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Toronto / Reuters Canada’s Liberal government believes the federal budget will be balanced in “about” five years due to higher growth spurred by deficit spending, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said. Speaking on CTV’s “Question Period” political news show, Morneau said the budget unveiled on March 22 will bring economic growth that the government hopes will eventually cancel out the C$17.7 ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said the global economy, particularly China and Brazil, was having a significant impact on measures that U.S. policy makers watch to determine interest rates. The world’s largest economy is doing “quite well,” Williams said on Monday in an interview on CNBC, citing stable inflation and strong employment growth. The U.S. ...

Bloomberg Mariele Santarosa limits her social outings and shopping now that business at her Sao Paulo dental practice has dropped 80 percent in a year, a victim of Brazil’s longest recession in at least a century. “Many people lost their jobs and go to the dentist only when in pain,” said Santarosa, 35, who spent a recent Saturday morning browsing ...

Emirates Business Alkhabeer Capital, the asset management and investment firm based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, released today the 2016 edition of its report reviewing GCC governments’ budgets. The report analyses the latest budgets of the region’s governments, the recent reform measures announced and the broader, long-term implications of the political will to improve efficiencies, curb wasteful expenditures and instill fiscal ...

TOKYO / Bloomberg NTT Data Corp., a unit of Japan’s former telephone monopoly, agreed to buy technology services businesses from Dell for $3.055 billion. The acquisition was announced by the unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday. The company didn’t give a date for when it will acquire the Dell ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Sharp Corp. and Foxconn Technology Group said they are pushing to close the rescue deal for the Japanese manufacturer that has been held up by disagreement for more than a month. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn’s flagship company, said on Sunday it will hold a board meeting on March 30 as scheduled, where it may discuss ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg Indian airport operator GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd. said it sold a stake in its Bengaluru aerodrome to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., helping cut debt. The shares rose. Fairfax will buy 33 percent of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. for 21.49 billion rupees ($322 million), GVK said in a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange on Monday. ...

Colombo / AFP Japan has loaned $400 million to Sri Lanka to build a new terminal at the island’s main international airport which suffers congestion from growing tourism, it was announced on Monday. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said the second terminal would more than double capacity to 15 million passengers annually. The terminal, to be opened in 2020, ...

Kuala Lumpur / Bloomberg Malaysia’s palm oil production will slump more than previously forecast as the lingering effects of El Nino curb output in the world’s second-biggest producer, according to Godrej International Ltd.’s Dorab Mistry. Production will drop by 2 million metric tons in the year through September, Mistry said in remarks prepared for a conference on Monday in Beijing. ...

Manila / DPA The Philippines’ stable macroeconomic profile would enable the country to withstand external shocks better than most of its neighbors could, debt watcher Moody’s Investors Service said. In a statement, the government’s Investor Relations Office (IRO) cited a recent Moody’s report which assessed the Philippines’ macroeconomic profile as “Moderate+,” better than the assessment of “Moderate” for China, India, ...