August, 2016

• 23 August

  Iraq seeks more output before OPEC talks

  

    Bloomberg Iraq asked international oil companies to boost output just as other OPEC nations are heading for talks amid a global glut. Newly installed Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi called on companies to increase oil and gas production to boost national revenue, according to an e-mailed statement from the Oil Ministry on Tuesday. Crude output in OPEC’s second-biggest producer peaked ...

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• 23 August

  Over 11K hotel room projects in the pipeline in Doha

  

    Emirates Business Doha has 41 projects and 11,722 rooms in its hotel construction pipeline, according to a new report. The Doha Hotel Construction Overview report by TOPHOTELPROJECTS prepared exclusively for The Hotel Show Dubai 2016, reveals that Doha is the 3rd busiest city in the Middle East and Africa for hotel construction, behind only Dubai (133 projects) and Riyadh ...

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• 23 August

  Brexit delay risks triggering a shotgun divorce

  

    It’s been exactly two months since Britain voted to quit the European Union. Since then, the silence on how the divorce proceedings will be conducted has been deafening. It’s an impasse that helps neither side and, once Europe’s August holiday season is over and the region’s politicians are back at their desks, there’s a risk that things could turn ...

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• 23 August

  The age of the never-ending performance review

  

    The annual performance review seems to be on its way out at U.S. corporations. Prominent companies have been ending the practice of numerically ranking employees as well. Sounds great! Performance reviews are a pain, right? If you think getting rid of them might betoken a kinder, gentler, mellower approach to human resources, though, you might want to check out ...

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• 23 August

  India’s Central Bank governor must stay independent

  Urjit Patel, the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has a hard act to follow. His predecessor and former boss at the central bank, Raghuram Rajan, was eminent at home and abroad, and set a high standard for talking truth to power — which could explain why he won’t be serving a second three-year term. Patel, Rajan’s quiet ...

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• 23 August

  Brazil can regain its economic might

    Brazil may have pulled off the Olympics, but its economy is still in doldrums. And the political chaos is adding to the economic misery. The country is grappling with the worst recession in more than a century as the economy shrinks sharply. Brazil’s GDP has fallen by 5.4 % year-on-year. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) slashed ...

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• 23 August

  Suu Kyi’s challenge is to share power

  

    Yangon is suddenly a city of phablets. Nowhere in Asia, let alone Europe, have I seen so many supersized smartphones in public spaces, and with such egalitarian appeal: Pavement vendors selling early 20th century British guides to English grammar seem as transfixed by them as Yangon’s smart set playing Pokemon Go. For many in an isolated country, a 4G ...

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• 23 August

  So what if New York is pricey? That helps the US

  

    Conor Sen There’s no real national debate when it comes to housing policy. Journalists and pundits on one side shout: “We need more development and density so cities will be affordable and livable.” For good measure they add: “People who don’t support more development and density are heartless and just defending their own property values.” The other side … ...

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• 23 August

  Energy stocks hit in Asia as oil sinks, dollar weak

  

    Hong Kong / AFP Energy firms sank in Asian trade on Tuesday as oil prices extended the previous day’s sharp losses due to profit-taking after a recent rally and fresh worries about a global oversupply. Even a fall in the dollar, which usually makes crude cheaper, could not stop the slide in the commodity after Iraq flagged a pick-up ...

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• 23 August

  Gulf continues sliding as oil sags

    London / AFP Gulf stock markets continued dropping early on Tuesday after Brent crude oil fell back below $49 a barrel and short-term technicals for several indexes in the region turned negative over the past few days. The Saudi index fell 0.6 percent to 6,074 points in the first 45 minutes of trade. On Monday it confirmed a break ...

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