News

  HANOI / WAM The Vietnamese Health Ministry has started issuing vaccine passports, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. Vietnam’s vaccine passport follows the standards of World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Union (EU), which are followed by 62 nations. The passport will be available on PC Covid-19 or Digital Health apps. If people don’t have the apps, they …

Bloomberg The world needs to be preparing for downside scenarios relating to Covid-19, the deputy chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, calling for billions of dollars in grants to bolster pandemic preparedness. “What I’m worried about is that everybody’s hoping for the best-case scenario, which is that this is a mild, endemic virus — but what experts tell …

  VIENNA / WAM The Opec Fund for International Development (Ofid) signed a $100 million loan agreement with the government of Morocco to help build an inclusive financial sector as part of broader efforts to modernise the economy and support the kingdom’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the “Financial and Digital Inclusion Programme”, co-financed with the World Bank, the …

  HANOI / WAM Vietnam’s e-learning market is expected to reach revenue of around $3 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of about 20.2% from 2019-2023, the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) quoted a report by Ken Research as saying. Vietnam’s educational technology (Edtech) market is said to hold high potential and is drawing attention from investors, especially in the context of …

London / Gulf Time dnata, a leading global air and travel services provider, has inaugurated a new, state-of-the-art cargo centre at London Heathrow airport (LHR). Part of the company’s ‘dnata City East’ complex, the bespoke facility further increases dnata’s capacity at London Heathrow airport, ensuring continued smooth handling of a broad range of goods amid rapidly increasing demand for reliable …

Bloomberg Oil retreated for a second week in the wake of plans for massive stockpile releases, a demand-sapping virus outbreak in China and a hawkish turn from the US Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate fell 1% this week, with the US benchmark giving back most of its gains since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Oil rallied to the highest …

  Bloomberg Britain’s unemployed face a further blow when the value of their welfare benefits is set to fall the most in half a century, according to new research. Analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows the decline comes with the real value of out-of-work benefits already at historically low levels because the Treasury froze payouts or increased them by …

  Geneva / WAM The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that air travel posted a strong rebound in February 2022 compared to January 2022, as Omicron-related impacts moderated outside of Asia. Total traffic in February 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was up 115.9% compared to February 2021. That is an improvement from January 2022, which was …

  Bloomberg Oil held its earlier gains as the European Union (EU) was said to plan a phaseout of Russian coal imports but steer clear of sanctioning the country’s oil and gas for now. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2% after earlier advancing as much as 2.2%. EU nations are deeply split over the next steps to take against Russia, …

Bloomberg The World Bank has lowered its growth forecasts for East Asia and the Pacific to 5% from 5.4% forecast in October, and warned growth could slow to 4% if conditions weaken further. The latest outlook reflects a hit to the region from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising interest rates in the US and slowing growth in China. Ongoing supply …