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Bloomberg South Korea led the developed world to join China in exceeding the size of its pre-pandemic economy, as investment and exports helped it expand faster than expected. Gross domestic product grew 1.6% during January-March from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said, easily beating economists’ consensus for a 1.1% expansion. That pushed GDP above the level at the ...

Bloomberg Widespread school closures amid the pandemic will likely reduce students’ future productivity and wages, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said, estimating the present value of prospective lost earnings at $1.25 trillion for developing Asia. The region’s students, who on average have lost nearly one-third of the academic year to school closures, could see a 2.4% decline in their future ...

Bloomberg Zomato Ltd, an Indian food delivery startup backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co, has filed an initial prospectus with Indian market regulator for an initial public offering that could raise as much as 82.5 billion rupees ($1.1 billion). The company plans to issue new shares to raise a maximum 75 billion rupees, while its major shareholder Info Edge ...

Bloomberg India’s most valuable steelmaker is cutting output to step up supplies of medical-grade oxygen as the country grapples with a devastating shortage of the life-saving gas amid surging coronavirus infections. JSW Steel Ltd said it is reducing output to augment liquid medical oxygen supply to more than 900 tons a day by April-end, and more than 20,000 tons for ...

Bloomberg In the race to vaccinate citizens against Covid-19, Japan should be a front-runner. It has nearly universal healthcare coverage and pharmaceutical prowess, not to mention a pending national election, a large elderly population and the looming Olympics to motivate political leaders to move fast. Yet it has the dubious distinction of being among the worst performers when it comes ...

Bloomberg Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s profit narrowed and earnings trailed estimates as a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak hit consumer demand in Asia’s third-largest economy. Net income fell 9.3% to 11.7 billion rupees ($157 million) in the three months ended on March 31, the unit of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp said in a statement. That’s less than the average analyst estimate of ...

DAMASCUS / WAM A third Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) aid plane arrived in Damascus on Tuesday loaded with Covid-19 vaccine doses to help Syria fight the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The shipment, arranged in coordination with the Syrian Red Crescent Organisation, is part of the UAE’s global response to combat the spread of the virus and strengthen prevention measures. It aims ...

Bloomberg The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies recommended proceeding with plans to gently revive oil production as global demand recovers from the pandemic, despite surging infections in India. A committee led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed the coalition can skip a full-scale ministerial meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday, and press on with its road-map for ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Mario Draghi has just days to perfect and finalise what he’s calling a “historic” project to rescue Italy’s economy from the pandemic and fix its structural weaknesses, using $315 billion of mostly European Union (EU) funds. A lot is riding on the plan. If it works, it would overturn the fortunes of an economy long regarded as ...

KHARTOUM / WAM Dr Abdalla Hamdok, Prime Minister of Sudan, has commended the UAE’s stances in support of his country in international fora as well the UAE’s continuous efforts to make the transitional period a success. During his meeting with Hamad Muhammad Hamid Al Junaibi, UAE Ambassador to Sudan, Dr Hamdok praised the outstanding ties between the two brotherly countries. ...