The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is yet again to set new timelines, and this time for the women empowerment in cross border trade. This move focusses on helping the member countries to understand the cross-border trade irrespective of gender biases. The new move also aims at conducting gender impact analysis and the implementation of gender-sensitive trade policies.

Women engaging in informal cross-trade are often succumbed to facing undesirable challenges that make them susceptible to harassment, violence, high fines and even confiscation of their merchandise if caught by border authorities. Due to the lack of information about trade and custom rules, businesses of women traders remain at the subsistence level, leaving them unable to make substantial profits from their businesses.

To overcome these challenges faced by the women traders, UNCTAD has come up with this new initiative under the name, “Borderline,” which will be implemented in 6 border districts across Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia. Under this program, a total of 150 women were scheduled to be trained by UNCTAD on how to conduct business in the desired way, abiding all the rules of trade. The program consisted of 2 sessions, the first one was the 1-day border training session and the other one was the 5-day border training session. The first workshop was held on November 11, at Nakonde/Tunduma border between Zambia and Tanzania and the next one took place at Kyela (Tanzania), Karonga (Malawi) and Chipata (Zambia). One of the traders from Zambia, in praise of the training session, commented,

This training is very helpful. We now know more about cross-border trade issues and will be crossing the border with courage and confidence.

The assistant commissioner at the Zambia Revenue Office, Davis Mwanza, said,

The workshops emphasized the importance of continuous dialogue between informal traders and border officials. Informal traders should look at us as partners.

In fact, if this program is supported, it will generate significant rural income and can ever catalyze value chain creation in rural areas. This will, in turn, lower rural unemployment and provide women empowerment in all sectors of cross border trade. By leveraging this informal cross border trade for women empowerment, this project is expected to overcome the greatest challenge that the world is facing right now.

Ping An Bank Co., a Chinese bank is performing at its best at the moment after its dismal performance last year. This has given hope to the investors that the strength of the lender in retail banking will help shoulder the country’s economic slowdown. Ping An Bank shares went up by 39 percent this year. This is the largest gain seen on the CSI 300 Banks Index. According to the analysts in the industry, the bull run will probably continue. The rise of share prices has stoked demand for its $3.9 billion convertible bond sale, which offers nearly 1,400 times the amount.

With Chinese banks benefiting from the pledge made by policymakers for regulatory and capital support, China Merchants Bank Co. and Ping An Bank are reaping the rewards for their concentrated focus on retail banking.  The sector is dominated by the Shenzhen based lenders where competition is slightly less fierce and offers higher returns than in the corporate lending sector.

According to Liao Chenkai, an analyst at Capital Securities Ltd, investors are open to paying a premium to retail banking even during the economic slowdown as it is less recurrent than wholesale banking. He also mentioned that although China Merchants Bank and Ping An have a lot in common, the former bank trades at a higher premium which will probably cause Ping An bank shares to rise further.

China Merchant Bank shares were traded at almost 1.6 times its forecast price while Ping An shares were traded at almost the same forecast price.  The transition of Ping An Bank from corporate to consumer backing began in the year 2016, several years behind the China Merchants Bank. At the tie, retail contributed only forty-one percent of its profit. When the share prices rose to 68 percent in 2018, the bad-loan ratio of Ping An Bank stood at around 1.05% which was lower than the corporate lending bad-loan ratio at 2.49 percent. However, Ping An Bank’s return on equity remains at eleven percent which is lower than the sector’s average, as the bank continues its transition.

The fourth quarter net income of Ping An Bank beat market expectations and triggered a rally among the mid-sized banks in the country. China International Capital Corp. has forecasted about 17.6 percent gain compared to the average 9.4% for China listed banks. According to analysts, retail banking is bright at the moment due to its ability to being less capital consuming and able to provide earnings stability.

While the trade war with China rages, United States President Donald Trump has decided to focus on another trade agreement and this time he has turned his gaze at the preferential trade agreement with India, another giant economy in Asia. On Monday, the US President stated that preferential trade agreement is going to be ended for India since it is not in the US’ best interests. For decades, India has enjoyed being exporting products to the US to the tune of $5.6 billion per year without paying any duties. This move is directed at ending asymmetrical trade with India and remains a part of Donald Trump’s larger promise of substantially curbing the country’s trade deficits.

In a letter to the leaders of the United States Congress, Trump stated, “I am taking this step because, after intensive engagement between the United States and the government of India, I have determined that India has not assured the United States that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India.” A copy of that letter has been sent to the Government of India as well, and the measures could go into effect in 60 days.

The entire issue is related to India being part of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme that gives preference to certain developing countries. The US believes that high tariffs imposed by India on US products and regulation that has hurt US companies have made the whole thing untenable. It is believed that one of the biggest reasons behind this move is the new regulatory measures for e-commerce companies that were imposed by India, earlier this year. Those measures adversely affected the businesses of Amazon India and Walmart’s Flipkart. Both companies have invested billions in the country, and the sudden change in the ground rules has not been taken kindly.

The being said, the Government of India is not perturbed at all regarding the move, and a source inside the government told Reuters that the ‘actual benefit’ received by the country stands at around $250 million. It is not a particularly large amount in the large scheme of things; however, the source did add that he hoped that this does not lead to barriers to trade with the US. Considering the fact that India is going to have its elections this year; it would be interesting to see if New Delhi retaliates in any way to this move from Trump.

The U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve again about its tight monetary policy which has made the dollar strong and as a result hurt the country’s competitiveness. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Trump said that the gentleman at the Federal Reserve Bank likes a very strong dollar. Although, Trump mentioned his preference for a strong dollar, he mentioned that he would rather have a dollar that is strong and yet does not prohibit the United States from delaying with other nations.

Trump had made the economy an important part of his political platform. As a result, he has been repeatedly critical of the country’s central bank and its chairman, Jerome Powell. Although, Trump himself had appointed Powell, he remained critical of the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates several times last year. With rising concerns about slowing global economy trade war between the U.S. and China as well as financial markets volatility, the United States central bank has indicated that it will remain patient about the further tightening of the monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates four times in 2018 as a part of tightening the monetary policy. On Saturday, Trump talked about lowering the dollar by avoiding quantitative tightening and by leaving the interest rates alone. He also mentioned that a weaker currency helps improve the competitiveness of a country’s exports. Powell, Chairman of Federal Reserve, has made it clear that he will not bow down to political pressure. He has already given a clear signal of the central bank’s independence in January 2019 by saying that he will not be resigning if requested to do so by Trump. This followed the reports in December that the United States President had discussed the feasibility of firing the Federal Reserve Chairman with his advisors after the interest rates were raised again by the Fed.

The Federal Reserve’s measure of purchasing large quantities of U.S. government bonds in order to boost economic growth especially during the financial crisis is called quantitative easing. This measure was taken by the Federal Reserve, which dropped its overnight lending rate to zero in order to lower long term lending rates.

According to investors, the Federal Reserve’s attempts at trimming its four trillion dollar balance sheet by at least $50 billion a month has resulted in tightening financial conditions. The Federal Reserve’s benchmark overnight lending rate is at present between 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.