Bloomberg Hong Kong will add artificial islands to counter a runaway property market that’s made the city the world’s least affordable for housing. The government will aim to reclaim 1,700 acres (688 hectares) off Lantau Island, the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Wednesday in a policy address. That compares with the 1,670 acres of extra land that a ...
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Indonesia to Fed: Be aware of emerging market impact
Bloomberg Indonesia has a blunt message for the US Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell and other global financial chiefs gathering in Bali this week: be mindful of the effects of your policies on emerging economies. Even though authorities in the Southeast Asian nation are taking the right steps to stabilise the currency and keep deficits on the current account and budget ...
Read More »Zimbabwe plans currency reforms
Bloomberg Zimbabwe will introduce currency reforms once it’s addressed imbalances in government finances, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. The state plans to put the economy on a stronger footing through measures including cutting expenditure and increasing the efficiency of government delivery systems, Ncube said in a statement emailed on Wednesday from the capital, Harare. “These reforms shall be accompanied by ...
Read More »US threatens to block Britain from procurement accord
Bloomberg The US is threatening to block the UK from a 46-nation public procurement agreement, a move that would deny British companies from accessing a near $2 trillion marketplace after leaving the European Union, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation. The UK will apply to rejoin the Government Procurement Agreement, a $1.7 trillion trade accord that governs ...
Read More »UK economy set for best quarter since ’16
Bloomberg The UK economy appears to be on course for its best calendar quarter in almost two years, despite a weaker-than-expected performance in August. Gross domestic product grew 0.7 percent in the three months through August, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. In August alone, output was unchanged. Economists had predicted growth of 0.1 percent. However, a similar ...
Read More »Brexit talks zero in on UK customs fix amid deal optimism
Bloomberg British and European Union officials are locked in talks in Brussels over a compromise Brexit deal that could see the UK remain temporarily in the EU’s customs regime, people familiar with the negotiations said. With just a week before a crucial summit of EU leaders that could determine the outcome of Brexit, officials from each side are wrangling over ...
Read More »EU governments toughen car-emissions cap
Bloomberg European Union governments tightened a proposed cap on carbon dioxide from cars in 2030, whittling away German resistance in a sign of heightened sensitivity across the bloc to road pollution. EU environment ministers set a CO2-reduction target for autos of 35 percent compared with 2021 in a bid to give a stronger spur to the development of electric vehicles. ...
Read More »Fiat nears deal to sell its auto-parts unit to Calsonic
Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is nearing a deal to sell its high-tech car-parts unit, Magneti Marelli, to Calsonic Kansei after the Japanese firm raised its bid, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Calsonic, an automotive supplier owned by private equity firm KKR & Co., and Fiat have reached a tentative agreement on price and may announce an ...
Read More »A Brexit trade deal with Asia isn’t outlandish
Brexiters have long claimed countries are queuing up to sign trade deals with Britain once it leaves the European Union (EU). It’s one reason they so oppose any Brexit deal that leaves the United Kingdom tied to Europe’s customs union, even temporarily. Right on cue, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Financial Times this week that the UK would ...
Read More »Google’s devices like Pixel are a hobby
So many internet and software companies make gadgets now. Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook all make some type of internet-connected computing gear. Even Uber has started to engineer its own electric scooters. The one thing all these newcomers have in common is that their hardware businesses are irrelevant. That’s important to remember with Google’s introduction of the latest in its ...
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