News

  AFP An International Monetary Fund team arrived in Kiev on Thursday to check on cash-strapped Ukraine’s books and set out a series of tough conditions for the disbursement of further loans. The IMF approved a $17.5-billion (15.8-billion-euro) rescue package for the war-scarred former Soviet republic in 2015 to help it recover from two years of savage recession and allow ...

  Bloomberg Business activity in Egypt hit its lowest level in more than three years in October, shrinking for a 13th month amid a foreign currency shortage, the pound’s weakness in the black market and accelerating inflation. The Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers Index for non-oil activity fell to 42 from 46.3 the month before, the weakest since July 2013, according ...

  Reuters Egypt’s Supreme Investment Council approved a host of measures to boost investment that included an extended suspension of capital gains tax on shares and tax exemptions for producers in strategic sectors. Egypt has been trying to attract investment to restore growth since an uprising in 2011, which ushered in protracted political turmoil and scared away tourists and foreign ...

  Doha / AFP Qatar’s population has passed the 2.6 million mark as the emirate draws in thousands of workers to build the infrastructure for the 2022 football World Cup, official figures showed Wednesday. The tiny Gulf state has seen a more than four-fold increase in its population since 2000 as oil and gas revenues have fuelled a rapid economic ...

  Reuters Iran’s carpet makers are distancing themselves from their government in promoting their handmade work as they seek to regain valuable US sales and protect jobs following the removal of economic sanctions. “Iranian carpets are produced by female and male weavers who are managed by the private sector, so the government does not have a big influence,” Hamid Kargar, ...

  Bloomberg Global oil majors BP Plc and Rosneft PJSC are eyeing a piece of India’s $117 billion retail market for fossil fuels, threatening to shake up government-owned companies that have faced little competition for a decade. BP has already secured licenses to open as many as 3,500 fuel stations in the world’s second most-populous nation. Rosneft gained access to ...

  Bloomberg China United Network Communications and Baidu Inc. agreed to collaborate on areas ranging from mobile internet to artificial intelligence amid government plans for ownership reform of state-owned enterprises. China United Network, the state-owned parent of Hong Kong-listed China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd., said on Wednesday it will cooperate with Baidu including on big data and basic telecommunication services. ...

  Bloomberg Marriott International Inc., the world’s biggest hotel operator, is betting its future in Asia on the growth of leisure tourism, particularly from China. “We look at the long term and we feel very bullish,” Craig Smith, Marriott’s Asia-Pacific president and managing director, said in an interview in Sydney. The company plans to more than double its number of ...

  Bloomberg Tata Sons Ltd., reversing course after ousting Chairman Cyrus Mistry, plans to seek Indian approval to pay $1.17 billion to estranged partner NTT Docomo Inc. as it looks for an amicable solution to their legal tussle, people with knowledge of the matter said. Ratan Tata, who suddenly returned to the helm of India’s largest conglomerate last week, has ...

  Bloomberg South Korea’s government said it will take steps to ease overheating property markets in Seoul, Sejong, and some areas in Gyeonggi and Busan. Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the government will limit resale of rights to buy new apartments and strengthen bidding requirements for new apartments in the regions, while monitoring markets and designating anti-speculation property zones if ...