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Bloomberg Canadians are piling on debt to purchase property at the fastest pace in more than a decade amid a pandemic-driven housing boom. Household mortgage debt grew by 1% in April to C$1.69 trillion ($1.4 trillion), Statistics Canada reported. That’s the fastest pace since 2010. In absolute terms, residential mortgage credit was up C$17 billion during the month, the largest ...

Bloomberg As many as 7% of French firms could be in financial trouble when the government rolls back the blanket support it has provided during the pandemic, according to research by Bank of France economists. The estimate is based on an analysis of over 200,000 balance sheets received as part of the central bank’s annual ratings exercise. It identified firms ...

Bloomberg California is bracing for another afternoon of blistering weather and potential blackouts as officials urge people to conserve power and forecasters warn of a brutal summer ahead. Grid officials said they don’t expect rolling outages, either. Still, they’re urging consumers to curb power use, especially in the early evening when solar production fades and temperatures are expected to be ...

Bloomberg PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) is investing $12 billion across its global business in an overhaul targeting better audits, digitisation of services and greener operations. The professional-services provider will hire 100,000 employees and develop the skills of existing staff over the next five years as it seeks to respond to the post-pandemic operating environment, it said in an emailed statement. “We will ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Mubadala Health, the integrated healthcare network of Mubadala Investment Company, on Wednesday announced the acquisition of a 60% stake in United Eastern Medical Services (UEMedical) from Jadwa Investment and United Eastern Group (UEG). UEMedical owns and operates multiple hospitals and clinics specializing in women’s health, family medicine, pediatrics, fertility, eye care, dentistry and dermatology in ...

NEW YORK / WAM At the UN General Assembly’s High-level dialogue on desertification, land degradation and drought, the UAE has underlined that protecting the environment must be a priority for the international community. “We only have one home, one shelter – Earth,” said Dr Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, through a video message. “Therefore, we all ...

Dubai / WAM The Pakistan Business Council in Dubai organised the second trade session with Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, to discuss new business opportunities, boosting bilateral trade volume between the UAE and Pakistan and capitalising on Expo 2020 opportunity. The minister was accompanied by Afzaal Mahmood, Ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE, ...

Bloomberg Oil crept higher as industry data pointed to a substantial decline in US crude stockpiles and fuel sales in India showed signs of recovering. Inventories dropped by 8.54 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the American Petroleum Institute’s data. Oil is also being helped higher by positive demand signals from Asia. Indian gasoline and diesel sales ...

KUWAIT / WAM Dr Matar Hamed Al Neyadi, UAE Ambassador to Kuwait, met Khalifa Musaed Hamada, Kuwaiti Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs, at his office in Kuwait. Al Neyadi highlighted the UAE’s keenness to boost joint cooperation and strengthen relations between the two brotherly countries, especially in the financial and economic sectors. For ...

Dubai / WAM Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), one of the leading banks in the UAE, and Network International, the leading enabler of digital commerce in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, signed an agreement to provide Network International’s merchant clients with a pre-approved business loan against their Point of Sale Receivables. The agreement was signed by Amit Malhotra, ...