The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

Unrestrained growth has a price. The case in point is China’s overcapacity in heavy industries whose over-proportional development is causing damage to its own and the global economy, even as Beijing struggles to regulate and reform its industries. The hardest hit is China’s steel industry, which manufactures more than the next four largest producers combined — Japan, India, the US, ...

In assessing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to stay in power and defy the West, one crucial question is how much longer his government’s finances can stand extremely low oil prices. Judging from an analysis by economists at Deutsche Bank, he might be able to hold out longer than previously thought. Russia is peculiarly sensitive to energy prices, in part ...

The so-called war on cash has been getting a lot of airtime in recent days. On one side of the battleground are European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, calling for the abolition of high-denomination banknotes to (they say) combat crime. Opposing the plan are skeptics who fear it will lead to abolishing cash ...

Bahrain / Emirates Business BisB announced that it has achieved positive financial results which reflect on the continuous improvement on the Bank’s position. The Bank has realized BD 11.2 million as net profit for the year ended on 31st December 2015, compared to BD 9.3 million for the previous year, an increase of 20%. The Bank has registered net profit ...

Jeddah / Emirates Business Deutsche Bank announced the appointment of Jamal Al Kishi as Chief Executive Officer, Middle East and Africa with immediate effect, replacing Ashok Aram who as previously announced is relocating to Frankfurt as Chief Executive Officer Europe, Middle East and Africa (excluding Germany and the UK). Al Kishi, subject to regulatory approvals, will remain Chief Executive Officer ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s central bank will consider floating the country’s currency when foreign reserves are almost double their current level, the bank’s governor said in a televised interview. Tarek Amer’s comments on al-Qahira Wel-Nas were his clearest signal yet that the central bank has no intention of devaluing the Egyptian pound at present, despite growing analyst predictions that such a move ...

Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China should have explained the change in its reporting of foreign-exchange holdings to avoid market speculation on its motives, according to Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. “The PBOC changed the category of the position of forex purchases in its monthly report in January,” a move that “immediately raised market concerns about possible concealment or manipulation of ...

London / AFP Global banking giant HSBC announced on Monday its results for 2015 which fell below analysts’ expectations after what it called “seismic shifts” in the world economy. The bank said net profit dropped 1.2 percent to $13.52 billion from the previous year. Group chairman Douglas Flint described the performance as “broadly satisfactory” in a statement, although the bank’s ...

BLOOMBERG Bank of Ireland plans to return to paying dividends next year for the first time since the financial crisis after profit at the nation’s largest lender by assets rose 30 percent in 2015. Underlying pretax profit, excluding items such as restructuring costs, rose to 1.2 billion euros ($1.33 billion) from 921 million euros a year earlier, the bank said ...

Bloomberg Wheelock Properties Ltd. sold a luxury home in Hong Kong’s exclusive Peak neighbourhood to an unidentified buyer for a lower-than-expected price tag of HK$830 million ($107 million). While it took Wheelock just three hours to sell the home, the transaction works out to HK$87,784 per square foot, more than 25 percent lower than estimates by some analysts. The sale ...