Cart (0)
business newsCIVETS Watch: Is Colombian Trade Deal Done or Not?
By
Carol Kopp
Feb 16, 2012 9:00 am
As it turns out, Congressional approval wasn't the final hurdle to an era of free trade with the US.
PRINT
 |
|
On his way to Colombia and Peru for meetings with officials there, Jose Fernandez, assistant US secretary for economic and business affairs, told The Miami Herald this week that completion of the deal is “a question of months, rather than years.” He said Colombia still has to take steps on an “action plan” to strengthen labor laws and improve protection of union activists.
Colombian Labor Minister Rafael Pardo, during a visit to the US earlier this month, said his nation had met its obligations.
A Colombian opposition senator disagrees. He has called for postponement of the agreement on the grounds that the problem of violence against union members has not been solved. “The Colombian government will try to hide what is going on [rather than] learn to speak the truth and fulfill the plan,” the senator told the site Colombia Reports.
The South Florida business community is particularly anxious for the trade accords to kick in. Colombia is the region’s second-largest trading partner.
Island-Hoppers in Demand in Indonesia
The aeronautics industry is soaring on orders from Indonesia, especially for smaller island-hoppers.
The Southeast Asian nation has the world’s fourth-largest population, at 240 million, and they’re scattered over more than 17,000 islands. Along with a growing middle class, the nation has a hotly competitive industry in low-cost air travel along the archipelago and to nearby Asian destinations, including Singapore and Malaysia.
Just in the past week, the plane orders were flying:
- The mystery buyer of six regional jets from Canadian company Bombardier Aerospace (BDRBF.PK) was revealed as Garuda Indonesia. The aircraft are valued at a total $297 million. Garuda has an option to buy 18 more, boosting it to $1.32 billion. The 100-seat aircraft will be used on domestic and regional routes, an airline executive said.
- Budget carrier Lion Air has finalized its $22.4 billion order to Boeing Co. (BA), the company’s biggest commercial order ever. The order is for 230 jets, with an option for an additional 150 more.
- A Lion Air executive told Dow Jones Newswires that the company also is ordering 27 small aircraft from ATR, a European manufacturer, for hops between regional airports.
- The Indonesian military signed a contract with Airbus Military for nine C-295 transport planes, at a cost of $325 million. The government said the planes would be used for various purposes, military and humanitarian.
Indonesia’s government has trimmed its growth forecast for the nation’s economic growth in 2012, to a range of 6.5% to 6.6%, from an earlier estimate of 6.7%.
The lower estimate anticipates a kind of chain reaction from the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo predicted that Europe will order fewer goods from Chinese manufacturers. In turn, China will need smaller supplies of commodities from Indonesia. Indonesia exports rubber, coal and palm oil to China, among other commodities.
The nation’s central bank recently cut its own forecast for Indonesia’s growth in 2012 to 6.3%, from 6.7%.
Egypt Gets Economic Stimulus Boost
The World Bank has approved an additional $240 million in loans for a massive power project in Egypt that is providing a kind of economic stimulus for the struggling nation. The Giza North Power Project was already underway with $600 million in loans from the international agency. It is intended to supply electrical power to five million homes.
Young Turks Get Lecture on Consumerism
Turkey’s top economist has suggested that his country’s affluent consumers do their part to reduce the nation’s trade deficit. For instance, says Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, they might find they can forego upgrading their cell phones every 11 months.
Turkey imports 14.3 million cell phones annually, at a cost of about $1.74 billion.
Every little bit helps when you’re trying to reduce a trade imbalance that is seen as a serious downside to Turkey’s rapidly-expanding economy. Imports reached 10% of Turkey’s gross domestic product last year. The country imported $240.8 billion in goods, a 29.8% increase from 2010, while it exported $134.9 billion, an 18.5% increase.
Goldman Sachs (GS) doesn’t think Turkey is going far enough to rebalance its economy, and that the problem will be a chronic one. A new report from the company concludes that the effects of the nation’s efforts at rebalancing will be “shallow and short-lived.”
Retail Surprise in South Africa
South Africa’s shoppers handed a surprise gift to their government at the end of last year: an 8.7% increase in spending. That’s above the consensus estimate.
The upbeat report lightened the gloom over South Africa’s slowing economic growth. The eurozone economic slowdown is expected to hurt South Africa, which sends a third of its manufactured goods there.
The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the nation to 2.5%, from 3.6%. Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole is doing better, at an estimated 5.5%.
Big Shots in Vietnam Drink Gold
The nouveau riche of Vietnam have a habit that Donald Trump himself might find tacky: they drink gold. Local site VietnamNet Bridge reports that the nation’s business tycoons, who “seek original and strange things,” like to entertain their guests with wine flecked with bits of gold for luck. A Hanoi stockbroker told the site that he gave out barrels of the wine as gifts over the Tet holiday, and that the German import is “a mild wine, suitable to women as well.” Some beauty salons in Hanoi are offering 24-carat gold facial masks, too.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
