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Bloomberg The US will allow companies to defer paying tariffs on many imported goods for 90 days, a move aimed at freeing up cash for pandemic-hit employers while leaving punitive measures against China and other nations intact. “This will protect American jobs and help these businesses get through this time,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The deferral ...

Bloomberg Canada says it will apply extra scrutiny to foreign investment in companies that are related to public health or that supply critical goods during the pandemic. “There are vulnerable businesses that are going to be important to our recovery who are perhaps exposed to foreign purchases,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “We will be strengthening our ...

Bloomberg Spain’s economy could contract this year by more than 12% in a worst-case-scenario forecast by the country’s central bank, the first official figures that spell out the potential toll of the coronavirus pandemic on the European Union’s fourth-largest economy. The economic shock could push the unemployment rate to as high as 21.7% this year, undoing gains achieved in the ...

Bloomberg Germany has pledged 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to help its beleaguered startups, but the policy has stalled after the country’s governmental departments failed to agree on who has to pay. More than two weeks after the aid plan has been announced, Germany’s finance and economy ministries are yet to find common ground over who is responsible for paying ...

Bloomberg The biggest US companies will slash their cash spending this year amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “We forecast S&P 500 cash spending will decline by an annual record 33% during 2020 as firms prioritize liquidity in a worsening economic environment,” strategists led by David Kostin wrote in a ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The emirate of Abu Dhabi on April 8 priced a $7 billion multi-tranche international bond offering, which attracted strong interest from international investors. In a statement on Sunday, Abu Dhabi Department of Finance said the successful issuance is an integral component of Abu Dhabi’s medium-term strategy focused on optimisng the capital structure of the emirate. The ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE central bank announced on Sunday that gross bank assets for March had reached AED3.128 trillion, a growth of 1.1 percent from the previous month. In a statement, the central bank noted that money supply aggregate M1 had increased by 2.5 percent last month, reaching AED542.7 billion compared to February figures (AED529.4 billion). It added ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE  has sent a plane carrying 18 metric tons of medical and food aid to Mauritania as a gesture of solidarity in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The shipment, which contained testing kits, medical devices, and food supplies, will assist approximately 10,000 healthcare workers in Mauritania as they work to contain spread of Covid-19. ...

Bloomberg The guardians of the global economy came up short. Facing what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says is a crisis like no other, policy makers from leading economies agreed this past week on a set of initiatives to help emerging markets and poor nations weather the coronavirus shock, including a path-breaking halt on debt payments. But critics faulted the ...

Bloomberg Go Airlines India Ltd. has asked as many as 90% of its 5,500 employees to go on indefinite leave without pay, as a government ban on flights amid a coronavirus lockdown dries up cash flow for the budget airline, people with knowledge of the matter said. The airline, the second biggest customer for Airbus SE in one of the ...