2024-09-16 07:50

At least 17 dead after heavy rains, flooding Rising rivers put more places on alert Polish government announces state of disaster Czech town Litovel submerged, Jesenik starts cleaning up JESENIK/LITOVEL, Czech Republic Sept 16 (Reuters) - Residents of several areas of Poland and the Czech Republic rushed to evacuate on Monday as others in central Europe began cleaning up after the worst flooding in over two decades left a trail of destruction and a rising number of deaths. Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit hard over the weekend as heavy rain that has fallen since last week and surging water levels collapsed some bridges, forced evacuations and damaged cars and houses. At least 17 people have died in flooding from Romania to Poland in the past few days. On Monday afternoon, the mayor of Nysa, a town of more than 40,000 people in southern Poland, called on residents to evacuate immediately after a nearby floodbank was damaged. In the northeastern Czech city of Ostrava, a broken barrier on the Odra river at its confluence with the Opava river caused flooding of the city's industrial area including the BorsodChem chemical plant, coking plant OKK Koksovny and others. Hundreds of people were being evacuated from more residential areas as well. In the Czech town of Litovel, 70% of which was submerged by water up to a metre deep (3.2 feet) on Monday, residents described their fear as waters rose quickly over the weekend. "I was just very, very afraid... I ran away because the water was rising very quickly near the house," said Renata Gaborova, 39. 'APOCALYPSE' Poland's government announced a state of natural disaster in affected areas and said that it had set aside 1 billion zlotys ($260 million) to help victims. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was in touch with the leaders of other affected countries and that they would ask the European Union for financial aid. Szymon Krzysztan, 16, standing in the town square of Ladek Zdroj, described losses from the floods as "unimaginable". "It's a city like in an apocalypse... It's a ghost town," he said. Reuters footage showed the town strewn with debris and mud. "Armageddon... It literally ripped out everything because we don't have a single bridge. In Ladek, all bridges have disappeared. We are practically cut off from the world," Jerzy Adamczyk, 70, told Reuters. In Jesenik, a Czech town across the border that was inundated on Sunday, a clean-up was starting after waters receded to show damaged cars and debris on the streets. "There were two metres of water that ran through the street... There are many, many destroyed cars," said resident Zdenek Kuzilek. "Telephones are not working, there is no water, no electricity." In eastern Romania, where villages and towns were submerged over the weekend, Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Conachi, told Romanian television some people had been left with just the clothes they had on. PREPARATION While water was receding in some areas, others, including Wroclaw, a Polish city of some 600,000 people, were shoring up defences for floodwaters heading their way. In Romania, the flooding killed seven people over the last few days. An Austrian firefighter died on Sunday. In the state of Lower Austria that surrounds Vienna, two men aged 70 and 80 were found drowned in their homes, a police spokesperson said on Monday. Polish police said four people died as a result of floods in Poland, and in the Czech Republic three have died, a police official said. Slovakia's capital Bratislava and the Hungarian capital Budapest were both preparing for possible flooding as the River Danube rose. Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said efforts were focused on keeping the river and its tributaries within their banks and said up to 12,000 soldiers were on standby to help. In Austria, the levels of rivers and reservoirs fell overnight as rain eased but officials said they were bracing for a second wave as heavier rain was expected. ($1 = 3.8398 zlotys) (This story has been refiled to add a dropped last name in the byline) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/more-rivers-spill-banks-central-european-floods-death-toll-rises-2024-09-16/

2024-09-16 06:24

GANDHINAGAR, India, Sept 16 (Reuters) - India will connect a record 35 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind energy capacity to its grid during the year ending March 2025, a top bureaucrat told Reuters, as it scrambles to achieve its 2030 clean energy target after falling short of a much publicised 2022 renewables goal. The world's fastest growing major economy has prioritised coal to address a surge in power demand in recent years, with growth in coal-fired power output expected to outpace renewable energy generation this year. Commissioning of large solar farms has slowed in recent years and resulted in solar power generation growing at the slowest pace in six years during the first half of 2024. However India, the world's third largest solar power producer, expects that to change starting this fiscal year, when it sees fresh additions of 30 GW of solar capacity, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, the top bureaucrat at India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy told Reuters. The country will also add about 5 GW of new wind capacity, he said. India added a total of 10 GW of renewable capacity in April-August, the first five months of this fiscal year, taking its total to about 153 GW, government data showed. "We cannot provide an exact number for next year (2025-26), but we will definitely overtake this year's capacity (addition)," Bhalla said on the sidelines of RE-Invest, India's biggest renewable energy conference. Bhalla also said there was a "lot of market demand for battery-linked storage projects," adding that more tenders for such projects can be expected going forward. India is still 13% short of a pledge made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the UN climate talks in Paris in 2015 to increase its renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by 2022. It is the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter, although per capita emissions from its population of about 1.5 billion people are among the lowest among major economies. The south Asian nation will need to add about 30% more clean capacity every year than the expected wind and solar additions this fiscal year to achieve its end-2030 target of increasing its non-fossil power capacity to 500 GW, underscoring the challenges in meeting its clean energy goals. Renewable energy minister Prahlad Joshi said financial institutions have pledged to provide $386 billion in funding for renewable projects by 2030, adding that clean energy developers have committed to boost India's non-fossil capacity by 570 GW. Separately, Indian conglomerates Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) , opens new tab committed 100 GW of additional renewable capacity by 2030, while Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) , opens new tab committed 38.8 GW of capacity. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/india-gets-386-bln-financial-commitment-expand-renewable-capacity-2024-09-16/

2024-09-16 05:44

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have lowered their full-year projections for China's economic growth to 4.7%, after the world's second-largest economy's industrial output slowed to a five-month low in August. Weak economic activity in August has ramped up attention on China's slow economic recovery and highlighted the need for further stimulus measures to shore up demand. The faltering growth has prompted global brokerages to scale back their 2024 projections to below government's target of around 5%. Goldman Sachs earlier expected full-year growth for the economy at 4.9%, while Citigroup had forecast growth at 4.8%. China's industrial output in August expanded 4.5% year-on-year, slowing from the 5.1% pace in July and marking the slowest growth since March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday. Retail sales - a key gauge of consumption - rose 2.1% in August, decelerating from a 2.7% increase in July amid extreme weather and a summer travel peak. Analysts had expected retail sales, which have been anemic all year, to grow 2.5%. "We believe the risk that China will miss the 'around 5%' full-year GDP growth target is on the rise, and thus the urgency for more demand-side easing measures is also increasing," Goldman Sachs said in a note dated Sept. 15. It maintained the country's 2025 GDP growth forecast at 4.3%. However, Citigroup on Sunday trimmed its 2025 year-end forecast for China's GDP growth to 4.2% from 4.5% due to a lack of major catalysts for domestic demand. "We believe fiscal policy needs to step up to so as to break the austerity trap and timely deploy growth support," economists at Citigroup said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/goldman-sachs-citigroup-cut-chinas-2024-growth-forecast-47-2024-09-16/

2024-09-16 05:29

Incoming govt plans green fund underwritten by carbon credit sales Fund aims to create jobs and help economy reach 8% growth, says adviser Analyst says fund's targets highly ambitious due to market challenges JAKARTA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Subianto plans to launch a green economy fund by selling carbon emission credits from projects such as rainforest preservation, aiming to raise $65 billion by 2028, an adviser told Reuters. A new regulator for carbon emission rules will be established to oversee efforts to reach Indonesia's emissions targets under the Paris agreement, said Ferry Latuhihin, one of Prabowo's advisers on climate policies. The regulator will then form a "special mission vehicle" that will manage a green fund and operate carbon-offsetting projects, he said in an interview. The projects would include forest preservation, reforestation, and peatland and mangrove replanting, to generate carbon credits that can be sold internationally, Latuhihin said. The target is to grow the vehicle to reach 1,000 trillion rupiah ($65 billion) by 2028, he said. "We need to utilise our comparative advantage, which is the nature," Latuhihin said. The scale of the proposed fund, which has not previously been reported, has the potential to help one of the world’s top 10 emitters and home to the world's third-largest tropical rainforest meet its goal of net carbon neutrality by 2060. Still, it faces big challenges including competition in global carbon markets and ensuring projects are seen as credible. Christina Ng, managing director of the Energy Shift Institute, a think tank focused on Asia's energy transition, said Indonesia's vast natural ecosystem offered scope for major carbon offset projects, but the targets were highly ambitious from financial and operational perspectives. Prabowo, who will be inaugurated on Oct. 20, has pledged to boost economic growth to 8% during his five-year term, from 5% now, including through investment in green projects. Latuhihin said the offset projects would create massive job opportunities and could help reach the growth target. The incoming government will provide seed capital, which is still being determined, but it expected the fund would grow by selling carbon credits locally and overseas and pay dividends to the government once it became profitable, he said. Pooling funds in a such an entity would allow Indonesia to run large-scale green projects without using the government's budget, Latuhihin said. He said international standards on verification will be followed, and technology will be deployed to confirm how much carbon dioxide (CO2) each project removes from the atmosphere. FUND TARGET CHALLENGING Ng said nature-based carbon credits typically trade between $5 to $50 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent, but the price averaged below $10 per ton last year. Even at $50 per ton, raising $10 billion annually - still short of what is needed to reach the planned fund's target over the next four years - would require selling 200 million tons of carbon credits. That is just shy of a total 239 million ton carbon credit issuance the entire global voluntary market recorded at its peak in 2021, Ng said, underscoring the challenge of meeting the fund's target. At $10 per ton, the same volumes would only raise $2 billion annually, making the $65 billion target even further out of reach. "Given the competitive landscape of global carbon markets, with countries like Brazil and others in Southeast Asia also offering nature-based credits, the entity will need to demonstrate that their credits meet the highest standards," she said, noting that Indonesia's track record has been marred by governance issues. Indonesia's rate of deforestation has declined in recent years, though it frequently reports forest fires, often started by farmers to clear land for plantations. The incoming government will hold road shows to promote the projects overseas, hoping to work with major international banks on carbon credit sales in markets with higher carbon prices, Latuhihin said. ($1 = 15,412.0000 rupiah) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-prabowo-plans-65-bln-green-fund-selling-carbon-credits-2024-09-13/

2024-09-16 05:19

MUMBAI, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was little changed on Monday, wedged between oil companies' dollar demand and a rise in its Asian peers on the back of heightened odds of a 50 basis point U.S. rate cut later this week. The rupee was at 83.8925 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:25 a.m. IST, barely changed from its close at 83.8875 on Friday. The dollar index fell 0.2% to 100.8 on Monday while Asian currencies rose, with the Malaysian ringgit and Korean won up 0.8% each and leading gains. Local oil companies have been "constant buyers (of dollars)" at sub 83.90 levels on the dollar-rupee pair, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. Despite growing odds of a deeper rate cut by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, the impact on the rupee is likely to remain muted as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to allow sharp gains, the trader added. The odds of a 50 bps rate reduction have risen to 57%, up from 30% as of Sept. 6, according to CME's FedWatch tool. The rupee has also not benefited from an improvement in portfolio inflows as the RBI likely stepped in to absorb dollar inflows over recent sessions, traders said. Overseas investors have net bought Indian bonds and equities worth more than $6 billion in so far September, up from around $3 billion in August, according to stock depository data. The local currency's muted price action "is largely due to the RBI's persistent intervention on the buying side, reflected in the build-up of reserves," Amit Pabari, managing director at FX advisory firm CR Forex, said. India's foreign exchange reserves rose for a fourth straight week to hit a record high of $689.24 billion as of Sept. 6, according to central bank data. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-flat-oil-firms-dollar-bids-offset-impact-rise-asia-fx-2024-09-16/

2024-09-16 05:07

BANGKOK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Thailand's baht is too strong and is affecting exports, which are expected to post only small growth this year, and the central bank should take action on the currency, the commerce minister said on Monday. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) should also cut interest rates to increase liquidity, Pichai Naripthaphan said, continuing a months-long disagreement between the government and the central bank over the setting of rates. One Monday, the baht traded at its strongest level in more than 18 months against the U.S. dollar. The ministry last month maintained its export growth target for the full year at 1% to 2%. For the January-July period, exports were up 3.8% from the same period in 2023. In August, the central bank held key rates at 2.50% for a fifth straight meeting, saying policy settings were at neutral levels as it resisted the government's call for a rate cut. The next rate review is on Oct. 16. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said earlier this year, before she became prime minister, that central bank independence was an obstacle to solving economic problems. The government, led by the populist Pheu Thai party, has repeatedly called for a rate cut to align with its planned fiscal stimulus as it looks to jump start Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. The government will launch the first phase of its signature "digital wallet" programme later this month when it distributes 145 billion baht ($4.4 billion) to vulnerable groups. The entire 450 billion baht stimulus measure aims to give 10,000 baht each to 50 million Thais to be spent in their local communities. The scheme has been criticised by economists, including two former central bank governors, as fiscally irresponsible. The government rejects that, but has struggled to find sources of funding. It insists the policy is necessary to energise the economy, which the central bank expects to grow just 2.6% this year, up from 1.9% in 2023 and far adrift of most regional peers. Growth was below , opens new tab potential, however, because of structural problems, central bank Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput has said. ($1 = 33.1600 baht) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thai-baht-is-too-strong-impacting-exports-minister-says-2024-09-16/