"Our Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, is a punch bag," Makings said in Harare addressing business people gathered for the monthly Express Management meeting.
This meeting is sponsored by the British Council and is attended by prominent business people especially those that were trained in the United Kingdom (UK).
"He cannot do anything right now because his hands are tied.
"What he says and does is all controlled by the government which as you know is broke and so there is really nothing that he can do to solve the economic crisis.
"We really cannot blame Tendai Biti because he is just a punch bag in the government."
The statement comes at a time when Zimbabwe is expecting a high level delegation from the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the country.
The delegation is coming to Zimbabwe to investigate and try to find out the nation's economic recovery progress.
"The IMF are coming next month (June) to see how we are faring," Anthony Hawkins Head of the University of Zimbabwe's Business School, said in an exclusive interview last month.
He said:"There is nothing really new about this but I think this time around they will ask where our diamond cash is going to and how it is being used.
"As you probably know the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, has said we could earn about $600 million from diamonds but the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Obert Mpofu, on the other hand, says this might not be the case and so this will have to be clarified to the delegation."
Hawkins said he did not know whether Zimbabwe has paid anything yet to the IMF.
"I cannot comment on our repayment schedule because I have not heard about any repayments yet," he said.
"However, they will be worried about our diamond cash just like they were worried about the oil cash in Angola and how that was used before they could come in and help that country."
Hawkins said as long as the country did not repay its outstanding debts, the IMF would not "budge a finger" to help the economic recovery programme.
Zimbabwe's outstanding arrears to the IMF have now reached $140 million at a time when the country owes the Washington-based group $550 million, Biti, the Minister of Finance, has already confirmed.
He said Zimbabwe's outstanding arrears under the Fund's Extended Credit Facility (ECF) now amount to $140 million.
The ECF replaced the Fund's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
"Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to pay off the IMF's arrears from its own resources," Biti said in Harare.
"In this regard, the country will need to request cooperating partners for a concessional bridging loan or grant to settle arrears to the IMF."
He said clearance pf ECF arrears would unlock new financing arrangements from the IMF, within the context of a Fund supported financial arrangement, which would then be used to repay the bridging loan obtained from the cooperating partners.
"Zimbabwe will, however, need a track record of implementing sound macro-economic policies and assurances that arrears to other official creditors are programmed to be cleared," Biti said.
Biti has already confirmed that Zimbabwe owes multilateral institutions a grand total of $2,504 billion, of which the World Bank is owed $1,126 billion, the IMF, $550 million, the African Development Bank (AfDB) $529 million, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), $221 million.
President Robert Mugabe has said there is an urgent need for Zimbabwe to achieve external debt sustainability through a comprehensive debt relief and arrears clearance programme.
"This must be strongly supported by my government and all the development partners and creditors," President Mugabe said.
Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has also said it is "clear that Zimbabwe cannot rehabilitate its infrastructure and move forward with its socio-economic transformation reforms if the debt overhang challenge is not urgently resolved".
CSC finance director exits as fraud probe hits UK - Computer Weekly
The Cabinet Office has meanwhile extended negotiations with CSC over the NHS contract until 31 August, a year-after the coalition government said it had resolved its NHS IT problems.
Computer Weekly understands finance director Neil Malcolm left within the last month. CSC refused to discuss the nature of his departure.
A CSC spokeswoman said: "It is company policy not to comment on internal matters or matters relating to staff departures."
$25m of "Intentional irregularities" were found in the accounts of CSC's £3bn NHS IT contract after a year-long investigation by independent auditors, said CSC in a financial statement last week.
"Certain CSC finance employees based in the United Kingdom were aware prior to fiscal 2012 of the aforementioned errors, but those employees failed to appropriately correct the errors.
"Therefore, the Company has classified these errors as intentional. As a result, certain personnel have been suspended and additional disciplinary actions are being considered."
The errors had overstated CSC's income from the NHS contract by $24m after failing to account for costs.
Andy Thomson, vice president of international finance at CSC, refused to confirm whether Malcolm's departure was related to any fraudulent activity. He refused to answer any questions about the matter.
Investigators had found other accounting problems with the NHS contract, on which CSC wrote off $1.5bn last year after its continued failure to meet a 2007 deadline to deliver computer systems to health bodies over two-thirds of England. The investigation was ongoing. CSC did not expect further revelations would involve amounts large enough to dent its financials.
The US SEC probe, which is also ongoing, led to a string of revelations about intentional accounting errors in CSC's Nordics, Australia and Americas businesses. CSC Denmark CEO Carsten Lind resigned as details of the accounting problems broke last Autumn. Hundreds of redundancies have followed in the wake of a major Danish public sector IT failure and the loss of CSC's largest private sector customer in the region, the telecoms firm TDC, to Indian outsourcer Tata.
CSC is making approximately 1,100 redundancies in the UK, thought to be about 15 per cent of its local workforce, as it stands down teams that had been working on the NHS contract and absorbs the shock of financial results that recorded a $4.3bn world-wide loss last week.
The majority of the loss was attributed to the NHS write-off and a $2.7bn loss of goodwill over numerous acquisitions CSC had made in the last 10 years. $269m was attributed to a settlement CSC made with the US Army over its Logistics Modernisation Programme, one of 11 ERP projects that caused trouble for the US Department of Defence.
Neil Malcolm was unavailable for comment.
FOREX-Euro, growth currencies firm on stimulus hopes - Reuters
* Rising talk of more stimulus from Fed helps risk
* Euro bears cut positions as peripheral yields ease
* Spanish bond auction, Bernanke's testimony in focus
* Aussie jumps after unexpected gains in payrolls
By Anirban Nag
LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - The euro hovered near one-week highs on Thursday and growth-linked currencies were supported by expectations that global policymakers will act soon to support a flagging economic recovery.
That drove investors to unwind bets on safe-haven currencies like the dollar and the Japanese yen. Both may stay under pressure ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony later in the day, traders said.
Hopes for more stimulus from the Fed received a boost after Janet Yellen, the Fed's vice chair, laid out the case for more easing to bolster a fragile economy as financial turmoil in Europe mounts.
The global economy has floundered in recent weeks and risks to growth have risen given chances of a Greece exit from the euro zone and expectations that Spain will have to seek an international bailout to help its banking sector.
This has put pressure on euro zone politicians and global central banks to come up with a credible policy response to support growth. Also boosting risk sentiment in general, data showed Australian employment surged in May despite forecast of a fall, pushing the Aussie dollar to its highest in three weeks.
The single currency last stood at $1.2565, having briefly risen to $1.25859, its highest level since late May and about 2.3 percent above a two-year low of $1.2288 hit last week. Traders cited resistance at around $1.2625, the January low which was also last week's high.
"The euro can bounce up to $1.2630 but then it will be a sell on rallies as Europe's problems are ...considerable," said Stuart Frost, head of Absolute Returns and Currency at fund manager RWC Partners.
"There is also profit taking in long dollar positions. We expect Bernanke to strike a dovish tone and that will keep alive expectations of more quantitative easing."
More easing by the Fed would likely weigh on the dollar while giving a fillip to growth-linked currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars and to some extent the euro and the pound.
The dollar index was down 0.1 percent at 82.253.
While Yellen is known to be a dove and her comments late on Wednesday did not surprise markets, other officials, such as Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, also talked about possible need for action, saying his level of concern had risen since the Fed's April meeting.
"Since (last week's) weak U.S. job data, there's been rising speculation of more stimulus from the Fed. That is making dollar long positions uncomfortable," said Katsunori Kitakura, associate general manager of market-making unit at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
SPANISH AUCTION
In Europe, traders said further gains in the euro will depend on the market's response to a Spanish bond auction.
The sale of up to 2 billion euros of bonds is seen as a crucial test of Madrid's ability to continue to refinance its debt. Spanish and Italian government bond yields slipped ahead of the sale.
Spain has been on investors' radar in the past two weeks, relegating worries about a Greek euro exit. While there has been no concrete progress on steps to support Spain, European sources said Germany and European Union officials are urgently exploring ways to support Spain's stricken banks.
Spain has not yet requested outside assistance and is resisting being placed under international supervision, but signs of sense of crisis hounding policymakers - such as a Group of Seven conference call on Tuesday - were making traders uneasy about holding large bearish positions against the euro.
The Australian dollar rose to three-week high of $0.9969 on upbeat jobs data, which came a day after strong growth numbers. It last stood at $0.9955, up 0.4 percent on the day.
The U.S. dollar managed to outperform the yen, which was hit broadly as risk appetite improved. The yen was also dampened by recent threats from Japanese authorities to curb its strength.
The dollar was 0.1 percent higher at 79.30 yen, off a 3-1/2 month trough around 77.65 set on June 1.
Forex: EUR/USD buoyant ahead of Bernanke - FXStreet.com
NASDAQ to set aside $40million in 'mea culpa money' to compensate brokers in botched Facebook IPO - Daily Mail
- Nasdaq to offer $40m to brokers and investors after technical glitch marred trading during Facebook's IPO
- $14million given in cash and the remainder in credit
- Company usually caps reimbursement due to technical glitches at $3m
By Reuters Reporter and Associated Press
|
Nasdaq said Wednesday afternoon that it would hand out $40million in cash and credit to reimburse investment firms that lost money on Facebook's opening day because of computer glitches at the exchange.
Nasdaq's chief rival, the New York Stock Exchange, fired off a statement condemning the move, saying Nasdaq was giving itself an unfair advantage and rewarding itself for its own mistakes.
One broker, Knight Capital, said the planned reimbursements weren't nearly enough, encapsulating the complaints that other brokers and investment firms were making privately.
Compensation: Nasdaq said Wednesday afternoon that it would hand out $40million in cash and credit to reimburse investment firms that lost money on Facebook's opening day because of computer glitches at the exchange
Nasdaq OMX's compensation for mishandling Facebook Inc's public offering is 'too limited', though the exchange deserves praise for tackling the issue, former Securities and Exchange Commission chief Harvey Pitt said.
The harm caused by Nasdaq's failures easily exceed the $40 million the exchange has set aside, Mr Pitt said on Wednesday, responding to a query by e-mail.
Not enough: Harvey Pitt, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chief, said the compensation wasn't enough
He also said there does not seem to be any rationale for how the number was arrived at or why it is fair.
Nasdaq 'deserves kudos for taking the bull by the horns, and not waiting for the SEC to finish its review,' Mr Pitt said. 'But I think the steps it has taken — while positive — are too limited. The dollar estimates for harm caused by Nasdaq's failures easily exceed — several times over — the $40 million it has set aside.'
Mr Pitt said Nasdaq would be better served by an independent internal review of all that occurred on May 18, when traders were left in the dark for hours as to whether their orders for Facebook shares had been executed.
Facebook went public May 18 amid great fanfare, but computer glitches at the Nasdaq threw the day into chaos.
The opening was delayed by half an hour. Technical problems kept many investors from buying shares in the morning, selling them later in the day, or even from knowing whether their orders went through. Some investors complained that they were left holding shares they didn't want.
Nasdaq will pay about $14 million in cash to investment companies that bought or sold shares, or tried to, at certain levels. The rest will be given as credit, meaning the firms won't have to pay as much in the usual fees required for trading on the Nasdaq.
Nasdaq predicted that those benefits could last as long as six months.
The credit for trading fees riled the NYSE. It said the move gave investors a strong incentive to move more of their trading to the Nasdaq, allowing Nasdaq 'to reap a benefit from market share gains they would not have otherwise received.'
'This is tantamount to forcing the industry to subsidize Nasdaq's missteps and would establish a harmful precedent that could have far reaching implications for the markets, investors and the public interest,' the NYSE said in a statement.
Dislike: Facebook went public May 18 amid great fanfare, but computer glitches at the Nasdaq threw the day into chaos
The war of words underscores the constant battle that Nasdaq and the NYSE are locked in.
The NYSE, with roots dating to the 18th century and its familiar neoclassic headquarters on Wall Street, bills itself as reliable and well-known. Nasdaq, which started in 1971, promotes itself as a high-tech exchange favored by high-tech companies including Apple and Google.
The $40 million amount is far more than usual: Nasdaq has traditionally imposed a $3million cap for reimbursing customers who lost money because of technical problems.
It's hard to imagine that the amount could cover all the claims. Knight Capital alone has estimated that it lost as much as $35 million because of Nasdaq's glitches.
Knight Capital said it was disappointed that the reimbursement pool 'does not come close to covering reported losses' connected to the technical glitches.
'Their proposed solution to this problem is simply unacceptable,' the company said in a statement.
Large amount: The $40 million amount is far more than usual: Nasdaq has traditionally imposed a $3 million cap for reimbursing customers who lost money because of technical problems
It isn't clear what will happen next. Nasdaq still has to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for its plan. The NYSE said it would 'strongly press our views' but didn't give details. Knight Capital said it is 'evaluating all remedies available under law,' which could mean it plans to sue.
Facebook's stock originally priced at $38 and closed that first day at $38.23, a disappointment to speculators who had hoped for a first-day pop. Nasdaq has said it was embarrassed by the glitches, but that they didn't contribute to the underwhelming returns.
Nasdaq says it will reimburse investment firms that tried to sell shares at $42 or less but either couldn't sell or sold at a lower price than they intended.
It will also reimburse investment firms that bought at $42 but in trades that weren't immediately confirmed. FINRA, the financial industry's self-regulatory group, will review the claims for compensation. Facebook's shares went as high as $45 on the first day.
The shares rose after the Nasdaq announcement and closed up 94 cents, nearly 4 per cent, at $26.81. That's still down nearly 30 per cent from the initial pricing.
The Facebook offering has left a bad taste for many investors, though they don't blame Nasdaq alone.
Many also think that Facebook as well as Morgan Stanley, the main bank that underwrote the deal, overestimated demand, pricing the shares too high and issuing too many.
Nasdaq says the problems have been fixed and that it has hired IBM to review its operating systems.
FOREX-Dollar rallies on Bernanke, euro surrenders gains - Reuters India
* Bernanke comments do not suggest more stimulus imminent
* Surprise China rate cut boosts some riskier currencies
NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) - The dollar rose against the euro on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank was ready to shield the economy, but offered few hints that further monetary stimulus was imminent.
The euro earlier had hit its highest level since May after China's central bank cut benchmark interest rates to support growth in the world's second-largest economy.
The U.S. dollar had been hindered by expectations that the Federal Reserve would take further steps to ease monetary policy, but those expectations were countered by Bernanke's almost sanguine tone, which indicated the Fed was far from crisis mode..
"I don't think he is definitely saying that QE3 is on the way," said Fabian Eliasson, vice president of currency sales at Mizuho Corporate Bank in New York. "He's saying what he has said before, reassuring people that they will act if things deteriorate further. In other words, they are there if needed, but they don't feel they are needed yet."
The euro was last at $1.2557, down 0.1 percent from the prior close.
"Despite economic difficulties in Europe, the demand for U.S. exports has held up well," Bernanke told Congress.
Earlier the euro climbed as high as $1.2625, using Reuters data, its highest level since May 23. Traders had earlier cited resistance around $1.2625.
Against the yen, the euro also hit its highest level since May 23, at 100.61 yen, before paring gains to trade at 99.94 yen, up 0.4 percent.
Before Bernanke began his testimony to Congress, trading had been influenced by China's twin surprises on interest rates, cutting borrowing costs to combat faltering growth while giving banks additional flexibility to set deposit rates. [ID:nL3E8H76KL}.
"Rate cuts in China serve to reduce China's exposure to global weakness," said Douglas Borthwick, managing director of Faros Trading in Stamford, Connecticut. "Rate cuts in combination with a stimulus program - still to be announced, should shelter Asia somewhat from global weakness and should help keep a bid to Asian growth and currencies."
Decent demand at a Spanish bond auction and expectations that European policymakers may take further steps to support the global economy also led to demand for perceived riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar, which rose to a three-week high.
The global economy has floundered in recent weeks. Risks to growth have mounted on concerns about a possible Greek exit from the euro zone and the fragility of the Spanish banking system, putting pressure on euro zone politicians and global central banks to come up with a credible policy response.
Speculation that Spain could become the fourth euro zone country to need an international bailout prompted investors to sell the euro heavily last week, although European sources have said Germany and European Union officials are urgently exploring ways to support Spain's country's stricken banks.
Many market players were already expecting euro gains to be limited. A Reuters poll suggested the euro was unlikely to recoup recent steep losses against the dollar in the next 12 months.
"The euro can bounce up to $1.2630, but then it will be a sell on rallies as Europe's problems are ... considerable," said Stuart Frost, head of Absolute Returns and Currency at fund manager RWC Partners in London.
The dollar managed to outperform the yen, which was hit broadly as risk appetite improved. Demand for the yen was also dampened by recent threats from Japanese authorities to curb its strength.
The dollar was 0.5 percent higher at 79.56 yen after posting a session peak of 79.78, also the highest since May 23 using Reuters data, and well off a 3-1/2-month trough set last Friday.
The dollar was also bolstered against the yen by a report showing the number of Americans lining up for new jobless benefits fell last week for the first time since April, a reminder that the wounded labor market is slowly healing.
"The number was very close to expectations," said Vassili Serebriakov, senior currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York. "We've had a deterioration in the last few months, and now it looks like claims are plateauing."
Forex: AUD/USD firm above 0.9900 - NASDAQ
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Fourth consecutive daily advance for the AUD so far, bolstered by increasing risk appetite in the global markets.
After a dreadful May, the Aussie dollar is finding some relief at the beginning of June: the RBA cut the overnight rate 'only' 25 bps on Tuesday, against a widely expected 50 bps; GDP figures for the first quarter have surprised growing 4.3% YoY and the unemployment rate has come in at 5.1% early in the Asian session, in line with expectations.
J.Kruger, Technical Strategist at DailyFX, affirms that the bearish outlook on the cross remains unchanged, although he assesses the likeliness of a rebound due to technical studies showing 'oversold' conditions, "…and we see shorter-term risks for more of a bounce towards 1.0000-1.0200 area where the next major lower top is sought out ahead of underlying bear trend resumption…".
AUD/USD is now advancing 0.32% at 0.9946, with the next hurdle at 1.0016 (high May 15) ahead of 1.0028 (50% of 1.0475-0.9581) and 1.0070 (high May 14).
On the flip side, a violation of 0.9875 (hourly sup Jun.6) would bring 0.9767 (MA10d) and 0.9738 (hourly low Jun.6).
Money market fund assets fall to $2.564 trillion - CNBC
NEW YORK - Total U.S. money market mutual fund assets fell by $8.04 billion to $2.564 trillion for the week that ended Wednesday, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.
Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds rose by $2.88 billion to $890.35 billion, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said. Assets of taxable money market funds in the retail category grew by $1.6 billion to $703.59 billion. Tax-exempt retail fund assets rose by $1.28 billion to $186.77 billion.
Meanwhile, assets of institutional money market funds fell $10.92 billion to $1.674 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable money market fund assets fell $10.97 billion to $1.588 trillion; assets of tax-exempt funds rose $50 million to $86.41 billion.
The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds was 0.03 percent in the week that ended Tuesday, unchanged from the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westborough, Mass.
The 30-day average yield was also unchanged from last week at 0.03 percent. The seven-day compounded yield was flat at 0.03 percent. The 30-day compounded yield was unchanged at 0.03 percent, Money Fund Report said.
The average maturity of portfolios held by money market mutual funds was the same as the previous week at 45 days.
The online service Bankrate.com said its survey of 100 leading commercial banks, savings and loan associations and savings banks in the nation's 10 largest markets showed the annual percentage yield available on money market accounts was unchanged from last week at 0.13 percent.
The North Palm Beach, Fla.-based unit of Bankrate Inc. said the annual percentage yield available on interest-bearing checking accounts was unchanged from the week before at 0.06 percent.
Bankrate.com said the annual percentage yield on six-month certificates of deposit was also unchanged from the previous week at 0.21 percent. The yield on one-year CDs fell to 0.32 percent from 0.33 percent. It fell to 0.51 percent from 0.52 percent on two-and-a-half-year CDs. It was flat at 1.12 percent on five-year CDs.
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