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Reuters Kuwait’s parliament is likely to approve a law to extend the country’s borrowing limits, enabling 30-year debt issues, a senior finance ministry official said. The law would allow Kuwait to increase its debt ceiling to 25 billion Kuwaiti dinar ($83 billion) from 10 billion currently. It would also allow the Gulf state to issue debt instruments with maturities of ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Middle East oil producers are venturing into trading crude as three years of weak oil prices has encouraged them to find new sources of income beyond the business of exporting their output. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is among those making the shift. A subsidiary of state-owned Saudi Aramco plans to start trading non-Saudi crude, ...

Bloomberg Tata Motors Ltd. won an India government order for 10,000 electric cars as the country makes efforts to reduce emissions and curb fuel imports. The maker of high-end Jaguar and Land Rover models and the Nano small car will initially supply 500 vehicles to government-backed Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. in November, with the remaining 9,500 autos to be delivered ...

Bloomberg Student housing in Europe and Australian infrastructure are luring global funds out of their comfort zone, as a South Korean manager of local government employee savings joins peers around the world getting creative overseas in search of better returns. Institutional investors from Seoul to New York are increasingly on the prowl for alternative assets, as low interest rates at ...

Bloomberg Australia is sending a naval vessel to help Vanuatu in its efforts to evacuate 11,000 residents from Ambae Island as a volcano there threatens to erupt. The HMAS Choules left Australia on Saturday morning and is expected to arrive in the middle of next week, the Australian government said . The Choules is carrying specialists, supplies and a landing ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The total value of remittances by foreign workers in the UAE reached some AED78 billion during the first half of 2017, representing 48.5 percent of the total balance of payments in the country in 2016 of AED160.8 billion. The UAE Central Bank announced that the same figure reached AED40.8 billion during the second quarter of 2017, ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced that the UAE was ranked first in the ‘Efficiency of Government Spending’ index, a sub-criteria of the World Competitiveness Report 2017- issued by the World Economic Forum (Davos) in Switzerland, having ranked second for three previous years. Since 2010, the UAE has achieved high rankings among the top 10 countries in ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Waha Capital, an Abu Dhabi-based investment company, has acquired a significant minority stake in Dubai-based Channel VAS, a rapidly growing financial technology company. Waha Capital’s new investment is approximately $55 million. The acquisition adds to the diversification of Waha Capital’s principal investment portfolio, which holds stakes in several companies, including New York-listed aircraft leasing firm AerCap ...

Dubai / WAM The planned Excise Tax is set to go into effect at the beginning of October 2017, announced the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) at a press conference in Dubai on Wednesday. The new tax will be imposed on carbonated drinks by 50%, and tobacco products by 100% and energy drinks by 100%. The tax affects specific “Excise” goods ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi is to become home to the first-of-its-kind Government Academy in the UAE. The launch came during the UAE Government Annual Meetings under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive ...