Latest news with #public sector
LBCI
6 hours ago
- Business
- LBCI
Saudi Ministry of Investment to organize Saudi-Syrian investment forum in Damascus
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment announced on Tuesday that the Kingdom will organize a Saudi-Syrian investment forum in Damascus aimed at exploring avenues for cooperation and signing agreements that promote sustainable development. The statement did not specify a date for the forum. 'In a step that reflects the leadership's commitment to strengthening economic ties with Syria, the Ministry of Investment is organizing the 2025 Saudi-Syrian Investment Forum in Damascus, with broad participation from both the public and private sectors,' the statement read. It added that the forum 'aims to explore opportunities for cooperation and sign agreements that promote sustainable development and serve the interests of the two brotherly peoples.' Reuters
Reuters
18 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK borrows 20.7 billion pounds in June, ONS says
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Britain's government borrowed 20.68 billion pounds ($27.86 billion) in June, official data showed on Tuesday. A Reuters poll of economists showed a median forecast of 16.5 billion pounds for public sector net borrowing last month. ($1 = 0.7423 pounds)
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
It will take decades to unpick Starmer's ludicrous ‘deals'
If Donald Trump practices the art of the deal, Keir Starmer gets closer to the art of the steal. Unfortunately, though, it's everyone else that is stealing from us, and not the other way around. As soon as Labour got in I could see the writing was on the wall. Desperate to curry favour with the unions, Starmer sent his ministers out to solve the unrest in the public sector. He sanctioned Wes Streeting to hand over a 22 per cent pay rise to the junior doctors. Labour boasted that they'd fixed the problem in the NHS and everything would now flourish. This week those same doctors will go out on strike because the government can't give them any more. Next came the train drivers. After paralysing the country for months they accepted 15 per cent to return to a normal timetable. The Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh, who later had to resign over a fraud conviction, paid the money with no conditions. As a result the train drivers continue to milk the system, work four days a week and enjoy hopelessly arcane practices. Then we come to the international negotiations. Sadly Starmer has fared no better than his Cabinet. Let's consider the Chagos Islands. When Labour got into power it wasn't entirely clear whether Mauritius actually wanted them. And with much huffing and puffing from Nigel Farage - who was covertly suggesting that he would get Donald Trump to veto any deal - it looked for all the world that the fire sale would never happen. But thanks to Tony Blair's diplomat in chief Jonathan Powell and the Attorney General Lord Hermer a deal was struck. The bad news is that we are face paying the thick end of around £56 billion over the next several years. Hardly a bargain. As I said at the time on my show, it's like paying someone £25,000 to take away your 35 year old banger that needs lots of work and an MOT. Next up it was the French. Before the rather ludicrous summit this month in London where Starmer got into full love-in mode with Emanuel Macron, he had already sold off our fishing rights to the French in return for a completely nebulous promise that the gendarmerie of Normandy might try a bit harder to stop illegal migrants from clambering onto some small boats. £771 million pounds later, they're still coming. And now they're being handed free life jackets too. Quite a ridiculously low return for our investment. Since the summit Starmer's negotiations skills have gone into overdrive. Thanks to his interventions it now looks like we will be paying vast sums into the coffers of the European Union in order to harmonise our food standards and to equalise our carbon markets. And we haven't even got to our trade deals yet. The one with Europe certainly looks like one way traffic with the UK as the supplicant in the relationship. We pay, they play seems to be the mantra for the Foreign Office. India meanwhile appears to be the beneficiary of a spectacular deal to open businesses in the UK which will be given special treatment when it comes to levels of income tax and national insurance. Indian citizens will be enabled to come to Britain and work on a temporary basis and be better off than their British counterparts. And it isn't clear, as with most deals with this Labour government, exactly what we are getting in return. Then we turn to the USA. Forget the cringeworthy moment of Starmer producing a letter from King Charles in the Oval Office out of his breast pocket, and instead focus on what has actually happened since the deal was done - much more recently than Labour would have you believe. We have bought around £1 billion of military jets from America, but we are still subject to tariffs on steel, on cars and on a host of other exports that didn't used to pay them. It's a no win situation for the UK because walking into a room with a begging bowl isn't going to impress Donald Trump. He's taken the Prime Minister for a very long and costly ride. This week an increasingly irrelevant and nervous looking PM entertained the leaders of Germany and the Czech Republic. He signed the Kensington Treaty with the former and a memorandum of understanding with the latter. All nonsense of course. If you were a betting man, or woman, in a casino you'd always bet against Two Tier Keir. He loses at the tables every time.
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Ajman to adopt updated job classification system for public sector employees
Ajman government will adopt an updated job classification system, to ensure transparency in the evaluation of jobs and tasks in the public sector. This comes under a decision issued Sheikh Ahmed bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, representative of the Ruler of Ajman for Administrative and Financial Affairs. Several main and sub job groups have been created or modified in the system, to meet the needs of both existing and new government entities. These are as follows: Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. In the education job group, three sub-groups were adopted: education, school administration, and student affairs. For the communication, promotion, and media job group, several sub-groups were created and modified, including: institutional communication and media, marketing, promotion and events, public relations, institutional partnerships, digital media, media documentation, editing and journalism, and photography. In the digital technology and data job group, a range of precise technical specialties were included, namely: Digital technology and data, information systems development and analysis, data science, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, information technology databases, cybersecurity, and technical support. The adoption of this updated system is based on amendments and developments introduced to the previous system issued under Decision No. (7) of 2021. The Department of Human Resources in Ajman will oversee the implementation of the system in government entities by issuing circulars, guides, and required forms. It shall submit reports documenting the progress made and the challenges that entities may face, along with providing recommendations and technical support. The new decision also repealed all previous decisions or systems related to job evaluation and classification that conflict with its provisions. The emirate called on government entities to review their job listings, align them with the new groups, and submit modification requests through the approved electronic job evaluation and classification system.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The shocking new economic figure Anthony Albanese doesn't want you to see as immigration surges
Australia's unemployment rate has shot up to the highest level since late 2021, when Sydney and Melbourne were emerging from Covid lockdowns. The jobless rate of 4.3 per cent in June was the highest since November 2021, with 33,600 people losing their jobs and boosting the prospect of an August rate cut. This occurred as the number of full-time jobs fell by 38,000 while 40,000 part-time jobs were created, signalling a sharp drop in working hours. Canberra, the home of federal public servants, had Australia's lowest jobless rate of 3.6 per cent. This was a result of federal government spending hitting the highest level since 1986 outside of the pandemic. Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said public sector job growth was holding up the labour market as private sector demand for labour weakened. 'For over a year, there has been negligible job growth in the private market sector, with government-supported employment in the public and non-market sectors doing the heavy lifting,' he said. 'A rise in unemployment to its highest level since the pandemic points to the impact that our weak private sector is having on the labour market. 'With the private market sector accounting for two-thirds of employment in Australia, it was inevitable that its sustained weakness would eventually spill over to the broader labour market. It appears this problem is now coming home to roost.' Unemployment was higher than average in New South Wales and Victoria where migrant numbers are highest. 'Excessive migration has played a significant role in pummelling Australia's economic productivity,' Institute of Public Affairs deputy executive director Daniel Wild said. 'It has created extended periods of negative per capita economic growth, and exacerbated the housing and rental crises. Australia's unemployment rate also rose for the first time since December even though the Reserve Bank had cut interest rates in February and May. The latest jobless data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is also worse than the RBA was forecasting in its May statement on monetary policy, with the 4.3 per cent figure slightly higher than the 4.2 per cent level it had predicted. The bad news on the labour market could make the Reserve Bank more inclined to cut rates on August 12 should upcoming June quarter inflation data show a moderation in underlying price pressures. KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said the fact that 34,000 more people are looking for work would make a rate cut next month more likely. 'While quarterly inflation data is still a week or so away, today's data will reinforce the weakness that is continuing within the private side of the Australian economy, and even by itself should be enough for the RBA to drop the cash rate at its next meeting,' he said. The RBA surprised financial markets earlier this month when it kept the cash rate on hold at 3.85 per cent. Governor Michele Bullock argued the underlying rate of 2.9 per cent was still too high in the March quarter, even though it is within the RBA's two to three per cent target. AMP economist My Bui said the fact just 2,000 new jobs were created, compared with market expectations of 20,000, suggested the labour market was weakening, with employers mainly hiring new part-time staff. 'Today's jobs data suggests a potentially broad weakening in the labour market,' she said. 'The composition of jobs gains was also weak.' This also suggested unemployment was now at a level less likely to fuel inflationary wage increases. 'We believe that the state of the Australian labour market is more balanced than tight and is not a source of inflationary pressures, warranting a rate cut in the August meeting,' Ms Bui said. AMP is expecting the RBA to cut rates in August, November, February and May, which would take the cash rate down to 2.85 per cent for the first time since December 2022. That is slightly more optimistic than the futures market pricing for a 3.1 per cent cash rate by early next year. Victoria was by far Australia's worst performing labour market with the highest jobless rate of 4.6 per cent, even though Melbourne receives a large share of overseas migration. New South Wales and South Australia had higher-than-average jobless rates of 4.4 per cent. Queensland and Western Australia had below-average rates of 4.1 per cent. The Australian Capital Territory, the home of federal public servants in Canberra, had the lowest jobless rate of 3.6 per cent, which was better than Tasmania's 3.8 per cent level and the Northern Territory's 3.9 per cent. National unemployment has risen despite rapid population growth, with 447,620 migrants moving to Australia on a permanent and long-term basis in the year to May. This was 33.6 per cent higher than the 335,000 level Treasury forecast for the 2024-25 financial year that ended in June.
