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MUMBAI — Jewellers in the traditionally lucrative Indian gold market are struggling — even while the metal's value skyrockets — as coronavirus fears keep sales down, craftsmen at home and shops shuttered.

Months after India lifted its strict lockdown, the country's biggest gold market Zaveri Bazaar remains desolate, with most stores closed and no customers in sight.

"We have been running this shop for the last 40 years and I have never seen the business hit such lows," said 75-year-old Madhubhai Shah, one of only a handful of jewellers who decided to reopen.

The Mumbai market was hit hard by the March lockdown, which saw millions of migrant workers — including many gold craftsmen — flee India's cities as their income dried up.

"Seventy per cent of our artisans have left for their villages and manufacturing units are all closed," Shah told AFP.

With gold prices hitting record highs after soaring around 30 per cent this year, there is little incentive for customers to splash out on jewellery.

Even the impending wedding season, which traditionally kicks off in October and sees families spend a small fortune, has failed to buoy spirits or boost spending as India braces for its first recession in four decades.

Chiranjeevi Ahire and his fiancee decided to break with tradition for their December wedding by choosing not to buy any gold jewellery, even though it is considered auspicious and a status symbol.

"Previously we wanted the wedding to be a grand affair and follow all Indian traditions, just like our parents," the Mumbai-based marketing manager said. 

"But with the pandemic and uncertainty looming in the job market, we decided to cut down on our spending on gold and instead keep the money for a rainy day," the 29-year-old said.

Gold-backed loans

According to the World Gold Council (WGC), India's gold consumption fell by a staggering 56 per cent during the first half of 2020 compared with the same period last year.

Demand during the April-to-June quarter plunged 70 per cent to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The twin blows of the lockdown and high prices meant customers did not empty their pockets even during the Akshaya Tritiya festival in April, considered a lucky time for Hindus to buy the metal.

In addition to jewellery, Indians have traditionally stockpiled gold bars and coins as a hedge against inflation.

Many are now leveraging these to secure credit, exploiting the commodity's high value and securing lower interest rates on personal loans.

Bhadresh Gowda, a farmer in Karnataka state, used his wife's wedding jewellery to secure a 200,000-rupee ($2,670) credit line after huge losses during the lockdown.

"Initially, I was hesitant to use gold as collateral because these jewels are my family's legacy, but times are tough," the 39-year-old said.

In contrast to traditional loans, gold-backed credit "is very easy to access with less paperwork required", he said, making the process much faster.

"Gold offers more value for money right now. Once the economy improves, I'll pay back the loan and retrieve my gold," he added.

Digital gold 

Some tech-savvy consumers are betting on prices rising even further as investors seek safe havens, and are pumping funds into so-called digital gold.

"Consumers are buying digital gold in bits and pieces because it enables you to buy gold for... as little as one rupee," said Rajesh Khosla, spokesman for the India Bullion and Jewellers Association.

"When they... need to convert digital gold to physical gold, it will be delivered to them," he told AFP. 

Gold will eventually make a comeback in India as consumers recover their appetite, said Somasundaram P.R., managing director of WGC's India operations.

"People who saved money because of cancelled holidays or expenditures [will] invest in gold," he noted.

But with the economy still in the doldrums and coronavirus infections approaching three million, would-be consumers like Ahire say they would prefer to wait it out.

"It seems better to hold onto [my] money right now," he said.

"With the global pandemic, economic downturn and weak employment prospects, I will not risk my financial stability for gold. It just seems like a terrible idea." 

ALGIERS — Algeria has launched Islamic finance products in a bid to attract money from the informal market, but bankers warn it will take more to fix the country's economy.

Falling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic have battered the north African country, triggering alarm bells among officials and experts.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that Algeria's economy will shrink 5.2 per cent this year.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad has warned of an "unprecedented economic situation", and experts have estimated unemployment at nearing 15 per cent.

In Algeria, Africa's largest country and home to 43 million people, most transactions are done in cash circulating outside the formal banking sector, said professor Mohamed Boudjelal, an expert on Islamic finance.

Many Algerians "turn their nose up" at conventional banking, Boudjelal said.

Some Muslims believe that the traditional banking system is incompatible with their faith.

Islamic finance — the provision of financial services in accordance with religious laws — is a fast growing sector that has been adopted in many Muslim countries.

The industry is based on shared profit and loss, while earning interest is banned as "usury".

Funds are also blocked from investing in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol, pork or gambling.

Algeria is hoping the new products could woo new investors into the market, following the success of Islamic finance products over the past decade in other countries, notably in the Gulf and Malaysia.

 No miracle solution 

The country's neighbours have already rolled out similar schemes.

In Tunisia, Islamic finance has operated in the private sector since the 1980s, although the sector remains modest, while in Morocco it began in 2017, though it has recorded net losses it says are due to initial start-up costs.

But Algeria hopes to tap into the significant revenues of the informal market, estimated to be as much as $30-35 billion, according to Abderahmane Benkhalfa, a former minister of finance and ex-head of the banking association.

"It is not only necessary to draw these resources, but to inject them into banks in order to bolster the economy," Benkhalfa said.

Earlier this month, state-run National Bank of Algeria offered nine Islamic financial services, receiving a certificate from Muslim clerics ensuring they were compatible with Islamic law.

Only two other private banks, subsidiaries of the Bahrain-based Baraka Bank and Al Salam Bank, offer Islamic finance services in Algeria.

However, Algeria's other banks — all state-run — are now expected to follow suit by the end of the year.

Most foreign banks are also planning to sell Islamic finance products, too.

But Benkhalfa, who is also a member of a panel of African experts tasked by the African Union to mobilise international funds to help the continent combat coronavirus, warned that Islamic finance is not a "miracle solution".

Only a small slice of cash in the informal economy circulates because of people's religious beliefs.

 Create trust in banks 

The solution, Benkhalfa argues, are to make steps to modernise the traditional banking system — to make it more responsive — and develop in parallel with Islamic finance.

Economist Abderrahmane Mebtoul was even more cautious in his assessment.

It is only viable if inflation can be brought under control and if households have faith in the government's management of the economy, Mebtoul said.

According to several studies, Islamic finance products are often more expensive that those provided by the traditional banking sector.

By the end of the year Algeria's state banks are expected to propose several Islamic finance products, including "murabaha", "ijara" and "musharakah".

Murabaha, or cost-plus financing, is among the most popular products, and is used to finance a variety of consumer purchases from cars to houses.

It involves the bank buying on behalf of a client a property or another product, which it sells back to the client at a certain profit that replaces an interest rate.

Ijara is a way of buying a house through a lease and subsequent ownership, rather than through a mortgage.

Musharakah is seen as a way of enabling a buyer to avoid taking an interest-bearing loan, though some Islamic scholars say it is too similar to the charging of interest.

Algerian authorities are also considering issuing Islamic bonds.

MUMBAI — US tech giant Amazon launched its first Indian online pharmacy service on Friday as it attempts to grab more of the country's burgeoning e-commerce market. Amazon is battling Walmart-backed Flipkart and JioMart, owned by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, as well as local companies in the vast market of 1.3 billion people.

India has seen nearly 2.5 million confirmed coronavirus infections — more than any other country besides the United States and Brazil — and healthcare startups are seeing huge demand for services as a result of the pandemic. 

Customers in Bangalore, India's IT hub, will be able to order prescription and over-the-counter medicines and basic health devices from certified sellers, Amazon India said in a statement. 

"This is particularly relevant in present times as it will help customers meet their essential needs while staying safe at home," Amazon said.

The firm owned by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, will also conduct pilot projects in other Indian cities, a company spokeswoman told AFP.

Amazon already offers online pharmacy sales in the US and several European countries, and has registered "Amazon Pharmacy" trademarks elsewhere, the spokeswoman added.

India's digital health market is forecast to explode from around $4.5 billion in the current financial year to $25 billion by 2025, according to consulting agency RedSeer.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple must pay more than $500 million in damages and interest for 4G patent infringements held by intellectual property company PanOptis, a Texas court has ruled.

The US tech giant — now worth almost $2 trillion — will appeal Tuesday's decision, local media said.

PanOptis, which specialises in licensing patents, took Apple to court in February last year, claiming it refused to pay for the use of 4G LTE technologies in its smartphones, tablets and watches.

"The plaintiffs have repeatedly negotiated with Apple to reach an agreement for a FRAND licence to the Plaintiff's patent portfolios which Apple is infringing," the court filing read.

FRAND refers to terms that are "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" and is the IT industry standard for technology use.

"The negotiations have been unsuccessful because Apple refuses to pay a FRAND royalty to the Plaintiff's licence."

Apple argued unsuccessfully that the patents were invalid, according to legal publications.

"Lawsuits like this by companies who accumulate patents simply to harass the industry only serve to stifle innovation and harm consumers," Apple said in a statement reported by media outlets.

The case is one of many patent suits from licensing firms that make no products but hold rights to certain technologies. Critics call these firms "patent trolls".

The Texas court has twice ruled against Apple in the past, demanding it pay hundreds of millions of dollars to VirnetX — another company specialising in patent litigation.

On its website, PanOptis offers to manage its clients' patents, allowing them to concentrate on "innovation and new development".

KHARTOUM — Sudan has been a top producer of peanuts for so long that the nutritious variety is called the "Sudani" — but a government export ban has left traders reeling.

Rimaz Ahmed, commercial director of Abnaa Sayed Elobeid, one of Sudan's major agricultural export companies, was stunned by the sudden decision of the trade ministry to ban the export of raw peanuts.

The government says it wants Sudan to process the nuts inside the country to earn more money.

But traders said they were not given time to prepare.

"It's a shock because we were not warned," Ahmed said, of the April 1 restrictions. "Overnight, we lost important markets. Immediately, India replaced us".

The two main customers for Sudan's peanuts were China and Indonesia.

On the wall of Ahmed's office, a poster in English praising the crops — "Peanuts: a Culture with the Flavours of Sudan" — seems to be from another time.

The export ban was a shock for many in the African country, which, according to the UN, is the fifth largest peanut producer, with 14 per cent of world production.

Protein-rich peanuts, which are also called groundnuts, provide rural employment and much needed foreign exchange.

Before the trade ban, peanuts were Sudan's fifth biggest international earner after gold, sesame, oil and livestock.

The decision comes at a tough time for the country.

Sudan has endured years of international isolation and sanctions, and is now emerging from decades of dictatorship.

Longtime strongman Omar Al Bashir was toppled last year after months of mass demonstrations.

For Sudan, peanuts are a flagship product, like another of its major exports, called “Arabic gum”.

"It is as if France banned the export of wine overnight, or if Italy stopped selling its spaghetti abroad," Ahmed said.

Income from the crop was rising.

Sudan produced 1.5 million tonnes in 2019, worth $205 million, according to central bank figures, up from $59 million earned in 2018.

Trade Minister Madani Abbas Madani defended halting exports "to maximise the market value of peanuts and the added value of Sudanese products, in light of climate change which affects the quality" of the product.

For the government, the hope is that Sudan can earn more money through selling products from processed peanuts — such as oil or butter.

Peanuts can also be used in industrial products, including cosmetics.

Critics of the ban on exporting unprocessed nuts have questioned why it was introduced so abruptly, suggesting that it might be a personal whim of the trade minister.

But the minister has insisted his decision was "within the framework of government policy".

He has yet to convince traders, however.

"We agree in principle it may be good for the country, but we are not at all prepared," Ahmed said.

"We have neither the machines nor the know-how. It will take time — and in the meantime we have lost our big customers."

For Sudan, a predominantly agricultural country, the ban could have a major impact on rural employment.

 'Shot itself in the foot' 

The news has not yet reached some farmers.

In Ardashiva, a village 70 kilometres south of the capital Khartoum, Khair Daoud, 31, digs around his peanut plants.

This year, he has planted over 12 acres (almost five hectares) of peanuts, saying that if prices rise as they have done in recent years, he would nearly double his production next season.

"If not, I will rely on okra, cotton or sorghum," the farmer said, dressed in traditional flowing white robes, with a neat skullcap of the same colour.

"I haven't heard anything about exporting. I don't know if my buyers are selling my produce locally, or for export."

Peanuts are well suited to Sudan's climate, growing both under irrigation in the centre and east, or from rainwater in war-torn Darfur in the west, or Kordofan in the south.

At the chamber of commerce in Khartoum, businessman Izzeldin Malik said the government's ban was self-defeating.

"With this decision, Sudan shot itself in the foot," said Malik, owner of the Rubicon peanut export company.

"While the deficit in Sudan's trade balance should be reduced, the minister made a decision to increase it."

RIYADH — The head of Saudi Aramco said on Monday he was optimistic that the global demand for oil was growing as the worst of the coronavirus pandemic "might be behind us".

Amin Nasser told reporters through a video conference that global demand for crude oil currently stands at around 90 million barrels per day (bpd), just 10 million barrels short of the pre-pandemic level.

"At year-end demand is expected to be in the mid-90s," Aramco's chief executive added.

Demand for oil was hit hard by the world-wide shutdowns to counter the pandemic, sliding at one stage by over 20 million bpd.

"While it remains unclear how long the current wave of uncertainty will continue, we see growing evidence that the worst of the crisis might be behind us," Nasser said.

"We are witnessing a partial recovery in the energy market in the second half of 2020 as countries around the world take steps to ease restrictions and reboot their economies."

Nasser described the second quarter performance as the worst in generations.

"As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the second quarter has proven to be the most challenging economic period in generations with most industries suffering severe disruptions," Nasser said.

Aramco, the world's leading energy company, posted a massive 73 per cent slump in its second quarter net profit on Sunday due to low oil prices and production.

In the three months to June 30, the company posted a net profit of $6.6 billion compared to $24.7 million in the same period of 2019.

Aramco's net profit in the first six months of the year also plunged 50 per cent to $23.2 billion compared to $46.9 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

Nasser said the company will cut capital spending in the coming years and in 2021, it will be "significantly lower" than the previously announced figures.

But he insisted that the company will go ahead with plans to raise its maximum sustained capacity to 13 million bpd from 12 million bpd currently.

Nasser said Aramco can maintain the 12 million capacity for one year without any additional spending.

Oil production by the world's top crude exporter has dropped to 7.5 million bpd compared to an average output of 10 million bpd last year after the OEPC+ alliance began record high cuts in May.

ALGIERS — Currency depreciation, inflation, negative growth, businesses closed: Algeria’s economy has been battered by the one-two punch of the coronavirus crisis and tumbling oil revenues.

Unless remedial action is taken on a massive scale, a slide into foreign debt will become inevitable, economists warn.

The National Office of Statistics has reported a 3.9 per cent fall in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter alone, with unemployment nearing 15 per cent — “alarming” figures, according to Mansour Kedidir, associate professor at the Higher School of Economics in Oran.

Excluding the energy sector, GDP fell by 1.5 per cent year-on-year in the 1st quarter, against an increase of 3.6 per cent last year compared to Q1 2018.

With confinement measures in place since March 19 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, sectors such as services and freight have come to a virtual standstill.

The construction sector, a major provider of jobs, has been paralysed for months.

Finance Minister Aymen Benabderahmane estimates the losses of state-owned enterprises at nearly 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion).

Private sector losses have yet to be assessed, but many closed businesses, including restaurants, cafes and travel agencies, risk bankruptcy.

Algeria faces an “unprecedented economic situation”, said Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, who has also blamed mismanagement under the rule of ousted longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Recession 

Due to a lack of diversification, the Maghreb region’s largest economy is highly dependent on oil revenues and exposed to fluctuations in crude prices.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that Algeria’s economy will shrink 5.2 per cent this year.

Kedidir predicts that unless reforms are brought in, “a Pandora’s box will be opened... riots, irredentism, religious extremism”.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has already ruled out seeking loans from the IMF or other international financial agencies, in the name of “national sovereignty”. 

Algeria has painful memories of its 1994 recourse to the IMF and a structural adjustment plan that resulted in massive job cuts, shutdowns and privatisations.

‘New governance’ 

The government is about to launch an economic recovery plan and decided at the start of May to halve the state’s operating budget.

A 2020 complementary finance act is based on a decrease in revenues to around 38 billion euros, against the 44 billion euros initially forecast.

Experts say any solution will require drastic reforms.

Kedidir urged authorities to introduce lower interest rates, accounting for the informal sector and tax cuts based on the number of new jobs created.

He called for major projects such as agro-industrial zones in the country’s vast desert south, with processing infrastructure, extended railways lines and new towns to service them — all built with local manpower.

While acknowledging that hydrocarbons will remain the main revenue source for the next five to 10 years, an exit from the economic crisis must be based on new national and decentralised governance, says economist Abderahmane Mebtoul.

Algeria must “bring together all political, economic and social forces... [and] avoid division on secondary issues”, he said.

Mebtoul appealed for “a state-citizen symbiosis involving elected officials, companies, banks, universities and civil society in order to fight against a paralysing bureaucracy”.

HONG KONG — Shares in the parent of Chinese social media giant WeChat tanked in Hong Kong on Friday after Donald Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from doing business with the platform.

Tencent plunged as much as 10 per cent in morning trade before paring losses and ending down 5.04 per cent at HK$527.50, dragging the broader Hang Seng Index down 1.6 per cent.

The sweeping restrictions on the firm, which, according to an executive order, come into effect in 45 days, also cover ByteDance, the owner of popular app TikTok. 

More than $30 billion was wiped off Tencent’s market capitalisation by the end of the day, with the firm having surged about 70 per cent since March as global tech titans benefitted from stay-at-home orders aimed at containing the coronavirus.

The move adds to a laundry list of issues that have ratcheted up tensions between the superpowers, including Hong Kong, Huawei and the spread of the virus.

“The US government is expected to follow up with more measures targeting Tencent,” Steven Leung, at UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong), said.

“Tencent’s overseas expansion map now looks a bit uncertain, since some M&A deals, especially if its targets are based in the US, will face challenges.”

WeChat, known as “weixin” or micro-message in Chinese, has grown to become ubiquitous in daily life across China since its 2011 launch and has more than a billion monthly users, who can also use it to hail rides and make payments.

The move rippled around Asian markets, with investors concerned about increasingly bitter relations between the economic titans that some fear could lead to a renewal of their painful trade war.

“This is yet another watershed moment in the US-China technology cold war,” Paul Triolo, head of global technology policy at Eurasia Group, told Bloomberg. 

“It shows the depth of the US concern.”

Officials from both sides are due to meet next Saturday to review a trade deal signed earlier this year.

“Apart from the obvious fallout to Tencent and ByteDance, Washington DC’s moves are sure to ratchet up geopolitical tensions with Beijing once again,” said OANDA’s Jeffrey Halley.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story

ISTANBUL — Turkey's lira on Thursday set a new record low against the US dollar as investors worried about the government's economic policies and dollar reserves appeared to be running low.

The lira was trading at 7.28 against the greenback around 10:30 GMT, suffering a loss of more than 3 per cent since the start of the day -- the lowest since May when it reached a then-record low of 7.24.

The currency also recorded its lowest level against the euro, trading near 8.60 against the European currency at 10:30 GMT.

The new fall comes as markets worry about a meltdown in the foreign currency reserves at Turkey's central bank, which appears to have spent lavishly in recent months to prop up the national currency.

State banks were also pushed to sell dollars to help the weakening lira.

An economic slowdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic hit Turkey hard just as it was trying to recover from its first recession in a decade.

Turkey's central bank -- which is nominally independent but often the target of government pressure -- has lowered interest rates to 8.25 per cent from 24 per cent since July last year, to the dismay of many foreign investors.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly called for lower interest rates to promote growth at the expense of reining in inflation.

He once called high rates the "mother and father of all evil."

July's annual inflation rate was 11.76 per cent, down from 12.62 per cent in June, according to official data, but still well above the government's own year-end inflation target of 8.5 per cent.

The Turkish economy was struck by a currency crisis in 2018 over escalating tensions with its NATO ally the United States, which propelled emergency rate hikes by the central bank.