Bloomberg Oil extended its longest run of losses this year ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes that may provide further clues on the path forward for monetary tightening in the US. West Texas Intermediate traded near $76 a barrel after declining for a fifth session. The prospect of more aggressive interest-rate hikes from the Fed to quell ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s stricken power utility will receive $13.9 billion in debt relief from the government over the next three years, provided it brings in private partners to help operate its plants and electricity transmission network. The package will strengthen the Eskom Holdings’s balance sheet and cover all interest payments over the next three years, budget documents presented by Finance ...

Bloomberg A Czech energy company led by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky was the big winner in a UK auction to secure power capacity, procuring a 15-year government subsidy to build a gas-fired plant. EP UK Investments Ltd.’s planned units at Eggborough, Yorkshire, were awarded provisional contracts along with a grid-scale battery at the site. That will help secure about $1.8 billion ...

  Bloomberg Private power producers in Bangladesh have sought $1 billion of foreign currency from the country’s central bank to import heavy fuel oil to avert a looming energy crisis this summer. The companies are seeking the greenback supply to banks to allow opening letters of credit for purchasing the fuel from overseas, the Bangladesh Independent Power Producers’ Association, the ...

Bloomberg India is set to use this week’s meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 nations to try to amplify its influence over developing economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America called the Global South. Without the cash to dole out billions in loans like China did under President Xi Jinping’s Belt-and-Road Initiative, India ...

  Bloomberg Stride Ventures, one of India’s leading debt venture fund, sees consumer, business-to-business companies and electric vehicle sectors as the most attractive for financing this year. “Fintech has taken a slight backseat because Reserve Bank of India has recently come up with digital lending guidelines, and a lot of companies in the fintech sector are trying to understand the ...

  Bloomberg China’s internet firms are revving up efforts to outdo each other since Beijing began to wind back its bruising crackdown on the tech sector, spurring an abrupt surge in competition that’s threatening margins and spooking investors. A battle is brewing as companies that laid low or sought to limit expansion during the years-long crackdown now feel the shackles ...

  Bloomberg Baidu Inc announced a $5 billion share buyback after reporting better-than-expected revenue, reflecting how its cloud computing service is offsetting an advertising lull during China’s economic downturn. Its shares gained 6% in pre-market US trading. Sales held steady at 33.1 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) for the three months ended December, compared with expectations for 32.1 billion yuan. Net ...

  Bloomberg India and Singapore linked their systems that enable real-time money transfers between the two nations, as countries in the region seek to bring down barriers to the quick movement of funds. Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das initiated the first transaction with his counterpart Managing Director Ravi Menon, according to a statement by the Monetary Authority ...

Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin said he’s waiting for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Russia as he hailed deepening ties with Beijing at talks with China’s top diplomat. Cooperation between Russia and China is “very important for stabilising the international situation,” Putin told Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi at talks in Moscow, asking him to pass on greetings to ...