News

Bloomberg Brazil’s national unemployment rate in 2015 rose to its highest since the data series began three years earlier, piling pressure on President Dilma Rousseff who was a prime target in one of the nation’s largest protests ever on Sunday. The unemployment rate in 2015 averaged 8.5 percent, up from 6.8 percent the prior year, according to data released by ...

Bloomberg Lawmakers in Argentina’s lower house of Congress voted on Wednesday to approve a bill that seeks to end a 15-year legal battle with disgruntled creditors from the 2001 default which would pave the way for the nation to return to international capital markets. Lawmakers voted 165 for and 86 against to support a package of measures that calls for ...

Bloomberg Of the 40 million people who climbed into Brazil’s middle class during the boom years of the previous decade, almost one in 10 has already slid back down. Marco Antonio dos Santos Correia fears he may be next. The 51-year-old trucker bought his vehicle and Rio de Janeiro apartment using borrowed cash, joining the millions of other Brazilians who ...

Bloomberg Singapore developers sold the lowest number of new homes in 14 months, as mortgage curbs cooled demand in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market. Developers sold 301 units in February, down 7 percent from the revised 323 units in January, according to data released Tuesday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. While annual sales rose just under 2 percent to 7,440 ...

RIYADH / EMIRATES BUSINESS With a clear strategy and vision, Naif Al-Rajhi Investment (NRI) is keen to work in line with the preset objectives of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, and along with the changes that indicate broad opportunities for growth in the real estate sector. Ramla Real Estate Development Company, owned by Naif Al Rajhi Investment , ...

Bloomberg A soaring real estate market in Vancouver helped push the national average home price in Canada above the half-million dollar mark for first time in February, stoking concern that risks are becoming lopsided. Average resale prices jumped 16 percent in February from a year earlier to C$503,057 ($376,880), the Canadian Real Estate Association said Tuesday from Ottawa, as prices ...

WAM Despite the falling oil price and geopolitical instability, the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remain an attractive investment destination for high net-worth individuals (HNWIs), a report said, adding that 76 per cent prefer to keep their assets close to home. However, there is a clear element of caution lingering amongst investors, according to the 2016 GCC Wealth ...

Emirates Business Shams 1 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant has marked its three successful years of operation. The plant, which occupies 2.5 square kilometres and has a power generating capacity of 100 megawatts, is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. Shams 1, which takes its name from the Arabic word for ‘sun’, is ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DEWA, has launched its ‘Shine a light on Climate Action’ campaign, to raise awareness on the dangers of the increasing effects of climate change. The campaign was launched by DEWA in preparation for Earth Hour 2016, and supports the Green Economy for Sustainable Development Initiative, launched by Vice President and Prime ...

Dubai / Emirates Business The Middle East’s leading finance comparison website, compareit4me.com, has launched the region’s first car insurance comparison portal, giving car owners in the UAE a chance to save thousands of dirhams on their insurance. The portal allows users to get instant prices from online leading insurers. Better yet, for the first time in the UAE, users have ...