January, 2018

• 8 January

  Romania surprises with first rate hike in a decade

  

  Bloomberg Romania unexpectedly raised borrowing costs for the first time in almost a decade as inflation bounces back and its economy expands at one of the continent’s quickest paces. The central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate to 2 percent from a record-low 1.75 percent on Monday, according to an emailed statement. The move was predicted by five of 15 ...

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• 8 January

  Fed’s monetary policy lodestar attacked at economists’ gathering

  

  Bloomberg Milton Friedman put a nail in the coffin of the original version of the Phillips Curve 50 years ago when he correctly foresaw that the US could simultaneously suffer from high unemployment and lofty inflation. A growing number of economists are now trying to lay to rest Phillips Curve 2.0, still in use at the Federal Reserve and other ...

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• 8 January

  More JFK flights diverted as Port Authority pledges probe

  

  Bloomberg Travellers from around the world faced more chaos after flooding at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport caused fresh flight delays and diversions amid operations already strained by a snowstorm and freezing temperatures. The meltdown, two days after the year’s first major snowstorm, left passengers to deal with long lines to rebook cancelled flights and to search through ...

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• 8 January

  Chinese airline shares jump as fares eased

  

  Bloomberg Chinese airline shares surged after the government gave airlines more freedom to set fares for domestic flights, easing state control over prices. China removed the caps on full fares and airlines can decide on prices for routes as long as they are served by at least five carriers, according to a joint statement by the Civil Aviation Administration of ...

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• 8 January

  Mothercare’s UK sales sink over holiday season

  

  Bloomberg Mothercare Plc reported a sharp drop in UK sales over the holiday season, underlining the depths of the country’s retail crisis as store owners wrestle with higher costs and a shift to online shopping. Like-for-like sales in the UK declined 7.2 percent in the past 12 weeks, the childrenswear retailer said on Monday. Gross margins are also set to ...

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• 8 January

  Thailand’s Central Group expects online surge through JD pact

  

  Bloomberg The company with the biggest grip on Thailand’s brick-and-mortar retail market is expecting a partnership with China’s JD.com Inc. to help it do the same in online sales. Central Group, which controls Thailand’s biggest operator of shopping malls and department stores, expects online sales to account for as much as 15 percent of its revenue in five years, from ...

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• 7 January

  Dubai-Azerbaijan trade reaches AED679 million

  

  DUBAI / WAM Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, received the outgoing Azerbaijani Consul-General, Parvez Ismayilzada, along with Alnoor Aleef, Azerbaijan’s Commercial Representative. Musabih thanked Zada for his dedicated service in Dubai. The meeting agenda included discussions on cooperation, trade growth opportunities and the exchange of customs experiences between Dubai and Azerbaijan. Musabih highlighted that trade with Azerbaijan has ...

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• 7 January

  Market cap of foreign shares hits AED101bn by end of 2017

  

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The market capitalisation of foreign shares traded on UAE stock markets amounted to AED101 billion by the end of 2017, according to official statistics which showed that non-Arab foreigners secured the largest gains after their market value increased by around AED3.6 billion by the end of December. The last month of 2017 witnessed regular profit booking ...

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• 7 January

  Saudi royal handouts to cost kingdom $13 billion in 2018

  Reuters A package of handouts to Saudi Arabian citizens to compensate them for cost of living increases will cost the government about 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion) this year, the information minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. “The allocation of 50 billion riyals for this decree indicates the leadership’s concern for the people’s comfort and quality of living,” Minister ...

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• 7 January

  Azizi set to deliver projects worth AED1.8bn by Q2 2018

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Azizi Developments, one of the fastest growing developers in the UAE, has announced that it will continue its fast pace of development in Al Furjan in 2018, with a total of seven projects lined up for delivery in Q1 and Q2 of 2018, ahead of planned schedule. The seven serviced apartment projects boast a combined value ...

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