March, 2016

• 30 March

  Southern Africa needs agribiz sector boost

  Southern Africa is reeling under an unprecedented dry spell. The region’s worst drought in over three decades has unleashed a severe hunger crisis. It is also taking a huge toll on economy. Ethiopia will miss the targeted economic growth due to the agriculture mayhem, caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Food imports are stuck in port logjams and the ...

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• 30 March

  Afghan refugees in difficult situation

  Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Afghan refugees have returned to the headlines as European countries pursue avenues to send many of those waiting for asylum back to Afghanistan. A larger number reside in Pakistan and Iran, where they are stuck in the limbo of refugee camps. Meanwhile, many of those who have already returned remain in a difficult situation, ...

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• 30 March

  Yellen tells markets what they want to hear

  Markets had a predictable immediate reaction to comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday that they interpreted as relatively dovish signals about the thinking of the world’s most important central bank. Within minutes of her remarks, risk assets rose, government bond yields fell, the dollar weakened and the VIX declined. Sustaining this trend will require two policy signals, ...

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• 30 March

  What Singapore’s new budget means

  

  On March 24, Singapore unveiled an expansionary fiscal budget as part of the city-state’s ongoing drive to increase productivity, cope with economic headwinds, and ready itself for future disruptive technologies such as robotics and information and communications technology (ICT). A sizable part of the budget is also aimed at building a “caring and resilient society.” In other words, there is ...

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• 30 March

  Curing cancer is within reach

  Michael R. Bloomberg / Joe Biden One of the most frightening words a patient can hear from a doctor is “cancer.” We know it from the experience of our families and friends, and the millions of Americans who hear it directly from their doctors each year. In President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address, he compared the effort ...

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• 30 March

  Searching for a better way to measure disparity

  

  Inequality is, without a doubt, the hot topic in econ circles these days. Economics conference seminars on the subject are standing-room-only. Columns and blog posts about inequality are widely read and discussed, and Thomas Piketty’s book was a bestseller. But the question of how best to measure the phenomenon continues to be a contentious topic of debate. The most common ...

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• 30 March

  Yellen spurs global stock rally as oil rebounds, dollar tumbles

  

  BLOOMBERG Stocks jumped around the world after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reasserted the central bank’s gradual approach to raising interest rates. Commodities climbed as the dollar extended its worst month in more than five years. Yellen’s signal that weakening world growth calls for a slow approach to tightening policy ignited gains for shares from Shanghai to Frankfurt after U.S. ...

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• 30 March

  Emirates Securities Market up by 1.30 percent

  

  ABU DHABI / EMIRATES BUSINESS The Emirates Securities Market Index has increased by 1.30% to close at 4482.71 points. Accordingly the Market Capitalization has gained AED 9.31 billion attaining AED 727.15 billion. A total of 0.54 Billion Shares were traded with a total value of AED 0.74 billion during the trading session of 2016-03-30 through 6705 transactions. The number of companies which ...

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• 30 March

  Virgin Australia hits turbulence as Air New Zealand mulls exit

  

  SYDNEY / Reuters Air New Zealand (NZ) Ltd, the biggest shareholder of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, has on Wednesday announced that it may sell its 26 percent stake in a sign that backers of Australia’s number two carrier are growing impatient with its slow profit turnaround. The move, nine days after Air New Zealand publicly supported Virgin’s request for a ...

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• 30 March

  Kenya cancels plans to build terminal at international airport

  Bloomberg Kenya’s government shelved plans to build a new terminal at the main international airport as the East African nation’s tourism industry struggles to recover from attacks by Islamist militants. The decision to halt the project at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is the result of “prevailing economic and financial dynamics which have been on a downward trend over the ...

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