April, 2016

• 16 April

  Hungary to remove incentives for banks buying state debt

  

    Bloomberg Hungary’s central bank will review whether to remove incentives it has provided for commercial banks to buy government debt after yields plunged to record lows and government foreign-currency debt trail off. The National Bank of Hungary will reassess the need to continue providing interest-rate swap facilities to banks, Vice Governor Marton Nagy said in an article on Portfolio …

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• 16 April

  ECB doesn’t aim to weaken euro against dollar

  

  WASHINGTON / Reuters The European Central Bank (ECB) is unhappy with the US dollar’s recent fall but accepts it as a natural consequence of the Federal Reserve’s cautious economic outlook and sees no reason to act to weaken the euro, three ECB sources said. A weaker dollar — it has shed 4 percent against the euro since the beginning of …

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• 16 April

  Chatbots: Future of online biz?

  

    Washington / AFP An artificial intelligence “chatbot” from Taco Bell now lets you order a meal in a smartphone text exchange that might look something like this: TacoBot: Hello there, I’m your TacoBot, I can help you order a meal for you or your team. You: Can I order one soft taco with beef? TacoBot: Sounds good… do you want …

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• 16 April

  Mona Lisa’s villa up for sale in Italy

  

  Rome / AFP One of Tuscany’s most famous villas is up for sale with its owners hoping to be smiling all the way to the bank thanks to its links to the Mona Lisa. The Villa Antinori was once owned by the family of silk merchant Francesco Del Giocondo, whose wife Lisa Gherardini is widely believed to have sat for Leonardo …

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• 16 April

  Element Amsterdam now open for all eco-minded travellers

  

    Relaxnews Located in the Zuidas area of Holland’s most vibrant city, the new hotel offers guests natural light, healthy, sustainable meal options and even complementary bicycles. Aimed at what Element brand owner Starwood Hotels describes as the “eco-minded” traveller, each of the building’s 160 studios and suites have their own kitchen and flexible living spaces so that they appeal …

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• 16 April

  Providing women a diversity edge

  

  Our Correspondent / EMIRATES BUSINESS Glowork was formed in 2011 by young entrepreneurs who aim to enable women and increase diversity in the workforce. As it is the first dedicated organisation where its online portal considered being a platform that links female jobseekers and employers, it also has a system that allows women to work virtually from home that has …

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• 16 April

  Creating natural food without preservatives

  

    EMIRATES BUSINESS In 1986, Pret A Manger opened the doors of its very first shop, in London, UK. Pret’s founders Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham were on a mission to create handmade, natural food, avoiding the obscure chemicals, additives and preservatives common to so much of the ‘prepared’ and fast food on the market. A fresh and healthy menu …

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• 14 April

  USA’s is The least ugly economy

    Among the world’s major economies, America’s is “the least ugly,” as Adam Posen, head of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, puts it. So it is. The American economy is plodding along at about a 2 percent annual growth rate, which is much slower than most past periods, but compared with most other economies, looks stellar. Peterson economist Paolo …

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• 14 April

  Is China’s Great Firewall a trade barrier?

    Sara Hsu SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Recently, the 2016 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, produced by Ambassador Michael Froman in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, stated, controversially, that China’s Great Firewall presents a trade barrier to American suppliers. The Cyberspace Administration of China has rebutted this claim by asserting that the firewall was in …

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• 14 April

  IMF projects another bad year for Central Asian economies

    The International Monetary Fund released its world economic outlook this week, and the news isn’t good for Central Asia. According to the IMF, recovery will be put off until at least 2017, for reasons frequent readers will find familiar: the Russian recession and low oil prices. “The economic outlook for the Commonwealth of Independent States remains very weak, reflecting …

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