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ABU DHABI / WAM The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi on Tuesday announced the launch of the ‘Abu Dhabi Specialist Programme’, an e-learning platform which will provide travel trade industry professionals with destination-related information about the emirate through a series of online courses. In a statement, DCT Abu Dhabi noted that the programme will be rolled out ...

DUBAI / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced the launch of the Federal Automated Revenue Estimation System (FARES) as part of its strategy to further enhance government operations in order to advance digital transformation in the country. The system will automate ministry’s revenue estimations model and further improve integration of data to calculate estimates based on statistical and accounting ...

Bloomberg India’s budget gap for the year ended on March 31 has touched 4.4% of gross domestic product — a six-year peak — breaching the target set in February as an economic slowdown reduced tax collections, people with knowledge of the matter said. A revenue shortfall of 1.7 trillion rupees ($22 billion) led to the higher deficit number, the people ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year, amid expectations the coronavirus pandemic will take an even heavier toll on Southeast Asia’s biggest economy in months ahead. Gross domestic product rose 2.97% in the first quarter from a year ago, the statistics office said on Tuesday. That was worse than the median estimate of 4% ...

Bloomberg Singapore, which is looking to increase virus testing fivefold among its population, faces a global shortage of some test kits and materials, according to its health minister. The city-state has to be “mindful” there’s a worldwide shortage, and therefore “we have to ensure that we have a continued supply and stock of these materials to allow us to continue ...

Bloomberg Thailand reported one additional novel coronavirus case and no new deaths, in a further indication that its outbreak is ebbing. The country has conducted more than 200,000 tests for the pathogen, Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesman for the Covid-19 centre, said. The overall number of detected infections stands at 2,988. Fatalities have remained at 54 for about a week. Thailand ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s Ninja Van has raised $279 million from backers including France’s GeoPost SA and ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings Inc, scoring one of Southeast Asia’s largest startup investments since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and Monk’s Hill Ventures were among those that took part in the parcel delivery firm’s Series D round, completed ...

Bloomberg Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to boost US borrowing from April through June by an unprecedented $3 trillion to support an economy entering a recession caused by the coronavirus. The Treasury said the increase is driven by new stimulus spending legislation and tax receipt deferrals, steps taken to help the economy overcome social distancing measures that shuttered businesses. Privately ...

Bloomberg The world appears to have reached the limit of its tolerance for economic disruption. Even as the novel virus continues to put lives at risk, governments around the world are beginning the process of reopening. More than $7 trillion has been committed to relief efforts just in the past three months, and many more trillions will need to be ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. delayed the introduction of a foldable, dual-screen Surface laptop that had been planned for the holiday season, saying it will focus the new Windows 10X operating system on single-screen devices like tablets and notebook PCs. “Single-screen devices will be the first expression of Windows 10X that we deliver to our customers,” Panos Panay, chief product officer of ...