Al Bilad newspaper The Tender Board opens bids worth 6.9 million dinars – 2024-04-27 00:45:21

The Government Tenders and Auctions Board, in its regular weekly session yesterday (Thursday), opened bids for 14 government tenders for various public entities and companies in Bahrain.
The total number of bids submitted to compete for government tenders in yesterday’s session reached a total of 65 bids from various local and foreign companies, while the total number of the lowest bids submitted amounted to about 6.9 million dinars.
Bapco Exploration and Production Company won a tender to provide maintenance of the high-voltage electrical distribution network. Three bids competed to win the tender, with Al-Yaqeen International Company submitting the lowest bid, worth 1.4 million dinars.
Bapco Refining Company won two tenders, the first for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and disposal of the equilibrium catalyst (e-cat), for which Prometimpex GmbH submitted a bid worth 866 thousand dinars, and the second for upgrading the HLPH substation and associated unit equipment, the substation building and accessories. Installation and operation of the main electrical equipment group, where 6 companies competed, and the lowest bid was submitted by the Mechanical Contracting and Maintenance Company LLC, with a value of 1.22 million dinars.

The Muharraq Municipality won a tender to provide security guards for the municipality, with 6 companies submitting their offers, and the lowest bidder was from Security Solutions LLC, with a value of 1.09 million dinars.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture obtained two tenders for a regional park project (1) and (2) in the city of East Sitra, Block 619, and the landscaping of Block 338 – Adliya. Seven companies applied for the last tender, and the lowest bid was submitted by Newcastle Construction WLL, at a value of 140 thousand dinars. .
Seven companies competed to provide catering services to the House of Representatives, with the lowest bid amounting to 3.6 thousand dinars from the Regency Hotel.

Al-Bilad newspaper alerts various profitable electronic news platforms to the need to be careful, as stipulated in the law concerned with protecting intellectual property rights, regarding the illegality of transferring or quoting the content of this journalistic material, even if the source is indicated.

US Inflation Remains High, Posing Challenges for the Federal Reserve

The recent report of US inflation rising to 2.7% in March has created challenges for the Federal Reserve to fulfill its plans of cutting interest rates this year. Despite expectations of a slight increase from 2.5% to 2.6% in February, the unexpected rise in inflation is due to an increase in petrol costs caused by rising oil prices due to tensions in the Middle East.

Inflation, now at its highest level since 2020, poses a significant challenge for policy-makers at the Fed and curtails hopes that borrowing costs will decrease this summer, which could further distance them from their target goal and hinder economic growth.

Potential Impacts on Job Market and November’s Presidential Election Campaign

The unexpected rise is also likely to create doubt among traders about any potential future rate cuts by the Fed given that mortgage and other borrowing costs are expected to remain high ahead of November’s presidential election campaign.

A potential negative feedback loop exists where cyclical stagnation may result with any further energy cost inflation impacting overall U.S economic growth with corresponding adverse effects seen within job markets later down the line; pressurizing policymakers who could be forced into making challenging decisions that might affect market stability before or after elections beyond 2021.

Economists Opinions on Inflation Levels

Economist Diane Swonk stated that “Inflation is hot; it’s getting sticky and more broad-based. Those are three things The Fed doesn’t want.”

“If oil prices continue escalating,” warns economist Freya Beamish of TS Lombard,” there is a possibility that cyclical stagnation might occur within an otherwise strong US economy.”

In regards to core PCE, which excludes volatile food and fuel prices, economists anticipated a fall to 2.7% from 2.8% in March; however, the rate remained unchanged.

Challenges with Joe Biden’s Re-election Campaign

The recent economic updates come as a blow for US President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign that highlighted steady inflation decline since last year’s multi-decade high alongside the continued job-market and economic strength of America.

Lael Brainard, Director of the White House’s National Economic Council, commented on the situation by saying that “While inflation has fallen more than 60% from its peak, today’s report reinforces our ongoing work to bring costs down.”

Future Rate Cuts Prediction

Ajay Rajadhyaksha from Barclays said,”The last three months of US inflation have really smacked The Fed in the face,” he also said futures traders are pricing in only a fully guaranteed quarter-point cut by November 6-7 meeting after presidential elections.

“We’re probably going to have sticky inflation from here,” stated multi-asset strategist Tim Murray at T Rowe Price.

The rise in inflation has led Futures traders into garnering doubts about any potential future interest-rate cuts before November’s presidential election campaign in light of current market conditions.

Solutions & Insights

“In times such as these where market volatility is close-knit with significant price changes,” Our Chief Investment Officer Mark Mobius advises investors not to get swayed away by short term noises or be panic-prone but examine long-term trends dismissing FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) & reverting back to strong assets like gold and emerging markets along with value stocks in greater-growth economies such as electric cars, alternative energy.

Investors must remain vigilant in times like these and react according to long-term outcomes as short-term concerns could lead to potential disaster. Inflation has been a significant area of concern for months now, putting policymakers at pressure to make challenging choices to overcome the economic barriers created by it while hoping not all the issues that arise will keep brewing up which appreciates more than one approach toward any possible solutions.

The current US inflation levels pose challenges for policymakers at The Fed to achieve their objectives of economic growth and stability while remaining cautious of the upcoming political events later this year.

• The Federal Reserve must maintain monetary policy measures effectively, which counters inflation levels without disrupting market stability.
• Traders must be patient and should not rush into making hasty decisions assuming immediate results based on uncertain market factors.
• Policymakers should work together efficiently with public-private partnerships settling into new markets like electric vehicles that could provide a lure against rampant inflation with minimal price surges within various industries due to raw material costs rising sharply due to Covid-19 disruptions

.

All this highlights there is no simple solution when dealing with varied complicating factors such as election years, pandemics, oil tensions, and the varying degrees of hope & recovery based on demographic penetration-factors like vaccination campaigns. All these things bitterly highlight how systemic components are susceptible in creating swing trades leading us down an uncharted path of market volatility & restriction where options need not involve over-reaction but instead consistent action helping us stay on track towards financial prosperity amidst fluctuating times!

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(New York = Yonhap Infomax) Reporter Jeong Seon-young = Japan’s foreign exchange authorities are unable to find the right time to intervene even though the yen dollar exchange rate is rising dramatically in front of the 160 yen level.

Kazuo Ueda, Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Source: Yonhap News File Photo

According to Yonhap Infomax current price by currency (screen number 6416) on the 26th (local time), the dollar-yen exchange rate increased to the 158 yen range in just one month after surpassing the 150 yen level on March 19.

Initially, it was expected that the Japanese foreign exchange authorities would begin to intervene in earnest at the dollar-yen exchange rate of 153 yen.

However, although the dollar-yen exchange rate was above the 154 yen level, 155 yen level, 156 yen level, and 157-158 yen level, there was no obvious inflow of dollar sales from the authorities.

Japan’s foreign exchange authorities made verbal intervention comments one after the other, but these too had only a short-term effect.

Since no truly intensive intervention followed, the dollar-yen exchange rate rose sharply.

Although Japanese foreign exchange authorities are worried about the weakening yen, it is difficult to resist the trend of a significant strengthening of the global dollar.

This is because, as the monetary policy gap between the US and Japan has widened recently, conditions for the dollar-yen exchange rate to fall have not been created.

At the start of this year, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) was expected to move away from negative interest rates and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) was expected to cut interest rates, leading to a strong yen and a weak dollar trend.

But this situation has completely changed.

The US Federal Reserve took a step back from lowering interest rates. As economic indicators in the United States have shown signs of improvement recently, some predict that an interest rate cut this year may not be feasible.

As the US first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was reported at 1.6%, concerns about stagflation (economic recession, rising prices) briefly arose, but the US economy continued to perform more robustly than the expect.

The dollar strengthened as the US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) inflation indicator for March also came out solid.

The position of the US Federal Reserve is that it will not rush to cut interest rates in such good economic conditions.

The interest rate gap between Japan, which has just emerged from negative interest rates, and the United States, which maintains a base interest rate of 5.25-5.50%, is likely to remain for a longer period of time.

Even the monetary policy of the Bank of Japan continued to encourage the weakening of the yen.

The BOJ froze the base interest rate in its monetary policy decision the previous day and indicated that it would continue its easing stance.

Governor Kazuo Ueda’s comments added strength to the yen’s weakness against the dollar.

Governor Ueda reiterated his policy to maintain monetary easing conditions for the time being and made comments that were tolerant of the weakening yen.

He said, “The purpose of monetary policy is not to directly control the exchange rate,” and “the possibility of the Yen being weak for a long time may not be zero.”

The dollar-yen exchange rate rose sharply, reflecting the strength of the dollar along with the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) statement that it was tolerating the weakening yen.

Accordingly, it has become difficult for Japanese foreign exchange authorities to intervene urgently to sell even with the exchange rate in the 157 yen or 158 yen range.

In the case of a real intervention in large-scale dollar selling, fundamental factors must be supported to change the direction of the exchange rate, but this is not currently feasible.

Financial market participants believed that if the difference in economic conditions and pace of monetary policy between the United States and Japan widens in the future, the Yen weakens and the dollar strengthens.

Even if the Japanese foreign exchange authorities intervene to sell dollars to prevent an immediate rise in the dollar-yen exchange rate, there is a lack of factors that will continue to drive the yen-dollar exchange rate down (yen strength).

The foreign exchange market has been watching real intervention ever since the dollar-yen exchange rate exceeded the 153 yen level.

As the dollar-yen exchange rate has risen cautiously with only verbal intervention continuing, it may be best to initiate actual intervention at a time when there is a build-up of dollar buying and yen selling.

If the Bank of Japan shows its intention to accelerate the increase in interest rates, yen purchases may occur. However, the Bank of Japan has taken a step back.

Ian Lindzen, a strategist at BMO Capital Markets, said in an email interview with Yonhap Infomax on the 24th that the impact of the Japanese foreign exchange authorities’ intervention “will only last a few weeks,” adding, “The BOJ will have to raise interest. rates before doing more.” “he said.

Kelvin Wong, economist at Oanda, said, “Japan’s core inflation of 1.8% in April represents the slowest increase since September 2022, and is below the BOJ’s 2% inflation target, which could delay the Bank of England’s interest rate hike Japan. ” He said.

syjung@yna.co.kr

(end)

This article was published at 06:19 on the Infomax financial information terminal.

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