Economy

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Gautam Adani, the billionaire chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world’s richest people, has been indicted in New York over his role in an alleged multibillion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday.Authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India’s largest solar power plant project.Prosecutors also said the Adanis and another executive at Adani Green Energy (NS:ADNA), former CEO Vneet Jaain, raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.According to an indictment, some conspirators referred privately to Gautam Adani with the code names “Numero uno” and “the big man,” while Sagar Adani allegedly used his cellphone to track specifics about the bribes.Adani Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours in India, where the charges were announced early Thursday morning.India’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified.Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, and the Adanis were also charged in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil case.The other five defendants were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. anti-bribery law, and four were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice.None of the defendants is in custody, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn said. Gautam Adani is believed to be in India.BUILT EMPIREThe 62-year-old Adani is worth $69.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, and one of the few billionaires formally accused in the United States of criminal wrongdoing.His fortune makes him the world’s 22nd-richest person, and second-richest in India behind Reliance Industries (NS:RELI) Chair Mukesh Ambani, Forbes said.Adani grew up in India’s Gujarat state, and dropped out of school at age 16.He founded Adani Group in 1988 as a commodities trading firm, and built a business empire that has included airports, shipping ports, power generation, energy transmission and mining companies.The charges were announced hours after Adani on Wednesday raised $600 million by selling 20-year “green” bonds.They also came nearly two years after U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research accused Adani Group of using offshore tax havens improperly, which the company denied.Hindenburg’s January 2023 report sparked an approximately $150 billion meltdown in Adani Group stocks.ADANI PLANNED INVESTMENTS, CONGRATULATED TRUMPOthers who were criminally charged on Wednesday include Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, respectively a former CEO and former chief strategy and commercial officer of Azure Power Global (OTC:AZREF), which authorities said agreed to pay some of the bribes.The remaining criminal defendants worked for Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, a Canadian institutional investor, and included Cyril Cabanes, who was also an Azure director. He was also charged with wrongdoing by the SEC.All of the defendants are Indian citizens apart from Cabanes, a dual French-Australian citizen who has lived in Singapore, prosecutors said.According to court records, a judge has issued arrest warrants for Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, and prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement. Last week, Gautam Adani posted on social media platform X that his conglomerate planned to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and infrastructure projects, creating a potential 15,000 jobs, without providing a timetable.Adani announced the investment while also congratulating U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his election win.Trump has pledged to make it easier for energy companies to drill on federal land and build new pipelines.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also from Gujarat, has been accused by political opponents of protecting Adani and his companies, including from Hindenburg’s accusations. Modi has dismissed the opposition’s claims as “lies and abuses.” More

SYDNEY (Reuters) – New Zealand’s Treasury said on Thursday it would likely cut its economic and fiscal forecasts because of a sustained productivity slowdown in the economy.New Zealand Treasury’s May budget forecasts had anticipated a return to economic growth in the second half of 2024, but the latest data suggests the recovery will begin later, Treasury Chief Economic Adviser Dominick Stephens said in a speech.”Economic growth has proved slower than anticipated. Weaker economic growth means a smaller economy and less tax revenue, increasing the challenge for the government in balancing its books,” Stephens said at the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand conference in Wellington.The New Zealand government in October reported a larger-than-expected budget deficit for the 2023-24 year as lower growth hurt government revenue but it vowed to bring discipline to public spending and get the books back in surplus. Emerging data revealed that productivity had dropped back to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 as indicators of manufacturing and service activity remain contractionary suggesting little growth in the economy in recent months, Stephens said.The New Zealand Treasury is expected to publish its half-year economic and fiscal update on Dec. 17.New Zealand’s economy contracted in the second quarter as activity fell in several major industries, leaving room for more cuts in interest rates.The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its benchmark rate in August, the first reduction since March 2020, and followed it up by slashing rates again by 50 basis points to 4.75% in October. It is widely expected to deliver a third straight cut next week. More

Human resources data firm Brightmine said the median pay award held at 4% for a fourth month in a row – down from 6% at the end of 2023 – and was set to drop to 3% next year.The Bank of England is trying to gauge how much inflation pressure remains in the economy as it prepares to cut interest rates further.It is watching closely for how companies respond to an increase in social security contributions which formed the centrepiece of finance minister Rachel Reeves’ first budget.That kicks in from April next year – just as the minimum wage is due to rise by nearly 7% – and is likely to constrain pay award decisions by employers, Brightmine said.”Managing workforce expectations will be critical in the coming year and employers should clearly communicate pay decisions to maintain employee engagement during times of financial restraint,” Brightmine senior content manager Sheila Attwood said.The latest data was based on 24 pay awards covering 240,000 employees which came into effect between Aug. 1 and Oct. 30. More

However, shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company fell over 5% in extended trading. Palo Alto forecast second quarter as well as annual revenue largely in line with analysts’ expectations. The company also announced a two-for-one stock split of its outstanding shares of common stock. Trading on a split-adjusted basis is expected to begin on Dec. 16.Palo Alto raised its fiscal 2025 revenue outlook to between $9.12 billion and $9.17 billion, while analysts expected $9.13 billion, as per data compiled by LSEG. A rise in cyber crimes and hacks has spurred companies to invest heavily into cybersecurity, benefiting large firms that provide a wide range of security services, such as Palo Alto.The company has been attempting to get its clients to adopt a new “platformization” approach to security by consolidating individual tools into one platform and simplifying management.”Our platformization progress continued in Q1, driving strong financial results,” said Dipak Golechha, Palo Alto’s finance chief. Palo Alto reported revenue of $2.14 billion for the first quarter, beating estimates of $2.12 billion.On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.56 per share, compared with estimates of $1.48 apiece. It forecast second-quarter revenue between $2.22 billion and $2.25 billion, compared with estimates of $2.23 billion.The company also raised its forecast for adjusted net income per share to a range of $6.26 to $6.39 per share, from $6.18 to $6.31 per share it expected earlier.  More

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has moved to forgive about $4.7 billion in U.S. loans to Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, as outgoing officials seek to do what they can before leaving office to bolster Ukraine in its war against Russia. A funding bill passed by the U.S. Congress in April included just over $9.4 billion of forgivable loans for economic and budgetary support to Ukraine’s government, half of which the president could cancel after Nov. 15. The bill appropriated a total of $61 billion to help Ukraine fight the full-scale invasion Moscow launched in February 2022.”We have taken the step that was outlined in the law to cancel those loans,” Miller told a press briefing, adding that the step was taken in recent days.Congress could still block the move, Miller said.The Senate is due to vote later on Wednesday on a motion of disapproval of loan forgiveness for Ukraine put forward by Republican Senator Rand Paul, a frequent critic of U.S. support for Ukraine. The majority of senators from both parties support aid to Ukraine.President Joe Biden has ordered officials to rush as much aid to Ukraine as possible before he leaves office on Jan. 20 amid concerns President-elect Donald Trump could limit U.S. support. (This story has been refiled to change to ‘administration,’ in the headline) More

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (Reuters) -Two Federal Reserve governors on Wednesday laid out competing visions of where U.S. monetary policy may be heading, with one citing ongoing concerns about inflation and another expressing confidence that price pressures will continue to ease.The separate speeches by Michelle Bowman and Lisa Cook show the set of concerns central bank officials will be weighing as they decide whether to approve another quarter-percentage-point reduction in the benchmark policy rate at their Dec. 17-18 meeting.Once seen as highly likely, investors now put just 55% odds on a rate cut next month. Recent data showing strong economic growth and sticky inflation have partly driven that shift in expectations, and Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election has added to the sense of risk and uncertainty around the path of inflation.Bowman, appointed to the Fed’s Board of Governors by Trump during his first four-year term in the White House, said in comments to an economic forum in West Palm Beach, Florida, that with inflation still elevated and moving sideways in the last few months, the Fed needed to be cautious.”We have seen considerable progress in lowering inflation since early 2023, but progress seems to have stalled in recent months. … I would prefer to proceed cautiously in bringing the policy rate down to better assess how far we are from the endpoint,” Bowman said, noting that the Fed’s Nov. 7 policy statement “included a flexible, data-dependent approach, providing the (Federal Open Market) Committee with optionality in deciding future policy adjustments.”Bowman said she agreed that improvements in inflation warranted lower rates. But she dissented against the half-percentage-point cut approved by the Fed in September, favoring a smaller quarter-percentage-point reduction, and says the central bank should be wary of cutting rates too far, too fast, and allowing inflation to resurge.Cook, in remarks at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, did not explicitly endorse a rate cut next month, and included the usual policymaker caveats that monetary policy was not on a predetermined course.But Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s board by President Joe Biden in 2022, also voiced confidence in a continued easing of price pressures that are now largely confined to the housing sector. She estimates that inflation, while stalled of late, would drop to around 2.2% next year, just above the Fed’s 2% target, and continue lower from there.The personal consumption expenditures price index stripped of food and energy costs, considered a good guide to underlying price trends, is estimated to have been 2.8% in October, and has changed little in the last four months.Still, “the totality of the data suggests that a disinflationary trajectory is still in place and that the labor market is gradually cooling,” Cook said. “Going forward, I still see the direction of the appropriate policy rate path to be downward.”Speaking later Wednesday, Boston Fed leader Susan Collins also expressed support for more rate cuts amid diminishing inflation pressures but did not offer firm guidance as to how that might play out. “I expect additional adjustments will likely be appropriate over time, to move the policy rate gradually from its current restrictive stance back into a more neutral range,” Collins said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery before the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford (NYSE:F) School of Public Policy. More

The review, which could unlock more than $1.2 billion in financing, is the fourth under Egypt’s latest 46-month IMF loan programme that was approved in 2022 and expanded to $8 billion this year after an economic crisis marked by high inflation and severe foreign currency shortages.The IMF also said that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability”, including the unification of the exchange rate that eased imports, with its central bank reiterating its commitment to sustain a flexible exchange rate regime.Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.”Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement. More