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Bloomberg Oil analysts have raised their forecasts for the crude price next year after major producers agreed to extend output cuts, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. Production disruptions in Libya and Nigeria and economic depression in Venezuela that has cut crude output will also support oil prices, the analysts said. Benchmark Brent crude futures are now forecast to average ...

Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma said China benefits from the stability of its single-party system, contrasting that with the unpredictability of US politics. The Chinese billionaire made the comments in response to a question about the country’s economy and its prospects for growth. He said he has confidence in China’s potential and cited as his number one reason ...

Bloomberg Go-Jek, Indonesia’s first billion-dollar tech startup, has a ‘set plan’ to become a listed company, Chief Executive Officer Nadiem Makarim said. “We are definitely going to IPO,” Makarim said at Bloomberg’s Year Ahead Asia Conference in Jakarta on Wednesday. The initial public offering is expected “hopefully within the next few years,” he said. Jakarta-based Go-Jek, backed by investors including ...

Bloomberg PT Blue Bird Group, Indonesia’s largest taxi operator, said conventional modes of public transport such as taxis still have room to grow even with the increasing popularity of new ride-hailing applications. “People still need to have a safe, reliable and good value kind of public transport,” said President Director Noni Purnomo in Jakarta. “At the end of the day, ...

Bloomberg The tide is turning against multinational brands, which have been losing market share to local products not just in Asia’s emerging markets but also in the US and Europe, according to Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever NV. “Consumers are changing, not craving for global brands just for the sake of it,” said Hemant Bakshi, president director of Unilever Indonesia, ...

SHARJAH / WAM Dr Salwa Ghaddar Younis, Ambassador of the United Nations (UN) and Chairperson of the Arab Family Organisation (AFO) stated that the UAE is a unique international model of the professional and financial empowerment of women, and the strengthening of their economic position, based on equal opportunities in all commercial areas. In her statements on the sidelines of ...

DUBAI / WAM November’s PMI signalled a strong upturn for the UAE’s non-oil private sector, and the sharpest pace of expansion since August, according to the latest UAE PMI survey. “Steep growth in both output and new business contributed to the latest improvement in business conditions. Furthermore, firms responded to higher output requirements by increasing buying activity at the fastest ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Current account balances and deposits of the UAE Central Bank with banks abroad rose 54.7 percent or AED80.8 billion in the first ten months of the year to AED228.7 billion from AED147.8 billion in the same corresponding period last year, according to figures released by the Central Bank. The sustained, robust growth of foreign deposits since ...

DUBAI / WAM The Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Dubai SME) signed a cooperation agreement to boost the competitiveness of the country’s entrepreneurship sector, as well as train national entrepreneurs and raise their capacities. The signing of the agreement was attended by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Investments has announced a 36 percent increase in sub-leasing contracts in its wholly-owned subsidiary Dubai Investments Park (DIP) in the first nine months of 2017 compared to last year. “Out of these, nearly 68 percent contracts pertained to existing subtenants, reflecting DIP’s growing demand as a premier business destination in the region. The new subtenants during ...