Business

WASHINGTON — Despite its swift takeover of the government in Afghanistan, the Taliban will not have access to most of the nation's cash and gold stocks, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it won't provide aid.

A spokesperson for the Washington-based crisis lender on Wednesday said it had decided to withhold its assistance to Afghanistan amid uncertainty over the status of the leadership in Kabul.

"There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access... IMF resources," the official said.

Central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady said on Twitter the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) had around $9 billion in reserves, but most of that is held overseas, out of reach of the Taliban.

"As per international standards, most assets are held in safe, liquid assets such as Treasuries and gold," said Ahmady, who fled the country on Sunday, fearing for his safety as the Taliban swept into the capital.

The US Federal Reserve holds $7 billion of the country's reserves, including $1.2 billion in gold, while the rest is held in foreign accounts including at the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, Ahmady said.

A US administration official said on Monday that "any central bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban."

Amid reports the Taliban were quizzing central bank staff on the location of the assets, Ahmady said, "If this is true -- it is clear they urgently need to add an economist on their team."

He repeated that Washington on Friday had cut off cash shipments to the country as the security situation deteriorated, which may have fueled reports the Taliban stole the reserves since the country's banks could not return dollars to account holders.

"Please note that in no way were Afghanistan's international reserves ever compromised," and are held in accounts that are "easily audited," Ahmady said.

No SDRs for Kabul 

The IMF's aid would include an existing $370 million loan program, as well as access to reserves in the form of Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the lender's basket of currencies.

"As is always the case, the IMF is guided by the views of the international community," the fund official said.

The International Monetary Fund has taken similar action against other regimes not recognized by a critical mass of member governments, as in the case of Venezuela.

The IMF is set to distribute 650 billion in SDRs on August 23 to all eligible members, of which Afghanistan's share was valued at about $340 million, Ahmady said.

The IMF in June released the latest installment of the $370 million loan to Afghanistan approved in November and aimed at helping support the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The World Bank has more than two dozen development projects ongoing in the country and has provided $5.3 billion since 2002, mostly in grants. 

The status of those programs is unclear as the development lender works to pull staff out of the country.

An internal memo to World Bank personnel obtained by AFP said "senior management is working around the clock to arrange an urgent evacuation of our staff and their family members."

Meanwhile, Western Union announced Wednesday it was temporarily cutting off wire transfers to the country -- another vital source of cash for the people.

WASHINGTON — As the US real estate market continues to see strong demand while grappling with supply bottlenecks and high prices, government data released on Wednesday showed the pace of new homebuilding slowing in July.

Housing projects started last month fell seven per cent compared to June to an annual rate of just over 1.5 million units, seasonally adjusted, the Commerce Department said, a drop far greater than economists had expected. 

Fueled by bargain borrowing rates, home prices have risen steadily for months, as a struggle to find workers and shortages of lumber and other goods has eroded builder confidence and prompted some to put projects on hold, according to an industry survey.

That was reflected in the government data that showed new single-family projects fell 4.5 per cent and construction started on apartments dropped 13.6 per cent.

The Northeast saw the steepest declines, plunging 49 per cent, while the South saw a small increase, according to the report.

"Solid housing demand and sparse inventory will give builders strong reasons to maintain solid levels of construction," said Oren Klachkin of Oxford Economics. "However, high materials prices, a limited supply of workers and limited land availability will constrain activity."

But new building permits issued in the month rose 2.6 per cent, breaking a string of declines and signaling more projects are in the pipeline.

Overall, housing starts are 2.5 per cent above the same level of 2020.

Mike Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said homebuilding should pick up as supply chain struggles ease.

"There are now almost 690,000 single-family homes under construction — the largest number since 2007. This is clearly a positive sign given the remarkably low levels of inventory on the market," he said.

NEW YORK — Walmart lifted its full-year forecast on Tuesday following another solid performance at its US stores in the second quarter even as e-commerce growth slowed compared with earlier in the pandemic.

Executives from the US retailer reported brisk demand from shoppers, noting an uptick in store traffic in the most recent three months as more consumers have been vaccinated.

But they said they were monitoring the Delta variant of COVID-19, which has led to new restrictions in some parts of the United States. Late last month, Walmart reinstituted a mask requirement for employees in areas with high infection rates. 

The upbeat outlook assumes "a continued strong US economy with no new significant government stimulus for the rest of the year", Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said on a conference call with analysts.

Walmart revenues rose 2.4 per cent to $141 billion in the quarter, as US stores enjoyed a 5.2 per cent jump in comparable sales, while international revenues fell following a series of divestitures.

Profits dropped 34 per cent to $4.3 billion compared with the comparable quarter of 2020.

Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said the results show "our ability to serve customers in challenging environments and across multiple channels, formats and countries".

The company saw an especially strong performance in grocery, where it grew US market share and it enjoyed solid pricing.

US e-commerce sales grew 6 per cent in the second quarter after nearly doubling in the year-ago period.

Rising prices 

Walmart's status as a value store has been beneficial as US stimulus programs are phased out amid rising consumer worries over inflation.

Rising inflation "has increased price sensitivity among consumers and sent some scrambling" to cut back on spending, said Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData. 

"This trend has been exacerbated by the withdrawal of some enhanced benefits and stimulus payments, which have made households more budget conscious."

Biggs acknowledged that company performance has been boosted somewhat by US government aid packages, saying, "we know we've benefitted from stimulus, but the underlying business is very strong."

Besides grocery, Walmart also said sales were strong in pets, beauty and baby products, while apparel and travel-related goods were in demand as customers socialise more as COVID-19 vaccines became widely available and businesses were able to reopen.

Executives also described brisk demand in the "back-to-school" season in the current quarter, especially in clothing and stationary.

Besides the Delta variant, executives described supply chain difficulties as a focus of attention. 

The chain's merchants are adding lead time to orders and chartering vessels especially for Walmart goods. Still, out-of-stocks are running "above normal given strong sales and supply constraints", Biggs said.

Walmart raised its full-year sales outlook to "slightly positive" after previously projecting a decline. The outlook for earnings per share of $6.20 to $6.35 is also higher than the firm's earlier forecast.

Shares rose 0.8 per cent to $150.05 in early trading.

NEW YORK — US safety officials opened a preliminary investigation into Tesla's Autopilot after identifying 11 crashes involving the driver assistance system, officials said on Monday.

The incidents dating back to 2018 included one fatal crash and seven that resulted in injuries to 17 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

NHTSA "is committed to ensuring the highest standards of safety on the nation's roadways", an agency spokesperson said. "In keeping with the agency's core safety mission and to better understand the causes of certain Tesla crashes, NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into Tesla Autopilot systems."

Tesla founder Elon Musk has defended the Autopilot system and the electric automaker warns that it requires "active driver supervision" behind the wheel, but critics, including in Congress, say the system can be easily fooled and have called for NHTSA to take action.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

The crashes cited by NHTSA involved incidents in which "various Tesla models crashed" in instances where responders were involved, including "some that crashed directly into the vehicles of first responders", the NHTSA spokesperson said. 

Three of the crashes took place in California, with other incidents taking place in Florida, Texas and Massachusetts, among other states. The probe covers models Y, X, S and 3, NHTSA said. 

"A preliminary evaluation starts the agency's fact-finding mission and allows additional information and data to be collected," a NHTSA spokesperson said.

"NHTSA reminds the public that no commercially available motor vehicles today are capable of driving themselves," the spokesperson said.

"Certain advanced driving assistance features can promote safety by helping drivers avoid crashes and mitigate the severity of crashes that occur, but as with all technologies and equipment on motor vehicles, drivers must use them correctly and responsibly."

News of the probe sent Tesla shares sharply lower on Monday. 

Pushing the boundaries 

Musk has a history of skirmishing with regulators, but the controversies have had little effect on Tesla's ascendance over the last year and a half as the company has hit key production targets.

His success in building Tesla from a fledgling startup into an industry pacesetter on electric cars has stood out more as other electric auto startups like Lordstown Motors and Nikola have stumbled. 

At the same time, Musk has sparked blowback from critics as he pushed or flouted the rules on everything from his use of social media to discuss Tesla's operations to his response COVID-19 health protocols required by local officials near Tesla's California plant. 

Advocates with the Centre for Auto Safety, a non-profit group, have pressed US officials to bar the name "Autopilot" since 2019, viewing the moniker as deceptive.

Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, welcomed news of the NHTSA probe, but said it should go "far beyond" crashes involving first responder vehicles "because the danger is to all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians when Autopilot is engaged", he said in an email.

"Whether Autopilot needs to be disabled, or be required to use driver monitoring systems to prevent these crashes, is a question for NHTSA," Levine added. "But there's no question that something needs to be done quickly to prevent more injuries and deaths."

Testers with the magazine Consumer Reports demonstrated in a video that Autopilot could be fooled into driving with nobody behind the wheel, an exercise also shown in widely-seen videos on TikTok and other social media platforms.

In April, Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ed Markey of Massachusetts urged NHTSA to probe a fatal crash in Texas involving a Tesla after law enforcement said there was no driver behind the wheel.

The senators said Tesla has been criticised for "misrepresenting" its systems and "giving drivers a false sense of security", according to an April 22 letter.

Tesla has said it does not believe the April crash involved Autopilot, and the incident was not included in NHTSA's list of 11 crashes. 

Tesla shares tumbled 5.1 per cent to $680.77 in mid-morning trading.

TOKYO — Japan's economy grew slightly in the second quarter, recovering from a slowdown at the start of the year despite continuing virus surges and restrictions, data showed on Monday.

The world's third-largest economy contracted at the beginning of the year as a new wave of infections forced the government to impose virus restrictions that slowed consumption.

But despite continued virus worries and restrictions that have lasted most of this year, Japan's economy grew a better-than-expected 0.3 per cent in the three months to June, data from the Cabinet office showed.

That slightly exceeded the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who had forecast just 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth.

The data released by the cabinet office also showed a slight upwards revision for the first quarter, when the economy shrank 0.9 per cent, compared with a previous estimate of 1.

Japan has seen a smaller virus outbreak than many developed economies, with 15,400 deaths despite avoiding harsh lockdowns.

But for much of this year Tokyo and several other regions have been under virus states of emergency, limiting alcohol sales and restaurant and bar opening hours.

Experts have warned the measures are losing their effectiveness, with signs the rules are being increasingly flouted.

Stefan Angrick, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics covering Japan, said consumption proved surprisingly resilient despite the restrictions.

"The Japanese economy eked out some moderate growth in the second quarter of the year, avoiding a technical recession thanks to a combination of stronger consumption and business investment," he said in a note.

"Despite the improvement, we expect growth to remain under pressure in the third quarter as spending and production continue to struggle amidst disruptions from the pandemic."

Japan is also playing catch-up with its vaccine programme, which began much later and more slowly than those in many other developed economies.

The roll-out has now picked up speed and around a third of Japanese are now fully vaccinated but infections are at record levels, with nationwide daily cases topping 20,000 in recent days.

The surge in cases, driven by the more contagious Delta variant, has clouded the chances for a strong and fast vaccine-driven recovery.

Analysts said there was still hope on the horizon.

"Output only edged higher in the second quarter and won't do much better this quarter as the Delta-driven fifth wave holds back consumer spending," wrote Tom Learmouth, of Capital Economics.

"But with the vaccine rollout still moving fast, a strong recovery in Q4 [fourth quarter] remains on the cards."

He noted that the 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in private consumption was stronger than expected and offset most of the fall in the previous quarter. 

As throughout the pandemic though, uncertainty remains.

"With severe cases surging, the risks to our forecast that consumer spending will tread water in Q3 are currently tilted to the downside," Learmouth acknowledged.

Still, he said the solid pace of the vaccination programme now would leave Japan "well-placed" for a strong rebound in the final part of the year.

WASHINGTON — When Romain Daubec and his wife Monica left San Francisco last summer for Denver, Colorado, they thought their telework hundreds of miles from their offices would last no more than a half-year.

But the stunningly rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has them settling in for a new way of life that now, they say, feels more "natural".

Across the United States, a growing number of companies are delaying their employees' return to the office out of concern over the new wave of disease.

But like the Daubecs — he is French, she is American — more and more people across the country have settled in for a second year of telework — willingly this time, with little desire to return to the office, content and comfortable with their new personal and professional lifestyle.

The Delta variant, now dominant in the United States, has taken a heavy toll. An average of nearly 113,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 were registered over the previous seven days — a 24 per cent increase over the prior week, Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday.

One employer taking note was Facebook, which on that same day announced that it would not require workers to return to the office before January 2022. 

"Data, not dates, is what drives our approach for returning to the office," a Facebook spokesperson said in response to an inquiry, saying the company's prime concern was "everyone's safety".

Only weeks earlier, the popular social network had been pushing for a quicker return to normal, saying it would completely reopen its offices by October — while requiring all employees to be masked and vaccinated. 

Facebook thus joined Microsoft, Amazon, American Express and NBC in delaying, to October or January, the full reopening of offices. 

Lower wages 

but also taxes 

For 34-year-old Romain Daubec, a financial analyst for a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas, and Monica, who works for Facebook, a return to the office is no longer an option.

While Monica saw her earnings cut by 10 per cent because of the move, "that was largely compensated for" by a greater quality of life and more affordable housing — less than half as expensive in Colorado as in California — as well as by lower taxes, Romain said.

Above all, Monica no longer has to spend three hours on a bus every day.

For Oren Klachkin, an economist with Oxford Economics, it took a bit longer to make the decision to leave New York for Boulder, Colorado.

But when a new wave of COVID-19 struck last fall, he saw the silver lining: It was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live somewhere else, maintain our jobs, try living in a different place", he said.

Space was a big draw: He and his wife Nicole, a 35-year-old consultant, had been sharing a cramped Manhattan apartment.

In Boulder, not far from Denver, the couple now has a "small house" where each has a separate room for work.

"I like the new life that I have here," Klachkin said, especially "having access to outdoor activities" in a scenic region near the Rocky Mountains.

Telework in Colorado has allowed him to strike a better balance between work and home life and saved him from having to "waste" up to two hours a day in the subway, he said. 

But "there are certain downsides, of course", Klachkin added, notably the inability to interact in person with colleagues. 

That is partially offset by "the availability of different online software to essentially allow us to see each other... even though we're not physically in the same space".

A tacit deal 

To Romain Daubec, where one works matters less than how one works.

"As far as I'm concerned, I just need a good internet connection and have to work on San Francisco's time zone," he said, while acknowledging that not every job lends itself to distance work. 

Fundamentally, Daubec added, telework succeeds when built on a basis of trust between employer and employee: Companies allow telework because they save on fixed costs like office rent, while workers tacitly agree to work as seriously as if their boss were standing in the same room.

Klachkin, for his part, says he is more productive than ever — no longer having to spend long, wearying hours commuting every week.

BEIRUT — Michael Hamati emerged from a long queue at a Beirut bakery sweat dripping from his forehead, as Lebanon's economic collapse sparks increasing shortages including over bread.

"There's nothing left in this country," said the 72-year-old, as dozens of people clamoured behind him in the simmering heat for their turn.

Lebanese flocked to bakeries before dawn on Friday, desperate to find affordable bread in a country where fuel and medicine are already in critically short supply.

The rush came after the central bank on Wednesday said it could no longer afford to subsidise fuel in Lebanon.

The country, struggling with political turmoil since 2019, has also been hit by the worst global economic crisis in 150 years, according to the World Bank.

At least 78 per cent of the more than six-million-strong population lives below the poverty line and businesses can barely stay afloat.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 per cent of its value against the dollar on the black market in less than two years.

Many bakeries have already closed down because they cannot afford the rising cost of fuel needed to power private generators as electricity cuts last for around 20 hours a day.

Those that remain open have rationed production to make the subsidised flour they receive from the state last longer, leading to shortages in stores and supermarkets. 

Hamati arrived at a Beirut bakery early in the morning, bracing for a long wait.

"This is the first time I come to this bakery. There isn't any bread left in stores," he said.

"Is there anything left at all" in Lebanon? He asked.

Queues from 3 am 

Lebanon has been gripped by a fuel crisis since the start of summer, with importers blaming shortages on a delay by the government in opening credit lines to fund imports.

The authorities have accused distributors of hoarding stock to sell it at higher rates on the black market or across the border in Syria. 

"Bakeries don't have the means to secure fuel oil... and we don't know if we will receive any" from the state, said Ali Ibrahim, who heads the syndicate of bakery owners.

"They just give us enough for two days... though bakeries and mills should be receiving enough for a month."

In Beirut's Nabaa district, Jacques Al Khoury looked flustered as he tried to organise a queue of dozens of people waiting outside his bakery for bread.

The line started as early as 3:00am — just as he started baking for the day.

"All the bakeries in this area have closed and the pressure is all on me," he said.

Khoury, 60, said he receives 36 tonnes of state subsidised flour per month — but with demand for bread increasing it only lasts a week.

In the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's poorest, many bakeries have been forced to close while supermarkets have stopped selling bread.

'Stale bread' 

The few Tripoli bakeries that have remained open are also struggling to keep up with demand.

"We are rationing the amount of bread we distribute to stores," an employee at one of the city's largest bakeries said.

"We are providing them with half the usual amount."

In one bakery in the southern city of Sidon, residents were only allowed to buy one bag of flat white bread each.

According to the United Nations, food prices have increased by up to 400 per cent. 

The cost of a basic food basket for a single family is now five times the national minimum wage, the Crisis Observatory at the American University of Beirut says. 

"Once we've paid rent, we have no money left," said Mohammad Abdul Qader, a pastry shop employee who needs to provide for five children.

He said food has become so expensive, he can no longer afford meat.

"I gaze at the butcher's from a distance, and then go on my way," he said.

"Yesterday, I ate stale bread" with onion and tomato, he added.