Bloomberg Saudi Arabia wants to get oil prices near $80 a barrel to pay for the government’s policy agenda and support the valuation of state energy giant Aramco before an initial public offering. In conversations with OPEC delegates and oil market participants, Saudi officials had been careful to avoid pinpointing an exact price target. Yet people who have spoken to …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s top officials lined up to express cautious confidence in the euro-area economy after a series of reports pointing to a surprisingly weak start to the year, while reiterating that they’ll move only slowly towards ending stimulus. President Mario Draghi and three of his most-senior colleagues signalled that while inflation remains too low and a global …

VIENNA / Reuters BNP Paribas is increasing its presence in Poland with the 775 million euro ($954 million) purchase of Raiffeisen Bank International’s (RBI) main business in the European Union’s largest eastern economy. The French bank said it will merge Raiffeisen Bank Polska, Poland’s tenth largest lender by assets, with BGZ BNP Paribas, which it bought in 2014, bolstering its …