By Rakteem Katakey
Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s biggest refiner, will increase spending 23 percent to boost capacity even as it borrows more to cover losses from selling fuels below the cost of crude oil.
The state-owned company plans to spend 135 billion rupees ($2.8 billion) in the year ending March 31 to add processing capacity and build chemical plants, Serangulam V. Narasimhan, finance director, said in an interview in New Delhi. The refiner’s total debt has risen to 350 billion rupees from about 320 billion rupees in May, he said yesterday.
Indian Oil, set to increase processing capability 33 percent by 2012, imports about 75 percent of its crude and sells fuels below cost to help curb inflation. The refiner is adding capacity to meet demand that is rising as much as 5 percent annually in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy, Chairman Sarthak Behuria said in a separate interview yesterday.
“Raising money for planned investments has never been a problem as they can borrow from state-run banks,” said Niraj Mansingka, a Mumbai-based analyst at Edelweiss Capital Ltd., who recommends investors buy Indian Oil shares. “They need to increase capacity and upgrade refineries to improve cash flows and produce better quality fuels.”
The stock has climbed 29 percent in Mumbai this year compared with a 51 percent gain in the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index. Indian Oil rose as much as 1.7 percent to 559.35 rupees and closed at 551.25 rupees.
Losses, Costs
Pump sales were profitable in the last two months and are losing money in June because the cost of crude has risen, Narasimhan said.
The company’s cost of importing crude oil has surged to $2.5 billion a month from $1 billion in February, Narasimhan said. Crude prices in New York have more than doubled from a low of $33.98 a barrel on Feb. 12 on signs the worst economic crisis since World War II may be easing. Oil traded at $71.92 a barrel at 6:33 p.m. Indian time.
The government last raised prices of gasoline and diesel in June 2008 as oil surged. Prices were cut in December and January after crude slumped from a record $147.27 a barrel in July.
Indian Oil needs to add 3 million to 3.5 million metric tons of refining capacity each year, Chairman Behuria said. The company will commission about 300 billion rupees worth of projects this year, Narasimhan said.
The company and its units plan to increase refining capacity to 80 million metric tons of crude a year by 2012 from the current 60.2 million tons, he said.
Spending Plan
About 110 billion rupees will be spent this year on building new assets and 25 billion rupees on maintenance work at Indian Oil’s eight refineries, Narasimhan said.
The refiner is building a 15 million-ton-a-year plant at Paradip in eastern Orissa state and increasing capacity at refineries at Panipat in northern India, Gujarat in the west and at its Chennai Petroleum Corp. unit.
“Bulk of the investment will go into these,” Narasimhan said at his office. “There are so many projects on hand. We have to prioritize.”
Indian Oil has got approval for a 149 billion rupee loan for the Paradip refinery, according to SBI Capital Markets Ltd., which helped arrange the funds. The refinery is expected to cost 335 billion rupees, SBI Capital said May 14.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Air India Asks Employees to Help Tide Over ‘Crisis’
Air India, which has delayed salary payments, asked employees to help the country’s national carrier tide over the financial crisis it’s facing.
“It is a fight for survival,” Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director, said in a release that contained his comments to employees. “The current financial crunch being faced by Air India needs to be viewed in the global context as the aviation industry worldwide has been passing through turbulent times.”
The chairman’s appeal comes after the Air Corporation Employees Union, the largest workers’ group in Air India, said June 17 that it was considering a strike to protest against the carrier’s decision to pay this month’s salary two weeks late.
The union has written to the management on the late payment and will decide on the strike later, said D.K. Shetty, president of the group. The union represents about 13,000 of the carrier’s 31,000 employees, he said.
Air India is faced with the same issues that others in the aviation industry have been contending with, Jadhav said.
“All airlines in India and abroad have been experiencing low fares, poor load factors, drop in premium travel, decline in cargo loads and low yields due to market conditions created by the global recession,” the chairman said.
Jadhav cited measures taken by airlines such as Singapore Airlines Ltd. and British Airways Plc to combat the effects of the financial crisis.
The airline has sought funds from the government, which owns the company.
Government Help Sought
“Air India has approached the government of India, as the owners of our airline, for infusion of funds both by way of equity and soft loans,” Jadhav said. “We are hopeful that the government of India will extend a helping hand soon.”
The airline is talking with the labor unions to apprise them of the financial situation facing the carrier and the industry, Jadhav said.
Air India yesterday said it has asked senior executives to go without pay in July as the company faces a cash crunch. Jadhav “has requested all executives at the level of general managers and above to voluntarily forego salary and productivity-linked incentive payable in the month of July 2009,” according to the airline’s Web site.
India’s national carrier may have had losses of more than $800 million in the financial year ended March 31, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
A drop in travel demand forced Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the nation’s biggest carrier by market value, to cut jobs and benefits for some of its 13,000 employees to help save as much as $600 million this financial year.
“It is a fight for survival,” Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director, said in a release that contained his comments to employees. “The current financial crunch being faced by Air India needs to be viewed in the global context as the aviation industry worldwide has been passing through turbulent times.”
The chairman’s appeal comes after the Air Corporation Employees Union, the largest workers’ group in Air India, said June 17 that it was considering a strike to protest against the carrier’s decision to pay this month’s salary two weeks late.
The union has written to the management on the late payment and will decide on the strike later, said D.K. Shetty, president of the group. The union represents about 13,000 of the carrier’s 31,000 employees, he said.
Air India is faced with the same issues that others in the aviation industry have been contending with, Jadhav said.
“All airlines in India and abroad have been experiencing low fares, poor load factors, drop in premium travel, decline in cargo loads and low yields due to market conditions created by the global recession,” the chairman said.
Jadhav cited measures taken by airlines such as Singapore Airlines Ltd. and British Airways Plc to combat the effects of the financial crisis.
The airline has sought funds from the government, which owns the company.
Government Help Sought
“Air India has approached the government of India, as the owners of our airline, for infusion of funds both by way of equity and soft loans,” Jadhav said. “We are hopeful that the government of India will extend a helping hand soon.”
The airline is talking with the labor unions to apprise them of the financial situation facing the carrier and the industry, Jadhav said.
Air India yesterday said it has asked senior executives to go without pay in July as the company faces a cash crunch. Jadhav “has requested all executives at the level of general managers and above to voluntarily forego salary and productivity-linked incentive payable in the month of July 2009,” according to the airline’s Web site.
India’s national carrier may have had losses of more than $800 million in the financial year ended March 31, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
A drop in travel demand forced Jet Airways (India) Ltd., the nation’s biggest carrier by market value, to cut jobs and benefits for some of its 13,000 employees to help save as much as $600 million this financial year.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Indian Stocks Rise; Infrastructure, Software Exporters Advance
Indian stocks rose, paring the benchmark index’s first weekly decline since early March, as Larsen & Toubro Ltd. led construction companies higher on speculation the government will boost public-works spending.
Larsen, India’s biggest engineering company, gained 5.7 percent. A media report said the government would set up a company to provide assistance to highway developers. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., the largest power equipment maker, climbed 2.9 percent.
“There is a lot of expectation that a boost in infrastructure spending will be announced in the budget,” said Shashank Khade, who helps manage $300 million in assets at Kotak Securities in Mumbai. India’s budget is due July 6.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 256.36, or 1.8 percent, to 14,521.89. The gauge posted a 4.7 percent drop this week, its first weekly decline in 15.
The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange climbed 1.5 percent to 4,313.60. The BSE 200 Index added 1.8 percent to 1,761.66. Nifty futures for June delivery advanced 1.5 percent to 4,326.
Infosys Technologies Ltd. led software exporters higher after better-than-estimated economic reports in the U.S., their largest export market.
Larsen climbed 5.7 percent to 1,497.05 rupees. Bharat Heavy Electricals gained 2.9 percent to 2,088.85 rupees.
Road Finance
India plans to set up a road finance company that will provide debt to highway developers, ET Now television channel reported today.
Infosys, the nation’s No. 2 software developer, rose 2.6 percent to 1,770.40 rupees. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., the largest, added 0.9 percent to 379.80 rupees.
U.S. reports showed jobless claims fell and that the manufacturing contraction in one region of the nation slowed. Indian software exporters derive more than half their revenue from the world’s biggest economy.
Overseas funds sold a net 2.27 billion rupees ($47 million) of Indian stocks June 17, according to the stock market regulator.
The following stocks were among the most active in Indian trading today:
Opto Circuits India Ltd. (OPTC IN) rose 7.5 percent to 161.4 rupees after posting a profit increase of 13 percent to 402.39 million rupees in the three months ended March 31.
Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL IN) gained 11 percent to 111.05 rupees after the company said it plans to hold a meeting of its bond holders on June 25. The company has $121.37 million of bonds outstanding, it said in a statement yesterday.
Tata Steel Ltd. (TATA IN) added 6.3 percent to 412.55 rupees. India’s biggest steel producer said it raised prices of some products by as much as 750 rupees ($16) a metric ton as local demand increased. Prices of hot-rolled and cold-rolled products were increased by between 500 rupees and 750 rupees a ton in some regions, spokesman Sanjay Choudhry said by phone, without giving the percentage increase.
Larsen, India’s biggest engineering company, gained 5.7 percent. A media report said the government would set up a company to provide assistance to highway developers. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., the largest power equipment maker, climbed 2.9 percent.
“There is a lot of expectation that a boost in infrastructure spending will be announced in the budget,” said Shashank Khade, who helps manage $300 million in assets at Kotak Securities in Mumbai. India’s budget is due July 6.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 256.36, or 1.8 percent, to 14,521.89. The gauge posted a 4.7 percent drop this week, its first weekly decline in 15.
The S&P CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange climbed 1.5 percent to 4,313.60. The BSE 200 Index added 1.8 percent to 1,761.66. Nifty futures for June delivery advanced 1.5 percent to 4,326.
Infosys Technologies Ltd. led software exporters higher after better-than-estimated economic reports in the U.S., their largest export market.
Larsen climbed 5.7 percent to 1,497.05 rupees. Bharat Heavy Electricals gained 2.9 percent to 2,088.85 rupees.
Road Finance
India plans to set up a road finance company that will provide debt to highway developers, ET Now television channel reported today.
Infosys, the nation’s No. 2 software developer, rose 2.6 percent to 1,770.40 rupees. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., the largest, added 0.9 percent to 379.80 rupees.
U.S. reports showed jobless claims fell and that the manufacturing contraction in one region of the nation slowed. Indian software exporters derive more than half their revenue from the world’s biggest economy.
Overseas funds sold a net 2.27 billion rupees ($47 million) of Indian stocks June 17, according to the stock market regulator.
The following stocks were among the most active in Indian trading today:
Opto Circuits India Ltd. (OPTC IN) rose 7.5 percent to 161.4 rupees after posting a profit increase of 13 percent to 402.39 million rupees in the three months ended March 31.
Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL IN) gained 11 percent to 111.05 rupees after the company said it plans to hold a meeting of its bond holders on June 25. The company has $121.37 million of bonds outstanding, it said in a statement yesterday.
Tata Steel Ltd. (TATA IN) added 6.3 percent to 412.55 rupees. India’s biggest steel producer said it raised prices of some products by as much as 750 rupees ($16) a metric ton as local demand increased. Prices of hot-rolled and cold-rolled products were increased by between 500 rupees and 750 rupees a ton in some regions, spokesman Sanjay Choudhry said by phone, without giving the percentage increase.
China tells Google to end foreign site access
Beijing has ordered Google to stop users of its Chinese-language service accessing overseas websites in the biggest blow to the world’s leading search engine in China since it started operating there four years ago.
In a move that could disrupt Google’s growth in China, which now has more internet users than the US, the Chinese government said it had told Google to suspend foreign searches and a feature that automatically suggests multiple search results once typing commences in the search window.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Google has rude awakening in China - Jun-19
John Gapper: technology is for revolution (and repression) - Jun-19
Solid Oak steps up China ‘net nanny’ storm - Jun-19
Tech blog - Feb-24
US firm warns PC makers over Chinese software - Jun-17
Digital Business: Google shows how the web was won - Jun-17
The action comes amid a storm of outrage among Chinese internet users over Beijing’s order that every new PC sold in the country be equipped with censorship software, ostensibly to block pornography. One senior US internet figure said the move against Google appeared to be an attempt to deflect attention away from the domestic censorship uproar by redirecting concerns about pornography against a foreign company.
According to state media on Friday, authorities said Google was being “punished” for linking to pornographic content.
On Thursday, in a “law enforcement talk”, the government announced that it was ordering the company to suspend foreign searches and automated keywords, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, and China Central Television, the main state broadcaster.
Searches on Google.cn were still turning up foreign websites several hours after the announcement. However, the automated keyword feature had been disabled. Google confirmed on Friday it had met government representatives on Thursday “to discuss problems with the Google.cn service and its serving of pornographic images and content based on foreign language searches”.
The company was undertaking a thorough review of its service and believed it had addressed most of the problems, it said.
Observers said the crackdown was likely to be a mixture of the government’s recent hardline approach on censorship and increasingly bitter rivalry with Baidu, a domestic search engine, which holds a 59 per cent market share.
Although the authorities accused only Google of allowing links to lurid content, similar material could be found on Baidu.
China surpassed the US as the nation with the world’s largest internet population last year and has about 300m users.
The government has been clamping down on various sites for months in the name of a campaign against “vulgar” online content.
“If these restrictions are kept up for more than a few days, they will have a huge impact on Google’s business in China,” said Edward Yu, chief executive of Analysys, an internet research company in Beijing.
“Traffic will drop quickly because users will find it extremely cumbersome to search without automated keywords and will feel they cannot find results they are looking for, such as foreign travel and shopping information.”
Google has been growing aggressively in China over the past year and its market share exceeded 30 per cent for the first time in the first quarter of this year, according to Analysys research.
In a move that could disrupt Google’s growth in China, which now has more internet users than the US, the Chinese government said it had told Google to suspend foreign searches and a feature that automatically suggests multiple search results once typing commences in the search window.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Google has rude awakening in China - Jun-19
John Gapper: technology is for revolution (and repression) - Jun-19
Solid Oak steps up China ‘net nanny’ storm - Jun-19
Tech blog - Feb-24
US firm warns PC makers over Chinese software - Jun-17
Digital Business: Google shows how the web was won - Jun-17
The action comes amid a storm of outrage among Chinese internet users over Beijing’s order that every new PC sold in the country be equipped with censorship software, ostensibly to block pornography. One senior US internet figure said the move against Google appeared to be an attempt to deflect attention away from the domestic censorship uproar by redirecting concerns about pornography against a foreign company.
According to state media on Friday, authorities said Google was being “punished” for linking to pornographic content.
On Thursday, in a “law enforcement talk”, the government announced that it was ordering the company to suspend foreign searches and automated keywords, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, and China Central Television, the main state broadcaster.
Searches on Google.cn were still turning up foreign websites several hours after the announcement. However, the automated keyword feature had been disabled. Google confirmed on Friday it had met government representatives on Thursday “to discuss problems with the Google.cn service and its serving of pornographic images and content based on foreign language searches”.
The company was undertaking a thorough review of its service and believed it had addressed most of the problems, it said.
Observers said the crackdown was likely to be a mixture of the government’s recent hardline approach on censorship and increasingly bitter rivalry with Baidu, a domestic search engine, which holds a 59 per cent market share.
Although the authorities accused only Google of allowing links to lurid content, similar material could be found on Baidu.
China surpassed the US as the nation with the world’s largest internet population last year and has about 300m users.
The government has been clamping down on various sites for months in the name of a campaign against “vulgar” online content.
“If these restrictions are kept up for more than a few days, they will have a huge impact on Google’s business in China,” said Edward Yu, chief executive of Analysys, an internet research company in Beijing.
“Traffic will drop quickly because users will find it extremely cumbersome to search without automated keywords and will feel they cannot find results they are looking for, such as foreign travel and shopping information.”
Google has been growing aggressively in China over the past year and its market share exceeded 30 per cent for the first time in the first quarter of this year, according to Analysys research.
Citigroup Asia Executive Banga Leaves for Top MasterCard Role
June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Ajay Banga, Citigroup Inc.’s most senior executive in Asia, left the U.S. bank for a role at MasterCard Inc. that puts him in line to succeed Chief Executive Officer Robert Selander.
Banga, 49, will become president and chief operating officer at MasterCard, whose stock more than quadrupled since its debut in May 2006, the company said in a statement yesterday. Selander, 58, cedes his president’s title Aug. 31 and continues as CEO, MasterCard said. Banga spent 13 years at Citigroup, the New York-based lender propped up by $45 billion of U.S. rescue funds.
Banga’s exit is a blow to Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, who said in a speech this week that the bank would look abroad for growth as the U.S. economy slows. The government is taking a 34 percent stake in Citigroup after $36 billion of losses in six quarters. MasterCard, the second-biggest card network after Visa Inc., didn’t need money from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and isn’t subject to any curbs on pay.
“This is huge,” said Bill Smith, founder of Smith Asset Management Inc. in New York, who holds about 200,000 Citigroup shares. “This guy was talent.”
Banga will get a salary of $800,000, a $4.2 million signing bonus and $4.9 million in restricted stock, according to a regulatory filing by Purchase, New York-based MasterCard. The bonus will be paid in two equal installments, the first within 30 days after he starts and the second a year later, according to the filing. While he would forfeit the signing bonus if he leaves before the year is over, he gets to keep it if he isn’t named CEO by June 30, 2010, the document said.
Succession Planning
For 2008, Citigroup gave Banga a $500,000 salary and a $3.6 million “deferred cash retention award,” payable in equal installments over four years, according to a March 20 filing.
“This is really a thoughtful step in the succession- planning process,” said Harvey Greisman, a spokesman for MasterCard. Selander and Banga weren’t available to comment, he said.
Citigroup will name a successor for Banga “shortly,” the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.
Profit at MasterCard has fallen for two straight quarters as the recession cut into consumer spending. The company lost more than half of a $59 billion portfolio of U.S. debit-card users after JPMorgan Chase & Co. decided to shift more business to Visa, people familiar with the matter said last month.
MasterCard shares have risen 13 percent this year. Citigroup is down 53 percent.
International Career
Citigroup is focusing on overseas markets after the bank’s overdependence on U.S. consumers stoked its financial woes, Pandit, 52, said in the June 16 speech in Detroit. The bank has been hobbled by writedowns on subprime mortgage bonds and an increase in consumer-loan losses.
“The executives at the top that are not the top three have to really say to themselves, ‘How long is it going to take me to get to where I aspire to?’” said Jeanne Branthover, head of the global financial services practice at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. in New York. “They are definitely going to be recruited for the top or the second-to-the-top jobs at other firms.”
Banga, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, joined Citigroup in 1996 as head of marketing in India for the consumer business. In 2000 he was promoted to head CitiFinancial and the U.S. consumer assets division. In 2002 he took over the retail bank in North America, and in 2005 he was named to head Citigroup’s international consumer-banking and finance businesses. He moved to Hong Kong in early 2008 after being named by Pandit to oversee all of the bank’s businesses in Asia.
He worked at Nestle SA for 13 years, in sales, marketing and management roles, and worked for PepsiCo, where he helped expand the company’s fast-food franchises into India.
Banga, 49, will become president and chief operating officer at MasterCard, whose stock more than quadrupled since its debut in May 2006, the company said in a statement yesterday. Selander, 58, cedes his president’s title Aug. 31 and continues as CEO, MasterCard said. Banga spent 13 years at Citigroup, the New York-based lender propped up by $45 billion of U.S. rescue funds.
Banga’s exit is a blow to Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, who said in a speech this week that the bank would look abroad for growth as the U.S. economy slows. The government is taking a 34 percent stake in Citigroup after $36 billion of losses in six quarters. MasterCard, the second-biggest card network after Visa Inc., didn’t need money from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and isn’t subject to any curbs on pay.
“This is huge,” said Bill Smith, founder of Smith Asset Management Inc. in New York, who holds about 200,000 Citigroup shares. “This guy was talent.”
Banga will get a salary of $800,000, a $4.2 million signing bonus and $4.9 million in restricted stock, according to a regulatory filing by Purchase, New York-based MasterCard. The bonus will be paid in two equal installments, the first within 30 days after he starts and the second a year later, according to the filing. While he would forfeit the signing bonus if he leaves before the year is over, he gets to keep it if he isn’t named CEO by June 30, 2010, the document said.
Succession Planning
For 2008, Citigroup gave Banga a $500,000 salary and a $3.6 million “deferred cash retention award,” payable in equal installments over four years, according to a March 20 filing.
“This is really a thoughtful step in the succession- planning process,” said Harvey Greisman, a spokesman for MasterCard. Selander and Banga weren’t available to comment, he said.
Citigroup will name a successor for Banga “shortly,” the company said in a regulatory filing yesterday.
Profit at MasterCard has fallen for two straight quarters as the recession cut into consumer spending. The company lost more than half of a $59 billion portfolio of U.S. debit-card users after JPMorgan Chase & Co. decided to shift more business to Visa, people familiar with the matter said last month.
MasterCard shares have risen 13 percent this year. Citigroup is down 53 percent.
International Career
Citigroup is focusing on overseas markets after the bank’s overdependence on U.S. consumers stoked its financial woes, Pandit, 52, said in the June 16 speech in Detroit. The bank has been hobbled by writedowns on subprime mortgage bonds and an increase in consumer-loan losses.
“The executives at the top that are not the top three have to really say to themselves, ‘How long is it going to take me to get to where I aspire to?’” said Jeanne Branthover, head of the global financial services practice at Boyden Global Executive Search Ltd. in New York. “They are definitely going to be recruited for the top or the second-to-the-top jobs at other firms.”
Banga, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, joined Citigroup in 1996 as head of marketing in India for the consumer business. In 2000 he was promoted to head CitiFinancial and the U.S. consumer assets division. In 2002 he took over the retail bank in North America, and in 2005 he was named to head Citigroup’s international consumer-banking and finance businesses. He moved to Hong Kong in early 2008 after being named by Pandit to oversee all of the bank’s businesses in Asia.
He worked at Nestle SA for 13 years, in sales, marketing and management roles, and worked for PepsiCo, where he helped expand the company’s fast-food franchises into India.
Obama Reluctant to Toughen Stance on Iran
WASHINGTON — With Iran on a razor’s edge after a week of swelling protests, the Obama administration has fended off pressure from both parties to respond more forcefully to the disputed election there. But if Iranian authorities carry out their latest threat of a more sweeping crackdown, the White House would reconsider its carefully calibrated tone, officials said Friday.
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Iran’s Top Leader Dashes Hopes for a Compromise (June 20, 2009)
Ayatollah, Calling Britain Enemy No. 1, Taps Into Deep Distrust Rooted in History (June 20, 2009)
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Administration officials said events this weekend in Tehran — when demonstrators plan to rally in defiance of the authorities — would be a telling indicator of whether President Obama would join European leaders and lawmakers on Capitol Hill in more harshly condemning the tactics of the Iranian government.
Congressional Republicans and conservative foreign-policy experts stepped up their pressure on the White House to take a firmer stand in support of the demonstrators, even as Mr. Obama worked to keep Democrats from breaking openly with him on Iran.
For now, administration officials said they had not been swayed by criticism that Mr. Obama’s refusal to speak out more had broken faith with democracy advocates in Tehran, or by the fact that European leaders and even members of his own party in Congress had responded more assertively than he had.
In an interview with CBS News on Friday, Mr. Obama spoke cautiously about warnings by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of bloodshed if the protests go on. “I’m very concerned, based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama, officials said, was determined to react to events as they unfold, rather than make statements that might play well politically but hinder his longer-term foreign-policy goals. The administration still hopes to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran on its nuclear program.
Still, one senior official acknowledged that a bloody crackdown would scramble the administration’s calculations. The shadow of Tiananmen Square — in which Chinese tanks and troops crushed a flowering democracy movement in Beijing — has hung over the White House this week.
Mr. Obama continued to face pressure at home not to miss an opportunity to align the United States with a potentially historic shift in Iran. On Friday, both houses of Congress threw full support behind the rights of protesters to challenge the election results. In the House, lawmakers voted 405 to 1 to adopt a nonbinding resolution condemning the violence against demonstrators. The Senate passed a similar resolution later in the day.
“This resolution is not about American interests,” said Representative Howard L. Berman, a California Democrat who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s about American values, which I believe are universal values: the values of the rule of law; of participatory democracy; about individual liberty and about justice.”
The resolution, though firm, was softened after negotiations between Mr. Berman and the chairman of the House Republican Conference, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, who was pushing for a tougher rebuke of the Iranian government. Democrats were aware of White House concerns about statements that could open the United States to charges of interference, and administration officials said the resolution largely echoed Mr. Obama’s public comments. “My guiding principle on this resolution was, Do no harm,” Mr. Berman said in a telephone interview.
While he said the United States was not taking sides, other lawmakers were. Representative Bob Inglis, Republican of South Carolina, said the election had clearly been fraudulent. “Rigged elections don’t produce outcomes that people can believe in,” he said. “We the people of the United States should stand boldly with the people in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran who are saying, ‘We yearn to breathe free,’ who want to govern themselves; this is their moment.”
The European Union also took a markedly tougher line than Mr. Obama, issuing a statement condemning the violence that resulted in loss of life. The union’s 27 national leaders also “condemned the crackdown against journalists, media outlets, communications and protesters,” which they said were “in contrast to the relatively open and encouraging period in the run-up to the election.”
Speaking afterward, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said: “It is for Iran now to show the world that the elections are fair. It is also the wish of the world that the repression and the brutality that we have seen in the last few days is not something that is going to be repeated.”
The Obama administration has resisted such language, worrying that full-throated American backing for the protesters would harm their cause by making them more susceptible to being labeled by Iranian officials as tools of Washington. Administration officials note that their muted response has not prevented the turnout at protests from growing by the day.
Mr. Obama has won support from across party lines. Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, said on Fox News: “I think the president has handled this well. Anything that the United States says that puts us totally behind one of the contenders, behind Moussavi, would be a handicap for that person,” he said. Mir Hussein Moussavi is the main challenger to the declared victor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Some experts on Iran say a stronger United States response could provoke a violent backlash.
“If we overtly take sides, the regime could well react with a massive and bloody crackdown on the demonstrators using the pretext that they are acting against an American-led coup,” said Karim Sadgadpour, an Iranian expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The United States, he said, should quietly lobby other countries, from Turkey and India to France and Japan, to press Tehran about human rights abuses and the fairness of the election. It is not clear if the United States has done that, but a senior official said the White House understood if “our allies choose to lean in a different direction.”
Mr. Obama’s cautious approach, officials said, was also driven by a belief that Iran is unlikely to loosen its commitment to its nuclear program, regardless of who ends up in the president’s office. The ultimate authority over that, they note, resides with Ayatollah Khamenei.
Yet some Iran experts argue that the administration may soon have to re-evaluate its view of the supreme leader, who they say has been tarnished by his erratic response to the tumult in Tehran.
“If Ahmadinejad survives, it will be on the back of a Tiananmen-style crackdown,” said Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University. “If Moussavi prevails, it will be on a wave of reformist sentiment.”
David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Washington, and Stephen Castle from Brussels.
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Iran’s Top Leader Dashes Hopes for a Compromise (June 20, 2009)
Ayatollah, Calling Britain Enemy No. 1, Taps Into Deep Distrust Rooted in History (June 20, 2009)
Times Topics: Ali Khamenei | Iran
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Administration officials said events this weekend in Tehran — when demonstrators plan to rally in defiance of the authorities — would be a telling indicator of whether President Obama would join European leaders and lawmakers on Capitol Hill in more harshly condemning the tactics of the Iranian government.
Congressional Republicans and conservative foreign-policy experts stepped up their pressure on the White House to take a firmer stand in support of the demonstrators, even as Mr. Obama worked to keep Democrats from breaking openly with him on Iran.
For now, administration officials said they had not been swayed by criticism that Mr. Obama’s refusal to speak out more had broken faith with democracy advocates in Tehran, or by the fact that European leaders and even members of his own party in Congress had responded more assertively than he had.
In an interview with CBS News on Friday, Mr. Obama spoke cautiously about warnings by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of bloodshed if the protests go on. “I’m very concerned, based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama, officials said, was determined to react to events as they unfold, rather than make statements that might play well politically but hinder his longer-term foreign-policy goals. The administration still hopes to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran on its nuclear program.
Still, one senior official acknowledged that a bloody crackdown would scramble the administration’s calculations. The shadow of Tiananmen Square — in which Chinese tanks and troops crushed a flowering democracy movement in Beijing — has hung over the White House this week.
Mr. Obama continued to face pressure at home not to miss an opportunity to align the United States with a potentially historic shift in Iran. On Friday, both houses of Congress threw full support behind the rights of protesters to challenge the election results. In the House, lawmakers voted 405 to 1 to adopt a nonbinding resolution condemning the violence against demonstrators. The Senate passed a similar resolution later in the day.
“This resolution is not about American interests,” said Representative Howard L. Berman, a California Democrat who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s about American values, which I believe are universal values: the values of the rule of law; of participatory democracy; about individual liberty and about justice.”
The resolution, though firm, was softened after negotiations between Mr. Berman and the chairman of the House Republican Conference, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, who was pushing for a tougher rebuke of the Iranian government. Democrats were aware of White House concerns about statements that could open the United States to charges of interference, and administration officials said the resolution largely echoed Mr. Obama’s public comments. “My guiding principle on this resolution was, Do no harm,” Mr. Berman said in a telephone interview.
While he said the United States was not taking sides, other lawmakers were. Representative Bob Inglis, Republican of South Carolina, said the election had clearly been fraudulent. “Rigged elections don’t produce outcomes that people can believe in,” he said. “We the people of the United States should stand boldly with the people in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran who are saying, ‘We yearn to breathe free,’ who want to govern themselves; this is their moment.”
The European Union also took a markedly tougher line than Mr. Obama, issuing a statement condemning the violence that resulted in loss of life. The union’s 27 national leaders also “condemned the crackdown against journalists, media outlets, communications and protesters,” which they said were “in contrast to the relatively open and encouraging period in the run-up to the election.”
Speaking afterward, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said: “It is for Iran now to show the world that the elections are fair. It is also the wish of the world that the repression and the brutality that we have seen in the last few days is not something that is going to be repeated.”
The Obama administration has resisted such language, worrying that full-throated American backing for the protesters would harm their cause by making them more susceptible to being labeled by Iranian officials as tools of Washington. Administration officials note that their muted response has not prevented the turnout at protests from growing by the day.
Mr. Obama has won support from across party lines. Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, said on Fox News: “I think the president has handled this well. Anything that the United States says that puts us totally behind one of the contenders, behind Moussavi, would be a handicap for that person,” he said. Mir Hussein Moussavi is the main challenger to the declared victor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Some experts on Iran say a stronger United States response could provoke a violent backlash.
“If we overtly take sides, the regime could well react with a massive and bloody crackdown on the demonstrators using the pretext that they are acting against an American-led coup,” said Karim Sadgadpour, an Iranian expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The United States, he said, should quietly lobby other countries, from Turkey and India to France and Japan, to press Tehran about human rights abuses and the fairness of the election. It is not clear if the United States has done that, but a senior official said the White House understood if “our allies choose to lean in a different direction.”
Mr. Obama’s cautious approach, officials said, was also driven by a belief that Iran is unlikely to loosen its commitment to its nuclear program, regardless of who ends up in the president’s office. The ultimate authority over that, they note, resides with Ayatollah Khamenei.
Yet some Iran experts argue that the administration may soon have to re-evaluate its view of the supreme leader, who they say has been tarnished by his erratic response to the tumult in Tehran.
“If Ahmadinejad survives, it will be on the back of a Tiananmen-style crackdown,” said Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University. “If Moussavi prevails, it will be on a wave of reformist sentiment.”
David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting from Washington, and Stephen Castle from Brussels.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thai Exports Tumble the Most in at Least 17 Years (Update1)
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s exports fell the most since at least 1992 in May as the worst global recession since the Great Depression eroded demand for products.
Shipments dropped 26.6 percent from a year earlier to $11.7 billion, Permanent Secretary for Commerce Siripol Yodmuangcharoen said in Bangkok today. That’s the steepest slide since Bloomberg began tracking the data and compares with a 26.1 percent contraction in April.
The contraction in exports may ease in the coming months as manufacturers including Hana Microelectronics Pcl and KCE Electronics Pcl ship more products. Thailand’s industrial output fell the least in five months in April as manufacturers resumed filling orders after customers started rebuilding stockpiles in anticipation of improving demand.
“We are still walking in a tunnel but we have started to see the light at the end,” said Kanit Sangsubhan, director of the Finance Ministry’s research institute and a Bank of Thailand board member. “Demand from China and the rest of Asia will help our exports.”
A pick up in export orders boosted manufacturing output in April, Amara Sriphayak, a Bank of Thailand official, said on May 29. Richard Han, chief executive officer at Hana, said the same day that demand had accelerated in May from April.
Imports fell 34.7 percent to $9.25 billion, the smallest decline since December, as manufacturers bought more components used to build exports. The drop follows a 36.3 percent slide in April. The trade surplus in May narrowed to $2.41 billion from a $595 million excess a month earlier.
Thailand’s economy shrank 7.1 percent in the first quarter after a collapse in exports, which make up about 70 percent of gross domestic product. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on June 9 “the worst is behind us” and he expects GDP will return to annual growth in 2010
Shipments dropped 26.6 percent from a year earlier to $11.7 billion, Permanent Secretary for Commerce Siripol Yodmuangcharoen said in Bangkok today. That’s the steepest slide since Bloomberg began tracking the data and compares with a 26.1 percent contraction in April.
The contraction in exports may ease in the coming months as manufacturers including Hana Microelectronics Pcl and KCE Electronics Pcl ship more products. Thailand’s industrial output fell the least in five months in April as manufacturers resumed filling orders after customers started rebuilding stockpiles in anticipation of improving demand.
“We are still walking in a tunnel but we have started to see the light at the end,” said Kanit Sangsubhan, director of the Finance Ministry’s research institute and a Bank of Thailand board member. “Demand from China and the rest of Asia will help our exports.”
A pick up in export orders boosted manufacturing output in April, Amara Sriphayak, a Bank of Thailand official, said on May 29. Richard Han, chief executive officer at Hana, said the same day that demand had accelerated in May from April.
Imports fell 34.7 percent to $9.25 billion, the smallest decline since December, as manufacturers bought more components used to build exports. The drop follows a 36.3 percent slide in April. The trade surplus in May narrowed to $2.41 billion from a $595 million excess a month earlier.
Thailand’s economy shrank 7.1 percent in the first quarter after a collapse in exports, which make up about 70 percent of gross domestic product. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on June 9 “the worst is behind us” and he expects GDP will return to annual growth in 2010
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