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Foreign currency recovery at IGI Airport

Customs Recovers Foreign Currency Worth Rs 10 Cr At Delhi Airport

By LokMarg 22nd July 2023

In what is claimed to be a “biggest-ever seizure”, Customs department officials on Friday recovered foreign currency worth over Rs 10 crores from three Tajikistan nationals at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

According to officials, the accused trio were caught while they were going to board a flight to Istanbul.
“On the basis of profiling, the officers of Airport Customs, IGI Airport, Terminal-3, New Delhi have booked the biggest-ever case of smuggling of foreign currency through any airport in India on 21 July against three Tajikistan national passengers,” the Customs department said in a statement on Saturday.

“These passengers were intended to depart for Istanbul by Flight No. TK 0717 dated 21 July from T3, IGI Airport, New Delhi,” the statement read.

“The detailed examination of the baggage and personal search of the passengers resulted in the recovery of foreign currency (USD 7,20,000/- & Euro 4,66,200/-) from the three passengers which is equivalent to Rs 10,06,78,410,” it said.

“The recovered foreign currency has been seized under section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962,” it said while adding that further investigation is under progress. (ANI)

Pakistan A Sinking Ship, On Brink Of Default: Economist Steve Hanke

By LokMarg 16th October 2022

Warning that Pakistan is on the brink of a “debt default”, renowned economist Steve Hanke said that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is failing to save the “sinking ship.”

“Its sovereign bonds have lost more than 60 pc of their value this year. I’m not surprised. PM Sharif’s government is failing to save the sinking ship,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle on Friday.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term deposit ratings to Caa1 from B3 of five Pakistani banks. The rating agency has also downgraded the five banks’ long-term foreign currency Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRRs) to Caa1 from B3.

The banks, which have been downgraded include Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd. (HBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), and United Bank Ltd. (UBL).

“As part of the same rating action, Moody’s lowered the Baseline Credit Assessments (BCAs) of ABL, MCB, and UBL to caa1 from b3, and as a result also downgraded their local-currency long-term CRRs to B3 from B2 and their long-term Counterparty Risk Assessments to B3(cr) from B2(cr). The BCAs of NBP and HBL were affirmed at caa1,” Moody’s said in a statement.

“The outlook on all banks’ deposit ratings remains negative,” it added. The downgrading of Pakistan banks reflects the government’s reduced capacity to support the banks, which has affected the banks whose ratings benefit from government support.

The reduced ratings also show the high credit linkages between the banks’ balance sheets and sovereign credit risk, which constrains the banks’ Baseline Credit Assessments at the level of the Caa1-rated government; and the lowering of Pakistan’s foreign currency ceiling to Caa1, which has affected the foreign currency CRRs of all rated banks.

Pakistan rejected Moody’s decision to downgrade its banks. The Shehbaz Sharif government said it was taken unilaterally and did not depict the true picture due to information gaps and contradictions.

Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said he would give a “befitting” reply in a meeting with its officials if the agency did not reverse the downgrade.

“They (Moody’s officials) have to meet me. I told them if you don’t [reverse] this, I will give you a befitting response in our meeting next week,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn. (ANI)

Experts Say Rupee To Fall Further, All Eyes On RBI Measures

By LokMarg 7th October 2022

With increasing oil prices weighing on traders’ sentiments, the rupee plunged to an all-time low of 82.22 against the US dollar in morning trade on Friday. Depending on the rising crude oil and US payroll data, the US Federal Reserve’s stance on monetary policy could also be determined. The rupee had closed at 81.88 in the previous session.

Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist, of Informerics Ratings, said, “the Indian rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar fell 3 percent over the last six sessions to nearly Rs 82.50 versus the dollar. There are both global and domestic factors responsible for this fall. The global headwinds include heightened uncertainties post the Russia-Ukraine war and consequently, risk-aversion and flight to safe havens.”

“Macroeconomic factors include sluggish growth, high inflationary pressures, rising trade deficit, current account deficit, fiscal deficit and foreign investors withdrawing money from the Indian markets together with limited scope for the RBI’s intervention because the forex reserves have fallen from US dollars (USD) 642 billion to USD 540 billion.” He added: “We see India’s current account deficit to be about 3.3 to 3.4 percent of GDP this year. There is a need for close monitoring and vigil on this score,” Sharma said.

Exporters should not be allowed to keep USD earnings beyond five days. The interest rate on NRI (foreign currency) account needs to be increased, Sharma opined, adding that the import duties on non-essential items needed to be increased.

Banks need to be advised by the RBI to start special USD-fixed deposits drive for a maturity ranging from 6 months to 2 years, with enhanced interest rates.

Aditi Singh, economist, at the Bank of Baroda, said, “This was mostly like a reflection of the US data that came out yesterday. There is an anticipation that the US payrolls report will come today leaving some nervousness in the market. The dollar is continuing to strengthen because of that, and that is the reason we are seeing pressure on other currencies. 82 level is breached and we probably see the rupee moving towards 82.5 to 83 level.”

“In comparison to currencies of advanced economies, the rupee had relatively performed relatively better. So, if you see the advanced economies like the yen or the euro or the pound, these currencies have depreciated much more and when you compare it even with the strength in the dollar index, the dollar has appreciated by close to 20%. So, INR has performed relatively more rational, more strength than other currencies and that is because of the strong domestic fundamentals of the Indian economy that is reflected,” Singh said.