News

  Bloomberg Egypt plans to secure a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to ease a crippling dollar squeeze and restore confidence in the economy, an accord that would be the fund’s biggest aid package in a region pummeled by political unrest and the plunge in oil prices. Stocks surged after authorities said on Tuesday evening they will ...

  KHOBAR / Reuters Foreign engineering companies have bid to build Saudi Aramco’s clean fuels project at the state oil giant’s Ras Tanura refinery, industry sources said. The bid deadline was July 17 for the $2 billion-plus scheme which will remove sulphur from refined oil products and is part of a drive by the kingdom to meet stricter environmental standards ...

  Emirates Business Oman’s continued growth as a tourism destination is set to receive another boost as The Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) is on track to deliver three new hotels, providing more than 900 additional rooms, in 2017/18. The hotels include the five-star W hotel currently under construction alongside the expansion of the Royal Opera House in the heart ...

  Reuters Italian oil major Eni, oil services group Saipem and former Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni have been ordered by an Italian judge to stand trial in an Algerian corruption case. The long-running case revolves around allegations Saipem paid intermediaries around 198 million euros ($218 million) to bag contracts worth 8 billion euros with Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach. Saipem has previously ...

  Riyadh / Emirates Business JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, has released its Q2 2016 Riyadh and Jeddah Real Estate Overview reports assessing the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. With Saudi Vision 2030 pivotal to the diversification and restructuring of the economy in lieu of decreasing oil prices, this report ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s government on Wednesday announced a stimulus package worth more than 28 trillion yen ($266 billion) in its latest attempt to fire up the lukewarm economy, with the central bank expected to unveil its own measures this week. Policymakers are under pressure to boost growth as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ‘Abenomics’ plan to kickstart the world’s number three ...

  Bloomberg The Philippines said on Wednesday it had “vigorously” lobbied Southeast Asian nations to take a united stance critical of Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea, but insisted a diluted statement remained a victory. After initially denying doing so, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he lobbied his counterparts at a meeting of the 10-member Association of ...

  Bloomberg JSW Steel Ltd.’s first-quarter profit surged to the highest on record, beating analysts’ estimates, after increased capacity at India’s second-largest producer of the alloy boosted volumes to an all-time high and costs fell. The shares advanced to the highest yet in Mumbai. Group net income was 11.1 billion rupees ($165 million) in the quarter ended June 30 from ...

  Bloomberg China’s banking regulator is proposing tighter rules for the nation’s $3.5 trillion market for wealth-management products, a person with knowledge of the matter said, as the government moves to rein in shadow-financing risks. The China Banking Regulatory Commission has drafted regulations designed to protect mass-market investors, limit the involvement of smaller banks and ensure that lenders have adequate ...

  London / AFP Britain will enter EU exit talks in a strong position, finance minister Philip Hammond declared Wednesday, after data revealed economic growth unexpectedly accelerated in the run-up to the Brexit referendum. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a first estimate for April-June, which included ...