The U.S. Chamber of Commerce May 5 announced the formation of the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response, which includes numerous Indian American company executives. The public-private partnership will provide immediate assistance to India and will assist in coordinating relief to respond to COVID-19 surges, according to the news release.

Among the members of the taskforce include Alphabet Inc. chief executive SundarPichai, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayan, Deloitte CEO PunitRenjen, FedEx chief operating officer and director Raj Subramaniam, IBM chair and CEO Arvind Krishna, and VMware chief operating officer Sanjay Poonen.The group also includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta and Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, among others. The Task Force will coordinate a coalition of corporations, non-profits and individual efforts to organize relief where it is needed most.

The task force is working with the Chamber’s U.S.-India Business Council and the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum to take three immediate actions to help address the COVID-19 surge in India.Sourcing, shipping and delivering 1,000 Puritan Bennett ventilators desperately needed by healthcare facilities across India. The first ventilators procured by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation have arrived, with all remaining ventilators expected to arrive by June 3. Medtronic will manufacture the ventilators and handle end-to-end shipping, installation and ongoing and virtual training, the release said.

It is also delivering 25,000 oxygen concentrators to India by the end of May, with transportation support from FedEx, it said. Additionally, it is creating the chief human resources officer India Action Group to provide ideas and practical information to CHROs to help their people in India.

The Global Task Force on Pandemic Response was launched to provide a unified platform for businesses to mobilize and deliver resources to assist COVID-19 efforts in areas of the highest need around the world, the release said.Initial efforts will focus on the pressing need for support in India, with more than 400,000 cases reported on May 1 alone. Through its Steering Committee, the Task Force will work to concentrate efforts where corporate support will be most beneficial, with additional countries to be determined in consultation with the U.S. government, the chamber adds.

The Global Task Force is working in close collaboration with U.S. and Indian government officials to share information and coordinate efforts. This includes regular briefings with the Modi and Biden Administrations, U.S. Congress, U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The coalition of leading companies, non-profits and associations that have come together to support these actions include Accenture, Adobe, Amazon, American Express, Amway, Apple, Applied Materials Foundation, Bank of America, BCG, Citi, David & Carol Van Andel Family Foundation, Dell, Deloitte, Dow, Ernst & Young, Emerson, Facebook, FedEx, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, John Chambers Foundation, Johnson Controls, JP Morgan Chase & Co, KKR, Lockheed Martin, Mastercard, McCormick & Company, McKinsey & Company, Medtronic, Merck, Microsoft, Nasdaq, Newsweek, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Qualcomm Foundation, Raytheon Technologies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, VIAVI Solutions, VMware, Walmart and Zoom.

Reliance Retail ranks 53rd in the list of Global Powers of Retailing by Deloitte, improves from 56th earlier. It remains the 2nd fastest growing retailer in the world despite the base effect of being No.1 last year.

Reliance Retail features consecutively for the 4th time in the list of Global Powers of Retailing and World’s Fastest Retailers. Reliance Retail, last year’s Fastest 50 leader, dropped to second place. The company recorded YoY growth of 41.8%, driven primarily by a 13.1% increase in the number of stores in its consumer electronics, fashion and lifestyle and grocery retail chains, to 11,784 stores across 7,000 plus towns and cities in India at fiscal year end.

E-commerce is a second growth driver, through both digital commerce (B2C) and B2B. The company is partnering with WhatsApp to further accelerate Reliance Retail’s digital commerce business on the JioMart platform using WhatsApp and to support small businesses on WhatsApp.

Reliance Retail acquired the 29 stores of Shri Kannan Departmental Store at the end of FY2019 and in August 2020 announced it would acquire Future Group’s retail, wholesale and logistics units for $3.4 billion.

When fully approved, the deal will almost double Reliance Retail’s store space.82 Reliance Retail also made two e-commerce acquisitions in 2020, buying Vitalic Health and its online pharmacy platform Netmeds in August, and a 96% stake in online home decor company UrbanLadder in November.

Walmart has led the list of the world’s Top 250 global retailers for over 20 years. The company registered YoY FY2019 retail revenue growth of 1.9%, fueled mainly by growth in comparable store sales in the United States.

Amazon becomes the number two global retailer, pushing Costco down to third place. Top 10 retailers focus on core markets, withdrawing from some international markets There were no new entrants to the Top 10 list in FY2019, which continues to be dominated by players based in the United States. The only mover was Amazon, which has risen in the rankings every year since its entry in tenth place in FY2015. (IANS)

The International Monetary Fund has long favored adoption of a global minimum tax on corporate profits, the Fund’s chief economist, Gita Gopinath, told reporters, calling tax avoidance a troubling issue for the global economy.

Gopinath said current disparities in national corporate tax rates had triggered “a large amount” of tax shifting and tax avoidance, reducing the tax base on which governments could collect revenues to fund needed economic and social spending. “It is a big concern,” Gopinath told reporters during an online briefing. “We are very much in favor of a global minimum corporate tax.”

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday a global deal on cross-border taxation was within reach as he welcomed a pledge by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to work on a global corporate minimum rate.

Gopinath said the IMF had not taken a position on the ideal level for such a tax rate, adding that governments would need to replenish their coffers after massive spending to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its economic impact.

“The hope is that they will move forward better to have more inclusive, sustainable, green economies, and that would require measures both on the revenue side and on the expenditure side,” she said, adding that each country would have to carefully tailor its own actions on the tax front.

Gopinath said the IMF was still studying the Biden administration’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%, but noted that the former Trump administration’s decision to lower that tax rate from 35% to 21% in 2017 had had less impact on investment than initially expected.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen advocated for a global minimum corporate tax in her first major public address. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan swiftly underscored the message, tweeting that “the U.S. is committed to end the race to the bottom on corporate tax rates and prevent corporations from shifting jobs overseas” as a core piece of its national security strategy.

As policymakers around the world consider a global minimum corporate tax, it is important to understand the context behind the concept and how this tax might actually work.

International corporate taxation has long presented a challenge for tax authorities around the world. The emergence of globalization and intangible capital in recent decades has made taxing multinational corporations (MNCs) increasingly difficult, and greater international cooperation is needed to make such taxation more effective.

A global minimum tax on profitable MNCs would ensure that a baseline level of revenue is collected from them. Although this tax would not solve all problems related to corporate tax avoidance and evasion, and its design and implementation need careful consideration, it would be an important and helpful step.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said there was “no evidence” that raising the corporate tax rate by seven percentage points would drive business abroad. White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that the 28% rate would be lower than it was at any time since World War Two.

The United States Trade Representative has announced initiation of investigation against the taxation on digital services adopted or under consideration by countries including the equalization levy applied by India. The other counties under investigation included Italy, Turkey, UK, Spain and Austria.

A statement from the office of the USTR said that in January it was found that digital service taxes (DST) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom were subject to action under Section 301 because they discriminated against US digital companies, were inconsistent with the principles of international taxation, and burdened US companies.

USTR is proceeding with the public notice and comment process on possible trade actions to preserve procedural options before the conclusion of the statutory one-year time period for completing the investigations.

“The United States is committed to working with its trading partners to resolve its concerns with digital services taxes, and to addressing broader issues of international taxation,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai.

“The United States remains committed to reaching an international consensus through the OECD process on international tax issues. However, until such a consensus is reached, we will maintain our options under the Section 301 process, including, if necessary, the imposition of tariffs.”

Among the proposed actions, the Joe Biden administration has proposed to impose retaliatory tariffs up to 25 per cent on around 40 Indian products including shrimps, basmati rice, gold and silver items.

The Government of India will examine the proposed action with the stakeholders concerned and would take suitable measures keeping its trade and commercial interest of the country and overall interest of its people, according to official sources.

With regard to India, the investigation was targeted on the 2 per cent equalisation levy (EL)levied by India on e-commerce supply of services. The investigation included whether the EL discriminated against US companies, was applied retrospectively, and diverged from U.S or international tax norms due to its applicability on entities not resident in India.

The U.S. requested for bilateral consultations in this matter, and India submitted its comments to the USTR on 15 July 2020, participated in the bilateral consultation held on 5 Nov 2020.

India made a strong case that the levy is not discriminatory and only seeks to ensure a level-playing field with respect to e-commerce activities undertaken by entities with permanent establishment in India.

It also clarified that the equalisation levy was applied only prospectively, and has no extra-territorial application, since it is based on sales occurring in the territory of India through digital means.

India based e-commerce operators are already subject to taxes in India for revenue generated from Indian market. However, in the absence of the levy, non-resident e-commerce operators, not having any permanent establishment in India but with significant economic presence, are not required to pay taxes in respect of the consideration received in the e-commerce supply or services made in the Indian market. (IANS)

The World Bank has scaled up its projections for India’s economic growth by a massive 4.7 percentage points to 10.1 per cent for 2021-22 due to strong rebound in private consumption and investment growth. The Bank had pegged the GDP growth at 5.4 per cent for the country in its January report.

“India, which comprises almost 80 percent of the region’s (south Asia) GDP, had a substantial revision to growth of 4.7 percentage points since January 2021, due to a strong rebound in private consumption and investment growth in the second and third quarters (July-December, 2020) of FY21,” the Bank said in a report, titled South Asia Economic Focus Spring 2021-South Asia Vaccinates.

Considering the uncertainty caused by Covid cases in 2021-22, the Bank also gave a range of economic growth for India, at 7.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent, for FY22. “Given the significant uncertainty pertaining to both epidemiological and policy developments, real GDP growth for FY’22 can range from 7.5 to 12.5 percent, depending on how the ongoing vaccination campaign proceeds, whether new restrictions to mobility are required, and how quickly the world economy

Private consumption and public investment will see the Indian economy likely growing by 10.1% in 2021-22 (FY22), the World Bank said, although, in a sign of all-around uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it said India’s economic growth in FY22 would be in the broad range from 7.5% to 12.5%.

The 10.1% is 4.7 percentage points higher than the World Bank’s previous estimate for India’s growth in 2021, and reflects the pace of the country’s recovery. However the Bank also expects the Indian economy to contract by 8.5% in FY21, higher than the government’s own estimate of 8%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s economy will grow by 11.5% over 2021 and 6.8% over 2022, painting a rosier picture.

“Given the significant uncertainty pertaining to both epidemiological and policy developments, real GDP (gross domestic product) growth for FY21/22 can range from 7.5 to 12.5%, depending on how the ongoing vaccination campaign proceeds, whether new restrictions to mobility are required, and how quickly the world economy recovers,” the World Bank said in a report titled “South Asia Vaccinates”.

Going forward, the report said, “the main risks to the outlook include the materialisation of financial sector risks, that could compromise a recovery in private investment, and new waves of Covid-19 infections.” It saw growth in the country at 6-7% in the medium term.

The Indian economy was already slowing ahead of the pandemic, but the disease and mitigation measures such as lockdowns deepened the crisis several times over, contracting output and shrinking spending and investments.

“In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, the authorities implemented a nationwide lockdown, which brought economic activity to a near standstill between April and June 2020 (Q1FY21),” the report said. Aviation and tourism, hospitality, trade, and construction, were the worst hit as well and industrial activity, overall, was also deeply disrupted. Agriculture, however, was mostly unaffected, it noted.

Acknowledging it is “not normal” to cite growth forecast in a range of numbers, World Bank’s Chief Economist for South Asia, Hans Timmer, told reporters: “We are in an unprecedented circumstance. Not just the hits (were) unprecedented, but also the character of the crisis was as we had never seen before.”

He added that certain sectors of the economy hat were hit were normally much more resilient, especially the services sector, domestic services. “It’s the informal sector. And as a result, we can’t rely really on the past on how this recovery will shape up.” The report forecast growth for the South Asia region at 7.2% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022.

Timmer said the second wave of infections in India “does not mean we go back to the situation a year ago.” “The next few months will be marked by the speed of the vaccine roll-out and the optimism it may bring to consumer spending and investments,” he added. The report estimated “general government deficit to remain above 10%” till the end of FY22, numbers that are in sync with India’s estimate of fiscal deficit.

The US Dollar’s share of global currency reserves dropped in the fourth quarter to around 59%, the lowest in 25 years, according to International Monetary Fund data. The slide came in a quarter when a gauge of the greenback fell the most since 2010, and amid questions about how long the dollar can maintain its status as the pre-eminent reserve currency. The Chinese renminbi is transforming into a force to be reckoned with in currency markets, with more yuan changing hands than ever before in London, the world’s leading foreign-exchange center.

“This is a slow burn theme, but we are of the view that we’re eventually headed into a ‘multiple reserve currency’ framework over time,” Bipan Rai, a strategist at CIBC, said via email. In the fourth quarter, the euro’s share of official foreign-exchange reserves climbed to 21.2% from 20.5%, while the yuan’s rose to almost 2.3% from 2.1%. The renminbi accounted for 1.94% in the final three months of 2019.

For Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global, the drop in the dollar’s share of global reserves is temporary and was driven by its slide against most currencies in the fourth quarter. He’s focusing on data that shows dollar holdings among central banks climbed to $7 trillion, a record, noting that the percentage changes are “distorted” by short-term valuation changes.

“The 59% is a statistical noise generated by a combination of valuation and material changes” in demand for the euro in the fourth quarter, he said in an email. “The dollar’s recovery in Q1 21 will reverse the valuation adjustment and will see the dollar share of reserves increase.”
With its rebound this year, the dollar is heading for its best quarterly performance in a year, up by 2.8%. The greenback is still the most dominant currency used, with data from the Bank for International Settlements showing it’s on one side of 88% of all trades.

Americans who purchased new homes or refinanced their mortgages over the past few months may have done so at just the right moment. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.02%, mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac said Thursday. It is the first time the rate on America’s most popular home loan has risen above 3% since July and the fifth consecutive week it has increased or held steady.

Mortgage rates fell throughout most of 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the economy. That helped power the biggest boom in mortgage lending since before the financial crisis, fueled by refinancings. When rates hit 2.98% in July, it was their first time under the 3% mark in about 50 years of record-keeping.

The recent upward moves paint a clear contrast: More vaccinations in the U.S. and recent progress on the latest coronavirus relief bill have brightened investors’ outlook on the economy, a key variable in determining borrowing rates.

Mortgage rates tend to move in the same direction as the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which has been rising. Treasury yields rise when investors feel confident enough in the economy to forgo safe-haven assets such as bonds for riskier ones including stocks. Last week, the yield hit its highest level in a year.

Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said he expects a strong sales season, partly because he thinks “the uptrend in rates from here will be more muted than the past few weeks.” The Federal Reserve has said it would maintain ultralow interest rates until the economy improves.

The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 3.02% this week, up from 2.97% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored agency that backs millions of mortgages. That was the first time the rate exceeded 3% since the third week in July and the highest level since the first full week in July, when the rate was 3.03%.

The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages surged over 3% this week, hitting that benchmark for the first time in seven months.

The rise in rates isn’t a surprise. With expectations that the economy will start to recover and the potential for increasing inflation, many experts see mortgage rates rising in 2021.

However, it’s important to note that even with the recent rate growth, both mortgage and refinance rates remain historically low. As recently as May 2019, rates were over 4%, so many homeowners still have the opportunity to save with a mortgage refinance or purchase a new home at a low rate.

Here’s what rising rates might mean for you.

Rates have surged 0.37% from an all-time low of 2.65% in early January and now sit at 3.02%, according to Freddie Mac. For someone taking out a $250,000 30-year mortgage, this increase in rates would add about $49 to your monthly payment and cost roughly $17,800 more in interest over the life of the loan.

Mortgage interest rates aren’t expected to continue to rise at this rate. “The rise in mortgage rates over the next couple of months is likely to be more muted in comparison to the last few weeks,”  Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said in a statement released yesterday. So don’t expect to see the real estate market turn into a buyers market anytime soon.

This rapid increase in rates has been driven, in part, by rising long-term Treasury bond yields, which topped 1.5%. “Interest rates have been volatile recently, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury increasing about 50 basis points from where it was at the start of the year,” Freddie Mac deputy chief economist Len Kiefer wrote in an email. And that has put pressure on mortgage rates, which historically have moved in tandem with 10-year Treasury bond yields.

For now, however, the message remains the same: If you’re financially ready to buy or refinance a home, today’s mortgage interest rates are historically low.

The US has agreed to suspend tariffs on UK goods including single malt whiskies that were imposed in retaliation over subsidies to the aircraft maker Airbus.  Tariffs will also be lifted on UK cheese, cashmere and machinery.

The duties will be suspended for four months while the two sides seek a long-term settlement. On 1 January, the UK dropped its own tariffs on some US goods, put in place over a related dispute about US subsidies to Boeing.

It is the latest twist in a decades-old trade row that has seen the EU and the US target billions of dollars worth of each other’s exports with taxes.

The UK is part of the dispute as a former EU member. Airbus makes wings and other parts in the UK, but assembles its commercial aircraft in the EU. It has hit Scotch whisky producers particularly hard as the US is a key export market. Distilleries have reported £500m of losses since 2019 due to the tariffs.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the trade truce, due to come into force on Monday, would boost British business. “From Scotch whisky distillers to Stilton-makers, the US decision to suspend tariffs on some UK exports today will benefit businesses right across the UK,” he tweeted.

“Fantastic news as we strengthen the UK-US trading relationship and work to build back better from the pandemic.” Simon Cotton, boss of Speyside-based textiles firm Johnston’s of Elgin, says he’s “absolutely delighted” the tariffs have been suspended.

The company, which employs 850 people, has been taking a “25% hit” on every knitwear product it exports to the US – “a significant cost” at a time when Covid and Brexit also pose challenges.

In Speyside many other businesses have felt the impact of the US tariffs, including whisky distilleries and shortbread makers.

“This has been a particularly difficult tax for the businesses here, so it’s a huge relief for the region,” says Mr Cotton. “We’re hoping this paves the way for a permanent removal of these tariffs.”

Karen Betts, head of the Scotch Whisky Association, called the suspension “fabulous news”. “The tariff on single malt Scotch whisky exports to the US has been doing real damage to Scotch whisky in the 16 months it has been in place, with exports to the US falling by 35%,” she said.

“So today, everyone in our industry – from small companies to large – is breathing a sigh of relief.” For more than a decade, the EU and US accused each other of propping up their home aviation markets with tax breaks, research grants and other aid.

But tensions flared in 2019, when former US president Donald Trump retaliated by putting tariffs on $7.5bn (£5.4bn) of EU goods, including UK products such as whisky.

Since it left the EU, the UK has been lobbying Washington to drop the duties on its goods as it seeks a wide-ranging trade deal with the US. Talks with Washington abruptly broke off in January but resumed after Joe Biden became US president.

Biden’s top trade nominee, Katherine Tai, has said she will make it a priority to resolve the row with the EU and Britain – although for now US tariffs continue to apply to EU goods. In a joint statement on Thursday, the UK and the US said that the suspension would “ease the burden on industry and take a bold, joint step towards resolving the longest-running disputes at the World Trade Organization”.

The two countries added that it would also allow time to focus on negotiating “a balanced settlement to the disputes, and begin seriously addressing the challenges posed by new entrants to the civil aviation market from non-market economies, such as China”.

Airbus welcomed the removal of “lose-lose tariffs” and urged the UK and US governments to reach a long-term settlement.  More than £500m-worth of whisky sales have been lost since October 2019, when the 25% tariff was introduced on single malt Scotch. Smaller distillers were hit hardest.

The US is the biggest single-nation export market by value. President Trump’s US Trade Representative reckoned it was a good source of political leverage in the 17-year trade dispute over aircraft manufacturing.

Scottish cashmere sweaters were also targeted. In the political calculation of trade disputes, the US did not include Irish whiskey or Italian cashmere, giving them the opportunity to exploit the rift and grow market share.

It was not until last autumn that the European Union and the UK won the right, at the World Trade Organisation, to hit back over Boeing subsidies by US governments. That levelled the field on which to negotiate a resolution.

Donald Trump used trade tariffs as a bludgeon intended to protect American jobs, and although Joe Biden is not noted as an enthusiast for globalisation and free trade, this suspension of tariffs signals his administration is in the business of negotiated deals between partners.

It acknowledges the trans-Atlantic partners should perhaps focus more on manufacturing competition from China. But there is work to be done: the EU, UK and US have not only the Boeing/Airbus dispute to resolve, but another one over steel and aluminium, which explains the 25% tariff currently on imported American whiskey.

For Liz Truss and the UK government’s attempts to secure post-Brexit trade deals, this is a significant step forward. It seems the Biden administration is not prioritising the European Union ahead of Britain. However, a UK-US free trade deal is a long way from here.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is beginning one of its most consequential transitions in decades. In mid-March, CEO Tom Donohue will step down after 24 years leading the largest and most impactful business advocacy organization in the world, which serves as the voice for thousands of businesses operating across 45 countries.

Incoming Chamber President & CEO Suzanne Clark brings a wealth of experience to the role, having worked at the Chamber for 16 years and in the private sector for decades. Through a uniquely tumultuous year, Suzanne has served as a “trusted partner, leading the team and designing the strategy for the Chamber’s bright future.” You can read some of her initial thoughts on U.S. global engagement and our responsibility to advance the greater good.

USIBC President Nisha Biswal will also take on an expanded role at the Chamber as Senior Vice President for International Strategy and Global Initiatives, encompassing global security, sustainability and climate. The portfolio addition comes at a crucial time as the Chamber expands its cross-cutting work.

This week, the pivotal organization hosted ‘The State of U.S.-India Business’ with Indian Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu and USIBC’s recently announced Global Board Vice Chairs. In remarks on the road ahead for U.S.-India commercial and strategic ties, Ambassador Sandhu and Minister Goyal laid out their vision for a more ambitious bilateral trade agenda. In his keynote, Minister Goyal made headlines by suggesting that the previously negotiated mini trade deal was off the table, but pledged to engage with the new U.S. Trade Representative on a broader agreement. He also emphasized the need for collaboration to address emerging challenges on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and healthcare access tied to India’s COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution. The public session was preceded by a closed-door roundtable with Minister Goyal and senior executives from the USIBC membership.

It continued conversations on the U.S.-India partnership with the launch of our new ‘Accelerate to 500’ series, which focuses on trade opportunities generated at the city and state level. Accelerate to 500, presented in collaboration with law firms, investment agencies and professional services firms, helps chart a path towards the goal of $500 billion in two-way trade. During the session, which featured remarks by Invest India MD & CEO Deepak Bagla and Acting Under Secretary for International Trade Diane Farrell, we also launched a ‘Doing Business in India’ report developed in collaboration with Nishith Desai Associates and Sannam S4.
This week also saw the first meeting of the ‘Quad’ since the Biden administration took office, and the 3rd since the grouping was established. The session focused on cooperation on COVID-19 response and recovery and climate change. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and counterparts from Australia and Japan also discussed countering disinformation, counter-terrorism, maritime security, and democratic resilience. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs readout of the session focused on “rules-based international order, underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty,” noteworthy given the recent drawdown of troops from the disputed India-China border region.

The week ended with cheers from the global community as the United States formally rejoined the Paris Agreement. While a return to the Agreement has long been a priority for President Biden, his administration will now face the more challenging task of convincing skeptics at home and abroad that it is serious about its emissions-cutting commitments.

Looking ahead, USIBC will continue its high level engagements next week with a post-budget conversation featuring Secretary of Economic Affairs Tarun Bajaj, focused on maximizing the impact of the FY21-22 Union Budget.

Living paycheck to paycheck is exhausting. As soon as your paycheck comes in, you have to spend it all on necessities like rent, utilities, insurance, and paying off debt. There’s usually little, if anything, left for savings or recreational activities.

Then, something even worse happens: you’re hit with a fee. You might have missed a payment deadline, overdrawn your account, lost your credit card, or encountered a different situation that decided your wallet needed another gut-punch. It might only sound like $12, the cost of a cheap meal out, but it’s $12 you don’t have and desperately need for something else.

You might feel dread toward these impending fees when you pay a bill, or they come at you from out of nowhere. If you live paycheck to paycheck and want to make sure as much of your hard-earned money goes where it should, follow these seven tips for avoiding unnecessary fees.

Avoid Banks that Charge Maintenance Fees

Bank “maintenance fees” are particularly sinister. Financial institutions charge them if you don’t meet specific requirements, such as holding a minimum balance in your account ($1,500 in the case of many big banks) or making frequent direct deposits over a specified amount. You might not even be aware of them unless you check your billing statement.

It’s not fair that banks charge you money for not having enough money. Maintenance fees are often monthly and can accumulate over time — Americans paid $3.5 billion in maintenance fees in 2017. These fees perpetuate the poverty cycle because if you live paycheck to paycheck or have irregular income (like freelancers), of course you don’t have $1,500 in your account at all times.

Don’t use banks that charge maintenance fees. Many big banks do, but examples of financial institutions that don’t include Ally Bank, Capital One Bank 360, and FNBO Direct.

Deposit Money the Long Way

Deposit money into your account the long way, if possible. This process means being patient when getting paid, especially if you’re a contractor or freelancer that relies on services like PayPal.

PayPal offers multiple bank transfer options, including Standard Transfer and Instant Transfer. The former is free and takes one to three business days, but the latter costs 1% of the transaction up to $10. Opt for the Instant Transfer option when you can, or use mobile deposit with a physical check.

Use Apps that Don’t Charge Minimum Fees

However, the pay cycle is notorious for delays that make living paycheck to paycheck even more difficult. It’s entirely possible that you need your money now, not later — but what can you do about it? You can’t exactly force direct deposit to go faster.

One solution is to use financial apps that allow you to access your paycheck without having to wait weeks for it. One such app is Earnin, which you can use to access up to $100 of your paycheck per day, up to $500 per pay period. The app deducts the amount you took out on payday without mandatory fees or interest. Earnin is community-driven, so you can pay however much you think is fair as a thank you for its service.

Set Up Auto Pay

Are late fees the bane of your existence because you regularly forget to pay a bill on time? Apps like Earnin can help you avoid late fees, but consider setting up auto-pay on your credit card and other if you can afford to do so. This way, you never have to remember payment deadlines; your account will pay what you owe automatically.

Sign Up for Low-Balance Alerts

If you cannot risk auto-pay because you’re worried about insufficient funds, then sign up for low-balance alerts with an app or through your bank. Low-balance alerts will notify you when your account balance has dipped below a certain number — possibly of your choosing, depending on the service — so that you know when it’s time to replenish your account with additional funds or to watch your budget before bills are due.

These alerts aren’t perfect because banks can be slow to share information with external apps. However, they can help avoid bank overdraft fees, which financial institutions charge if you opt-in to its overdraft protection service. While the ability to overdraw your checking account and complete transactions regardless of funds seems convenient, there are other pros and cons to consider (you can also open a checking account with no overdraft fees).

Use Your Bank’s ATMs

ATM fees are one of the most-hated fees in the U.S. You incur these fees if you want to access your money from a machine that’s not in your bank or credit union’s network.

Only use ATMs within your financial institution’s network when possible. If none are around, you can obtain cash at a supermarket that offers cash back options with a small purchase (which sounds like a fee in itself, so only buy something you need!).

Opt-Out of Paper Communications

Your bank is going to communicate with you, and you would be wise to pay attention. Unfortunately, many banks default to mailing paper communications instead of using digital means — and then charge you for it. Log into your online account or call your bank’s customer service line to opt-out of paper notifications and save yourself some cash.

Unnecessary fees make it extra challenging for people living paycheck to paycheck to save money. If you want to lose as little of your money as possible to predatory financial institutions, research what fees your bank (or prospective bank) charges and which they are most likely to make you pay, depending on your situation.

(This article originally appeared on Earnin.)

The price of oil has recovered to its pre-pandemic levels having hit an all-time low last year. While demand for oil is still lower than normal, there are hopes of a speedier than expected economic recovery as vaccines are rolled out.

Oil prices are often seen as a barometer for economic activity, still struggling with the virus downturn. “Black gold” has now reached $60 a barrel having risen more than 50% in the last few months.

Brent crude, the major benchmark for oil, has seen strong growth recently. Futures contracts, which are based on the price of future delivery, have jumped 59% since November.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for US oil, last week rose above $55 a barrel for the first time in over a year.

“The biggest driver for the latest surge in prices seen through last week was a sharp upturn in expectations for economic and oil demand recovery on signs that the coronavirus may finally be in retreat,” Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based oil markets data firm Vanda Insights told the BBC.

Demand has been rising in parts of the world, particularly Asia. “We are quite optimistic about what it is that we are seeing in China,” Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said last week.

Other factors have also played their part to push up prices such as efforts by oil-producing nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, to limit output.

Since agreeing to the cut in production last April, producers have held back a cumulative 2.1 billion barrels of oil, leading to decreasing stockpiles.

The coronavirus crisis has been devastating for the petroleum industry, and last year prices slumped below zero with more than one billion surplus barrels.

Demand for fuel from airlines has seen the most dramatic fall as travel curbs remain in place. Air passenger traffic is 70% below year-ago levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.

But demand has picked up in other areas, thanks in part to the shift to working and consuming more from home.

As consumers are buying more online, this has spurred demand for fuel to power delivery trucks and vans, along with cargo ships and and freight trains.

The e-commerce boom has also caused a spike for plastic packaging, which is made using oil products.

However, oil demand is still lower than pre-pandemic levels and a slow economic recovery would delay a full rebound in world energy demand for years to come, the International Energy Agency warned last month.

“There could be more setbacks in the spread of the virus or the vaccinations, causing a pullback in prices, though short of another crisis,” added Ms Hari.

(Picture: Business Focus)

China will overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy by 2028, five years earlier than previously forecast, a report by the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said. China’s “skilful” management of Covid-19 would boost its relative growth compared to the US and Europe in coming years, the report stated. Meanwhile India is tipped to become the third largest economy by 2030.
The CEBR releases its economic league table every year on 26 December. Although China was the first country hit by Covid-19, it controlled the disease through swift and extremely strict action, meaning it did not need to repeat economically paralysing lockdowns as European countries have done.
As a result, unlike other major economies, it has avoided an economic recession in 2020 and is in fact estimated to see growth of 2% this year.
‘China is a hard rock. It won’t be beaten by virus’ The US economy, by contrast, has been hit hard by the world’s worst coronavirus epidemic in terms of sheer numbers. More than 330,000 people have died in the US and there have been some 18.5 million confirmed cases.
The economic damage has been cushioned by monetary policy and a huge fiscal stimulus, but political disagreements over a new stimulus package could leave around 14 million Americans without unemployment benefit payments in the new year.
“For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China,” says the CEBR report. “The Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China’s favor.”
The report says that after “a strong post-pandemic rebound in 2021”, the US economy will grow by about 1.9% annually from 2022-24 and then slow to 1.6% in the years after that.
By contrast the Chinese economy is tipped to grow by 5.7% annually until 2025, and 4.5% annually from 2026-2030.
China’s share of the world economy has risen from just 3.6% in 2000 to 17.8% now and the country will become a “high-income economy” by 2023, the report says.
The Chinese economy is not only benefitting from having controlled Covid-19 early, but also aggressive policymaking targeting industries like advanced manufacturing, said CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams.
“They seem to be trying to have centralised control at one level, but quite a free market economy in other areas,” he told the BBC. “And it’s the free market bit that’s helping them move forward particularly in areas like tech.”
But the average Chinese person will remain far poorer in financial terms than the average American even after China becomes the world’s biggest economy, given that China’s population is four times bigger.
In other predictions:
The post-Brexit UK economy will grow by 4% annually from 2021-25 and 1.8% annually from 2026-30 (after shrinking in 2020)
India had overtaken the UK as the fifth-biggest economy in 2019 but has slipped behind it again due to the pandemic’s impact. It won’t take over again until 2024, the CEBR says. India’s economy will go on to overtake Germany in 2027 and Japan in 2030