Can Thailand’s military government achieve its ambitious 3.5 percent gross domestic product growth target and stave off social instability amid mounting signs of structural economic decline? As exports swoon amid a global slowdown and consumption gasps under high household debts, Thailand’s near-term growth will necessarily be state-led. Whether Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s military administration lives up to the policy challenge …

Lots of Americans, especially Republican-Americans, are pretty steamed about illegal immigration. Stopping it with a big new wall at the Mexican border is one of the signature campaign promises of GOP front- runner Donald Trump. As journalists and others have pointed out, though, the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. appears to have peaked in 2007. To put it …

DHAKA / Bloomberg Bangladesh’s finance minister has pledged to act against its central bank for not informing him about a cyber heist in which hackers broke into a Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last month. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, the finance minister, told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday that he was going to meet …

PARIS / BLOOMBERG BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank, had its long-term credit rating cut to A from A+ by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), which cited a “less favourable” view of the lender’s capital cushion. The bank hasn’t laid out plans to issue enough securities to increase its total loss-absorbing capacity, or TLAC, to meet S&P’s preferred level by 2018, …

Bloomberg American companies will become even bigger buyers of bonds sold by their peers as negative interest rates worldwide intensify pressure on them to deploy their $4 trillion cash pile, according to Citigroup Inc. “In their search for yield, companies are likely to increase their allocation toward 1-5 year corporate bonds rated A or higher,” said Ajay Khorana, global head …

WARSAW / Bloomberg Polish Central Bank (PCB) Governor Marek Belka said rate setters are debating how to transition from their pause in monetary easing as they weigh the risk of deterioration in the global economy and potential capital inflows as a result of the euro area’s quantitative easing program. The 10-member council left the seven-day reference rate at a record-low …

Ottawa / Bloomberg Canadian stocks rose, joining a rally in global markets as growing optimism on European stimulus overshadowed a surprise increase in Canada’s jobless rate. The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.1 percent to 13,522 in Toronto, to the highest since December 1 while capping a second weekly increase. The resurgent S&P/TSX is one of the best-performing developed …

Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP agreed to sell Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. to China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. for about $6.5 billion, just three months after it purchased the U.S. luxury-resort company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The price is about $450 million more than Blackstone paid for Strategic in December. The New York-based private equity firm …

Bloomberg Wellington real estate agent Gareth Robins says he’s taken more calls from Auckland investors in the past six months than he has in the past six years. With the housing boom in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, showing signs of coming to an end, investors there are looking further afield, and they have more buying power than owners in …

BEIJING / Bloomberg Boeing Co. delivered a record number of airplanes to China last year, outpacing rival Airbus Group SE, and is predicting more wide-body orders this year as mainland carriers attempt to harness booming demand for international travel. Of the 200 jetliners Boeing delivered to airlines and lessors based in China last year, 28 were wide-bodies, Darren Hulst, the …