Bloomberg After being stung by the market turmoil at the end of last year, Singapore’s banks are bracing for fresh challenges from China-US trade tensions and a slowing world economy. “We expect ongoing global uncertainties to continue to weigh on business sentiment in the near term,” United Overseas Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Wee Ee Cheong told reporters in Singapore …

Bloomberg South Africa’s central bank is unlikely to officially pursue a single point-inflation target soon even though it prefers to anchor price growth close to the 4.5 percent mid-point of its goal range, an adviser to Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The target range of 3 percent to 6 percent allows for flexibility in protecting the economy from price shocks, Fundi …

Bloomberg Birgitte Bonnesen, the chief executive officer of Swedbank AB, has consistently denied that her bank had any involvement in the Estonian money-laundering scandal engulfing Danske Bank A/S. This week, her words came back to haunt her. Swedbank was forced to backtrack on its previous assertions and has now acknowledged that it also handled suspicious transactions, which it says have …

Bloomberg Oil in New York posted a second straight weekly advance as investors focus on talks between the US and China on trade and as Opec shows commitment to curbing production. Futures added 0.5 percent in New York to the highest in more than three months. Trade talks in Washington between a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He …

Emirates Business According to BESA’s latest research, the UAE has overtaken the US and Saudi Arabia as the country that UK companies are most interested in exporting to. The findings come as 83 UK education suppliers have confirmed to exhibit at the influential GESS Dubai 2019, the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) announced. GESS Dubai is the leading education conference …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its interest in the Chinese market with a deal to build a $10 billion refining and petrochemicals complex as it vies for crude-oil customers with fellow OPEC members and Russia. Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Aramco, agreed to set up a joint venture with two Chinese companies to develop the facility in Liaoning province, according to …

Bloomberg Zambia has reduced hydropower production at the Kariba Dam because of rapidly declining water levels at the world’s biggest man-made reservoir that straddles the border with Zimbabwe, the energy minister said. “We have noted the poor water situation for the Za-mbezi system nec- essitating reduction in generation at Kariba,” Mat-thew Nkhuwa sa-id, without provi- ding further details. Water outflows …

Bloomberg Singapore’s second-largest developer has a suggestion for the government: re-position the billionaire enclave of Sentosa as a tourism hot-spot like Bali. Property values at Sentosa Cove, a residential area nestled on a tiny island off the south coast, have been hit particularly hard, with home prices down about 30 percent from the highs seen in 2010. Even as the …

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled a $1,980 smartphone with a foldable screen, a dramatic shift in the mass market for phones. The device has a 4.6-inch screen when used as a phone and can unfold into a tablet with a 7.3-inch screen, Samsung said during a demonstration kicking off its Unpacked event in San Francisco. The company said the new …

Bloomberg Apple Inc. wants to make it easier for software coders to create tools, games and other applications for its main devices in one fell swoop — an overhaul designed to encourage app development and, ultimately, boost revenue. The aim of the multistep initiative, code-named “Marzipan,” is that by 2021, developers will be able to build an app once and …