WRAPUP 1-China downcast on exports as EU debt woes bite

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BEIJING, July 20 (Reuters) – China sounded a gloomy note on Tuesday about its export prospects, warning in particular that belt-tightening by deeply indebted European Union governments would dampen demand for the country’s goods.

Calling the trade picture “still complicated and grim”, the Ministry of Commerce said high growth in exports in the first half would give way to slow growth in the second half.

“The sovereign debt crisis has made many EU countries shift to fiscal austerity from fiscal expansion, which will greatly restrict consumption and investment growth in the EU,” the ministry’s spokesman, Yao Jian, told a news conference.

Cheap, labour-intensive products would be less vulnerable to drooping European demand than more expensive, discretionary goods, he added.

Spain, Italy, Germany and non-euro member Britain are among EU countries that are tightening their budgets after Greece had to be bailed out in April, raising a red flag about the sustainability of public finances across Europe.

Furthermore, Brazil, India and other emerging economies have started to tighten monetary policy, the Commerce Ministry said.

“The room for the further growth of Chinese exports is limited,” Yao said.

As a result, the ministry would keep in place policies aimed at supporting external demand for Chinese goods, including retaining export tax rebates.

Chinese exports grew 43.9 percent in June from a year earlier, beating forecasts, after 48.5 percent year-on-year growth in May. However, imports have also boomed, meaning net exports barely contributed to first-half growth in gross domestic product, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Export growth in the second half of this year will slow to just 16.3 percent, giving full-year growth of about 24.5 percent, the State Information Centre, a leading government think tank, said in a report published on Monday. [ID:nTOE66I003]

SLOWING INTO 2011

Wang Jun, a researcher with the China Center for International Economic Exchange, a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission, agreed that China could not escape the fallout of the euro zone’s debt troubles.

“I think growth in China’s exports will show a big slowdown, especially in the fourth quarter. It’s very likely that we’ll see single-digit growth by the end of this year,” he told a forum.

A staunch defender of China’s exporters, the Ministry of Commerce has a tendency to stress the difficulties facing the sector rather than to point out that China has considerably increased its share of global markets during the economic crisis.

But the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also raised questions about the robustness of China’s export rebound due to the weak foundation of the world recovery.

“Although the economy is heading in the right direction, there are many difficulties and problems,” Zhu Hongren, a spokesman for the ministry, told a separate news conference.

A lot of small export firms were experiencing financing strains, while wages had gone up by more than a fifth in the manufacturing strongholds of the Yangtze and Pearl River Deltas.

Like exports, factory growth would slow over the rest of 2010 because of a high base of comparison in 2009, the ministry said.

But Zhu said the moderation would help China to upgrade its economy and lay the basis for more sustainable growth.

“The slowdown is not only appropriate, but will also help to facilitate adjustment in China’s industrial structure and economic growth,” he said.

TIME TO START EASING?

Beijing is redoubling its efforts to weed out obsolete, energy-guzzling plants in a drive to meet ambitious energy-intensity targets by the end of 2010.

China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency, an assertion denied on Tuesday by a Chinese official. [ID:nTOE66J02Y]

Despite the expected slowdown, full-year factory output growth may be higher than the 11 percent targeted at the start of 2010, the Ministry of Industry said.

The Ministry of Commerce was also optimistic about consumer spending. Retail sales would keep growing rapidly over the rest of 2010 thanks to rising incomes and government policies to encourage consumption, the ministry said.

Overall, economists expect a further slowdown in economic growth, which moderated to an annual rate of 10.3 percent last quarter from 11.9 percent in the first three months of 2010.

“With growing signs of economic slowdown, we believe that the government will now start to discuss possible policy adjustments,” Ha Jiming and Xing Ziqiang, economists at China International Capital Corp, said in a report.

The government could accelerate the approval of investment projects, relax curbs on property speculation and loosen its liquidity controls in addition to keeping interest rates and banks’ required reserves unchanged, they said. (Additional reporting by Aileen Wang, Chen Aizhu and Langi Chiang; Writing by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

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Deployment of women constables cheers farmers in Punjab’s border villages

September 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rorawala (India-Pakistan Border), Sep.11 (ANI): As women constables of the Border Security Force (BSF) were deployed at the India-Pakistan International Border on Friday, a wave of cheer overwhelmed the villagers here.

Male farmers expressed their delight over the development, saying the presence of women security personnel would encourage their womenfolk to join them in the fields near the border.

The fencing of the 553-kilometer-long border since the 1990s; has created a feeling of reluctance among rural women to cross the border gates to work in fields or to deliver meals.

Most of them were hesitant in undergoing a frisking of their bodies, a security provision to check against the smuggling of unwanted material from across the border.

In such conditions, farmers were compelled to hire outside help on daily wages.

Hailing the step, farmers in the border area said their financial burden would be reduced with their women stepping in to assist them.

They also said that the deployment of women constables would enable them to access cheap labour.

Raj, a woman labourer, said: “I am very happy since it was difficult to get work in the village. We can now go to the fields beyond the fencing and earn much for our families.”

Balwinder Kaur of Rorawala village said that her family owned about ten acres of land beyond the fencing and some times it was difficult to cultivate it due to the shortage of labourers.

Now, with the presence of female security personnel, she said that she and other females of the family were ready to help in the cultivation process beyond the fenced wiring.

Joginder Singh, a farmer, said that he was now looking forward to the fresh meals brought to him by the womenfolk of his family.

Mohammad Aquil, DIG (Border Range) BSF, said the deployment of the lady BSF constables would be done in the state of Punjab within two months.

A senior BSF official said about 178 girls would be posted at the international border dividing India and Pakistan. At a later stage, 60 of these women constables would be deployed along the India-Bangladesh border

These women are aged between 19-25 and are fully trained in the use of weapons, patrolling and other combat tasks, they will be assigned non-combat duties along the fenced border.

Gurbir Kaur, a woman constable, said that the (soldiers)’ uniform always fascinated her. She said that being in uniform was a dream come true.

Raman Preet Kaur, another lady constable, said that apart from frisking, she was also trained to handle a security-related crisis at the border.

These women passed out of the BSF academy in Kharkan near the town of Hoshiarpur on July 25 this year. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

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Nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the US

April 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, April 15 (IANS) There are an estimated 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the US constituting four percent of the population, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study by the independent Pew Research Center, which is based on the data collected by the US Census Bureau till March 2008, says their children, both unauthorized immigrants themselves and those born in the US, make up about 6.8 percent of the total enrolment in elementary and secondary schools.

According to the study, more than 8.3 million of these illegal immigrants are languishing in low-paying jobs, accounting for 5.4 percent of the total labour force.

About 76 percent of all illegal immigrants are Hispanics, with Mexicans being the largest group at seven million.

Nearly 11 percent of undocumented immigrants come from Asia and Central America each, 7 percent from South America, 4 percent from the Caribbean and less than 2 percent from the Arab world, the study says.

With 2.7 million illegal immigrants, California has their largest population. Though the state’s illegal population has almost doubled since 1990, its share of their total numbers has dropped from 42 percent to 22 percent.

Unlike in the past, according to the study, illegal immigrants are now evenly spread across the US.

Though California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas remain their favourite destinations, Georgia, North Carolina and other southeastern states too now attract them in large numbers, the study says. Since undocumented immigrants are exploited by employers, their median household income is $36,000, well below the $50,000 for US residents. As a result, one third of the children born in illegal immigrant families live in poverty, according to the study.

Illegal immigration in the US has been a complicated problem for years now, with both the Democrats and the Republicans soft-pedaling the issue. Open borders with Mexico, lack of border patrols and cheap labour for US employers even though it is illegal to hire them are the major factors for the rising illegal immigration population in the US.

Since President Ronald Reagan had granted one-time amnesty to about three million illegal immigrants in 1986, their population has unofficially risen to 20 million in hopes of getting legal status one day.

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Near 12m illegal immigrants in the US

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

NEW YORK
: There are an estimated 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the US constituting four percent of the population, according to a study
released Tuesday.

The study by the independent Pew Research Center, which is based on the data collected by the US Census Bureau till March 2008, says their children, both unauthorized immigrants themselves and those born in the US, make up about 6.8% of the total enrolment in elementary and secondary schools.

According to the study, more than 8.3 million of these illegal immigrants are languishing in low-paying jobs, accounting for 5.4% of the total labour force.

About 76% of all illegal immigrants are Hispanics, with Mexicans being the largest group at seven million.

Nearly 11% of undocumented immigrants come from Asia and Central America each, 7% from South America, 4% from the Caribbean and less than 2% from the Arab world, the study says.

With 2.7 million illegal immigrants, California has their largest population. Though the state’s illegal population has almost doubled since 1990, its share of their total numbers has dropped from 42% to 22%.

Unlike in the past, according to the study, illegal immigrants are now evenly spread across the US.

Though California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas remain their favourite destinations, Georgia, North Carolina and other southeastern states too now attract them in large numbers, the study says. Since undocumented immigrants are exploited by employers, their median household income is $36,000, well below the $50,000 for US residents. As a result, one third of the children born in illegal immigrant families live in poverty, according to the study.

Illegal immigration in the US has been a complicated problem for years now, with both the Democrats and the Republicans soft-pedaling the issue. Open borders with Mexico, lack of border patrols and cheap labour for US employers even though it is illegal to hire them are the major factors for the rising illegal immigration population in the US.

Since President Ronald Reagan had granted one-time amnesty to about three million illegal immigrants in 1986, their population has unofficially risen to 20 million in hopes of getting legal status one day.

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Rural China tries to look beyond globalization

March 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Beijing – As millions of migrant workers return to the countryside after losing their jobs with export-oriented factories, China is grappling with how to rebalance the economy to help the 900 million people living in underdeveloped inland areas.

“China’s economy has slowed down together with the world economy, and its impact on our rural economy is deepening,” Wei Chao’an, a vice agricultural minister said during China’s annual parliament in March.

Yin Weimin, the social security minister, described China’s employment situation as “very grave”, but just how grave it is remains uncertain.

State media have used a ballpark figure of some 20 million migrants who have lost jobs in the wake of the global financial crisis. China has estimated a total of at least 130 million migrant workers among its 1.3 billion people.

The numbers are so huge, and their generation so politicized, that such statistics are only rough estimates at best.

“Jiangxi has more than six million migrant labourers working in coastal cities in ordinary years,” said Hu Youtao, the financial director of Jiangxi, an inland province whose 40 million people provide cheap labour for Shanghai and south-eastern manufacturing cities.

“Now we estimate that about 800,000 people have come back and are staying in the countryside,” Hu told German Press Agency dpa.

At least a dozen other provinces have similar stories, as China begins to pay the price of a heavy reliance on exports.

To address the problem, the ruling Communist Party is promoting domestic demand through easier bank lending, tax breaks, and infrastructure and employment programmes for poor rural areas.

It has promised to spend 4 trillion yuan (586 billion dollars) to stimulate the economy through infrastructure, social welfare and other programmes over the next two years.

State subsidies will also encourage rural residents to buy cars, motorcycles and household electrical appliances.

Premier Wen Jiabao recently said the development of small and medium-size businesses, including those started by returned migrants, would be crucial as they create 90 per cent of the jobs.

But many experts worry that the government measures will have only limited success and that China’s already huge urban-rural income gap will grow even wider this year.

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in the central city of Wuhan, travelled to rural areas of 10 provinces to assess the impact of the global recession on migrant labour.

“There are very few cases of (returned migrants) starting businesses in our investigation,” He Xuefang, a lead researcher from the university, told dpa.

The savings held by the migrants are too low and local banks are reluctant to follow government orders, making start-ups impractical for most migrants, He said.

He gave the example of a migrant in his 30′s who returned to the south-western province of Guizhou and used savings to build a house that also serves as a small shop.

“Too many farmers have such an idea,” He said. “So when I asked the small shop owner how much he could sell and how much he could earn in a full day, he told me he could sell goods worth about 50 yuan (7 dollars) and earn 7 to 10 yuan (1-1.5 dollars) per day.”

Dong Leiming, another researcher from Huazhong university, also found that very few returned migrants were able to run successful businesses. “If you want to boost domestic consumption through returned migrant workers starting businesses, the effect is trivial,” Dong said.

“On the other hand, building roads, for example – infrastucture is good and will boost employment in rural areas,” he said. “But this is also not a ‘regeneration’ process.”

“We’re seeing more gambling, stealing and fighting,” said Yang Qiping, the village head in Xiaobao in the eastern province of Anhui, where some 600 of the village’s 2,000 migrant labourers have lost their jobs in recent months.

Rural incomes have grown steadily in recent years but not as fast as those in urban areas, creating a widening gap that the government has struggled to narrow. Economists warn that the gap could now widen again.

“With fewer job opportunities for migrant workers in the cities, the income of farmers as a whole will suffer a sizeable fall,” Song Hongyuan, a senior economist with the agriculture ministry, told the official China Daily.

Many experts also see slim hopes of urban businesses coming to the rescue by moving to rural areas to take advantage of the cheap labour.

“Some people say the financial crisis is a chance for many industries to move to villages,” Dong told dpa. “I think there is only a slight chance.” (dpa)

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More than a million workers in Britain are non-EU citizens

March 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 7 (ANI): The survey of National Statistics department of Britain has revealed that more than a million workers from outside the European Union have acquired jobs in Britain since labour came to power.

They have grabbed nearly half of all available vacancies after being granted permits to work here.

According to the Daily Star, the study between December 1997 and 2007 shows that jobs held by foreigners soared by 1,759,000, with 1,084,000 filled by non-EU citizens.

The ratio of posts held by migrants from outside Europe to the Europeans came out to be 5:2. This means that out of 2.2 million new jobs, 49% were taken by people born outside the EU, with just 19% going to Brits.

The figures further reveal that out of the 3.7 million immigrants aged 16 to 65, 2.5 million are from outside Europe.

The shocking data was presented to the Member of Parliament’s as the Daily Star continues to champion British Jobs for resident Workers.

The revelation is likely to push British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to stop sidelining qualified Brits for cheap labour from overseas.

Criticising the government’s inaction on the issue, Migration watch Chairman Sir Andrew Green, said: “The Government could have controlled the number of non-EU workers but they have done the opposite.”

The Government would now need a points-based system to control the influx of overseas workers. A Home Office spokesman said: “We have always said we would run our immigration system for the benefit of the UK. We are determined to use the system’s flexibility to ensure we are doing the right thing by British workers and for the stability of the economy.”

Workers from EU countries except Romania and Bulgaria have full work rights in Britain, without the need to acquire permits. (ANI)

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Indian workers deported from Malaysia

March 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chennai, Mar 7 (ANI): At least 43 workers from Tamil Nadu who returned from Malaysia complained of ill-treatment on Friday.

The youths from Villupuram, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts of the state, were employed in a hotel in Malaysia since February last year.

“I paid 85,000 rupees to seek immigration for Malaysia but were not given worker’s visa permit and were tortured inhumanely,” said Yasin, a youth.

The youths said they were not paid any salary after working for a month in the hotel. Later they were asked to vacate the hotel.

The workers decided to lodge a complaint with the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. However, the bus they were travelling was intercepted by the police.

They were arrested and handed over to the immigration department that detained them.

“When we were behind bars, nobody came for our rescue, neither Malaysian and Indian government or our employer. It is only after one-and-a-half months, we were released. Has our country no responsibility towards us, are we not Indian citizen?” asked Satish Kumar, another youth.

They were later released after approaching the High Commission through a local social worker.

Malaysia is a magnet for cheap labour from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and Bangladesh. The country is home to two million legal foreign workers, as well as another 500,000 to 700,000 working illegally. Many resort to bribery to speed up their visa applications or to avoid deportation. (ANI)

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