Benchmark crude oil prices are rising on Monday morning.
Despite a slight downward correction in trading on Friday, crude rose by about 4% last week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
“The most turbulent part of the rally is still ahead,” said Alex Kupcikiewicz, senior market analyst at FxPro, as quoted by MarketWatch.
The price of May futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:00 a.m. was $85.64 per barrel, which is $0.3 (0.35%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Friday, these contracts fell by $0.08 (0.1%) to $85.34 per barrel.
Quotes for WTI futures for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning increased by $0.35 (0.43%) to $81.39 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, the price of these contracts fell by $0.22 (0.3%) to $81.04 per barrel.
The market was boosted, in particular, by the news of a decline in US oil inventories for the first time in seven weeks.
Other factors contributing to the growth of quotations are the persistence of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries and the extension of production restrictions by OPEC+ countries, experts say.
In addition, the International Energy Agency has raised its 2024 demand forecast by 200 thousand barrels per day to 103.2 million bpd. As a result, the IEA now expects the global market to face a deficit of about 300 thousand bpd this year instead of the previously expected small surplus if OPEC+ restrictions continue.
Population structure of Ukraine (data from Ukrainian institute of future)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
India imported $6.15 billion worth of gold in February 2023, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This is 2.3 times more than in February last year, 3.2 times more than in January this year and in general about twice the traditional average monthly levels.
That said, India Bullion and Jewellers Association president Prithviraj Kothari predicts that imports may not be significant in March due to record high gold prices. “Consumers cannot digest the current price level. If prices remain this high, it will affect demand in the current wedding season,” he told Reuters. – It makes no sense for banks and refiners to import.”
In January-February, India’s gold imports totaled $8.06 billion, 2.4 times the result of the corresponding period last year.
By the end of 2023, India imported almost 744 tons of gold worth $42.58 billion. In physical terms, the volume increased by 4%, in value terms – by 16%.
India is one of the largest consumers of gold in the world, practically not producing it itself.
Earlier, the analytical center Experts Club presented an overview of world economies over the past decades. More video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=vsiB0zGYh0NI2tu0
The number of IT specialists working in Ukraine in 2023 increased by about 2.7% to 346.2 thousand people, according to the research Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT, prepared by the IT Association.
Executive Director of IT Ukraine Association Maria Shevchuk specified that such statistical data were provided at the request of IT-Association and the Ministry of Digital Transformation by the State Statistics Service.
“At the same time, the same IT specialist can be an individual entrepreneur (FOP), a salaried employee employed in the staff of an IT company, and a specialist working under a gig contract. This duplication is not reflected in the statistics figures,” Shevchuk specified.
According to the research data, the biggest growth was observed among specialists working in IT on gig-contract. Their number in 2023 increased by 3.9 times – up to 23.2 thousand. At the same time, the number of specialists registered as entrepreneurs (FOP) decreased to 265 thousand against 272.8 thousand in 2022.
The study points out that there are no new data on the number of employees employed in the staff of IT companies for 2023, but in 2022 their number reached 58.1 thousand people.
In general, for five years from 2018 to 2023, the growth in the number of IT-specialists in Ukraine amounted to 78.4%, stated in the study Digital Tiger: the Power of Ukrainian IT.
The number of taxes paid by the IT industry in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion has decreased – according to the data given in the study as of January 1, 2022, $1.018 billion was paid, January 1, 2023 – $996.7 million, January 1, 2024 – $982.6 million.
The number of M&A deals in IT in 2022 decreased from 19 for $146 million to 11 for $161.2 million in 2023.
IT in Ukraine remains an important partner for foreign companies despite the ongoing war, said Stepan Mitish, vice president of EPAM Ukraine, at the presentation of the study.
“When our clients need to do something impossible, they go to Ukraine, against all odds. With all due respect to other countries and nationalities, but Ukrainians are about creativity, about knowledge and technology, result-oriented, indestructible and productive, which the last two years have proven,” Mitish said.
As an example, he cited US-based MedTech, which specializes in healthcare products. According to him, the company, realizing “the uniqueness of Ukrainian talents,” increased the size of its team from 25 to 200 people during the two years of full-scale invasion. Mitish did not specify the name of the company.
Ukraine has fulfilled all obligations for the third revision of the EFF extended financing program and expects a positive decision by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the allocation of the fourth tranche of about $900 million in the near future, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.
“We are expecting a meeting of the board of the International Monetary Fund in the near future. It seems to me that the date of such a meeting is planned for March 21, at which a decision on Ukraine will be made,” he said on the national telethon.
According to Marchenko, these funds will be received immediately after a successful discussion at the Executive Board.
“So far we are fulfilling all our obligations. And I don’t see any particular problems for us to continue to fulfill these obligations in 2024,” the Minister of Finance emphasized, predicting further cooperation with the IMF under the EFF program.
He also noted that Ukraine still considers the basic option of receiving direct budget support from the United States this year, about which it receives constant assurances from the American side.
“We hope that a solution will be found in the lower house (of the U.S. Congress). There is now every reason for this. We hope that direct budget support will continue, this is important for cooperation with the IMF, for forming a pool of partners,” Marchenko said.
Polling stations in India, the world’s largest democracy, will open on April 19, CNN reported Saturday, citing the election commissioner.
An estimated 960 million people in the country of 1.4 billion are eligible to vote in the widely expected election, which will take a month to complete. Voting will take place in seven phases across the country and will conclude on June 1. Indians will vote for 543 seats in the 545-seat lower house of parliament, called the Lok Sabha, with the other two seats in the chamber appointed by the president.
All votes – from the country’s 28 states and eight union territories – will be counted on June 4, the commission said at a news conference in New Delhi. According to the Election Commission, 968.8 million people have registered to vote in the 2024 elections, up 6 percent from 2019.
Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (People’s Party of India, BJP) party is expected to gain another five years in power, governing an India that has become increasingly polarized along religious lines.
Under Modi’s leadership, India is poised to become a 21st-century power as its economy grows rapidly. But the populist leader, analysts say, has tightened his grip on the country’s democratic institutions, something not seen since the 1970s under Indira Gandhi’s iron-fisted rule. Minorities feel persecuted by the BJP’s Hindu-nationalist policies, and dissent is suppressed.
Modi is opposed by the main opposition Indian National Congress, which has ruled the country for 77 years since independence and last year formed an alliance with other parties. The Indian National Inclusive Development Alliance, or INDIA, was an important step for the opposition as it tries to regain national prominence. But cracks have already appeared in the alliance and it has yet to nominate a candidate for prime minister, lacking anyone with the stardom and appeal of Modi.
The prime minister’s calendar last year included diplomatic trips to Australia and the United States, where he appeared as a statesman cementing the country as a modern world power.
In August, India made history by soft landing a rover on the moon, becoming the fourth country to do so. A few weeks later, it launched its first spacecraft designed to study the Sun.
In September, India hosted the Group of 20 (G20), giving New Delhi an opportunity to extend its leadership beyond the country’s borders at a time of growing political instability.
In January this year, Modi gave an unofficial kick-start to his election campaign by inaugurating the controversial Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, a Hindu temple in the holy city of Ayodhya that was built on the site of the demolished Babri mosque.
Modi’s BJP won 303 seats in Parliament in 2019, crossing the 272-seat threshold required for an absolute majority and dealing a humiliating blow to the Congress party. Earlier, think tank Experts Club presented an analysis on the most important elections in countries around the world in 2024, more video analysis is available here -.
