February, 2019

• 24 February

  ECB loans ripe for rethink amid economic slowdown in region

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) officials poised to debate the need for new long-term loans for banks might have some even bigger thinking to do. With less than two weeks to go before the Governing Council meets, policy makers are gearing up to discuss whether their response to the region’s economic slowdown should include an update to its targeted lending …

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• 24 February

  Fed must do more to boost diversity in ranks: Brainard

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said the US central bank must improve its recruitment of women and people from minority backgrounds because greater diversity leads to better policy decisions. Noting that it was more than a century after the Fed’s creation that the one of its 12 regional banks was headed by an African American — Raphael Bostic, who …

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• 24 February

  Singapore lenders flag risks from trade war, slowing world economy

  

  Bloomberg After being stung by the market turmoil at the end of last year, Singapore’s banks are bracing for fresh challenges from China-US trade tensions and a slowing world economy. “We expect ongoing global uncertainties to continue to weigh on business sentiment in the near term,” United Overseas Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Wee Ee Cheong told reporters in Singapore …

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• 24 February

  South Africa sees CPI target staying as range

  

  Bloomberg South Africa’s central bank is unlikely to officially pursue a single point-inflation target soon even though it prefers to anchor price growth close to the 4.5 percent mid-point of its goal range, an adviser to Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The target range of 3 percent to 6 percent allows for flexibility in protecting the economy from price shocks, Fundi …

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• 24 February

  Swedbank scandal puts spotlight on CEO’s history of denials

  

  Bloomberg Birgitte Bonnesen, the chief executive officer of Swedbank AB, has consistently denied that her bank had any involvement in the Estonian money-laundering scandal engulfing Danske Bank A/S. This week, her words came back to haunt her. Swedbank was forced to backtrack on its previous assertions and has now acknowledged that it also handled suspicious transactions, which it says have …

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• 23 February

  Oil rises on trade talks, Opec commitment

  

  Bloomberg Oil in New York posted a second straight weekly advance as investors focus on talks between the US and China on trade and as Opec shows commitment to curbing production. Futures added 0.5 percent in New York to the highest in more than three months. Trade talks in Washington between a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He …

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• 23 February

  UAE becomes number one choice for UK exporters

  

  Emirates Business According to BESA’s latest research, the UAE has overtaken the US and Saudi Arabia as the country that UK companies are most interested in exporting to. The findings come as 83 UK education suppliers have confirmed to exhibit at the influential GESS Dubai 2019, the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) announced. GESS Dubai is the leading education conference …

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• 23 February

  Saudi strikes deal to build $10bn China refining, petchem complex

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its interest in the Chinese market with a deal to build a $10 billion refining and petrochemicals complex as it vies for crude-oil customers with fellow OPEC members and Russia. Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Aramco, agreed to set up a joint venture with two Chinese companies to develop the facility in Liaoning province, according to …

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• 23 February

  Zambia cuts power from world’s biggest man-made reservoir

  

  Bloomberg Zambia has reduced hydropower production at the Kariba Dam because of rapidly declining water levels at the world’s biggest man-made reservoir that straddles the border with Zimbabwe, the energy minister said. “We have noted the poor water situation for the Za-mbezi system nec- essitating reduction in generation at Kariba,” Mat-thew Nkhuwa sa-id, without provi- ding further details. Water outflows …

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• 23 February

  ‘Singapore has a better Bali on its doorstep’

  

  Bloomberg Singapore’s second-largest developer has a suggestion for the government: re-position the billionaire enclave of Sentosa as a tourism hot-spot like Bali. Property values at Sentosa Cove, a residential area nestled on a tiny island off the south coast, have been hit particularly hard, with home prices down about 30 percent from the highs seen in 2010. Even as the …

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