Bloomberg Russia and the U.K. give companies the lowest effective tax rates among the world’s leading economies, according to a report by UHY, a network of auditors and consulting firms. Companies in Russia pay corporate tax at 20 percent while in the U.K. it’s 21 percent, UHY said in the study of rates applied to $1 million of taxable profit. ...
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German factory orders advance in March as exports pick up
Bloomberg German factory orders picked up in March as strong global trade helped offset a lull in domestic demand. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, advanced 1.9% from the prior month, when they fell a revised 0.8 percent, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed on Monday. The reading, which is typically volatile, compares with a median ...
Read More »Private investment gains ground in Hungary’s hospitals
Bloomberg A $62 million construction project on the banks of the Danube River is the biggest bet to date that Hungary’s crumbling public health-care system guarantees a bright future for private hospitals. Deteriorating conditions at state hospitals, where patients routinely need to bring their own toilet paper, have pushed people to pay for care outside the communist-era relic. Private ...
Read More »Middle-class tax cut is ‘floor’ for talks in Congress: Trump
Bloomberg Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said his chief economic concern is giving the middle class a sizable tax cut, while other proposals, including lowering taxes on businesses and the wealthy, were starting points for negotiation. “I have to negotiate now with senators and congressmen,†Trump said during an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the ...
Read More »Brazil’s inflation accelerates above all forecasts in April
Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer inflation accelerated more than all analysts forecast in April, pushing the market to temper bets the central bank will lower interest rates. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index climbed 0.61 percent after a 0.43 percent rise the previous month. That was more than the median forecast for a 0.54 percent increase from 44 economists surveyed by ...
Read More »Latin America’s only net creditor about to rejoin mere mortals
Bloomberg At times, Chile’s economy has appeared super-human. Rapid economic growth, low inflation, trade surpluses and a strong currency have all combined to make it the wealthiest nation in South America, overtaking traditionally richer economies such as Argentina and Uruguay. That was achieved even as the government amassed savings of more than $23 billion in two sovereign wealth funds. ...
Read More »Brenntag slumps after profit misses on oil, Venezuela
Bloomberg Brenntag AG’s first-quarter profit missed analyst estimates after the world’s largest distributor of chemicals was hit by a currency devaluation in Venezuela and slump in demand for additives used by the oil and gas industry. Earnings were “surprisingly low†due to weakness in the Venezuelan currency, oil and gas and the North American industrial environment. Brenntag stuck to ...
Read More »Gulf stocks see surge
DUBAI / Reuters Most major Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday in response to a modest recovery on Wall Street and in oil prices at the end of last week, while a sweeping reorganisation of Saudi Arabia’s economic policy-making apparatus boosted shares there. The Saudi stock index closed 0.2 percent higher after rising as much as 1.0 percent at ...
Read More »UAE Cabinet launches ‘Cohesive Family 2021’
ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Cabinet, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, launched a national campaign entitled: ‘Cohesive Family 2021’, to strengthen family ties and endorse the family’s core role in preserving the identity and culture of society. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid pointed ...
Read More »73 killed in Afghan road crash inferno
Ghazni / AFP At least 73 people were killed on Sunday when two passenger buses and an oil tanker burst into flames in a head-on collision in eastern Afghanistan, health officials said, in one of the worst road accidents in the war-battered nation. Many of the dead, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition and dozens of others ...
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