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Bloomberg UK inflation slowed to just a quarter of the Bank of England’s (BOE) target in May, boosting the case for policy makers to add to their stimulus plan at their meeting this week. Consumer prices increased just 0.5% from a year earlier, the weakest since 2016, amid falling prices of auto fuel and recreational goods. The core rate, which ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to help Canada’s small businesses pay their rent is off to a slow start, with some landlords hesitant to sign up and others bogged down by red tape. The federal government said earlier this month landlords had applied for only C$90 million ($66 million) from a rent assistance fund on behalf of about 26,000 ...

Bloomberg A tunnel intended to connect Finland and Estonia faces a delay of up to seven years after Finnish policy makers picked a route opposed by the developer. The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council’s assembly voted to route the project under the capital and not Espoo, the adjacent city. Finnish entrepreneur Peter Vesterbacka, formerly of Rovio Entertainment Oyj, plans to appeal the ...

Bloomberg Alternative assets such as infrastructure and real estate have been a popular way for Nordic pension funds to pump up returns. But the latest crisis just exposed how risky many corners of the asset class are, when liquidity suddenly dries up. As the chief investment officer of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co., Mikko Mursula oversees about 46 billion euros ...

ABU DHABI / WAM For the fourth year in row, the United Arab Emirates is leading the Mena region in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020, issued by the World Competitiveness Centre of the World Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, which puts the UAE at 9th place among the most competitive countries in the world. The UAE ...

Bloomberg Global oil demand will rebound next year as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, but recovering to pre-crisis levels may take a couple of years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. Fuel use around the world will remain 2.5% lower next year than in 2019, largely because of the “the dire situation of the aviation sector,” the Paris-based ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) announced the issuance of the largest Chinese Yuan (CNH) dual listed Formosa bonds from the Mena region, with a CNH 1.4 billion five-year issuance. Despite the challenging market backdrop, FAB attracted a high quality orderbook of over CNH 1.6 billion, which enabled the bank to upsize its target issuance from CNH ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE condemned Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militia’s attempts to target civilian areas in Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia with explosive-laden drones intercepted by Coalition forces. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the UAE reiterated its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia against any threats to its security and stability, affirming support for all ...

DAMMAM / WAM The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), a multilateral development financial institution, estimates that planned and committed investments in the Mena region will exceed $792 billion over the next five years (2020–2024). According to Apicorp’s Mena Energy Investment Outlook 2020-2024, the amount marks a $173mn decline from the $965bn in last year’s five-year outlook. The overall decline in ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and Australia totalled AED14.5 billion in 2019, a 17.4 percent increase compared to 2018, reflecting the increasing trade between the two countries, as per a recent report issued by the “Commercial Policies and International Organisations Department” of the Ministry of Economy. The report was issued as part of the ...