Bloomberg Mario Draghi said joining the euro has improved the quality of institutions in eastern European members, as opposed to “more mixed” results in countries that have kept their own currencies. The ECB President, hosting a conference on central and eastern Europe in Frankfurt, said the main challenge in region is achieving more balanced gro-wth. That “will only be possible ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank is again at the mercy of its bigger neighbours and will have to lean in a more dovish direction to keep its currency under control. With the franc having touched a two-year high against the euro, SNB President Thomas Jordan and fellow policy makers are feeling the pressure from risks such as trade tensions, a ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s central bank said it’s made no change to its naira policies, after a revision on its website led some analysts to speculate that it was ending a system of multiple exchange rates. “Nothing has changed in Nigeria’s exchange-rate structure,” and the naira’s value continues to be determined by trading in the Investors’ & Exporters’ FX Window, Isaac Okorafor, ...

Bloomberg Raghuram Rajan has delivered some uncomfortable economic truths in a career spanning the International Monetary Fund and powerful positions in his native India. The question is whether Brexit Britain is ready to hear them from another foreign Bank of England governor. The job of stewarding the UK’s monetary policy and maintaining its financial stability has rarely been more political, ...

Dubai / WAM The UAE is the second highest regional investor in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past 10 years, investing $2.15 billion in total, according to the AI Maturity Report in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), a new study commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Ernst & Young (EY). “The bulk of this investment went towards social media ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai recorded a non-oil foreign trade of AED 339 billion ($92.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2019, announced Dubai customs, registering an increase of seven percent year-on-year from AED316 billion recorded during the same period last year. Exports registered the most growth, rising 30 percent to reach AED42 billion while re-exports grew seven percent to AED106 ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dubai Chamber, has announced its plans to host the fifth edition of the Global Business Forum (GBF) on Africa on November 18 and 19 in Dubai. Organised under the theme, ‘scale up Africa’, GBF Africa 2019 will bring together African and UAE government and business leaders to explore avenues of economic ...

LONDON / WAM UAE-linked oil services firm Petrofac has secured its third project under a 10-year framework agreement with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) with the award of a procurement services project for the Mabrouk North East Line Pipe Procurement Project in Oman. The contract, valued at approximately $75 million, is the latest to be awarded under the agreement signed in ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business In a landmark development, Etisalat has become the first mobile operator in Mena to provide 5G coverage inside an international airport. The Midfield Terminal Building (MTB), Abu Dhabi’s new international airport, will become the first airport terminal in the region to benefit from ultra-high speed connectivity, delivered by Etisalat’s 5G network. The deployment is based ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai has welcomed India’s first premium cruise liner, ‘Karnika’ by Jalesh Cruises, to Mina Rashid as it homeports in Dubai for the season. Christened in an official naming ceremony in Mumbai, India last month, ‘Karnika’ is Jalesh Cruises’ first liner to homeport in the region, marking a significant milestone for both the Indian domestic and international ...