Bloomberg Egypt has “almost completed” the actions required for the International Monetary Fund’s board to review its $12 billion loan accord, but some measures related to the exchange rate and subsidies are still pending, Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday. The most populous Arab country is relying on the deal to restore investor confidence and ease a dollar ...

  BAGHDAD/ Reuters Iraq’s oil minister has urged oil and natural gas producers operating in the country to continue increasing output next year, the oil ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Jabar al-Luaibi’s comments came as OPEC nations are trying to implement an agreement to curb oil output for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, in order ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company, reported a 10 percent rise in third-quarter net profit on Sunday, broadly meeting analysts’ forecasts with the help of cost controls it said would remain a priority. Saudi retailers will in coming quarters have to weather the impact of austerity measures imposed to curb a huge state budget ...

  Bloomberg Qatar’s royal family is considering increasing its stake in Deutsche Bank AG to as much as 25 percent, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani, former Prime Minister of the Gulf State, and the former Emir of the country, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani are exploring increasing their ...

  CAPE TOWN / Reuters Africa could become a significant global market for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025, with Egypt the main driver, as more countries eye gas-to-power projects, a senior official at Total said on Tuesday. With hundreds of millions of people living without electricity in the world’s poorest continent, African countries are increasingly turning to gas ...

  London / AFP The British government stepped back on Sunday from a plan to make employers list their foreign workers as it talks tough on immigration following the Brexit vote, after a backlash among business leaders. “We are not going to be asking companies to list or name or publish or identify their foreign workers,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon ...

  Bloomberg U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will begin a diplomatic offensive on Monday amid mounting international concern and domestic opposition to her so-called hard Brexit rhetoric for leaving the European Union. May will go to Denmark and the Netherlands for talks with other EU leaders as comments suggesting that her priority will be to curb immigration spurred concern of ...

  Bloomberg Merck & Co.’s cancer treatment Keytruda was almost twice as successful at shrinking lung cancer tumors than a standard chemotherapy regimen, a study of the drug in previously untreated patients found. In the 123-patient study, 55 percent of those on Keytruda plus two chemotherapy drugs saw their tumors get smaller, compared with 29 percent on just the chemotherapy ...

  Bloomberg Unlike many pension investors, Sweden’s 300 billion-krona ($34 billion) AP7 fund, can to a large extent stay away from the bond markets. It’s manager, Richard Grottheim, is remarkably positive. As political risk mounts in Europe and the U.S., and as central banks are greasing financial markets with ever more free cash, Grottheim says it will likely all work ...

  Will Brexit be hard or soft? The question preoccupies British politicians and commentators — not to mention global currency markets, if the sharp fall in sterling this week is any guide. Despite its command of the discussion, however, this hard-or-soft framing is unhelpful. It’s best dropped altogether. Sterling slumped after Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Oct. 2 that ...