Published on Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 10:14
Updated at Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 11:32
Source : Reuters
The US federal budget deficit in the first half of fiscal 2010 is down 8% from the same period a year ago, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Citing senior Obama administration officials, the Washington Post said in an article posted on its website the smaller deficit was due to higher tax revenue and lower than projected spending to bail out the financial system.
The newspaper said if the trend continued for the rest of the year it would mean the annual deficit would be USD 1.3 trillion—about USD 300 billion less than the administration's projection two months ago for 2010.
The Treasury earlier released a statement that showed a cumulative USD 181 billion of money disbursed to stabilise the financial system had been repaid through March, and noted that estimates for the program's final cost were falling.
"While the positive news is welcome, it is premature and irresponsible to be making deficit projections for the fiscal year as a whole," said Kenneth Baer, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"The Administration will issue revised deficit numbers as part of the Mid-Session Review this summer," Baer said.
No official statement on the deficit is scheduled until the release of a late-summer review. The Post said the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings are preliminary and the results for the full year might not turn out so well.
The White House has forecast a $1.6 trillion budget deficit this year, or about 10.6% of gross domestic product, the highest level since World War Two.
Republicans are expected to use the ballooning budget deficits as a rallying cry in mid-term elections in November as they try to unseat Democrats by blaming them for running up record deficits.
In February President Barack Obama named a bipartisan panel to tackle exploding budget deficits and promised it broad leeway to recommend ways to put the country on a path to fiscal responsibility.
He asked the commission to come up with a strategy to balance the budget, excluding interest payments, by 2015.
The Washington Post story said the officials "expressed cautious optimism" about the figures but noted that the outlook remains uncertain.
The story said a senior administration official acknowledged that the lower deficit number would not substantially ease the budget problems facing the government.
"But the favorable trend could allow Democrats to say they have turned the corner, and the number is one they would want to highlight for voters souring on Obama because of the government's red ink," the newspaper said.
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Regards
Amit
Published on mydigitalfc.com (http://www.mydigitalfc.com)
ReplyDeleteEssar Oil to spend Rs 2,000 cr to drill 500 wells in W Bengal
Apr 13 2010
Ruia brothers promoted Essar Oil will spend $439 million (Rs 1,954.4 crore) to drill 500 wells in its coal-bed methane (CBM) block located in Raniganj.
The company will commence commercial production of gas from this West Bengal block by end of this year.
“At Raniganj, we plan to drill 500 wells over the next 2-2.5 years,” an Essar official said. The company has infused equity of $35 million into the project.
“The remaining capital expenditure will be a mix of both debt and equity. We are in advanced stage to secure both,” he said.
The initial production will be close to 100,000 standard cubic metres per day and will go up to 3.5 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) during peak production.
Essar Oil has signed gas sale purchase agreement (GSPA) for off-take of gas from Raniganj. “We have ten year gas supply contract with Philips Carbon Black and twenty year pact with an upcoming fertiliser company in West Bengal,” Essar spokesperson said, without divulging the price and volume of gas to be supplied to each customer.
Natural gas is expected to form a major portion of incremental growth in the energy demand. “India has third largest coal reserves in the world. Of the total 26,000 sq km of coal bearing area, 36 per cent is still unexplored for CBM resources,” Macquarie Research said in its latest report.
The directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH) expects CBM production to grow to more than seven mmscmd in next five years. Total CBM resources in the country are estimated to be 48.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf).
“Demand for gas is expected to be more than supply in India over medium to long term. CBM is expected to help bridge that demand-supply gap,” said Ajay Arora, partner and national leader of oil and gas practices at Ernst & Young, India.
“India has been promoting use of natural gas as a fuel as compared with conventional liquid fuels due to economic concerns (large forex outflows) and environmental concerns,” Arora said.
Besides Raniganj, Essar has CBM blocks in Mehsana and Rajmahal. The block in Mehsana has an estimated two million barrels of oil equivalent. On the other hand, the recently acquired CBM block in Rajmahal has an estimated 9.5 tcf of gas. About 4.5 tcf of this gas is recoverable.