BUSINESS 27

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017

Special Report

ARA Consumer Confidence Index — November 2017

Durable Goods drops by 5 points

It is the best in three years and re-veals the extent to which economic life adapts to the requirements of oil prices.

The majority of the research com-ponents at the geographical and de-mographic levels stressed the sig-nificant improvement in the demand for workforce. However, there were wide disparities among the respon-dents. These disparities revealed the real trend of the quality of work and the required jobs, as well as some differences in the level of demand among governorates.

In terms of the specificity of the labor market in Kuwait, the issue of increasing the percentage of national workforce among the total number of workers in Kuwait is still the primary concern. The World Bank called for the development of the private sector and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies that are qualified to absorb Kuwaiti youth into the labor market over the next five years.

The ratios of the Current Employ-ment Opportunities Index revealed a number of discrepancies, including:

■ The citizens scored 182 points, an increase of 8 points, while the Arab residents’ ratio skyrocketed by 61 points

■ The age group of 36-55 hiked by 44 points, while the youth aged 18-35 gained only 4 points.

■ At the level of governorates, Hawalli and Ahmadi gained 57 and 40 points, respectively, while Farwaniya lost 19 points within a month.

■ At the level of income cat-egories, the three categories that re-ceive the lowest to middle incomes increased by 27, 26 and 26 points, respectively, while those with a monthly household income between 1,749 and 2,250 Dinars recorded un-precedented ratios ranging from 46 to 56 points, in contrast to those with very high incomes, whose ratio fell by 21 points.

Consumer spending up 150% over 7 years

Unlike other indices, ARA No-vember Purchase of Durable Goods Index posted 116 points, down 5 points, thus reflecting consumers’ tendency to cut expenditure. This comes despite the personal loans ris-ing 7% on an annual basis and bank

credit growing 3.1% annually.A dip was observed in some pur-

chase of durable goods indices, in-cluding:

■ Ahmadi Governorate slumped 87 points within a month

■ This index dropped among the highest paid category

■ The index plunged 28 points among the earners of a monthly household income between 1,250 and 2,249 Dinars.

■ The level of purchase among the males plummeted 23 points, but it rose 19 points among the females

Although the fundamentals of a rise in consumption rates remain strong, the decline in the purchase of durable goods during November seems to be only a temporary let-up.

Continued from Page 26

Alghanim Industries wins 2017 CorporateTreasury Team of the Year Award at ACTKUWAIT CITY, Dec 13: Al-ghanim Industries, one of the larg-est privately owned companies in the region, was recently awarded the 2017 Corporate Treasury Team of the Year Award at the Association of Corporate Treas-urers (ACT) Middle East Annual Summit, which was held at the Conrad Hotel in Dubai, UAE on 20 November 2017. Earning this award recognizes the company’s high standards in managing cor-porate fi nance and funding, gov-ernance, risk management, as well as cash management.

Over the years, the Alghanim Industries treasury department has implemented several strategic initiatives focused on automation and risk mitigation. The com-pany was one of the fi rst private sector companies in the region to implement Straight Through Processing, a digital payment mechanism on SWIFTNet that

automates payments and reduces risk. Other initiatives imple-mented include working capital fi nancing through Islamic fi nance products, supply chain fi nancing solutions and the introduction of prepaid debit cards to minimize cash transactions.

Chief Operating Offi cer at Al-ghanim Industries, Samir Kasem, congratulated the team in win-ning this prestigious award and thanked them for continuously delivering high quality services.

In his comment, Chief Support Services and Chief Financial Of-fi cer at Alghanim Industries, Rob-ert Etman said: “We are delighted to receive the Corporate Treasury Team of the Year Award from ACT. This is a recognition of the excellence displayed by our treas-ury team and the contribution it makes to our businesses.”

Receiving the award, Corporate Treasurer at Alghanim Industries,

Sonal Gupta said: “We thank the ACT for recognizing the efforts of our team. The Alghanim Indus-tries treasury team has been taking on bold initiatives to make sure the company is at the forefront in implementing the best treasury practices, and this award is a tes-tament to what we have achieved, and a reminder that we must as-pire to continue setting the bar in our fi eld.” The ACT award fur-ther cements the company’s posi-tion as an “Employer of Choice” for candidates interested in jobs within the fi eld of Finance. Ear-lier this year, the company was awarded the Gold Approved Em-ployer status by the Association of Chartered Certifi ed Accountants (ACCA). Alghanim Industries has a proven track record of support-ing the training of its talents in the fi elds of Finance and Accounting, and helping them to earn their own certifi cations.

World’s fastest growing economy: Erdogan

Full employment in America?

Turkey’s growth masks looming risks

Many women fall out of US labour mkt

ANKARA, Dec 13, (AFP): For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was proof that Turkey is the world’s fastest growing economy and a warning to ‘agitators’ who wish the country ill.

But economists warn that Tur-key’s stunning 11.1 percent growth in the third quarter – its best read-ing in six years and well ahead of India and China in the same period – masks potential risks ahead.

Infl ation hit its highest annual rate last month at 12.98 percent, the Turkish lira has lost 11 percent of its value since September and the country’s current account defi cit is worsening.

With construction booming thanks to cheap credit and high government spending, the econo-my risks overheating in a classic boom to bust scenario.

A full blown crisis, however, is far from inevitable and the central bank Thursday has the chance to restore confi dence in the lira with a critical interest rate decision.

“The economy is growing be-yond its long run potential. That is the defi nition of overheating. The 13 percent infl ation rate is an-other sign for overheating,” Selva Demiralp, associate professor of economics at Koc University, said.

Erdogan said this week Turkey would likely grow around 7.5 per-cent in 2017, an estimate echoed by most economists.

The president’s popularity since his ruling party was fi rst elected in 2002 has been largely based on effi cient economic management that pulled Turkey out of its 1999-2000 economic crisis.

Deniz Cicek, an economist at QNB Finansbank Research, said thanks to infl ation likely to remain above 10 percent next year and the current account widening “un-

certainties over the economy will prevail”.

But Erdogan’s senior economic advisor Hatice Karahan Tuesday described the economy as “very resilient” having come through the 2016 failed coup with growth driv-en by domestic demand.

But she acknowledged growth had to “deal with the unemploy-ment problem” while infl ation was “defi nitely higher than the target”, during a foreign media briefi ng.

“Unfortunately, the infl ation rate is settling at two digit levels and the Central Bank is drifting away from infl ation targeting,” said Demiralp.

“An economy cannot grow at the expense of infl ation. Because uncontrolled infl ation eventually causes higher market rates and hits the economy back,” Demiralp said.

There have even been rumours over whether the risk of loom-ing bad economic news could en-courage the government to bring forward elections scheduled for November 2019. William Jackson of Capital Economics said the eco-nomic indicator that could possibly sway the decision to hold an early election is the unemployment rate which, at 10.6 percent in August, is “still high by the standards of the past few years”.

Another big concern for Ankara is the New York trial of a Turkish banker accused of violating US sanctions against Iran.

Economists say a guilty verdict could see one or more Turkish banks fi ned.

A former government ally turned prosecution star witness, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab implicated Erdogan in a multibil-lion-dollar gold-for-oil scheme to subvert US sanctions.

Erdogan calls the trial a “plot” against Turkey.

“There are likely to be fi nes but unless there are investigations in Turkey, which there will not be, this looks like another storm that Erdogan and the (ruling party) will eventually brush aside,” Nigel Rendell, director of EMEA at Med-ley Global Advisors, said.

According to Cicek, “an adverse outcome in the trial could further strain the diplomatic tensions with the US, which would in turn in-crease fi nancial market volatility”.

But Deputy Prime Minister Me-hmet Simsek has assured markets that Ankara would stand by Turk-ish banks and would not allow the burden to threaten the fi nancial sec-tor.

In the run-up to the central bank’s monetary policy committee meeting Thursday presidential ad-visors have indicated there will be a rate hike.

A 100bp rise is expected but ana-lysts warned it would take 400bp to convince markets Ankara is serious about tackling infl ation and sup-porting the lira.

“If the (bank) only raises rates by 100bp... we can be sure of fur-ther currency weakness, if not a full blown crisis, in the next year,” Rendell of Medley Global Advi-sors said.

Economists argue the central bank is not independent and Erdog-an has repeatedly railed against the “interest rate lobby” who press for a rise in rates to counter infl ation.

Contrary to conventional eco-nomic wisdom, Erdogan calls for lower rates to contain infl ation.

Cicek said Turkey was “at risk of slowdown should the global li-quidity conditions deteriorate or the country risks increase”, but that QNB Finansbank Research did not expect the country to slide into cri-sis in 2018.

WASHINGTON, Dec 13, (AFP): With jobless rates at a two decade low, the United States is nearing full employment – but women are not reaping the full benefi t, due to a lack of childcare options.

Because of a lack of widely available and affordable childcare and preschool programs – as well as the lack of paid parental leave – many women fall out of the US labor market when they become mothers.

“The US has the most inhospita-ble family policy of any country in the developed world,” said Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist who has stud-ied family leave policies in the US, Germany, Sweden and Italy.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, raised the subject last month with the incoming US central bank chief, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell – asking him how policy-makers could get women with car-egiving duties back to work.

The Fed in fact has studied the is-sue, but has no authority to imple-ment policy changes.

Paid maternity leave is a key factor. Though widely available in Europe and particularly generous in the Nordic countries, it is scarce in the United States. Federal legis-lation adopted in 1993 provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave to Ameri-can workers, but does not apply to companies with fewer than 50 em-ployees.

ExceptionsAnd with rare exceptions, such

as universal pre-kindergarten of-fered in New York and Washing-ton, American public education generally does not begin before age

fi ve.Private preschool and daycare

is costly, with tuition sometimes running more than $30,000 a year. And even some women who can afford such steep bills sometimes throw in the towel and simply stay home.

“Employers have become very demanding. They expect employ-ees to work 60 hours a week,” so-ciologist Pamela Stone told AFP. “They have to be reachable around the clock.”

These working conditions are simply incompatible with family life, said Stone, author of “Opting Out,” a study of women who left the career track to care for their children.

“It has nothing to do with moth-erhood ideology,” she said. “They quit their jobs, but because the conditions of work are so demand-ing.”

Tess Finnegan, a 44-year-old mother of three children aged 11, nine and six, learned the hard way. She left her position as a federal trial attorney months after the birth of her fi rst child.

“Before having children, I used to work 50-60 hours per week, traveling across the country,” she said. “When I had my fi rst child, I was lucky because I had some months off and then I went back to work part-time.”

Soon, however, she was asked to return to her position full-time, with little chance to fi nd daycare. So she left.

“It was a very diffi cult decision to leave my job. I loved my job,” Finnegan said. She started a fl oral design business in 2014.

Economists say under-employ-

ing women or seeing them leave the workforce altogether represents a steep cost to the economy.

“If women entered and stayed in the workforce at a pace in line with, say, Norway, the US economy would be $1.6 trillion larger than it is today,” according to research by S&P Global Ratings.

IMF Managing Director Chris-tine Lagarde says gender parity in the workforce would add fi ve per-cent to GDP. “Empowering women is an economic no-brainer,” she said in a recent speech.

LowestThe US unemployment rate

stood at 4.1 percent in November, the lowest in nearly 17 years as third-quarter GDP growth hit 3.3 percent.

The unemployment rate for women age 25-54, prime working years, stands at 3.6 percent, but that fi gure does not factor in women who have stopped working alto-gether.

Where they show up – or rather, do not – is in the labor force partici-pation rate.

Those fi gures reveal that in 1990, American women’s share of the workforce between the ages of 25-54 was among the highest in the world.

But it hit a plateau in 2000 and since then has gradually fallen back close to the 1990 level. It now stands 13 points behind that of men, at 75 percent against 88.5 percent.

In 2016, the United States was 20th in the OECD ranking of econ-omies by women’s participation in the prime-age labor force, accord-ing to S&P.

Group photo of the Corporate Treasury Team with the award