March, 2023

• 4 March

  Presidents of UAE, Türkiye witness signing of Cepa trade agreement

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM During a virtual summit, President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, witnessed the signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) between the UAE and the Republic of Türkiye. Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of the Economy, and Mehmet Muş, the Turkish ...

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• 4 March

  Abu Dhabi realty deals hit AED77.6 billion in 2022

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) has revealed that the UAE capital’s real estate market recorded 19,033 transactions, reaching a total value of AED77.6 billion in 2022. As per the Department’s reports, the emirate’s real estate sector recorded 9,010 sales transactions worth AED23.5 billion and 10,023 mortgage transactions worth AED54.1 billion Yas Island topped the ...

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• 4 March

  US troop expansion near Taiwan revives old debate in Philippines

  

  BLOOMBERG It’s been more than three decades since the Philippines ordered US troops to withdraw from their sprawling military bases in the country, ending an era that hearkened back to America’s colonial days. Now the man overseeing the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority — once home to the US’s biggest naval base in Asia — wants them back. A recently revived ...

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• 4 March

  Blinken, counterparts say Quad grouping not a military alliance

  

  BLOOMBERG US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Quad nation counterparts seemed to use a public appearance to reassure China the grouping was not a security union seeking to force countries in Asia to choose between them and Beijing. “This is not a military grouping, it’s not that kind of alliance,” Blinken said on Friday at a panel discussion ...

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• 4 March

  Anti-Erdogan alliance nears collapse over leadership spat

  

  BLOOMBERG Turkey’s opposition is in crisis over a failure to agree on a joint candidate to contest President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hampering a rare chance to unseat the country’s longest-serving leader at elections in less than three months. The infighting burst into the open on Friday when the opposition bloc’s second largest party Iyi slammed the rest of the group ...

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• 4 March

  Abramovich’s ally takes on UK in sanctions challenge

  

  BLOOMBERG A billionaire and “close” partner of oligarch Roman Abramovich has become the first person to challenge the UK’s Russian sanctions regime in a London court. Lawyers for Eugene Shvidler, who has long been associated with Abramovich, filed the claim last month, saying that the UK made “significant errors” in its assessment of Shvidler’s relationship with the former owner of ...

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• 4 March

  Germany asks Switzerland to sell back some Leopard 2 tanks

  

  BLOOMBERG Germany has asked Switzerland if it can buy back some of the nation’s decommissioned Leopard 2 battle tanks as part of an effort to replace depleted stocks among Nato allies. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Economy Minister Robert Habeck made the request in a February 23 letter to Swiss Defense Minister Viola Amherd, a German defense ministry spokesman ...

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• 3 March

  Fed officials warn of lifting interest rates to higher peak

  

  BLOOMBERG Two Federal Reserve policymakers cautioned that recent stronger-than-expected readings on the US economy could push them to raise interest rates by more than previously expected. In remarks, Governor Christopher Waller said that if payroll and inflation data cool after hot prints in January, “then I would endorse raising the target range for the federal funds rate a couple more ...

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• 3 March

  ECB’s Wunsch sees 4% rates possible if inflation stays high

  

  BLOOMBERG European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch said market bets for interest rates to reach a 4% peak may prove accurate if underlying price pressures remain elevated. How far borrowing costs must rise “depends very much on the evolution of core inflation,” the Belgian central bank chief said, referring to the measure of consumer-price growth that strips ...

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• 3 March

  Bitcoin sinks to two-week low as Silvergate fallout hurts crypto

  

  BLOOMBERG Bitcoin dropped to the lowest level in about two weeks, part of a wider retreat in crypto markets as investors digested the unraveling of a key industry payments network. The largest token by market value sank as much as 6% before paring some of the slide to trade 4.6% lower at $22,347 in New York. Smaller coins such as ...

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