Crime/Disaster/Accident
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Indonesia earthquake death toll climbs to 56
Jakarta, Jan 17 (IANS) The number of casualties due to the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which struck Indonesia's West Sulawesi province has increased to to 56, country's National Disaster Management Agency said on Sunday.
Agency spokesman Raditya Jati said the number of injured remained at 826, including 189 people suffering serious wounds in Mamuju city who have been undergoing medical treatment, and 12 others sustaining severe wounds in Majene district.
As of Sunday, the assessment of the risks of the shallow-under land quake persists, he told Xinhua news agency.
Electricity has returned functioning after massive blackout in Mamuju city, and parts of the facility have also recovered in Majene district, while repairs are underway, Jati said.
Besides, he said the main road connecting the two areas has also functioned after the jolts cut some parts of the main land-transportation infrastructure.
The emergency relief aids keep flowing into the affected persons who are taking shelters in several evacuation centres, he added.
Aftershocks have continued in the region, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
In the last 30 days, Indonesia was struck by three quakes of magnitude 6.0 or above, 22 quakes between 5.0 and 6.0, 143 quakes between 4.0 and 5.0, 367 quakes between 3.0 and 4.0, and 247 quakes between 2.0 and 3.0, according to authorities.
There were also 13 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people do not normally feel.
On September 26, 2019, at least 41 people were killed, 1,578 others injured, while more than 150,000 were evacuated when an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck the Seram Island in Maluku.
There were at least 1,105 aftershocks in Maluku after the temblor.
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Julius Baer upgrades India, fastest growing major economy
New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Singapore-based fund house, Bank Julius Baer, has upgraded India to overweight as it will be the fastest growing major economy in 2021.
"We change our stance on India from market-weight to overweight and see 15% upside from current levels with a Sensex price target of 58,450," it said in a note.
"An economic recovery is underway, and we look for 9% y/y GDP growth this year, followed by 7% next year. We look for earnings per share to grow on average over 25% over the next 3 years. It would be unprecedented for the stock market to fall in an environment of such strong growth," it added.
Scientists think "herd immunity" has been achieved in large parts of the country, which would explain why daily new cases have fallen from almost 100,000 in September to less than 15,000 presently.
Lockdowns are imposed still in specific areas that experience Covid outbreaks, but high frequency data shows that has not stopped a continuous recovery following the nation-wide lockdown from March to July of last year. For example, anonymized data gathered shows the mobility of people using Android-based smartphones is almost back to pre-Covid levels, it added.
An Initial Public Offering of LIC, India's largest insurer with $464 billion in assets, is planned for the second half of FY2022. The divestment of this company in particular will enable the government to manage its fiscal position.
The budget has set up a special purpose vehicle to sell the idle/non-core assets (especially land) of SOEs. Much of the idle land is well-situated and could be made productive, benefiting economic growth. Divestment of LIC and BPCL remains the key to meet the fiscal deficit target without compromising spending in FY22E, the research said.
With only the brief exception at the bottom of the Global Financial Crisis, in recent history India's stock market has always traded at a premium to its emerging market counterparts. The current premium of 40% is around the long-term average, it added
--IANS
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