2025-03-31 19:27
BOGOTA, March 31 (Reuters) - Colombia's central bank held the benchmark interest rate at 9.5% on Monday, surprising the market, which expected policymakers to resume cuts to borrowing costs despite inflation pressures and a difficult fiscal situation. The decision was backed by four of the seven members of the board. Three board members voted for a 50-basis-point cut. Sign up here. There were important increases in prices for processed foods and some regulated items like gas and transport, the board said in a statement, and year-end estimates for inflation remained above the bank's long-term 3% target. "The risks of inflation pressures persist, associated with fiscal challenges and external uncertainty," the board said. The bank's technical team increased its gross domestic product estimate for this year to 2.8% from 2.6% previously, the statement said. "All the members of the board consider that the rate today is a restrictive rate and because of that the expectation we have going forward is that we will have a very low interest rate and that we can adopt decisions to reduce the rate in the next meetings," board chief Leonardo Villar told journalists. Sixteen of 21 analysts polled by Reuters in a recent survey predicted the monetary authority would cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 9.25% this month, while one analyst forecast a larger 50-basis-point cut to 9.00%. The remaining four predicted the rate would be maintained at 9.50%. Monday marked the first interest rate votes by Laura Moisa-Elicabide and Cesar Giraldo, who were recently named to the seven-member board by President Gustavo Petro, and by new finance minister German Avila, who told journalists last week he would opt for a rate cut. The board decided by majority to hold the rate at its last vote in January, the first pause since a reduction cycle began in December 2023. According to the Reuters survey, the benchmark rate will end this year at 7.75%, compared to the 7% predicted in the previous survey. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/colombia-central-bank-board-likely-resume-cuts-new-members-debut-2025-03-31/
2025-03-31 18:51
BOGOTA, March 31 (Reuters) - Colombia's central bank held the benchmark interest rate at 9.5% on Monday, surprising the market, which expected policymakers to resume cuts to borrowing costs despite inflation pressures and a difficult fiscal situation. The decision was backed by a majority of the seven-member board. Three board members voted for a 50 basis point cut. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/colombias-central-bank-holds-interest-rate-950-surprising-majority-market-2025-03-31/
2025-03-31 18:34
Project has already secured $500 million from Brazilinvest New sugarcane variety promises higher ethanol and biomass yields Some ethanol industry players skeptical about new technology SAO PAULO, March 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, once the country's richest man, said a Gulf investor will soon announce a $500 million investment in his new project using modified sugarcane to ramp up production of sustainable fuels. The project, which had already secured $500 million from Sao Paulo-based private development bank Brazilinvest, aims to close another investment of that size this week from a strategic investor in the United Arab Emirates, Batista told Reuters. Sign up here. Batista's commodities and energy empire collapsed over a decade ago. His planned comeback, betting on a specially bred "supercane," has drawn skepticism from some critics in Brazil's well-established ethanol industry, but the businessman said his technology has passed a decade of testing. "Supercane is our revolution," said Batista in a Friday interview. He said the project - set to reach 70,000 hectares of planted sugarcane when it reaches maturity - could eventually produce more than 1 billion liters of ethanol, as well as some 979,000 metric tons of biodegradable packaging using biomass from processed cane. The module, to be built in Rio de Janeiro state, will use the ethanol it produces to create more than half a billion liters of sustainable aviation fuel, Batista said. He hopes to eventually establish 20 modules of 70,000 hectares each. He aims to supplant the RB867515 sugarcane variety - the most common in Brazil - with his new SC157070 variety that grows over five meters tall and allows denser planting. Batista said the new variety can produce two to three times more ethanol than traditional cane, and seven to 12 times more biomass. "In my vision, sugar mill owners in Brazil today, over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years, will swap all the sugarcane planted in Brazil today for this sugarcane, which has a different motor," Batista said. INDUSTRY SKEPTICISM Batista's project has faced criticism from Rubens Ometto, founder of Brazilian sugar giant Cosan (CSAN3.SA) , opens new tab, who said his past experiences with similar technologies failed to deliver on their promise. Batista said Ometto's experience involved older technology, while his new project benefits from decades of advancements. The former oil and mining tycoon's history of legal and financial woes is also hanging over the venture. Because he is legally barred from ownership at the moment, he is lining up rights for future issuances. Batista once ranked among the world's richest people, until his holdings in the petroleum, power, ports and mining sectors collapsed spectacularly. He was arrested in 2017 on allegations he paid bribes for contracts with the Rio state government. The entrepreneur denies any wrongdoing. During his golden years in the 2000s, Batista took several companies public, including OGX, his flagship oil company, which failed to fulfill investors' expectations and was forced into bankruptcy protection. In 2021, he was convicted and fined for insider trading and market manipulation involving OGX. Batista said he is not looking to take his new venture public, instead relying on funds from larger, direct investors. He and his team are also working on the pilot phase of a cryptocurrency, called $EIKE, which is currently gauging investor interest outside of Brazil. The potential use of cryptocurrency to finance the new sugarcane project has caught the attention of Brazilian market regulator, CVM, which is reviewing $EIKE. However, the token is not immediately intended for use in Brazil, Batista said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-eike-batista-eyes-new-500-mln-gulf-investment-supercane-project-2025-03-31/
2025-03-31 18:17
March 31 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Monday seized two foreign tankers in the Persian Gulf carrying over 3 million litres (792,516 U.S. gallons) of allegedly smuggled diesel fuel, Iranian state media reported. "These two tankers, with 25 crew members, were engaged in organised fuel smuggling in the central waters of the Persian Gulf and were collectively carrying over 3 million litres of smuggled diesel fuel," state media reported. Sign up here. It gave no details on the tanker's nationality or whether the crew had been detained. The tankers are being transferred to the country's Bushehr port, according to state media. Mehdi Mehrangiz, a senior judiciary official at Bushehr province, said the ships were seized under a judicial order, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran, which has some of the world's lowest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-revolutionary-guards-seize-two-foreign-tankers-carrying-smuggled-diesel-2025-03-31/
2025-03-31 18:17
Canadian dollar falls 0.5% against the greenback Touches its weakest since March 20 at 1.4395 For the month, the loonie advances 0.6% Bond yields ease across the curve TORONTO, March 31 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, giving back some monthly gains, as investors grew risk-averse ahead of U.S. trade tariffs expected to be unveiled this week. The loonie was trading 0.5% lower at 1.4385 per U.S. dollar, or 69.52 U.S. cents, after touching its weakest intraday level since March 20 at 1.4395. Sign up here. Global stocks fell and gold prices scaled new highs after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce on Wednesday will include all nations. "There has got to be a sense of risk aversion in the marketplace," said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. "The Aussie and the Kiwi got hit pretty hard overnight in Asia marketplaces." The Australian dollar weakened 0.7%, while the New Zealand dollar was trading 0.8% lower. Australia and New Zealand, like Canada, are major producers of commodities so their currencies tend to be sensitive to shifts in investor sentiment. The price of oil, a major Canadian export, rose 3.2% to $71.58 a barrel after Trump threatened to impose more tariffs on Russia and to possibly attack Iran. For March, the Canadian dollar was up 0.6%, extending its recovery from a 22-year low last month at 1.4793. "The loonie overall had its initial moves very early on in the (trade war) cycle," Sahota said, adding that the focus has turned recently to how U.S. tariffs will impact other countries, such as those in Europe. Speculators have reduced their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar to the least since October, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday showed. As of March 25, net short positions had decreased to 129,534 contracts from 136,582 in the prior week. Canadian government bond yields fell across the curve. The 10-year was down 1.7 basis points at 3.000%. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-pares-monthly-gain-rising-risk-aversion-2025-03-31/
2025-03-31 17:49
Guarantee would rise to 110,000 pounds from 85,000 pounds Proposals follow Silicon Valley Bank collapse in 2023 That would be higher than in the EU, lower than the US LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - The Bank of England has proposed raising the protection limit for savers in case a bank fails to 110,000 pounds ($142,300), it said on Monday. The deposit protection limit is the maximum amount of money that is typically protected for savers should their bank fail and under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has been capped at 85,000 pounds since 2017. Sign up here. The BoE began examining an overhaul of the guarantee scheme in 2023, after the rapid collapse of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank raised questions about how to ensure faster access to cash when a lender collapses and about whether deposit protection was sufficient. BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said at the time that raising the limit was not the solution. A hike in the UK's guarantee would put deposit protection above that of the EU but below the United States. EU deposit protection is harmonised at 100,000 euros across member states, while in the U.S. it is at least $250,000 per depositor. "Confidence in our financial system is an essential foundation for economic growth. We want to support confidence in our banks, building societies and credit unions by raising the amount that people can keep in their account," said Sam Woods, Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which is part of the BoE. An increase would take into account inflation since then, the PRA said in a statement, adding that any change, if implemented, would apply from December. As part of a wide-ranging consultation, the PRA is also proposing the introduction of new rules to enable funds from the FSCS to be used to recapitalise failing firms. The limit for certain temporary high balance claims, such as when buying or selling a house results in depositors' balances being temporarily very high, should increase to 1.4 million pounds from the current one million pounds, it said. "Raising the deposit protection limit is a sensible decision to support consumer confidence in the financial service industry," Rocio Concha, Director of Policy and Advocacy at consumer group Which? said in the BoE statement. The UK Treasury will decide on whether to enact the PRA's proposals. ($1 = 0.7730 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-regulator-proposes-raising-protection-limit-savers-2025-03-31/
