BLOOMBERG Nations that have adopted a negative interest rate policy to spur economic growth face the possibility of weakening their banks, according to Arunma Oteh, vice president and treasurer of the World Bank. “We still have a global economy that is very fragile,” Oteh said in an interview in Tokyo. “What you find where you have had the expansionary …

  Lagos / AFP Nigeria’s central bank said it was investigating some banks in connection with slush funds allegedly set up by a former oil minister to rig last year’s elections. The Central Bank of Nigeria said it was “fully aware and indeed a part of the ongoing investigation of certain financial transactions in some banks by law enforcement authorities”. …

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq has raised the interest rate on a local bond issue worth 1.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.3 billion) to boost sales, central bank spokesman Aycar Jabbar recently said. The central bank has increased the rate to 8 percent from the 6 percent offered on March 15, when the two-year bonds went on sale, he told. All those …