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Dubai / WAM The Smart Dubai Department launched a Data Sharing Toolkit in partnership with globally renowned innovation foundation, Nesta, to help unlock the value of data by creating trusted and ethical mechanisms for individuals, as well as public and private sector organisations, to share data. The new initiative was launched on International Open Data Day on March 7. Designed ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The governor of the central bank of the UAE (CBUAE), Abdulhamid Saeed, held his first meeting with CEOs of banks operating in the country to emphasise the systemic significance of extending support to private sector companies and individuals affected by Covid-19 as part of the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS).The meeting comes as part of its ...

Bloomberg India is seeking ways to resume construction of highways and arterial roads in districts least impacted by the coronavirus outbreak as it charts out a plan to revive Asia’s third-largest economy. Builders were constructing 31 kilometres (19.3 miles) of roads a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the lockdown starting from March 25. India plans to spend $12 ...

Bloomberg The contraction in China’s foreign trade is set to continue through the second quarter, as global demand remains depressed by measures to curb the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Both exports and imports are forecast to have slumped 10% or more in March, with data due on Tuesday expected to show a continuation of the declines seen in the first two ...

Bloomberg The Philippines has temporarily barred doctors, nurses and other health workers from leaving for overseas work amid the coronavirus outbreak, a move that irked its top diplomat who pledged to fight the ban. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued a resolution on April 2 halting the departure of workers in 14 medical professions for the duration of the nation’s ...

Bloomberg China’s largest food-delivery site Meituan has hit back against allegations that it charged onerous commissions to restaurants during the Covid-19 outbreak, underscoring the delicate balance the company must strike to get its business back on track. Responding to complaints from a restaurant association in the southern province of Guangdong, Meituan said its average profit per delivery order was less ...

Bloomberg China’s securities regulator punished two high-flying startups for misleading shareholders, barring them access to public markets for new funding. Shares of Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co and Zhejiang HangKe Technology Inc closed down at least 10% in Shanghai after the companies were told they wouldn’t be allowed to sell stocks or bonds publicly for a year. The punishment ...

Bloomberg Gross domestic product (GDP) in the Latin America and Caribbean region, excluding Venezuela, is expected to shrink 4.6% in 2020, according to the World Bank. The dramatic drop in demand from China and G7 countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting commodity exporters in South America and exporters of manufactured goods and services in Central America and the ...

Bloomberg The UK has paid out more than 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion) to small businesses across the country to help them weather the coronavirus pandemic. Almost 100,000 firms have so far drawn on the cash from the government’s grants programs for small businesses, retailers and the hospitality sector, the Local Government Association said in an emailed statement on Monday. ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s employment market had its worst March in a quarter of a century as the global coronavirus pandemic took its toll on Latin America’s second largest economy. The country lost more than 130,500 jobs in the month from February after the employment market shrank 0.6%, according to a statement from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). The net job ...