Bloomberg Asset sales from Saudi power plants and football clubs to African energy firms are set to help deliver a bumper year for deals in the region. Investment banks expect the pace of transactions in the Middle East and Africa to gain momentum after a busy first quarter. Mergers and initial public offerings in the first three months of 2018 …

BEIJING / Reuters China’s foreign exchange reserves rose slightly in March as broad US dollar weakness continued and escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies bolstered expectations of a firmer Chinese currency. Reserves rose $9 billion in March to $3.143 trillion, compared with a drop of $27 billion in February, central bank data showed on Sunday. Economists polled …

CHICAGO / Reuters Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, one of the Fed’s most dovish policymakers, said that he is optimistic inflation will reach the Fed’s 2 percent goal and that slow, gradual rate increases will be appropriate. “Fiscal policy has been much more supportive of further growth and so the need for accommodative monetary policy is less than …

Bloomberg Thailand’s monetary policy should remain accommodative to nurture the economic recovery and as inflationary pressure remains weak, central bank Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said. Thailand is still in the “early stage of a recovery of domestic demand,” Veerathai said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore. The most important factor in deciding policy is inflation pressure, followed by the …

Bloomberg Pakistan’s second-largest bank by assets aims to double its current-account deposits in five years as it extends its reach into the nation’s rising middle class through new technology and a branch revamp. United Bank Ltd. is seeking to increase its number of customers by about 40 percent to 10 million in three years, with domestic current-account deposits doubling to …

Reuters The Czech National Bank (CNB) may raise its main interest rate above 1 percent by the end of this year, sooner than its staff forecast predicts, as the economy is overheating, Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl was quoted as saying. The central bank’s board kept the two-week repo rate at 0.75 percent at its last policy meeting on March 29 after …

Agencies India asked global companies to submit proposals for 110 fighter jets, the world’s biggest such order currently. The Indian Air Force sought requests for information for the supply of single- and twin-seat jets to be mostly manufactured locally, it said in a statement on its website. The Asian nation had earlier scrapped a deal to buy 126 fighter jets …

Bloomberg Nine West Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy with a plan to sell some assets and reorganise others, after too much debt felled the shoe and clothing company controlled by Sycamore Partners. The Chapter 11 filing in New York listing debts of more than $1 billion. The company will use the bankruptcy to sell its Nine West and Bandolino brand …

Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc. said a cyber attack on a contractor potentially exposed the payment information of its “several hundred thousand customers.” A data breach from September 26 to October 12 at a company called [24]7.ai allowed unauthorised access to customers’ names, address, payment-card information, CVV numbers and expiration dates, Delta said in a statement. The vendor, which provides …

Bloomberg SM Prime Holdings, the largest Philippine shopping mall developer, will build Ikea’s first store in the country within its retail complex, with plans for an arrangement with the Swedish furniture company at its other properties. The store will be built within SM Prime’s Mall of Asia complex in Manila, located between its convention centre and sports arena, Alex Pomento, …