BRICS News

Flags flew half mast in Russia as the country mourned at least 14 killed in the St. Petersburg suicide bombing [Xinhua]
The death toll from the St. Petersburg metro bombing rose overnight Tuesday to 14 with dozens dead as investigators identified a 22-year-old Kyrgyz male as the bomber.
Using closed circuit TV footage and DNA samples from human remains, security services were able to identify Akbarzhon Dzahilov as the suicide bomber who set off the explosion on the metro train between the

Russian local TV stations broadcast images of the metro line blast showing the facade of one of the cars completely blown off. Authorities have labelled the blast a terrorist attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a full investigation into a blast on the St Petersburg metro line which killed at least 10 people early Monday afternoon.
The National Antiterrorism Committee said a bomb through the third passenger car as the train traveled between two stations – the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institute stations.

The first president of the New Development Bank K. V. Kamath speaks at the 2nd annual meet of the new lender in New Delhi on 1 April 2017 [Image: BRICS Business Council]The New development bank set up by the BRICS is holding its second annual meet in the Indian capital New Delhi from 31st March- 2nd April.
The bank is headquartered in Shanghai.
On Saturday, Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the President of the NDB said the new lender plans to fund 15 infrastructure projects in member countries worth upto $3 billion this year, double that of last year.

It’s been a difficult few months for Zuma but his cabinet reshuffle will likely rock markets [Xinhua]
President Jacob Zuma announced a cabinet reshuffle shortly after midnight on March 31 in which five minsters were removed from cabinet and five ministers moved to new positions. The BRICS Post canvassed several economists and asset managers as to what this would mean and whether this would result in a ratings downgrade.

On annual basis, the current account deficit narrowed to 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2016 from 4.4 per cent in 2015
The South African current account deficit on the balance of payments narrowed to 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis in the fourth quarter 2016 from a revised 3.8 per cent (previously 4.1 per cent) in the third quarter 2016, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its latest Quarterly Bulletin.

OPEC total production declines would have been stronger had it not been increased output from Iran and Nigeria [Xinhua]
There is growing momentum that an agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to curb oil production output be extended another six months in the hopes of re-balancing falling prices.
A committee bringing together the aforementioned oil producers had recommended the creation of a technical group which would study the prospects of the six-month extension.
Oil experts say delays to make such a move, however, will likely bring oil prices further down.

The meat export industry is a major cash cow for Brazil [Xinhua]
China on Saturday lifted an import ban on Brazilian meat after a two-year investigation into an alleged bribery scandal there revealed that inspectors were paid to forgo health inspections.
Dozens of countries last week slapped a ban on Brazilian meat, which is the country’s third largest export reaping in at least $13 billion a year.
On Saturday, Brazilian authorities said the investigation was about the bribery by the meat-packers and not the quality of meat.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said that the world’s economic powers cannot afford to close their doors to free trade [Xinhua]
In a testament of growing bilateral ties, Australia and China pledged on Thursday to safeguard globalization and free trade and do away with barriers which might be established as protectionist policies.
“We believe that to resolve trade imbalance we need to continue to expand trade, that is the solution. We cannot close our doors, that is not the solution,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during his visit to the Australian capital Canberra.

Jack Ma founded Alibaba in 1999. In September 2014, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the world’s biggest IPO [Xinhua]
Jack Ma, the chairman of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, joined Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to inaugurate the opening of a trading and logistics hub for the company in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
This would mark the first such hub outside the Chinese headquarters, which was established in Hangzhou in 1999.

This Russian fighter jet is one of many SU-24s deployed at an air base in Latakia, Syria [Xinhua]
The marketability of Russian military hardware has been given a boost because of their performance in the Syrian theater of operations, said a military expert attending the Lima 2017 Maritime and Aerospace show in Peru.