Gucci-owner Kering faces 1.4bn euro Italian tax claim

Kering is facing an Italian claim for 1.4 billion euros ($1.60 billion) in unpaid taxes, the French luxury goods group disclosed on Friday, adding that it contested the preliminary findings.
The company’s Swiss-based Luxury Goods International (LGI) subsidiary has been under investigation for allegedly avoiding tax on earnings generated elsewhere.
The probe has largely centered on Gucci, Kering’s star brand and biggest revenue driver. Italy’s tax police carried out checks at Gucci’s Florence headquarters and Milan offices in 2017, and drew up the report that has now been handed to Kering, a source close to the investigation said.

Kering has consistently denied avoiding tax, saying its activities were fully compliant with all tax obligations.
In its statement on Friday, the group said the Italian tax authorities’ findings for the years 2011-2017 had yet to be finalised by their own enforcement team.
“Kering challenges the outcome of the audit report both on the grounds and the amount,” the company said, adding that it “does not have the necessary information” to record a provision against any potential bill for back taxes or penalties.
The company has said that LGI is a substantial firm in its own right, with 600 employees handling inventory, billing and supply-chain logistics, with a business model “known to French and other competent tax authorities”.
According to reports by France’s Mediapart newspaper and Germany’s Der Spiegel, Kering’s wholesale activities – the sale of products to retailers such as department stores – have come under particular scrutiny.
Some business carried out by Kering employees in locations including Milan and Paris was billed through the Swiss unit, incurring lower tax rates, according to those reports.
Reuters reported in November that Milan prosecutors were wrapping up their tax probe into Gucci and Kering, which could potentially lead to a trial.
Kering is due to report full-year results on Feb. 12.

US bank loan risks fall overall but leverage lending risks rise

Payment risks have declined for big bank loans taken out before April of last year but the share of loans owed by highly leveraged borrowers remains elevated, US banking regulators said on Friday.
The report from the US Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said on the whole the prospects of loan repayment appeared to improve due to a strong economy.
“Federal banking agencies find that risk in the portfolio of large syndicated bank loans has declined, due to improving conditions in most sectors,” the agencies said in a joint statement accompanying a regular review of big loans made twice per year.
At the same time, the agencies said a larger share of total loans were rated as “below pass” relative to prior economic cycles.
Loans rated below pass are usually flagged by creditors because the borrowers have higher than average leverage levels or other reasons to doubt their ability to repay.
“Risks associated with leveraged lending activities are building in contrast to the portfolio overall,” according to the report.

More new sugarcane varieties introduced by Pakistan

Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) have introduced three new varieties of sugarcane which would give 40 percent more yield as compared to the existing varieties.
This was stated by Director General AARI Dr Abid Mahmood while Talking to APP here on Saturday.
He said that Pakistan was the 5th largest sugarcane producing country of the world.
However, the average yield of the country was far less than its potential due to various reasons. Moreover, water shortage and climatic changes were posing serious threat to the production of sugarcane, he said and added that in order to combat these challenges and enhancing the production of sugarcane, the scientists of Sugarcane Research Institute of AARI have evolved three new varieties of sugarcane including CPF-250, CPF-251 and CPF-253 which would give 40 percent more yield and require 30 percent less water to complete the growth cycle.
Responding to a question, he told the area under the cultivation of sugarcane was reducing due to water shortage, marketing issues and encouragement of other cash crops by the government.
“Only in Punjab the area under sugarcane cultivation has decreased by 27 percent during this year”, he said, adding that this situation may cause negative impact on sugarcane.
He said that newly devolved varieties were successfully tested by the scientists of this institute under different agro-ecological zones and were expected to be approved for mass cultivation by Punjab Seed Council during next month.

Central bank injects funds into market

China’s central bank injects funds into market

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 80 billion yuan (11.8 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55 percent and 20 billion yuan of 28-day reverse repos at 2.85 percent.
Previous reverse repos worth 80 billion yuan matured Monday, meaning that the net market injection came in at 20 billion yuan.
The PBOC said in a statement that Monday’s operation was aimed at maintaining reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the banking system.
Reverse repos enable the central bank to purchase securities from commercial banks through bidding with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

 

May warns MPs against ‘catastrophic’ failure to deliver Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday warned MPs preparing to vote down her EU divorce deal that failing to deliver Brexit would be a “catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy”.
May, who is fighting to save her withdrawal agreement negotiated with the bloc over 18 months of talks, told lawmakers they must not let down Brexit-backers in a crunch parliamentary vote Tuesday.
“Doing so would be a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy,” May wrote in the Sunday Express.
“So my message to parliament this weekend is simple: it is time to forget the games and do what is right for our country.”
Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29 but has yet to finalise the terms of its departure.
The prime minister has already postponed a House of Commons vote on her plan once — in December — to avoid defeat, and looks certain to see it rejected by MPs on Tuesday amid fierce opposition.
Lawmakers fired ominous warning shots this week, voting to force May to quickly set out an alternative plan for Brexit if it is beaten.
It was the second setback in 24 hours for the prime minister, after MPs also voted to deny the government certain taxation powers in a no-deal scenario — an attempt to scupper that prospect.
The Sunday Times reported a group of senior cross-party backbench rebels are now plotting to change House of Commons rules to enable them to override government business if the deal falls.
Described as “a very British coup”, the plan would see May lose control of parliamentary business to MPs, threatening her ability to govern, according to the newspaper.
It said Downing Street was “extremely concerned” about the possibility, which could see lawmakers then delay Brexit through new legislation.
Conservative MP Nick Boles, who favours a Norway-style relationship with the bloc instead of May’s plan, told the paper he was exploring tactics in the Commons to rule out no-deal.
“We have a mechanism which will give parliament control of the Brexit negotiations and ensure we do not leave the EU without a deal on March 29,” he said.
“I am working on ways to achieve that outcome,” Boles added, noting he would publish the plan on Tuesday.

Plan to raise fruits, vegetables on 18000 acres land

Govt embarks on plan to raise fruits, vegetables on 18000 acres land in KP

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has embarked on an inclusive plan to raise fruits and vegetables on 18000 acres land in different districts.
According to Planning and Agriculture department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine state of the art central markets will also be established to provide these commodities to people at affordable rate.
These central markets will be setup in Swat, Mardan, Abbottabad, Kohat, Bannu, DI Khan and Peshawar and practical work on it will start this year, Radio Pakistan reported.
Under the programme, farmers would be provided special incentives for purchase approved seeds, fertilizers and technical advice in wake of challenges posed by climate change.
Besides, nine new varieties of seeds of crops, vegetables and fruits have been introduced by the Agriculture Department to increase per acre’s production.

Saudi Arabia to set up $10 billion oil refinery in Pakistan

Saudi Arabia plans to set up a $10 billion oil refinery in Pakistan’s deepwater port of Gwadar, the Saudi energy minister said on Saturday, speaking at the Indian Ocean port that is being developed with the help of China.CPEC
Pakistan wants to attract investment and other financial support to tackle a soaring current account deficit caused partly by rising oil prices. Last year, Saudi Arabia offered Pakistan a $6 billion package that included help to finance crude imports.
“Saudi Arabia wants to make Pakistan’s economic development stable through establishing an oil refinery and partnership with Pakistan in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor,” Saudi Energy Khalid al-Falih told reporters in Gwadar.
He said Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman would visit Pakistan in February to sign the agreement. The minister added that Saudi Arabia would also invest in other sectors.
Beijing has pledged $60 billion as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that involves building power stations, major highways, new and upgraded railways and higher capacity ports, to help turn Pakistan into a major overland route linking western China to the world.
“With setting up of an oil refinery in Gwadar, Saudi Arabia will become an important partner in CPEC,” Pakistan Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said.
The Saudi news agency SPA earlier reported that Falih met Pakistan’s petroleum minister and Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi in Gwadar to discuss cooperation in refining, petrochemicals, mining and renewable energy.
It said Falih would finalise arrangements ahead of signing memorandums of understanding.
Since the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan came to power in August, Pakistan has secured economic assistance packages from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China.
In November, Pakistan extended talks with the International Monetary Fund as it seeks its 13th bailout since the late 1980s to deal with a looming balance of payments crisis.
The Pakistani prime minister’s office had said on Thursday that Islamabad expected to sign investment agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE in coming weeks.

China’s high-speed railway length to top 30,000 km in 2019

China plans to build 3,200 km of new high-speed railways in 2019, with the total length expected to exceed 30,000 km, the country’s top railway operator said Wednesday.
The 3,000-plus km of high-speed railways are part of the planned development of 6,800 km of new railways for the new year as the country will keep fixed-asset investment on railway on a large scale, Lu Dongfu, general manager of the China Railway (CR), told a work conference.
The country saw an expanding high-speed railway network over the years, with a total length of 29,000 km by the end of 2018, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total high-speed railway in the world. China aims to build 30,000 km of high-speed railways by 2020.
China’s railways are expected to transport 3.54 billion passengers and 3.37 billion tonnes of goods this year, the general manager said.
By the end of this year, China will see 850 Fuxing high-speed trains put into service while the research and development of Fuxing high-speed trains running at 350 km, 250 km, 200 km and 160 km will be strengthened, according to the CR.
China will continue to expand the coverage of high-speed trains in 2019.
Though with a developed high-speed railway network, the length and coverage of railways in central and western regions of China is still inadequate.
Lu said the CR would facilitate the investigation and research of Sichuan-Tibet railway and try to start construction by the end of the third-quarter of 2019.
China will continue to promote the application of digital tickets and explore more flexible pricing mechanisms for high-speed trains, he said.
The fixed-asset investment on railways stood at 802.8 billion yuan (about 117 billion U.S. dollars) with more than 4,600 km of new railways launched in 2018.
The total revenue of railway transport saw a record rise of 10.9 percent year-on-year last year, reaching 772 billion yuan.

Eurozone firms and households borrow more in November

Growth in lending to eurozone firms and households picked up in November, the penultimate month of a key element in the European Central Bank’s economic stimulus, official data showed Thursday.
The pace of year-on-year growth in household borrowing accelerated to 3.3 percent while the rate for firms reached 4.0 percent, ECB data showed — both 0.1 percentage points higher than in October.
Folding in loan growth data from non-bank financial firms like insurers and pension funds showed that the overall pace of credit increase in the private sector — adjusted for some purely financial transactions — held steady at 3.3 percent in November.
The pace of growth in lending is closely watched by central bankers and economists for signs of how effective ECB stimulus to the eurozone has proved.
Governors at the Frankfurt institution agreed in December to end mass purchases of government and corporate bonds, which amounted to 2.6 trillion euros ($3.0 trillion) since 2015.
The “quantitative easing” (QE) scheme was intended to pump cash through the financial system and into lending to firms and households, powering economic growth and boosting inflation towards the ECB target of just below 2.0 percent.
But although the threat of deflation — a damaging downward spiral of prices and economic activity — has been dispelled, the central bank’s most recent forecasts see it achieving its price growth target only in 2021.
To continue coaxing inflation along, the ECB plans to reinvest the proceeds from its massive stock of bonds and keep interest rates at historic lows “at least through the summer” this year.
Continued sluggish price growth could see them remain there well past the end of President Mario Draghi’s tenure at the institution in October.

Green Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network

In a bid to freshen its air and cut planet-warming emissions, the Pakistani port city of Karachi will introduce cleaner-running buses powered by a decidedly “unclean” fuel: cow poo.
With funding from the international Green Climate Fund, will launch a zero-emission Green Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network, with 200 buses fuelled by bio-methane.
Locals said the new bus system – due to start operating in 2020 – would help reduce air pollution and street noise, but doubted whether it would have enough buses to resurrect the city’s ailing transport system.
“(Karachi’s) public transport system has totally collapsed and most people have to use online taxi-hailing services (and) auto rickshaws,” said commuter Afzal Ahmed, 45, who works as a medical sales representative.
After management problems forced the Karachi Transport Corporation to fold some two decades ago, Chinese-imported buses running on compressed natural gas fell into disrepair and were taken off the road, worsening public transport woes, he noted.
Malik Amin Aslam, advisor on climate change to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, said the BRT system was the first transport project the Green Climate Fund had approved, and would bring “multiple environmental and economic benefits”. It would not require operating subsidies, he added.
The cheap, clean bus network will cater for 320,000 passengers daily, and will reduce planet-warming emissions by 2.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over 30 years, according to project documents.
The BRT will consist of a 30-km (18.6-mile) corridor that will benefit 1.5 million residents, adding 25 new bus stations, secure pedestrian crossings, improved sidewalks, cycle lanes and bike-sharing facilities.
The Green Climate Fund, set up under U.N. climate talks to provide finance to developing countries to help them grow cleanly and adapt to a warming climate, will provide $49 million for the Karachi project out of a total cost of $583.5 million.
The other major funders are the Asian Development Bank and the provincial government of Sindh, where Karachi is located.
WASTE ON TAP
The BRT system, to be rolled out over four years, will have a fleet of 200 hybrid buses that will run on bio-methane produced from manure excreted by Karachi’s 400,000 milk-producing water buffaloes, and collected by the authorities.
The project will prevent about 3,200 tonnes of cow manure entering the ocean daily by converting it into energy and fertiliser at a biogas plant, and will save more than 50,000 gallons of fresh water now used to wash that waste into the bay, Aslam said.
Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, CEO of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan, a policy think-tank, said calculating the overall impact on the environment was complex, as the buses would be introduced in stages.
Pakistan’s authorities often lack maintenance budgets, he noted, highlighting the risk the buses could break down and not be repaired.
“Pakistan has a history that it does not utilise donors’ project funding at an optimum level,” he said.
But if all goes well, Sheikh said the project, as the country’s first green BRT system, would lay the foundation for “climate-smart urban transportation systems” in other places.
It could shake up approaches to public transport among policy makers and planners, serving as a model for other cities, including Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Faisalabad, he said.
CLEANER AIR
Pakistan needs to launch such projects in big cities to discourage personal vehicle use, thereby easing traffic emissions and smog, and improving air quality and public health, Sheikh added.
He recommended setting a target for 70 percent of the urban population to use public transport.
Another way to ease air pollution would be to import better-quality petroleum fuels for vehicles, he added.
“We are importing low-grade fuel, and our refineries have capacity to refine only third-grade fuel,” he said.
Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer, said previous BRT projects in Pakistan’s large cities had not focused on environmental sustainability.
Planners should start connecting transport systems with wider urban development, Alam said.
“We need to introduce transport-oriented urban design by encouraging the use of public transport and discouraging the use of private vehicles to reduce emissions,” he said.
Zia Ur Rehman, a Karachi-based journalist covering civic issues, noted that the Sindh provincial government had run less than 50 buses in the city in the last 10 years, while private buses and mini-buses had dwindled from 25,000 to 8,000.
One reason is that buses were torched during strikes and at times of political upheaval, he said.
The new bus system alone was unlikely to resolve the city’s transport problems, but would be “a short-term relief for commuters and also help in reducing… air pollution”, he added.