Business

BRUSSELS – The EU ordered France's electricity giant EDF to repay the French state 1.37 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in back taxes on Wednesday, in a case dating from 1997.

"The European Commission has decided that Electricite de France (EDF), the main electricity provider in France, has been granted tax breaks incompatible with EU rules on state aid," the European Union's executive body said in a statement.

The case has wormed its way through the EU court and regulatory system since 2003 and the decision by the EU sent EDF's shares plunging by 2.8 per cent in afternoon trading on the Paris stock exchange.

EDF is now an international player in providing electricity, relying on France's 58 nuclear reactors, as well as developing new plants, notably the controversial Hinkley Point project in Britain.

"The commission's investigation confirmed that EDF received an individual, unjustified tax exemption which gave it an advantage to the detriment of its competitors, in breach of EU state aid rules," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. 

At heart of the ruling is a 1997 decision by French tax authorities to exempt EDF from a decade's worth of corporation tax on investments in France's high-voltage transmission network.

The commission said this tax break, nominally available to any company, was unjustified as no private company would have made the same, highly unprofitable investment.

"It is, therefore, state aid that has strengthened EDF's position to the detriment of its competitors, without furthering any objective of common interest," the commission said.

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Paris that the EU's decision would in no way "fragilise" the finances of EDF.

In 1997, EDF was a fully-fledged unit of the French state, with no meaningful competitor on the French market.

Today EDF is a publically traded company that competes for electricity markets worldwide, but remains 85 per cent owned by the French state. 

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple's latest quarterly profit leapt as people around the world snapped up big-screen iPhones but its shares slipped as analysts had expected even more.

The US tech giants reported Tuesday that its profit jumped 38 per cent to $10.7 billion on surging iPhone sales, compared to $7.7 billion in the same period last year.

Nevertheless, Apple shares fell sharply in after hours trading, at one point down around 8 per cent as traders noticed lower than expected sales forecasts.

"We had an amazing quarter," chief executive Tim Cook insisted, noting that iPhone revenue in the quarter that ended on June 27 was up 59 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Analysts had expected Apple to sell even more iPhones and were looking for a brighter forecast than was given for the current quarter.

Apple shares dropped more than 6 per cent to $122.41 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

Sales of iPhones have been powering Apple profits, and any hint of a plateau spooks investors.

Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones in the quarter, with sales up 85 per cent in Greater China where the company's overall revenue more that doubled to $13 billion, accord to chief financial officer Luca Maestri.

iPhone shines in China 

Big gains in China came despite stock market woes there.

"We remain extremely bullish on China and we are continuing to invest," Cook said, remaining confident that China is poised to be Apple's biggest market at some point in the future.

"We would be foolish to change our plans. I think China is a fantastic geography with an incredible, unprecedented level of opportunity."

He brushed aside any worry about iPhone sales growth, expressing confidents it has “lots of legs” that it will be running with for many years to come given market factors such customer satisfaction rates and the booming overall global smartphone market.

"It is an incredible market," Cook said.

"I think everyone is going to own a smartphone, and we can compete for a fair number of them."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Drivers in the car-loving Emirati cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi can no longer count on below-market rates at the pump after the OPEC nation unveiled plans Wednesday to scrap existing fuel price controls, starting next month.

The surprise move announced by the Ministry of Energy comes as the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, the second-largest Arab economy, weathers a sustained slump in oil prices over the past year.

Authorities plan to begin linking fuel prices to global prices as of August 1. Gasoline prices are currently set by the government at subsidised rates, with a liter of regular gasoline selling for 1.72 dirhams (47 cents), or about $1.78 a gallon.

Officials will still have a hand in setting prices. A committee will meet once a month to set prices for the following month using average international prices as a benchmark.

Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazroui said the change aims to strengthen the country's economy and could help lower fuel consumption by encouraging the use of public transportation.

Gas prices in the Emirates, a seven-state federation where foreign guest workers far outnumber locals, are already higher than those of its Gulf Arab neighbours. A gallon of gas in Saudi Arabia, for example, only costs around 60 cents.

The International Monetary Fund recently estimated that governments will offer $5.3 trillion in energy subsidies this year.

Energy expert Robin Mills, a non-resident fellow at Brookings Doha Centre, said the timing is right to cut subsidies. It will help alleviate pressure on a federal budget constrained by lower oil prices but thanks to lower costs should have only a "modest impact" for drivers for now.

"They can get the reform without making much of a difference on prices," he said.

MANILA/MUMBAI – Blame poor rains or a lack of weddings, but Indians, for whom gold is the investment of choice, aren't rushing to buy bullion after this week's sharp sell-off.

India and China are the world's top gold buyers and, after massive selling on the Shanghai Gold Exchange on Monday helped drive down gold prices by 4 per cent to a 5-year low, traders hoped demand would perk up in India, or elsewhere in Asia.

The last big slide in gold prices — a 13 per cent drop in just two consecutive trading days in April 2013 — prompted weeks of long queues of Indians outside gold showrooms.

Not this time. India's gold appetite — it accounts for more than a fifth of global demand — remains sluggish, with only modest local premiums to the global spot benchmark.

"That's really a bearish sign, when the main consuming region remains on the sidelines after such a price drop to a multi-year low," Commerzbank senior oil analyst Carsten Fritsch told the Reuters Global Gold Forum on Tuesday.

"Who's going to buy gold if not the Asians?"

Out of wedding season

As the gold price dropped on Monday to $1,088.05 an ounce, its lowest since March 2010, Indian jewellers sent text messages to clients encouraging them to buy gold and offering to cut by half the cost of making it into jewellery.

While the price slide sparked some interest, there has been no repeat of the 2013 buying frenzy. "This is not a festive or wedding season, so interest remains low," said Kumar Jain, vice-president of the Mumbai Jewellers Association.

This year's Hindu calendar has fewer auspicious dates for weddings, a traditional time for buying and giving gold.

The Indian central bank's inflation targeting efforts have helped bring price rises under control, removing one main reason for Indians to hold gold as a store of value. The rate of inflation has halved to 5.4 per cent from double-digits at the end of 2013.

India spent a record $15.2 billion on gold imports in April-May 2013, with gold bars selling locally for more than $20 an ounce above the global spot price. That premium is now just around $1 an ounce.

"Many Indian consumers are not buying, thinking there's still scope for downside in prices," said Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at Chennai-based wholesaler MNC Bullion.

And weak monsoon rains mean many farmers from India's rural areas, which make up nearly two-thirds of domestic gold demand, don't now have the ready cash to buy gold, Rathod noted.

Morgan Stanley estimates Indian households own, directly or indirectly, around $1 trillion in gold, about the same as in bank fixed deposits, and against just $400 billion in shares — though low-cost stockbrokers are looking to use a 42 per cent drop in gold prices over the past four years to lure investors into buying more shares.

Watching prices drop

The lacklustre physical demand for gold is mirrored elsewhere across Asia, with premiums in Hong Kong up by just 10 cents from last week to 90 cents-$1.10 an ounce and those in Singapore stuck at around $1 for months, traders said.

"There was a bit of buying and then no more inquiries. Gold prices are dropping, dropping, dropping — so people don't want to buy for the time being," Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong, said on Tuesday.

Bullion prices generally have come under pressure from expectations of higher interest rates in the United States, which boosts the dollar and makes non-interest bearing assets such as gold less appealing.

China's appetite for gold, too, has waned after it also imported record volumes in 2013. Fast-rising stock prices, a slowing economy and Beijing's anti-corruption drive, which has deterred some from making conspicuous 'luxury' buys, have all diverted money away from bullion.

China revealed on Friday a 57 per cent increase in its gold reserves from 2009, far less than the market had estimated.

And even if gold prices fall further — spot prices rose about 1 per cent to $1,109 an ounce on Tuesday — there's no guarantee that would encourage buyers.

"If gold falls below $1,000, would there still be interest in holding gold?" asked a Singapore-based trader.

AMMAN — Chief Executive Officer of the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) Hana Aridi has recently checked on a number of projects financed by the corporation in Ajloun and Tafileh governorates.

According to a JEDCO statement issued on Tuesday, the schemes were financed by the Service Support Programme, Industry Support Programme and the Governorate Development Fund. Aridi said that the visit was aimed at looking at obstacles facing the projects and to meet their needs in the future.

She said that JEDCO had invested in these schemes to meet the needs of local community residents. Over the past six years, Aridi noted that JEDCO has provided JD4.88 million to 43 schemes in Tafileh Governorate, some 180km southwest of Amman, with an investment value of JD12.66 million.

The pojects are expected to generate 460 job opportunities when completed, Aridi highlighted. She added that during the same period, JEDCO presented JD1.5 million to 26 projects in Ajloun Governorate, some 70km northwest of Amman, with an investment volume of JD2.3 million. The schemes are expected to provide 126 new jobs, according to the statement.

ATHENS – Greece's government hiked taxes and began paying billions of euros to its creditors on Monday, as banks reopened just days after the debt-laden country reached a reforms-for-cash deal with its European partners.

Greeks woke up to widespread tax rises — on everything from sugar and cocoa to condoms, taxis and funerals — as part of the tough reform package agreed last week in exchange for a three-year bailout of up to 86 billion euros ($93 billion), aimed at keeping Greece from crashing out of the eurozone.

The nation's banks were thronged with customers after a three-week shutdown estimated to have cost the economy 3 billion euros. The banks were ordered to close on June 29 to prevent mass cash withdrawals that could have caused the financial system to collapse.

Banks are continuing to offer only limited services — with a ban on most transfers to foreign banks among the capital control measures still in place — but a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65) has been relaxed.

Bank tellers were dealing with a hectic stream of customers, many expressing frustration over continuing restrictions on financial services.

"I came today to collect my pension but unfortunately I could only get a small per centage of it," said Spyros Papasotiriou as he left his bank in the northern Athens suburb of Neo Psychiko. "It's a big hassle."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) meanwhile confirmed that Greece is no longer in default on its loans after remitting about 2 billion euros to make up for missed loan repayments. 

The payment was made possible by a 7.16 billion euro emergency bridge funding granted to Greece on Friday by the EU, so it could pay the IMF, as well as an additional 4.2 billion euros due to the European Central Bank on Monday.

Value-added tax (VAT) has gone up from 13 per cent to 23 per cent on a wide range of goods and services, although the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 per cent to 6 per cent.

Tryphon Alexiadis, the new finance vice minister in charge of tax, vowed that "not a single euro from the tax rise will escape state coffers", adding that "a wave of inspections will be launched" to prevent tax evasion in a country where the problem is notoriously rife.

Along with the tax hikes, the Greek government — led by the radical-left Syriza party that came to power in January promising to end austerity — is also set to overhaul its ailing pension system as part of the reforms deal and launch privatisations it had previously opposed.

'Crash test'

Louka Katseli, the head of Greece's bank association, said some 40 billion euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks since December by customers anxious over the safety of their deposits, seriously damaging the banks' ability to function normally.

She urged people to bring their savings back to the banks to support the crisis-hit financial system. 

"If we take out the money from our safes and our houses — where, in any case, it isn't safe — and we deposit it in the banks, we will reinforce liquidity," she told the Mega TV channel.

Greeks are now able to withdraw a maximum of 300 euros at once until Friday, when a new weekly limit of 420 euros takes effect.

They can also use their credit cards for foreign purchases again and certain exceptions to the capital controls have been introduced to help Greeks who are studying or undergoing medical treatment abroad.

But most people remain unable to take out large sums, transfer money to other countries or open new bank accounts.

The capital controls are taking a heavy toll on Greek businesses, with 23 per cent of firms saying they are seeking to move their headquarters abroad to improve stability and cash-flow, according to a survey released Monday by non-profit group Endeavour Greece.

The austerity package caused a mutiny among lawmakers of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's ruling Syriza party — forcing him to carry out a limited cabinet reshuffle on Friday — and he faces a fresh challenge on Wednesday, when parliament must approve a second wave of reforms tied to the rescue package.

Pro-government newspaper Avgi on Sunday said the vote would be a "crash test" that could even result in Tsipras's resignation.

"If there are new losses, in whatever form, [Tsipras] will hand back his mandate," the daily said.

ATHENS – Capital controls imposed by the Greek government are taking a heavy toll on the country's businesses, a survey showed Monday, with nearly a quarter saying they are seeking to move their headquarters abroad.

Endeavour Greece, a non-profit group that supports entrepreneurs, found that 58 per cent of the 300 companies it surveyed between July 13 and July 17 reported a "significant impact on their operations caused by the limitations imposed to cross-border transactions".

"Many of these companies cannot import raw material or have access to foreign services and infrastructure," the group said in a statement, adding that 23 per cent "plan to transfer their headquarters abroad for security, cash flow and stability reasons".

More than two thirds of the companies — 69 per cent — reported a "significant drop in turnover", with 11 per cent forced to decrease or suspend production due to shortages of raw materials.

Greece imposed a raft of capital controls on July 29, closing the banks and restricting cash withdrawals in a bid to prevent a disastrous bank run from draining money out of the financial system.

Banks reopened on Monday and restrictions on cash withdrawals have been partially relaxed, though the capital controls remain in place.

Endeavour Greece reported that businesses were facing "significant impediments" due to the continuing ATM limits, but on "a smaller scale".

Nearly half of the companies — 45 per cent — said they had been forced to postpone payments to suppliers.

BOBINGEN, Germany — Like a growing number of German employers, garage-owner Robert Menhofer has decided to give a young refugee a chance and is lavish in his praise for George Romanos, a young trainee from Syria.

“He’s going to be a really good mechanic!” gushes Menhofer, 59. “On the practical side, he’s unbeatable.”

“But not so much on the theoretical side of things ... due to the language,” chimes in, with modesty, his apprentice, dressed in blue overalls and speaking in German, which he has been learning since arriving in Germany.

Romanos, a 21-year-old Christian Syrian, arrived in the southern German state of Bavaria, alone, in the spring of 2013, at the end of a gruelling odyssey that he is reluctant to talk about.

He is one of nearly 86,000 Syrians who have arrived in Germany since the beginning of 2013, fleeing the civil war in their country.

Since the start of the year, the total number of asylum seekers — not just from war-torn Syria, but also from Kosovo, Albania and other countries — taken in by Europe’s top economy is close to 180,000.

The newcomers are not always welcomed with open arms, particularly in eastern Germany, where ugly demonstrations have been staged against asylum homes.

But the refugees are increasingly in demand from companies desperate to find young trainees, particularly in manual jobs and skilled labour in a country with a fast ageing society and a low birthrate.

And there are increasing calls in industry to change legislation to make it easier for them to be integrated into the labour market.

In Augsburg, the biggest town near Bobingen, about 70 kilometres from the Bavarian state capital of Munich, the Chamber of Crafts has campaigned for such changes for years.

Labour shortage

The challenges are twofold, explains Volker Zimmermann, in charge of education at the chamber: to work towards social cohesion in a region where almost every town now has its own home for asylum seekers; but also to combat an ever-increasing shortage of skilled labour.

In and around Augsburg, unemployment stood at 4.2 per cent in June, and 5,000 vacancies remain unfilled. And here, as elsewhere, the shortage of apprenticeships was even more alarming.

The German “dual system” of on-the-job training combined with theoretical learning is no longer attracting sufficient numbers of young people, with as many as 80,000 trainee places left unfilled last year.

“Everyone wants to go to university nowadays,” says Menhofer.

So, when he bumped into Romanos, who was living in a refugee home in Bobingen and who he said is “infatuated with cars”, he jumped at the chance.

They met when Menhofer, as head of the local business association, had asked the home’s residents to help put up the local Christmas market.

Since September 2014, the young Syrian has divided his time between the car workshop and his studies at the local vocational school.

And his boss beams with satisfaction at his apprentice’s progress, describing the young Germans of the same age as “lazy”.

Sait Demir, an intercultural career adviser at the Augsburg Chamber of Crafts, deals with the formalities, which were made more complicated because Romanos’ asylum application had still been pending.

He currently has a temporary two-year permit to stay in Germany.

Things are changing

Romanos’ gross monthly wage is 675 euros ($740) and he has a small flat, the rent for which is paid by the local labour office.

Demir works closely with the labour agency and charities and he has succeeded in placing 19 asylum seekers in apprenticeships since January 1. But he says that it “could be a lot more”.

“Employers are beginning to realise that they can employ motivated, hard-working people who are eager to learn,” says Zimmermann.

But for the time being, “the complicated bureaucracy puts a lot of them off”.

And until their prospective employees’ asylum applications are processed, which can take months, the possibility of them being deported at 24 hours’ notice is like a Damocles sword hanging over both employer and employee.

Nevertheless, in the past two years, “a lot has changed”, Demir said.

Germans have to learn to view the new arrivals as “the workforce which we increasingly need,” two government ministers wrote recently in a newspaper article.

Until now, asylum seekers have not been allowed to work for nine months after they arrive in Germany. But the time limit was shortened to three months last November.

Since January, the federal labour agency has granted permits to more than 6,000 asylum seekers allowing them to work.

KUALA LUMPUR — As the Muslim fasting month draws to a close, Malaysian retailers are lamenting the most dispiriting Ramadan sales in years, adding to evidence recent hard decisions on taxes and subsidies might be costing the economy its main growth engine.

The fasting month is traditionally the busiest time of the year for Malaysian retailers, but the country’s retailers association are predicting a plunge in Ramadan sales of as much as 20 per cent compared with last year.

“Shoppers are more cautious with their money,” said Indah Asbiran, who sells traditional Malay costumes for women at a stall in Tunku Abdul Rahman Bazaar, the grande dame of festive shopping in Kuala Lumpur. 

“You see people walking by but not buying much,” he added.

A recent survey by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research showed consumer sentiment had dropped to the lowest for six years. Sentiment worsened after the government dismantled petrol subsidies in December and introduced a goods and services tax (GST) this year. 

With many households shouldering heavy debts, some shoppers are looking and not buying.

Private consumption accounts for over half of Malaysia’s gross domestic product. Its 8.8 per cent expansion in the first quarter drove the economy’s growth of 5.6 per cent, the fastest among Southeast Asia’s five biggest economies.

But all the signs are that consumption is slowing, making it harder for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government, already battling weak oil, gas and manufacturing exports, to achieve this year’s 4.5-5.5 per cent growth target.

Najib’s government had hoped consumption might anchor domestic demand at a time when the government is seeking to rein in its fiscal deficit. But there is little sign of that happening.

Ninety per cent of respondents to a survey by employment firm Jobstreet said they could not cope with daily expenses after the government imposed the 6 per cent GST in April. 

Auto sales dropped by more than 30 per cent that month compared with March.

To counter sluggish sales, retailers are fighting for market share, and that means accepting smaller profits, said H C Chan, the chief executive of Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, one of the country’s largest malls.

Vendors are giving out additional discounts, discounts for buying more items and discounts for bundle buys.

Hasliza Hasnawi, a schoolteacher, said she still had to do her shopping during Ramadan, which ends on Thursday.

But like many shoppers at Tunku Abdul Rahman Bazaar, Hasliza was carrying few shopping bags, choosing to window-shop extensively before settling on a purchase.

BEIJING — China's top graft-busting agency has lambasted the country's powerful state-owned industries as being riddled with corruption and nepotism, saying the origins of the problem could partly be traced back to the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

As part of President Xi Jinping's battle against corruption, anti-graft inspectors have over the past few months visited dozens of strategic central government-owned groups, where top executives hold the rank of deputy ministers.

In a statement reported by most state media on Tuesday, the Communist Party's central commission for discipline inspection said the inspections had found certain leaders abusing their power and helping relatives for corrupt purposes.

"Some people embezzled state assets under the name of carrying out reforms, while others tried to corrupt senior officials, using illegally obtained state resources," it indicated.

"Some are still breaking the rules, spending vast sums on luxurious holiday homes and taking their wives and children out golfing on the public dime," the watchdog added.

Leaders at some state firms are ignoring party promotion procedures, deciding themselves who to promote, and "forming cliques", it continued in the statement, which was issued on Monday.

It said that the problem of nepotism could in part be traced back to the end of the Cultural Revolution more than 30 years ago, when many of the educated youth who had been "sent down" into the countryside came back to the cities to work, and were often placed with family members in state-owned firms.

"This created the problem left over from history of a concentration of family members," the watchdog added.

It did not name specific companies or executives.

The statement praised the role of the state-owned sector in China's landmark economic reforms since the late 1970s, but noted that they had to fall in line.

"Leaders have forgotten that they are managing state firms under the party's leadership," it said. "State-owned firm are not excluded from efforts to strictly manage the party."

Beijing has been expected to unveil a master plan to reform the powerful sector, but one has yet to be published.

Xi has warned that the problem of official graft is serious enough to threaten the Communist Party's legitimacy and has vowed to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies".

Graft-busters have gone after business leaders and politicians alike.

Senior executives at automaker China FAW Group Corp., Baosteel Group and China National Petroleum Corp. have all been put under investigation for corruption this year.

Separately, official data showed Monday that China's total trade slumped in the first half of this year, falling well short of the government's targets and dealing a blow to the global economy from its biggest trader in goods.

Two-way trade for the first six months of the year fell 6.9 per cent to $1.88 trillion, the General Administration of Customs indicated.

China is the world's second largest economy and a key driver of global growth, with an outsized impact on resource-rich supplier countries such as Australia.

Over the six months, trade with the European Union declined 6.7 per cent, Customs said, and with Japan it dropped 10.6 per cent.

Monday's result was well below Beijing's official target for the year for trade growth of "about 6 per cent". That figure was a reduction from the 7.5 per cent set for 2014, when values expanded only 3.4 per cent, the third consecutive year the goal had been missed.

"Commodity prices fell significantly, dragging down growth in import value," Customs spokesman Huang Songping told reporters, noting that "sluggish foreign demand" was the "major factor" affecting trade growth.

"Export costs remained high, undermining export competitiveness," he said, adding that by June 30, the yuan had strengthened 0.2 per cent against the dollar from the start of the year, 6.9 per cent against the euro and 2.2 per cent against the yen.

"The downward pressures on the domestic economy increased and the demand for imports was weak," he said.

For June, imports fell for the eighth consecutive month, Customs said, dropping 6.1 per cent year on year in dollar terms to $145.48 billion.

But exports increased 2.8 per cent to $192.01 billion on-year, snapping a run of three monthly declines in a row, and the country's trade surplus leaped 47.5 per cent to $46.54 billion.

The monthly percentage changes were slightly smaller in China's yuan currency.

According to Louis Kuijs, a Hong Kong-based economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), there had been "extreme weakness" in the first five months of the year.

But there were signs domestic demand was strengthening and the monthly June data suggested "the momentum is starting to improve".

"That is definitely encouraging for the rest of the world," he told AFP.

'New normal'

The latest data comes as Chinese authorities manage what they describe as a "new normal" economy in which they steer it away from a traditional model of high growth based on big investment projects and towards one where consumer demand takes prominence.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.4 per cent in 2014, the lowest rate in nearly a quarter of a century, and signs of further weakness have mounted this year.

GDP expanded 7 per cent in the January-March period, the worst quarterly result in six years.

China announces second-quarter GDP figures on Wednesday and the median forecast in an AFP poll of 14 economists indicates GDP expanded 6.9 per cent in April-June.

ANZ economist Liu Li-Gang said the trade data mean the second-quarter GDP figure "will underperform" as both imports and exports were weak during the latest three-month period, predicting that the GDP figure could come in at 6.8 per cent.

For all of 2015, the AFP survey predicts growth at a median 7 per cent, more optimistic than a forecast of 6.8 per cent in a similar poll in April and in line with the government's official target of "about 7 per cent".

Authorities have taken steps to boost slowing economic growth, cutting interest rates four times since November while also lowering the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve in a bid to boost lending.

"We expect import growth to continue to rebound as policy support helps to stabilise domestic demand," Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a reaction.

The contraction in imports in June was better than May's 17.6 per cent decline, while on a month-on-month basis imports increased 10.9 per cent in June from May, according to customs.

Analysts see more such measures on the horizon.

"We continue to expect more policy easing to offset the headwinds to growth", Nomura economists said in a note.