February, 2016

• 25 February

  Thai exports suffer worst drop in 4 years

  

  Bangkok / AFP Thai exports fell by nearly nine percent in January, their worst drop in more than four year as economic woes continue to pile up on the kingdom’s military rulers, government figures released Thursday showed. Once one of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant and successful economies, Thailand has struggled with lacklustre growth fuelled by more than a decade of ...

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• 25 February

  Hooked on cheap money

  

  Say it ain’t so, Doug. From 2009 to early 2015, Douglas Elmendorf was the widely respected director of the Congressional Budget Office, where he repeatedly warned lawmakers that chronic deficits are unsustainable, pose long-term dangers — and that shrinking them sooner rather than later would make the task easier. Now, economist Elmendorf, who has become dean of the Kennedy School ...

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• 25 February

  VAT vital to shore up economy

  Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made a pertinent point when she described tax as “the lifeblood of modern states”. Addressing finance ministers at the recent Arab Fiscal Forum in Abu Dhabi, she drove home the idea of introducing Value Added Tax (VAT) to shore up GCC economies. Her call for the Gulf states to introduce ...

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• 25 February

  Stop being surprised by mediocre bank earnings

  Call it the new normal for European bank earnings. Standard Chartered shares plunged by the most in more than three years on Tuesday after the bank posted a “surprise” 2015 pretax loss of $1.5 billion, somewhat different from the $1.37 billion average profit estimate from 20 analysts. On Monday, HSBC delivered a “surprise” fourth-quarter pretax loss of $858 million, rather ...

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• 25 February

  The remote sensing imperative

  

  Four years into the Obama administration’s “Asia-Pacific Rebalance” and on the eve of a tumultuous national election, questions about the coming consistency of U.S. foreign policy are at the forefront of every policymaker’s mind. Yet even without these disruptive factors, there is one area in which the United States should continue to provide coordination, collaboration, and commitment with allies and ...

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• 25 February

  China lacks committed economic direction

  

  Last November, in a bid to internationalize its currency, China’s yuan was successfully admitted to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of reserve currencies, joining the Euro, the US dollar, Japanese yen and British sterling in the cohort of elite currencies. The yuan’s ascension is an economic milestone for China and a political victory for the world’s ...

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• 25 February

  Mobile World Congress A microcosm of a hyper-connected future

  

  Mobile World Congress 2016 has given us a glimpse into the innovations that will hit our stores this year. From the looks of things we will get much more than just thinner handsets. Many phone manufacturers have flooded the event with gadgets and accessories that can be bundled with phones. These include virtual reality headsets, 360-degree cameras, and a digital ...

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• 25 February

  Leaving Europe would be a terrible investment

  

  The countdown to Britain’s EU referendum has started. Prime Minister David Cameron has secured some important concessions from his European counterparts. This is all very welcome, but deal or no deal I would have argued for Britain to stay in Europe. I became involved in the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign —comprised of organizations and individuals that favour Britain remaining ...

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• 25 February

  ENEC showcases corporate excellence initiatives

  

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business As part of the Knowledge Forums that were launched in 2014, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) in coordination with the Office of the Abu Dhabi Excellence Program at the Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC), showcased its government excellence experience, initiatives and projects at the forum which was held at Dusit Thani hotel in ...

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• 25 February

  Brexit tripling chance of UK falling into recession

  

  BLoomberg Fancy another recession? Economists say voting to leave the European Union would dramatically increase the U.K.’s chances of heading down that road. As Britons contemplate their place in the 28-nation bloc before June’s referendum, respondents to a Bloomberg survey said the probability of a slump spikes to 40 percent in the event of an “out” vote. That compares with ...

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