News

Bloomberg The UK economy failed to grow in January, adding to the case for the Bank of England’s emergency rate cut on Wednesday. The figures suggest the pickup seen after Boris Johnson’s election win proved short-lived, with momentum waning even before fears about the coronavirus took hold in February. Gross domestic product was unchanged from December, when it grew 0.3%, ...

Bloomberg Coronavirus-fuelled market turmoil has led AEW SA, a real estate investment manager backed by Natixis SA, to push back a planned 900 million-euro ($1 billion) European property sale. The fund manager is trying to assess the impact of the outbreak on real estate markets before moving ahead, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. AEW had already ...

Bloomberg A diplomatic spat has erupted between Germany and neighbours Switzerland and Austria over a decision last week by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to ban most exports of protective medical equipment. Switzerland has called in the German ambassador to complain about the decision to block a shipment of 240,000 face masks, while Austria’s economy minister demanded her German counterpart order ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE-US joint military exercise, “Native Fury 20” kicked off in Abu Dhabi, with the participation of the UAE forces and their US counterpart. The joint exercise comes within the framework of exchanging military experiences and developing joint action between the two friendly countries in the military field, so as to enhance strategic relations between the ...

Dubai / Emirates Business DP World, UAE Region, the region’s premier logistics and business hub operator, has announced across-the-board reductions in license registration and administration costs for companies operating in its flagship Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) as well as for new investors. The far-reaching Jafza Customer Support Initiative is designed to slash business-related fees by between 50 percent and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE condemned the terrorist attack that targeted the presidential palace in Afghan capital, Kabul, while Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, performed his constitutional oath on Monday. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation affirmed UAE’s utter condemnation of such criminal acts and firm rejection of all forms of violence ...

DUBAI / WAM The shareholders of Mashreq Bank have approved to distribute 40 percent of the bank’s paid-up capital as cash dividends for fiscal year 2019. The distribution of cash dividends stands at AED4.00 per share, amounting to AED710.123 million ($193.3 million), according to the company’s disclosure to Dubai Financial Market (DFM), on Tuesday. During the ordinary general meeting, the ...

VIENNA / WAM The Opec Fund for International Development (Ofid), and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (Badea), signed a new agreement to strengthen cooperation in common partner countries. During past four decades, the Opec Fund and Badea have collaborated on 240 development operations in sub-Saharan Africa. The two institutions have between them contributed equally to development financing ...

Bloomberg European banks will see about 30 billion euros ($34 billion) erased from their net income over the next three years as a result of the fallout from the coronavirus, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimated. The profit erosion, equivalent to 7% of their total, will be driven by increased credit risk, weaker revenue and broadly flat costs, analysts ...

Emirates Business Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, expanded its digital portfolio by launching the first version of its mobile application, offering customers the ability to gain real time access to information on-the-go. Building on the success of Etihad Cargo’s iCargo platform and etihadcargo.com, the optimised mobile app boasts an array of in-built features to ...