International News

Bloomberg More than 1 billion Asians are set to join the global middle class by 2030, according to a new study that predicts the pandemic will prove just a temporary pause in the world economy’s great demographic shift. The middle class — households where per-capita spending is between $11 and $110 a day — amounts to some 3.75 billion people ...

Bloomberg Lebanese investment firm M1 Group pledged to spend $330 million over the next three years to expand the Myanmar telecom business it’s buying from Norway’s Telenor ASA, bucking moves by many international investors to exit the Southeast Asian nation after the military seized power in February. The funds will be used for network expansion, broadband infrastructure and services, M1 ...

Bloomberg The green bond market is hotting up again with investors bracing for a potentially record month of sovereign sales. Spain, Colombia and the UK are due to offer their inaugural green bonds this month, with the latter expected to “certainly be the largest” in the world by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. That’s in addition to established issuer ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reform health and social care by handing 34 billion pounds ($47 billion) to the National Health Service (NHS) faces resistance from the Treasury, the Sunday Times has reported. Johnson’s cash boost is designed to kick-start a period of policy reforms, including a plan to cap the amount that people have to pay ...

Bloomberg Spain is sticking to its strategy of raising the minimum wage to tackle the growing wealth gap in the country amid the fastest acceleration in inflation in nearly a decade, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said. “It’s an important instrument to reduce inequality, which has risen in our country in the past years,” Calvino, who also serves as deputy prime ...

Bloomberg Italian Finance Minister Daniele Franco said the country’s economy will expand at least 5.8% this year amid the pandemic recovery, which may allow the government to improve deficit and debt targets. “We are seeing a significant economic recovery,” Franco said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy. The new forecast compares with a 4.5% projection announced in April ...

Bloomberg Elections often drive big swings in the foreign-exchange market, with the risk of radical change this year pushing down the Peruvian sol and the Chilean peso. Not so for Canada. There has been little-to-no premium priced into the Canadian dollar — relative to the greenback — due to the last five federal elections, Bipan Rai, the head of foreign-exchange ...

Bloomberg The engine of the German economy is turning into a brake in the face of a global supply crunch, threatening to derail the nation’s recovery. While its strong focus on manufacturing helped Europe’s largest economy fare better than its more service-heavy peers in the region during Covid-19 lockdowns, Germany’s rebound is now at risk as companies report shortages of ...

Bloomberg British companies are expecting to raise prices and boost wages amid the strongest business confidence in more than four years, according to a survey published on Tuesday. More than a third of firms anticipate increasing wages by at least 2%, reflecting labour shortages, and almost half plan price hikes, the latest Lloyds Business Barometer shows. Overall confidence rebounded to ...

Bloomberg Denmark will raise its 2021 economic growth forecast to 3.8% from 2.4% seen in May as the Nordic nation recovers faster than expected from the pandemic, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. The government will lower its 2022 gross domestic product growth estimate to 2.8% from 3.6% to reflect improved outlook in the 2021 base year, according to the ...