May, 2016

• 2 May

  Zain to buy Etisalat’s stake in Sudan’s Canar telecom

  DUBAI / Reuters Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain has agreed to buy Abu Dhabi-listed Etisalat’s 92.3 percent stake in Sudanese fixed line operator Canar for AED 349.6 million ($95.2 mn). The deal would strengthen Zain’s grip on Sudan’s telecom sector where it is already the top mobile operator by subscribers and has long sought to add a fixed-line licence. It is ...

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• 2 May

  Japan to support Mekong region with $7bn funding

  

    BANGKOK / AP Japan’s foreign minister announced a multibillion-dollar initiative on Monday to promote development in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region, which encompasses parts of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand through which the river flows. In a speech at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Fumio Kishida affirmed the importance of Southeast Asia’s economic prosperity to Japan. He pledged 750 billion yen ($7 ...

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• 2 May

  Indian taxi drivers protest diesel ban

  

    New Delhi / AFP Hundreds of taxi drivers protested in New Delhi on Monday against a ban on diesel cabs, the latest initiative aimed at improving air quality in the world’s most polluted capital. India’s top court on Saturday ordered taxis run on the dirty fuel off the city’s roads, refusing industry requests for more time to switch to ...

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• 2 May

  RBI to tackle cash crunch in financial system

    New Delhi / Bloomberg India’s one-year interest-rate swaps dropped to a more than two-week low on optimism the central bank will add more funds to tackle the liquidity deficit in the financial system. The cost to lock in payments on borrowings for one year fell one basis point to 6.66 percent as of 12:30 p.m in Mumbai, the lowest ...

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• 2 May

  Takata sets aside $189 million in air bag recall costs

  

    Tokyo / Bloomberg Takata Corp. raised provisions for its air bag recalls that involve more than a dozen auto manufacturers, after denying reports that the biggest safety crisis in the industry’s history will expand further. The auto parts supplier will book a combined 20.1 billion yen ($189 million) in charges, 16.6 billion of which was decided after reviewing air ...

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• 2 May

  ECB deep freeze on €500-note risks German cold shoulder

  

    Bloomberg When European Central Bank policy makers discuss the fate of the €500-note this week, they may want to consider the case of Fabio Rizzi. After the local politician in the Italian region of Lombardy was arrested on corruption charges in February, police found more than €17,000 including €500- and €200-bank notes stashed in his home, according to the ...

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• 2 May

  French prez Hollande could nix TTIP if agriculture threatened

  

    Paris / AFP France will reject the ambitious TTIP transatlantic trade pact if it endangers the future of French agriculture, President Francois Hollande warned on Sunday. “We in France have to defend a certain number of principles” and be “extremely vigilant as it is the future of agriculture which could be at stake,” Hollande’s office said. French politicians have ...

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• 2 May

  Merkel’s €1.2bn German e-car push boosts Infineon, STMicro

  

    Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) electric-car push is a boon to another industry seeking to benefit from the shift beyond gasoline: chipmakers such as Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG. The subsidy program, which kicks off in May with rebates for vehicle buyers and plans for 15,000 battery-charging stations, translates into about $300 million of chips by 2019, ...

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• 2 May

  Polish manufacturing gauge in 2nd-largest drop since 2008

    Bloomberg A gauge tracking Poland’s manufacturing industry had its second-biggest one-month decline since the global financial crisis in late 2008, marking “an abrupt loss of momentum” at the start of the second quarter, according to Markit Economics. The Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 51 last month from 53.8 in March, remaining above the 50 threshold that separates contraction from ...

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• 2 May

  Threat of $227bn power market break up is pain for traders

  

    Bloomberg Germany and Austria’s prospective breakup of their shared €200 billion-($227 billion) power market is vexing traders and companies that say splitting the union will push up manufacturing costs and drive away investment. Lechwerke AG, a German utility, is resisting supplying its Austrian clients with longer-dated power contracts because it doesn’t know how much to charge them if the ...

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