Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp.’s first-half profit topped analyst estimates as costs continued to decline, offsetting ongoing competition in mortgages and business lending. The stock opened higher. Cash profit at Australia’s third-largest lender falls to A$3.1 billion in the six months to March 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a statement. That beat the A$2.9 …

  Bloomberg South Africa must accelerate plans to generate more electricity itself, buy more energy from private producers and make it easier for power-hungry mining companies to build their own plants, according to a draft economic policy document compiled by the nation’s governing party. Projects outlined in the government’s Integrated Resources Plan won’t be sufficient to end rolling blackouts, and …

  Bloomberg A single region in China plans to build enough solar farms off its eastern seaboard to power New Zealand. Shandong province, the industrial hub south of Beijing, issued a tender for the construction of 10 offshore solar plants in the seas surrounding China’s largest peninsula by 2025. The capacity planned is 11.25 gigawatts, more than peak consumption in …