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Singapore has retained its unenviable ranking as the world’s most expensive city for the third straight year, with Hong Kong and Seoul also joining the top 10 list. But while residents of the powerhouse Southeast Asian economy are likely not exactly celebrating their status, at least those residing Down Under can still see the joy in life’s lot while they ...

Increasingly, central bankers, economists and market watchers are discussing the pros and cons of what’s called helicopter money, a 47-year old idea that posits a way to kickstart an economy through dropping money on its citizens. Peter Praet of the European Central Bank, for example, said in an interview published last week that “all central banks can do it” if ...

Bloomberg South Africa is struggling to stave off recession after commodity prices fell, demand from China weakened and the worst drought in more than a century. Investors are still making more profit from that country’s property companies than from landlords in central London. Growthpoint Properties Ltd., South Africa’s largest real estate investment trust, and Resilient REIT Ltd. have gained more ...

Cairo / EMIRATES BUSINESS Egypt’s state-run Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development (HELI) aims to start developing the fourth neighborhood in New Heliopolis at the end of 2016 with investments, its Chairman and Managing Director Hani Al Dib said on Monday. New Heliopolis fourth neighborhood includes building 500 villas of various spaces with investments worth one billion Egyptian pounds (US$112.6 ...

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Bahrain-based investment holding firm GFH Financial Group has signed a sale agreement with Integrated Capital (IC), the capital markets arm of Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), under which IC will acquire a 10 per cent stake in Bahrain’s Falcon Cement Company (FCC) from GFH. The signing ceremony took place between Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH ...

Cairo / Emirates Business Egypt-based Business to Business for Investment and Real Estate Marketing -B2B has made sales on belalf for 450 residential, administrative and commercial units in addition to recording 450 leasing transactions by end of 2016, its CEO Nehad Adel said on Monday. B2B seeks to increase the sales and leasing transactions 35 percent by the end of ...

Bloomberg Sales of previously owned U.S. homes dropped more than forecast in February after reaching the second-highest level since 2007 as low inventory levels continue to limit progress in housing. Closings on existing homes, which usually take place a month or two after a contract is signed, decreased 7.1 percent to a three-month low 5.08 million annual rate after a ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg India is expanding its footprint in China’s backyard by forging deals with Russia for stakes in Siberian fields that supply Asia’s biggest economy and crude consumer. Deals last week between Rosneft and Indian state-run companies beefed up the South Asian nation’s share in two assets that are linked to the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline. That conduit ...

Beijing / Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pushing China to disclose data on holdings of derivatives that could shed light on more-opaque methods of intervention in the yuan’s exchange rate, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. The Washington-based lender is seeking data on the People’s Bank of China’s total holdings of forwards and futures, a step that would be in ...

Sydney / AFP One of the world’s biggest gas plants has begun shipping fuel after months of delays and cost overruns, operator Chevron said, with a vessel leaving Australia bound for Japan. The US$52 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia’s northwest coast — the country’s largest resources project — started production in early March, with its first ...