietnam auto show

n A model poses with the Porsche Macan car during the Vietnam International Motor Show 2015 in Hanoi on Friday. This is the first exclusive exhibition held by nine official automobile importers including Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Luxgen, MINI, Porsche, Renault and BAIC in the country. Xinhua

REUTERSMUMBAI/NEW DELHI, OCT 9

Two Indian states are suffering the first major pest infestation since the country adopted geneti-cally modified cotton in 2002, raising concerns over the vulner-ability of the lab-grown seeds that yield nearly all of the cotton in the world’s top producer.

Damage from the whitefly attack on the Bt cotton variety in Punjab and Haryana is likely to be extensive and has even been blamed for farmer suicides, according to local officials and experts. India’s overall crop loss-es are expected to be light, because the states are not major producing centres, but the pest attack is inflaming debate over the usage of GM crops.

Bt cotton was tweaked by sci-

entists at Monsanto to produce its own insecticide to kill pests like bollworms. But two years of drought have encouraged the spread of whitefly against which the strain has no resistance. The winged pest damages the leaves of the cotton plant by sucking out fluid. “Bt technology is effective only against specific types of bollworms that are known to cause maximum yield loss and economic damage to the cotton crop,” said a spokesman for Mahyco Monsanto Biotech.

The joint venture between India’s Mahyco and a local unit of Monsanto has sub-li-censed production of its Bt cotton strains—first approved for sale in India in 2002—to 28 seed companies. “Currently there are no approved agriculture bio-technology solutions to counter

the infestation of whiteflies. The recommended solution for farmers is spraying of approved pesticides.”

The Bt seeds cost more than older cotton strains and must be bought new each year by farmers. The companies that market the

GM cotton say growers end up better off because they get higher yields and save money on pesti-cides, but some farmer groups are concerned about growing dependency on the new varieties.

The farmers’ union allied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party is stepping up its opposition: It wants Bt cotton banned and is trying to block the introduction of crops like GM mustard—an oilseed—now in development. “We have been tell-ing the government to conduct tests on all GM seeds before they are sold in the market,” said Mohini Mohan Mishra, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, or Indian Farmers Union.

A team of scientists and gov-ernment officials had visited Punjab and Haryana to help con-tain the pest attack and there had

been no reports of outbreaks in other parts of the country, said an agriculture ministry official.

The Punjab government has already earmarked 6.4 billion rupees ($100 million) to compen-sate for crop damage and an offi-cial in Haryana’s farm ministry said the state was also consider-ing compensation. “There are reports of the pest attack in some areas of Punjab and Haryana, where about a dozen farmers have reportedly committed sui-cide,” said a Punjabi official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The infestation is unlikely to have a significant impact on national output, but experts see serious local damage. “If the number of insects is eight to 10 per leaf, the attack is said to have crossed the ETL—or economic threshold level,” said Dalip

Monga, principal scientist at India’s Central Institute of Cotton Research. In Haryana’s Sirsa district, said Monga, “we have observed 15 to 20 insects per leaf at most places and even up to 30 to 40 insects per leaf.”

National output could drop by 1.5 percent this year from the 37.7 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg) in the year to Sept, said Dhiren Sheth, head of the Cotton Association of India. India grows cotton on 11-12 million hectares and nearly 95 percent is GM cotton.

In Punjab, cotton covers about 450,000 hectares, with about 40 percent prone to the pest attack this year, said the first official. “We sprayed different kinds of pesticides but none of them worked,” Ashok Dhaka, a Punjab cotton farmer, said by telephone.

Pest blights India’s GM cotton crop, fuelling debate over risksv u l n e ra b I l I t y o f l a b - g row n s e e ds

n A file photo shows farmers harvesting cotton in a field in Nana Viramgam vil-lage in Gujarat, India. REuTERS

Issuance of LCs more than halvesSHANKAR ACHARYAPARSA, OCT 9

Issuance of Letters of Credit (LCs) by banks has dropped significantly amid restrictions imposed by India on Nepal-bound cargos.

Businessmen import indus-trial raw materials and other commercial goods from third countries through India’s Kolkata port. The goods then arrive in Birgunj Dry Port via Raxual, Bihar.

Clearance of imported goods at Raxaul customs has largely stopped for the past two months, resulting in a 20km queue of 4,000 Nepal-bound trucks on the Indian side of the border.

Bankers said LC issuance by commercial banks has dropped by 60 percent. A branch manager of a commer-

cial bank in Birgunj said very few traders were opening LC to import industrial raw materials, goods meant for upcoming festivals and edibles like spices, crude oil, pulse, peas and gram.

Pradeep Kedia, president of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said around 1,000 Nepal-bound trucks have been stuck at Kolkota Port, while thousands of others are stranded at bor-der points. “Traders are not willing to import goods in such a situation,” he said, add-ing the traders have been

forced to pay heavy demur-rage charges.

Nepal’s Consulate General Office in Kolkata recently requested the Nepal Rastra Bank and the Ministry of Commerce asking them to dis-courage the opening new LCs. The central bank has forwarded the letter to the businessmen.

As per the Consulate General Office’s letter, trans-porting goods through trucks and rail will take time as a huge number of containers have been stuck at entry points to Nepal.

Usually, seven-nine rail racks and 200-300 trucks leave Kolkata for Nepal every week, according to the letter. But railway movement has not taken place, while enough trucks have not been available Sept 22, according to the letter.

importers are reluctant take risks at a time when thousands of trucks are

stranded at border points

trilateral meet

n China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (left), Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso (centre) and South Korea’s Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan meet during the 2015 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, on Thursday. The leaders warned global economic growth fell short of expectations in light of recent market volatility, and agreed to assess spillovers and risks to the Asian economy. This is the first trilateral finance leaders’ meeting to be held since May and could lay the grounds for a possible trilateral summit later this year. REuTERS

india inflaTion SEEn picking up in SEpTREUTERSNEW DELHI, OCT 9

India’s retail inflation likely picked up in September, driv-en by higher food prices, but will remain comfortably below the Reserve Bank of India’s target and allow room for further policy easing, a Reuters poll showed.

The consumer price index was expected to rise 4.3 per-cent last month, with fore-casts in the survey of over 20 economists ranging between 3.6 percent and 5.0 percent. In August, consumer inflation fell to a record low of 3.66 per-cent, down from nearly 9 per-cent last year.

Falling commodity prices, which have fueled a global dis-inflationary trend, pushed Indian inflation down over the past year, giving the RBI room to ease monetary policy four times since January, bringing its key repo rate down to a 4-1/2 year low of 6.75 percent.

Even if inflation picks up in September as economists predict, it would still be com-fortably below the RBI’s 6 per-cent target for January. “The central bank’s CPI inflation target of 6 percent for January 2016 is unlikely to come under threat, as core inflation should remain anchored amid signs of continued economic slack.”

China must show will to reform: USAgENCE FRANCE-PRESSELIMA, OCT 9

China needs to show the world it is going to follow through on reforming its economy to a more market and consump-tion-based model, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Thursday.

“China has undertaken a reform program... that would address many of the impor-tant challenges that China is facing. The question now is, do they have the will to stick with that and to demonstrate through their action that they’re sticking with that,” Lew told journal-ists on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Lima, Peru.

The world’s second-largest economy has begun transi-tioning from an export-based economic model toward a low-er-growth, more consump-tion-driven model.

China has also announced reforms in how it manages the yuan, allowing its currency to float more freely after years of US criticisms that it is artificially underval-

ued to dope exports. Lew also welcomed a new plan due to be adopted at the Lima meeting that aims to crack down on multinational corpo-rations’ use of tax havens to avoid paying taxes in the coun-tries where they actually do business.

“We can’t get into a beggar-thy-neighbor kind of economic policy making,” he said. He also urged his own country to avoid jeopard-izing its budding economic recovery with gridlock in Congress, which must raise the US borrowing limit again by November 5 or risk a credit default.

Congress, which is con-trolled by President Barack Obama’s Republican oppo-nents, must also craft a budget agreement before December 11 or face a government shutdown.

“We have stable growth right now and we’d certainly love stronger growth... but the question is will we muster the political will to avoid self-inflicting wounds that come from political stale-mates,” Lew said.

G20 endorses crackdown on corporate tax avoidanceAgENCE FRANCE-PRESSELIMA, OCT 9

Finance ministers from the world’s leading economies gave the green light Friday to a new plan to crack down on tax evasion by mul-ti-national corporations, which costs countries at least $100 billion a year.

The so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) plan, which seeks to close the loopholes multi-nationals use to avoid taxes, was adopted by finance ministers from the G20 group of leading industri-alized and emerging econo-mies at a meeting in Lima, Peru, they announced. G20 leaders must now give final approval at a summit in November in Turkey.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, who announced the decision, called it a “historic moment” for the fight against tax evasion that costs governments an estimated $100 billion to $240 billion a year.

He said the plan addressed a “very comprehensive set of issues,” including profit-shift-ing across borders, corpora-tions’ use of no-tax status in multiple countries and the digital economy. “These are

very complicated issues that required an extensive techni-cal effort and a hard-to-build consensus in some cases,” Yilmaz said.

The 15-point plan aims to tackle low tax bills for the likes of Google and McDonald’s, which have man-aged to sharply reduce their taxes while remaining within the law, provoking public out-rage in recent years.

“Base erosion and profit shifting is sapping our econo-mies of the resources needed to jump-start growth, tackle the effects of the global eco-nomic crisis and create better opportunities for all,” said Angel Gurria, secretary gen-eral of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Nepal Bank to issue rights sharesPOST REPORPTKATHMANDU, OCT 9

Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) has said it will issue rights shares to increase its paid-up capital to Rs8 billion in the next two years.

Commercial banks are required to hike their capital to Rs8 billion in two years from current requirement of Rs2 billion as per Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’s directive.

In a notice, the country’s oldest bank said it would issue the rights shares in 10:2.3 ratio. The bank’s current paid-up capital stands 6.46 billion, while 344764 of its shares are facing legal hurdles.

After taking over the bank nearly 14 years ago, the cen-tral bank had handed over management of the bank to

the board elected by its annual general meeting in December 2014. Over the period, the bank went through the finan-cial sector reform programme.

It raised its paid-up capital to Rs4 billion from Rs380 million first by issuing rights shares in 1:9.5 ratio. Then, the gov-ernment injected Rs1.39 bil-

lion in NBL two years ago. The government has 38.6 percent stake in the bank.

The bank also converted the World Bank’s SDR loan of Rs2.5 billion into capital. It sold its physical assets to hike its capital size. The cen-tral bank exited after the bank’s financial situation turned healthy.

Meanwhile, the NRB has told banks and financial insti-tutions (BFIs) that they cannot count preference shares as paid-up capital. With some BFIs preparing to issue prefer-ence shares, NRB told them only equity shares would be considered as paid-up capital.

As they have to hike their paid-up capital four-fold in just two years, there is a rush among the BFIs to go for merg-er or issue rights shares.

bid to meet paid-up capital requirement

it addresses profit-shifting across borders, firms’ use

of no-tax status in multiple countries and

the digital economy

money economyIII the kathmandu post | Saturday, October 10, 2015

India’s Sensex at seven-week highMUMBAI: India’s stock markets rose to a sev-en-week high on Friday, and were headed for a second consecutive week-ly gain, tracking a rally in Asian markets after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting quelled expectations of an imminent US rate hike. A spurt in crude futures after an influen-tial forecaster predicted that a market rally was not far off also lifted oil explorers such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp. The gains come as India gears up to kick off earn-ings season next week, with Infosys Ltd report-ing quarterly results on Monday. “The market will stay upbeat as we head into the earnings season, and we expect results to drive the move-ment in the next few weeks.” The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading 0.46 percent higher, head-ing for a 2.8 percent weekly gain. (REUTERS)

Belgian rail workers strikeBRUSSELS: Belgian rail travel was hit hard by a 24-hour strike on Friday that halted trains includ-ing international servic-es to Britain and France. Rail workers occupied tracks connecting the two busiest stations in Brussels where 85 per-cent of services were cancelled, the national rail firm SNCB said. “The strike is being well followed,” said Filip Peers of the CGSP rail union, without providing further details. Rail workers are protesting against reforms planned by the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel that includes thousands of job cuts. Eurostar trains from London to Brussels on Friday are instead stop-ping at Lille in northern France, with all Thalys train services to and from Paris cancelled until late on Friday. Tens of thousands of protest-ers demonstrated in Brussels on Wednesday against Michel’s austeri-ty measures. (AFP)

Glencore slashes zinc outputGENEVA: Mining and com-modities giant Glencore, burdened by debt and a commodity price crash, announced Friday it was slashing its worldwide output of zinc by a third. “The main reason for the reduction is to preserve the value of Glencore’s reserves in the ground at a time of low zinc and lead prices, which do not correctly value the scarce nature of our resources,” the miner said in a statement. Glencore, which claims to be one of the world’s largest miners and pro-ducers of zinc, said it was slashing zinc pro-duction by 500,000 tonnes across its operations in Australia, South America and Kazakh-stan. The company said its operations at Lady Loretta in Australia and Iscaycruz in Peru would be suspended and opera-tions at George Fisher and McArthur River in Australia and various mine operations in Kazakhstan would redu-ce production levels. (AFP)

news digest

REUTERSSINGAPORE, OCT 9

Asian demand for plastic is set to defy economic slowdown in top consumer China and other nations, growing as plunging oil prices make it cheaper to churn out and as fast-expanding online markets boost appetite for items like packaging and wrapping.

Prices in China for polyethyl-ene (PE), the most commonly used plastic which is found in everything from shopping bags to ice cream tubs and even artifi-cial joints, have plummeted over a quarter from a year ago to an average of $1,140 a tonne last month according to data from commodity research company Wood Mackenzie.

That follows a nearly 50-per-cent plunge in markets for raw

material naphtha, a product refined from crude oil .

And while consumers may be shying away from big-ticket pur-chases, they are still buying cheaper items which often come in plastic packaging, especially when ordered online, analysts and industry officials said.

Continued growth in appetite in a country of 1.3 billion people is a blow to green groups pressuring for reduced consump-tion of plastics, and could dwarf many of the potential environ-mental benefits from steps such as the British government’s recent push to curb usage of dis-posable bags.

But it could be good news for key PE exporting nations such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, potentially bolstering companies like Hanwha Chemical, Formosa

Petrochemical Corp, Japan Polyethylene Corporation and Japan’s Prime Polymer.

“(Plastic) film seems to be get-ting a boost from the explosion of e-commerce in China—what we call the ‘Alibaba effect’. All those packages have to be wrapped,” said Vince Sinclair, Wood Mackenzie’s head of chemicals research for Asia.

He was referring to China’s biggest e-commerce firm, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which has been at the heart of a rapid-ly-growing online market in the world’s No.2 economy. “Sentiment is quite negative around China commodities overall, but PE has rarely had it so good.”

IHS Chemical, a division of research firm IHS Inc, sees China’s PE imports rising above 11 million tonnes in 2016

from about 10 million tonnes expected this year and 9.5 million tonnes in 2014. That is despite the country’s economic growth slowing from a breakneck dou-ble-digit pace in past decades, as Beijing tries to transform its growth model away from a reli-ance on heavy manufacturing and exports.

“Chinese demand so far (this year) has been good as falling prices drove buyers to replenish their polyethylene stocks. These buyers’ inventories were already

quite low to start with,” said an official from a North Asian plas-tics maker that exports to China. China accounts for over 45 per-cent of PE consumption in resin form in Asia, said consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan.

Growing plastic consumption is a big concern for some green groups, who say that materials are often disposed of improperly, polluting the environment.

“Mismanaged plastic waste is an unintended consequence of rapid economic development. As incomes rise, people increasingly rely on consumer goods—and as a result, more plastic waste is generated,” said Nicholas Mallos, a director in US-based environ-mental group Ocean Conservancy.

“In many countries, including many parts of China, waste col-

lection and management is not to scale with countries’ needs and as a result, more plastic waste enters the environment.”

As a whole, growth in PE con-sumption in Northeast Asia is expected to stand at around 6 percent in 2016, similar to the average annual rate from 2010 to 2015, but Southeast Asian growth will likely accelerate above 5 percent next year com-pared to an average of less than 5 percent from 2010 to 2015, said JP Nah, director of polyolefins for Asia at IHS Chemical.

“Lower crude prices translate to lower feedstock costs for plas-tics,” Nah said. “Lower plastics prices not only encourage con-sumption but create the possibili-ty of other products that are making use of metals/glass/paper to switch to plastics.”

He added that such a switch would take time and substantial investment in research and devel-opment, but said he knew of one company considering replacing glass containers for their prod-ucts with plastic bottles.

And analysts said that growth would also be stoked by Indian appetite for plastic piping to be used in water pro-jects and increasing consumption in the country of products that sell quickly and at low cost such as processed foods and soft drinks.

Nikhil Vallabhan, a consultant at Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, said that Indian spending on those products, sometimes called fast-moving consumer goods, would grow at annual compound rate of over 11 percent from more than $12 billion in 2015.

Asian demand for plastic to defy China economic slowdownpac k ag I n g a n d w ra p p I n g

C M Y K

And while consumers may be shying away from big-ticket

purchases, they are still buying cheaper items which often come in plastic packaging

brics media forum

n A general view of the Forum of the Heads of Leading Media Outlets from the BRICS in Moscow, capital of Russia, on Thursday. Executives of leading media organisations from the BRICS group vowed to boost cooperation and create a common information space among the world’s five leading emerging economies. Xinhua

harvest season

n Workers pluck tea leaves at a tea plantation in Anxi County, southeast China’s Fujian Province, on Thursday. Xinhua

The divisive issue of reaching $100bAgEncE FRAncE-PRESSELIMA, OCT 9

The movers and shakers of the world economy are trying to close in on the magic num-ber of $100 billion a year to fight climate change as they meet this week in Peru.

But with the world well shy of that target, everyone seems to think the rest of the money should come from somewhere else. The global talks on fight-ing climate change have stum-bled over the issue of getting money to the countries that are most vulnerable to global warming and often least responsible for causing it.

Wealthy nations have pledged to come up with $100 billion a year by 2020, but with two months to go to clutch United Nations climate talks, a new report this week found the world is less than two-thirds of the way there.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, whose country will host the December talks, said Thursday that govern-ments have given pretty much all they can, and called on institutions like the World Bank and European Investment Bank to step up.

“That will be decisive, because they haven’t done a lot,” he told journalists on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, which have gathered finance minis-ters and central bank chiefs from 188 countries. “If we

want the Paris conference to be a success, the question of funding has to be nine-tenths settled, if not 100 percent,” said Sapin.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry also sin-gled out the World Bank and company, saying: “The United States looks to the multilateral development banks to set ambitious targets for scaling up mitigation and adaptation finance” at the Peru meetings.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) calculat-ed this week that wealthy countries came up with $61.8 billion in climate funding last year, including $23.1 billion in bilateral deals between coun-tries, $20.4 billion from multi-lateral institutions and $16.7 billion from the private sector.

But while development banks could indeed do more, governments should not be let off the hook, climate experts say. “Multilateral institutions can do more, but countries must also do more,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s point man on cli-mate change, Under-Secretary General Janos Pasztor.

International charity Oxfam’s climate policy expert Isabel Kreisler echoed that view, saying: “Both the multi-lateral banks and govern-ments should pay more.”

Responding to such appeals, the Inter-American Development Bank pledged Thursday to increase climate finance from about 14 percent of lending to between 25 and 30 percent by 2020. And the Asian Development Bank

announced last month it would increase climate finance from $3 billion to $6 billion, directing 30 percent of its lending toward green pro-jects. Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, meanwhile said he would pile “positive pressure” on European Union members to rise to the occasion in Peru, particularly the 10 countries that have yet to make pledges on climate funding ahead of the Paris talks.

But is $38.2 billion more even enough? Some activists are critical of the OECD’s cal-culations, saying part of the $61.8 billion in climate fund-ing it reported should not have been counted. “All that glitters isn’t gold,” Kreisler said.

She said supposedly “green” funding such as agricultural projects had been counted even when not directly linked to fighting climate change. Activists have also criticized the OECD for counting too many loans, which will have to be repaid, saying more of the $100 billion should be in the form of grants.

“There are still problems with the accounting method, which includes a lot of loans,” said Denis Voisin, of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, a French environmental group. “For now, the OECD report is a report for the countries of the north.... And that’s great. But now all countries need to get involved in this process.”

funds to fight climate change

n IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (left) and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim participate in a discussion titled ‘Conversation on Climate Change’ during the 2015 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. REuTERS

TPP ‘not meant’ to deter ChinaREUTERSBEIJING, OCT 9

China said on Thursday that it does not feel targeted by the US-backed trade accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but will evaluate the likely impact comprehensively.

China is not among the 12 Pacific Rim countries who have agreed Monday’s trade pact, the most ambitious in a generation. The deal faces scepticism from US lawmak-ers, who can vote it down. The accord includes Australia and Japan among economies worth a combined $28 trillion.

While acknowledging such a pact would inevitably divert

some trade and investment away from China, Beijing would assess comprehensively its potential once the official agreements are reached, Gao Hucheng, China’s trade minis-ter, said in a interview with state media posted on the min-istry’s website www.mofcom.gov.cn late on Thursday.

“The United States and the TPP members have repeat-edly said that TPP does not target China, and it’s not intended to deter or exclude

China,” Gao was quoted as saying. The global trade pat-tern would eventually depend on the shifting structures of global industries and the com-petitive edge of each nation’s products, the minister said. Gao said China will push for-ward regional trade blocks such as RCEP, or Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

RCEP, which comprises the 10-nation ASEAN club plus six others—China, India, Japan,

South Korea, Australia and New Zealand—is a Beijing-backed trade framework that has gained prominence as an alternative to US plans.

If approved, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact would cut trade barriers and set common standards from Vietnam to Canada. It would also furnish a legacy-shaping victory for US President Barack Obama and a political win for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has touted TPP as a way to boost growth in an economy checked by a shrinking population. The pact has also been pitched as a way to counter rising China clout in the region.

China is not among the 12 Pacific Rim countries who have agreed Monday’s trade pact, the

most ambitious in a generation

Oil hits 3-month highREUTERSNEW YORK, OCT 9

Oil prices climbed to their highest in three months on Thursday after a closely watched oil forecaster predict-ed prices would climb to $75 over the next two years, add-ing to early gains notched after a rally in Chinese stocks worries about Syria.

PIRA Energy Group, a closely watched forecaster that predicted the collapse in oil prices a year ago, said it sees crude prices at $70 per barrel by the end of 2016 and $75 a barrel in 2017. Brent crude oil futures closed up $1.72 at $53.05 a barrel, while US crude futures closed up $1.62 at $49.43 a barrel.

Earlier, crude prices climbed on buoyant Chinese equity markets and as Russia’s

military involvement in Syria brought a geopolitical risk premium into the market. Chinese stock markets rose 3 percent after a week-long holi-day, the biggest rise in two trading weeks.

“Sentiment regarding China appears to have shifted of late and we feel that further stability in the Chinese stock market will limit downside price follow-through across the energy complex,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Galena, Illinois-based Ritterbusch & Associates.

Syrian troops and allied militia backed by Russian air strikes and cruise missiles attacked rebel forces. “The sit-uation is getting complicated very quickly and raising the geopolitical risk in the region to a new high,” EMI analyst Dominick Chirichella said.

“This has caught the atten-tion of the market place (and) is viewed as a situation that could potentially impact the flow of oil from the region as well as degrading the already declining relationship between Russia and the US”

Brent is on track to rise more than 10 percent this week, close to its largest week-ly increase since early 2009, after oil industry execu-tives warned that this year’s fall below $50 would force higher-cost producers to reduce output.

Gold rises on Fed minutesREUTERSSINGAPORE, OCT 9

Gold climbed about 1 percent on Friday in a delayed reac-tion to minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting that showed the US central bank was in no hurry to hike rates.

Spot gold was up 0.8 percent at $1,147.56 an ounce by 0632 GMT. On Thursday, prices had rallied only briefly after the Fed minutes before closing down 0.6 percent despite a softer dollar.

The minutes pointed to a deeply cautious Fed even before subsequent economic data showed a sharp slow-down in hiring by US employ-

ers. Most policymakers, how-ever, thought the Fed’s first rate hike in a decade should still come this year.

“Gold was choppy following the US FOMC minutes that did not give a clear indication of whether or not the Fed is poised to raise interest rates this year,” said analysts at ScotiaMocatta, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.

Asian stocks rose on Friday and the dollar nursed losses as investors pared bets

that the central bank will hike interest rates this year given the dovish minutes.

“The tone from the FOMC minutes was slightly more dovish, although this wasn’t too surprising,” said ANZ. “Overall, the FOMC still see risks to the downside for US real GDP and inflation fore-casts, with recent global growth and financial market developments exacerbating these downside risks.”

A delayed rate rise could support non-interest-paying gold, although uncertainty could weigh on prices in the near term. Gold is up 0.8 percent for the week, after hitting a near-two-week high earlier in the week.

moneybazaar IV

PC shipments sink on strong dollarSAN FRANCISCO: Worldwide shipments of personal com-puters sank in the recently ended quarter with a strong US dollar weighing down sales, market tracker Gartner reported on Thursday. A total of 73.7 million personal computers were shipped during the third quarter of this year, down 7.7 percent from the same period last year, according to Gartner figures. The category includes desktop, laptop and notebook computers, but not devices in the booming mobile market. The global PC market has been hit with price increases of around 10 percent throughout the year due to the sharp appreciation of the US dollar against local currencies, according to Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa. “In the third quarter of 2015 this continued to be a major cause for weaker demand in those regions,” Kitagawa said. Regions where the strong dollar curtailed PC shipments included Europe, Japan, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, according to Gartner. (AFP)

India’s car sales rise 9.5 percentNEW DELHI: Car sales in India rose 9.5 percent in September, buoyed by new launches and a recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy, industry data released on Friday showed. Carmakers sold 169,590 cars in September, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Total passenger vehi-cle sales rose 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 232,167 vehicles in September. As banks cut their lending rates following four rounds of policy rate cuts totalling 125 basis points so far this year, vehicle sales are likely to get a further boost in a country forecast to become the world’s third-largest car market by 2020. (REUTERS)

India court rules in favour of VodafoneMUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has ruled in favour of Vodafone in one of a series of tax cases involving the British telecoms company in India, a decision seen as positive for several other firms fighting similar disputes. The court backed Vodafone’s efforts to oppose a move by tax authorities to add IRs 85 billion ($1.3 billion) to the taxable income of a unit, Vodafone India Services Pvt Ltd, which provided call centre services to some group companies. It had initially received a tax claim of about $600 million. Vodafone, one of India’s largest corporate investors, has repeatedly clashed with the authorities over taxes since it bought Hutchison’s mobile business in 2007. It was held liable for capital gains tax which author-ities say is owed on the deal. A dispute over a capital gains tax demand worth more than $2 billion related to that deal has yet to be resolved. (REUTERS)

Apple Pay to expand to Starbucks, KFCHALF MOON BAY: Starbucks Corp coffee shops will begin accepting Apple Inc’s mobile payment system in a pilot program starting this year, Apple Vice President Jennifer Bailey said on Thursday. KFC and Chili’s restaurants also will begin accepting Apple Pay in 2016, she said at the Re/code technology conference in Half Moon Bay, California. The service gives Apple a chance to tie cus-tomers more tightly to its phones and its smart watch, as well as to take a tiny bite from every retail transaction. Apple launched the payment service a year ago and has claimed 2015 would be the “year of Apple Pay” as it aggressively courts retailers. But interviews by Reuters with analysts, merchants and others have suggested that Apple’s forecast may have been too optimistic and that many retailers remain skeptical about the payment sys-tem. Customer demand for mobile wallets has been slow, and analysts agree that they remain a tiny percentage of US retail transactions. (REUTERS)

StanChart boss to cut 1,000 top staffSINGAPORE/LONDON: Standard Chartered’s new Chief Executive Bill Winters plans to cut up to a quarter of the bank’s most senior staff to reduce costs, according to a memo sent to staff, a move likely to result in the loss of around 1,000 top jobs. Winters said he planned to reduce the number of staff who are graded in bands 1-4 by a quarter, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Those bands cover board members to senior bankers at managing director level, and include about 4,000 staff in total. Winters, who took over as CEO in June, said the bank had already reduced the number of employees and the other affected staff will be told by the end of November. Winters said the bank would also make disposals and cut clients as part of his strategic review. (REUTERS)

IMF chief open to a second termLIMA: International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she is open to serv-ing a second term at the helm of the global lender. Lagarde’s term runs out in mid-2016 and she has said she will make a decision on a second term toward the end of the year. “I’m certainly open to the fact that it would not be my last annual meeting, but this is not for me to decide, it’s for the membership,” she said at a press con-ference during the Fund’s annual meeting in Lima, Peru. “I have served, done my best and am prepared to serve, but it’s not my call.” No challengers have raised their hands as yet and Lagarde, a former French finance min-ister who is well regarded by the international communi-ty, is expected to have broad support should she push for another term. (REUTERS)

Chevron extends job cutsNEW YORK: Chevron Corp is cutting staff on its global energy trading desks this week, sources said on Thursday, making it the latest division to face reductions as part of a $3 billion cost-saving plan brought on by low crude oil prices. The Supply and Trading group, based in Houston, but with offices in Singapore, London and San Ramon, California, may be reduced by as much as 10 percent as part of a company-wide job reduction plan, accor-ding to two people familiar with the measures. (REUTERS)

bizline

Agence FrAnce-PresseBERLIN, Oct 9

German police swooped on Volkswagen’s headquarters on Thursday, carrying away files and hard disks as the investiga-tion into a massive pollution cheating scandal expanded on both sides of the Atlantic.

Private apartments were also raided in Volkswagen’s home-town of Wolfsburg and other cit-ies, prosecutors told AFP, as police sought to secure docu-ments and digital data that could point to those responsible for the deception of global pro-portions.

The raids came as Volkswagen’s US chief Michael Horn faced a grilling before Congress, where he sought to distance himself from the scan-dal while blaming it on engi-

neers in Germany. Horn told a committee that he had learned in early 2014 that the group’s ostensibly environmentally friendly diesel cars breached pollution rules.

But he said he did not know until last month that “defeat devices” had been installed deliberately in the vehicles to help them cheat US pollution tests. When the emissions prob-lem was first discovered by US university researchers last year, he said, “I had no understand-ing what a defeat device was. And I had no indication whatso-ever that a defeat device could have been in our cars.”

The world’s largest automak-er sank into the deepest crisis of its history after revealing last month that it equipped 11 mil-lion diesel VWs and Audis with software that switches the

engine to a low-emissions mode during tests.

The software then turns off pollution controls when the vehicle is on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of toxic gases.

The revela-tions have wiped more than 40 per-cent off Volkswagen’s mar-ket capitalisation. The company risks billions of dollars in fines and lawsuit damages in several countries, as well as being forced to pay for fixes and to compensate dealers.

The group has set aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in the third quarter over the affair, but that would only likely cover repairs of affected vehicles. The

auto giant’s Australia business on Friday announced a volun-tary recall of more than 97,600

vehicles, including Audi and Skodas, fitted with

emissions-cheating technology.

In the US, the company could be fined up to $18 bil-lion by the Environmental

Protection Agency alone. “This is a whole

lot of money, I’m quite sure,” Horn told US legisla-

tors when asked about the costs of the fraud.

One congressman, Peter Welch, blasted the company, labelling it “the Lance Armstrong of the auto indus-try,” after the champion cyclist shamed and banned for doping.

In Germany, prosecutors

from Lower Saxony said raids were carried out to secure data that “can provide information about the exact conduct of com-pany employees and their iden-tities in the manipulation of exhaust emissions of diesel vehicles”.

Several people are targeted in the probe, according to a spokes-woman for the prosecutors, Julia Meyer. Volkswagen con-firmed that it had handed over documents to prosecutors, add-ing that the company would pro-vide the necessary support to the probe. A spokesman said it was “also in the interest of Volkswagen” for there to be “a prompt and thorough explana-tion” of the scandal.

Volkswagen’s new chief Matthias Mueller has said four employees have been suspended, adding however that he did not

believe that top management could have been aware of the scam. He said in an interview published Wednesday by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that engine development is “a complex process” and that these were tasks in which “a director is not directly involved”.

Horn too said Thursday that it was not a decision of top man-agement to install the defeat devices. It was a “couple of soft-ware engineers who put (the devices) in,” he told US lawmak-ers. German media reported Thursday that Volkswagen had not only deliberately done that for the US market, but had also intentionally sought to cheat emissions tests in Europe. “Without the cheating software, the affected cars would not have been authorised under the Euro 5 emissions regulation.”

Police raid Volkswagen HQ as probe mountse m I ss I o n s t est r I g g I n g sca n da l

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market watch

Vegetables Unit Price (Rs)

Fruits Unit Price (Rs)

Red Potato Kg Rs 45White Potato Kg Rs 35Onion (Indian) Kg Rs135tomato Small Kg Rs65tomato Big Kg Rs50Squash Kg Rs 45cabbage Kg Rs55Egg Plant Long Kg Rs 50cow Pea Kg Rs 60

daIly commodItIes

Apple Kg Rs 150Pomegranate Kg Rs 250Mango Kg Rs 120Water Melon Kg Rs 80Orange Kg Rs 70Pineapple 1Pc Rs 95cucumber Kg Rs 60Pear Kg Rs 110Papaya Kg Rs 80Banana Doz Rs80Lime 100 Pcs Rs 475

Pokhreli Rice Kg Rs 65Jeera Mashino Rice Kg Rs 65Indian Bashmati Rice Kg Rs 110Mansuli Rice Kg Rs 55Sona Rice Kg Rs 50 Beaten Rice (taichin) Kg Rs 115 Beaten Rice Kg Rs 70Big Mas Kg Rs 195Small Mas Kg Rs 165Big Mung Kg Rs 180Musuro (No 1) Kg Rs 210Musuro (No 2) Kg Rs 180Rahar Kg Rs 220chana (Big) Kg Rs 115chana (Small) Kg Rs 100chilli Powder Kg Rs 275

Commodities Unit Price (Rs)

RETAIL PRICE

gasolIne watch

bullIon

SOuRcE: FENEGOSIDA

Rs 50,200

Rs 49,950

Rs 715

Airbus files ‘flying bunk beds’ patentreUTersPARIS, Oct 9

Airlines already know how to pack ‘em in, but in future they may be able to pile ‘em high thanks to a blueprint for split-level seating invented by planemaker Airbus.

The company that intro-duced the double-decker A380 jetliner says in a patent filed on Oct 1 that having two sto-reys of seating inside the same cabin would help air-lines make best use of space at a “high level of comfort”.

A mezzanine level would be reached by steps and placed above the heads of other travelers. To avoid claustrophobia, the space between the two levels would increase when the seats are turned into flat beds. That could be done either by lower-ing the floor on the lower level or raising the floor above as soon as beds are deployed.

It is one of many unusual cabin-industry concepts from stand-up seats to 3D-moulded shells, some of which have captured attention but most of which never see the light of day. “They are covering them-selves for what the future may or may not hold, but ... there is no intention to bring this to a real design for any near-term scenario,” said cabin interiors expert Mary Kirby, editor of Runway Girl Network.

Airlines and planemakers have for years been squeezing more seats into the same row in order to be more efficient, prompting research into how to avoid complaints from pas-sengers. The patent, filed in

the United States seeks to make better use of the wasted ceiling space of large modern jets, but would be complicated to put into practice.

“The flying bunk bed has a raft of health and safety con-cerns. The obvious number one is the regulatory require-ment for safe evacuation of passengers in 90 seconds,” Kirby said. “It doesn’t take into account the elderly or passengers with reduced mobility or children or preg-nant women.”

Airlines would also need to know more about passengers when selling those tickets, straining reservation sys-tems. “Airbus files hundreds of patents each year,” it said in an emailed statement. “However, it does not mean that the idea described in the patent is being developed for any parti- cular production application.”

Latvia’s airBaltic said it welcomed such innovations. “airBaltic is one of the innovative airlines that is happy to test new things. New seats may get a lot of hype, but the customers are the final decision makers,” a spokesman said.

asia cycle expo

n A model poses with a retro bicycle during the 2015 Asia cycle expo in Kunshan, east China’s Jiangsu Province, on Friday. The expo will run through Oct 11. Xinhua

CG Mobiles launches new smartphonesPOsT rePOrTKAtHMANDu, Oct 9

Chaudhary Group has revived its mobile brand with the launch of a new range of CG smartphones and feature phones. The company has introduced seven smart-phones under the EON series and six feature phones under the Astro series.

The flagship “CG EON Elite” comes with a 5-inch Super Amoled display with resolution of 720x1280 pixels and dual corning gorilla glass 3. Priced at Rs23,199, the phone is powered by 1.3GHz quad core processor and runs Android Lollipop 5.0 OS. Other features include 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM and 2,100mAh Li-poly battery.

Launching the phones, Nirvana Chaudhary, managing director of Chaudhary Group, said: “Ever since we first introduced the CG Mobiles brand in 2010, we wanted to bring world class and innova-tive products. So we have done lots of homework and invested big in R&D so that we could offer the best phones at affordable rates.”

He added with strong sales and distribution teams, CG aims to be among the top three mobile brands within a year. CG has set up its office in China.

Xuming Zheng, business head of CG Mobiles China Office, said the phones were designed and

priced in a way to give stiff com-pete global brands. He added the company would to try to erase the negative perception of “Made in China” among the people by launching the best phones.

Other six models under the EON series are EON Blaze, EON Lite Plus, EON Lite, EON Express, EON X4 and EON 3G.

The EON Blaze features a 5-inch HD display, 12 GHz quad

core processor, 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras. It runs Android 5.o Lollipop OS and is equipped with 2200mAh Li-ion battery. It has 16GB storage which can be expanded up to 64GB and has 1GB RAM.

The low-end EON 3G is pow-ered by 1.0 single core processor. It runs Android 4.4 KitKat OS and has 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM. With 3.5-inch screen, the

phone is equipped with 1300mAh Li-ion battery.

The seven models under the Astro series are Astro 35 PDA, Astro 242w, Astro 184w, Astro 182w, Astro 185e Astro 183w, Astro 181e. The phones are equipped with modern features like, GPRS, digital camera, torch light, blue-tooth, wireless FM radio, extenda-ble memory and powerful battery. The prices start at Rs1,200.

n A handout photo shows a general view of the launching of new smartphones of CG Mobiles in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Saturday, October 10, 2015 | thekathmandupost

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Precious Metals Price (US$) %Change

Gold 100 Oz Futr (t Oz) 1,121.30 -0.28Silver Future (t Oz) 14.6 -0.76

cocoa Future (Mt) 3,165.00 1.64coffee ‘c’ Future (Lb) 120.45 0.75corn Future (Bu) 362 0.14cotton No.2 Futr (Lb) 62.65 -0.56Rough Rice (cbot) (cwt) 12.11 0.37Soybean Future (Bu) 872.50 0.35Soybean Meal Futr (t) 309.3 0.36Soybean Oil Futr (Lb) 27.14 0.26Sugar #11 (World) (Lb) 11.45 0.97Wheat Future(cbt) (Bu) 467.75 0.54

Brent crude Futr (Bbl) 49.93 -1.48Gas Oil Fut (Ice) (Mt) 490.25 -2.00Gasoline Rbob Fut (Gal) 140.56 -2.19Natural Gas Futr (Mmbtu) 2.68 -1.54