Bloomberg Russia is nearing a decision to double dividends paid by state-owned companies on last year’s profit as the government struggles to cover a widening budget deficit, according to an official at the Federal Property Management Agency. A draft decree on the proposal to raise the payout to a minimum of 50 percent of net income from 25 percent has …

Bloomberg Norway’s unemployment rate jumped to the highest in more than a decade as a slump in oil prices weighs on an expansion in western Europe’s biggest crude producer. The surveyed unemployment rate jumped to 4.8 percent in January, the highest since at least the start of 2006, from a revised 4.6 percent the previous month, according to Statistics Norway. …

BRUSSELS / BLOOMBERG Euro-area economic confidence fell to the lowest level in more than a year just as the European Central Bank deployed fresh stimulus to spur growth and quash the threat of deflation. An index of executive and consumer confidence slumped for a third month, declining to 103.0 in March from a revised 103.9 the previous month, the European …