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Muscat / EMIRATES BUSINESS Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (WPC) — a member of Nama Group — the sole procurer of all power generation and water desalination capacity in the Sultanate, is going to sign a number of agreements to establish the Barka Desalination Plant (Phase 4) with a consortium of ITOCHU Corporation, SUEZ, ENGIE and WJ Towell & ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to OPEC is come and store crude oil in India. Modi’s February 29 budget exempts foreign companies from federal income taxes on permitted local sales of oil kept in caverns India has been building. That may spur the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to fill the bunkers, allowing Modi to ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China’s most prolific Internet dealmaker has issued a stern warning about the dangers facing investors in “lawless” venture capital and startup markets, urging regulators to step in and curb irrational investment and asset bubbles. Individual investors lured by promises of extravagant returns are flooding into the high-risk realm of venture capital, Fan Bao, head of China Renaissance ...

Seoul / DPA South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics has added a new chapter to the history of the global TV market as it topped the segment last year for the 10th consecutive year. According to global market research firm IHS, Samsung was the world’s largest TV seller in 2015 on the back of the strong performance of its high-end ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Bank of Japan (BoJ) Deputy Governor Hiroshi Nakaso indicated the central bank is prepared to take its benchmark rate deeper into negative territory, though not immediately. “We have designed a policy that technically allows us to cut the level further,” Nakaso told reporters in Okinawa Thursday, referring to a minus 0.1 percent interest rate policy the central ...

Victoria City / Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exclusive club of residential property developers will have to make room for a new entrant after billionaire Pan Sutong’s Goldin Financial Holdings Ltd., beat out other bidders including Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. to win a land site for HK$6.38 billion ($821 million). Goldin, a relatively unknown company that’s among the worst performers in ...

VANCOUVER / Bloomberg Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging global leaders to rely more on government spending and less on monetary policy to spur growth as he prepares a budget that will push his country into deficit. In a wide-ranging interview in Vancouver, Trudeau highlighted the importance of infrastructure spending and measures to bolster incomes of middle classes he ...

Bloomberg The slump in raw materials prices that has hurt Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia is leaving Central America unscathed. The region is bucking a trend of sluggish growth in the rest of Latin America as cheaper crude prices cut its fuel bills and faster growth in the U.S. boosts remittances and tourist spending. The region will grow by 4.2 ...

NEW YORK / Bloomberg Startup Oscar Health Insurance Corp. lost $105.2 million in its New York and New Jersey businesses last year, a sign that insurers of all sizes are struggling in the new markets created by President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul. The losses, $92.4 million in New York and $12.8 million in New Jersey, were disclosed by Oscar in ...

RIODE JANERIO /Bloomberg Latin America’s largest economy contracted less than economists expected late last year as a boost in agriculture output helped offset an overall decline in production. Gross domestic product contracted 1.4 percent in the three months ended in December, after a 1.7 percent drop the previous quarter, the national statistics institute said on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro. ...