Ankit Panda SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Early last year, when the United States’ Western European allies began eagerly signing up for China’s nascent Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as founding members, it seemed as if Washington was confident that the AIIB would emerge as a poorly governed tool of Chinese geoeconomic statecraft, beholden to lower standards than the World ...

  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the U.S. in June, where he will address Congress at the invitation of Speaker Paul Ryan. Modi will be the fifth Indian prime minister to address that body, following Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh. It will also be Modi’s fourth visit to the U.S. in ...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reportedly cancelled plans to hike the consumption tax in 2017, bowing to sluggish growth, a strong yen and a falling stockmarket. Will it be enough to save Abenomics? Avoiding the prospect of another potential recession in the world’s third-largest economy, Abe reportedly told senior government and ruling coalition officials Friday that he would postpone ...

  When Thailand votes on August 7 to pass or reject a new constitution, voters will head to the polls knowing that the country’s two dominant political parties are opposed to the military-sponsored draft’s content and spirit. While the ruling junta is actively promoting the draft charter’s hybrid vision of a military-guided democracy, punitive bans imposed on organized opposition, public ...

  BLOOMBERG Brent crude rose to a six-month high, leading a rebound in commodities and boosting the ruble and mining companies, as supply disruptions in Nigeria added to production woes. Oil extended last week’s gains as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its price forecast, saying the market had moved into a supply deficit earlier than expected. Precious metals rallied with ...

  JAKARTA / Reuters The private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group plans to regularly tap Islamic debt capital markets and expects to arrange two sovereign deals later this year, its chief executive said. Regular access to Islamic financing tools such as Islamic bonds, or sukuk, is helping the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private ...

  EMIRATES BUSINESS United Arab Emirates equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Services and Insurance sectors propelled shares lower. At the close in Dubai, the DFM General lost 0.43% to hit a new 1-month low, while the ADX General index declined 0.66%. The biggest gainers of the session on the DFM General were ...

  AFP Chinese nationals became the largest foreign buyers of US homes last year as they pour billions into American real estate, seeking safe offshore assets, according to a new study Sunday. A huge surge in Chinese buying of both residential and commercial real estate last year took their five-year investment total to more than $110 billion, according to the ...

  Bloomberg U.K. house prices rebounded in May after an investor rush to beat a new tax introduced last month left behind a shortage of homes for sale, according to Rightmove. Asking prices increased 0.4 percent to an average 308,151 pounds ($442,000), the property website operator said on Monday. Prices for properties traditionally sought by first-time buyers surged 6.2 percent. ...

  Bloomberg Singapore developers sold 12 percent less homes in April, as tighter mortgage curbs cooled demand in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market. Developers sold 745 units last month, compared with 843 in March, according to data released Monday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Singapore home prices have dropped for 10 quarters, posting the longest losing streak in almost two ...