15/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2026

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UK economy starts year with solid growth o GDP rises 0.3% in March against forecast of 0.2% drop

Indian pharma firms flood west Africa with powerful opioids NEW DELHI: Indian pharmaceutical firms are exporting millions of dollars’ worth of powerful opioids to west Africa despite a promised crackdown, an AFP investigation found yesterday, with officials saying they are driving a deadly drugs epidemic across the region. AFP was able to match high-strength tapentadol tablets seized in at least four west African countries with Indian export records through their makers’ licence numbers. Researchers say the pills are now being added to the ferociously addictive “zombie drug” kush, which has been declared a national emergency in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The tapentadol twist on kush is “very alarming”, Ansu Konneh, the director of mental health at Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare told AFP. Bodies were being picked up from “the streets, markets and slums on a daily basis”, he said. More than 400 corpses were collected in the capital Freetown alone in three months, he added. Konneh said 90% of those admitted to the country’s few official rehab centres have smoked kush mixed with tapentadol or other powerful opioids like nitazenes. New Delhi declared a “zero-tolerance” crackdown on illegal drug trading in February 2025, banning export of tablets that mixed tapentadol with the muscle relaxant carisoprodol after a BBC investigation exposed the damage they were doing in Ghana. India’s drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), later said it was withdrawing all export clearances for “combinations of tapentadol... which are not approved by an importing country”. But the main trade was always in pure tapentadol tablets, researchers said. Shipment records reviewed by AFP show that millions of dollars’ worth of the high-strength pills are still being exported from India to west Africa every month. AFP was able to track the pills through their makers’ licence numbers, using commercial shipment data, government seizure records, interviews and documents obtained under India’s Right to Information transparency law. Tapentadol pills are increasingly used as a performance-enhancing drug to get people through tough, physically demanding jobs. Packaged and marketed as a medicine, they have trapped spiralling numbers of consumers into a spiral of addiction. Researchers say tapentadol has now “replaced or supplemented” the more widely known opioid tramadol in many west African countries. Tapentadol is often sold on the streets of the region as tramadol, but it is two to three times stronger, experts say. The CDSCO – which is responsible for issuing export clearances – told AFP it had “no record” of issuing them for consignments of 225 and 250mg tapentadol. It did not respond to follow-up queries. – AFP

LONDON: Britain’s economy grew unexpectedly in March to cap another strong first quarter, suggesting it was in better shape as the Iran war escalated than many feared, though economists said seasonal distortions were flattering the figures. Gross domestic product increased by 0.3% month-on-month in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, against expectations in a Reuters poll of economists for a 0.2% contraction. The services sector, construction output and manufacturing all grew strongly. For the first quarter as a whole, the economy expanded by 0.6% – marking the third year running of conspicuously strong growth in the first quarter. Economists said measurement issues related to shifts in spending after the pandemic may be contributing to that pattern. Raj Badiani, economics director

though over a third expect at least one rate hike as the Iran war fuels an energy price surge that drove up inflation forecasts. Financial markets by contrast have priced in between two and three quarter-point rises this year. Recent business surveys point to a rapid increase in cost pressures that is likely to weigh on corporate activity. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the data showed she had the right economic plan. Separate trade data showed a £1.8 billion (RM9.4 billion) jump in fuel imports during March – the third-largest monthly increase since records began in 1997 and a reflection of Britain’s vulnerability to higher global energy prices in the wake of the Iran war. – Reuters

The ONS yesterday published a blog that acknowledged there may be post-pandemic shifts in the timing of spending in the economy and said it was keeping its methods under review. It nudged down its growth estimates for the first quarters of 2024 and 2025 as a result. “It seems that something’s not quite right with the way the data is being seasonally adjusted, a legacy we suspect of higher inflation and the timing of annual price hikes,” said ING economist James Smith. “Today’s data won’t change much for the Bank of England, which is singularly focused on the impending inflation spike and the risk of it spilling into wage growth.” A Reuters poll of economists this week showed the BoE will hold borrowing costs at 3.75% this year,

at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the stockpiling of goods sparked by the Iran war may also have pulled forward demand in March. “Nevertheless, recession risks have risen, and we now expect the UK economy to contract mildly in the second and third quarters of this year,” Badiani said, citing a coming inflation surge caused by higher oil prices, and pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates. The ONS said partial spending data for April “pointed to some weakening going into the second quarter”. It remains to be seen how renewed uncertainty in Westminster – with investors now unsure about the political future of Prime Minister Keir Starmer – will weigh on the economic outlook. “The president does not respect the independence of the Fed and he wants interest rates to be lower.” In January, Powell said a Justice Department criminal probe against him over cost overruns related to a building renovation project was intended to create pressure on monetary policy decision-making. That followed administration aimed to smooth the path for Warsh’s confirmation. The Supreme Court is due to rule on the legality of removing Cook. Both moves were “unprecedented,“ said Kathryn Judge, a Columbia law professor who focuses on banking. While Warsh is Trump’s pick – as Powell was nine years ago – Judge said there was no reason to believe the pressure will ease. “Fed officials have been put on notice that this president is willing to use all available tools to bully them into acceding to his demands,“ she said. Warsh is taking over as the world’s largest economy continues to reel from repeated economic shocks. The pandemic delivered a hammer blow to the Fed’s inflation target, with CPI peaking at 9.1% in mid-2022. It has since come down, but US Trump’s separate attempt to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook from the board. The criminal probe against Powell has since been dropped, as the Trump

Warsh confirmed as Federal Reserve chairman WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kevin Warsh ( pic ) as the new Federal Reserve chairman to lead a central bank whose independence is under attack and with inflation at a three-year high. The Senate voted 54 to 45 in

favor of Warsh, with Republicans holding a slim majority and ensuring President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Jerome Powell was confirmed. Once known as a monetary “hawk” against inflation, Warsh has shifted in line with Trump’s push for lower interest rates that has posed an unprecedented challenge to

the

Fed’s

independence. The incoming Federal Rserve chair, confirmed for a four-year term, has promised to bring “regime change” to the bank, which he has criticised as too political and too open in communicating its decision-making. But with inflation still above the Fed’s long-term 2% target – and rising over Trump’s Iran war – Warsh is unlikely to convince fellow members of the bank’s rate-setting committee to cut immediately. That could leave him open to attacks from Trump, who has relentlessly lashed out at Powell over rate decisions. “Warsh’s biggest challenge will likely be dealing with President Trump,“ said David Wessel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The Federal Reserve Board building in Washington. – REUTERSPIC

households have been battered by years of higher-than-expected price increases. In April, year-on-year inflation came in at a three-year high of 3.8%, fuelled in part by surging oil prices in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran. The Federal Reserve’s other mandate is ensuring maximum employment. The unemployment rate has remained relatively firm at around 4.3%, but the steady number hides churn beneath the surface. Job growth has been weak,

see-sawing between expansion and contraction for months, with new jobs mainly driven by the health care sector. The tumult has been partly hidden because there has been a significant drop in labour supply, driven by Trump’s deportation drive and an aging population. The situation has put Federal Reserve policymakers in the difficult position of having to choose between dueling mandates: raise interest rates to combat inflation, or cut them to spur growth. – AFP