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

Bloomberg Bank of Korea (BOK) released names of four board member candidates to replace members whose terms end on April 20 The BOK recommended Lee Il Houng, head of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Finance Ministry recommended Cho Dong Chul, chief economist for state-run Korea Development Institute. Financial Services Commission recommended Standing Commissioner Koh Seung Beom. The Korea Chamber ...

Rabat / Reuters Moroccan lender BMCE Bank of Africa’s net profit rose 1 percent to 1.95 billion dirham ($201.76 million) in 2015 as strong growth in banking activities offset non-recurrent charges and higher bad loans. Consolidated net banking income rose 3 percent to 11.8 billion dirhams in the same period, it said in a statement on Monday. Banking income was ...

Amman / AP Jordan will get a cheap $100 million loan to help create 100,000 jobs for Syrian refugees and its own citizens, the World Bank president has announced. The long-term loan, almost interest free, is part of an attempt by the international community to improve conditions for refugees in overburdened regional host countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. More than ...

WASHINGTON \ AP Consumer spending and home construction are helping sustain modest U.S. economic growth despite problems caused by a strong dollar, low oil prices and an excess of business stockpiles. The economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the October-December period, the government said. That was better than the 1 ...

MUSCAT \ Reuters Oman will encourage households to generate electricity with solar panels and feed it into the national grid, Qais al-Zakwani, executive director of the Authority for Electricity Regulation, said on Monday. The policy could put Oman in the forefront of Middle East nations promoting widespread use of solar power. Its finances severely damaged by low oil prices, the ...

Seoul / AFP A South Korean constructor that jointly won a $20 billion housing deal with Saudi Arabia said on Monday it was confident the project would go ahead despite the impact of slumping oil prices on the Gulf nation’s coffers. Under the deal, for which a memorandum of understanding was signed in Seoul last week, a three-party consortium will ...

Calif / AP Canadians are no longer flocking to California’s sunny Coachella Valley to buy homes since their currency has weakened, and many are putting properties they own up for sale, real estate experts said. The move coincides with a decline in the Canadian dollar since oil prices have plummeted, the Desert Sun newspaper reported on Sunday (http://desert.sn/1RCkkPj ). After ...

Bloomberg Real estate Web portals Leju Holdings Ltd. and SouFun Holdings Ltd. are standing out among U.S.-traded Chinese stocks, rebounding as government stimulus and a recovering property market improves the outlook for growth. Leju has surged 44 percent over the past month in the best performance on the Bloomberg China-US Equity Index, which gained 4.6 percent during the same period. ...

DPA At a factory on the fifth floor of Woodlands Spectrum, a sprawling industrial estate, 10 machines, each about the size of a large cupboard, hum for hours each day as they churn out fully-formed products in metals, plastic, resin, sandstone or wax. Making anything from machinery gears to figurines, the additive manufacturing facility run by Ultra Clean Asia Pacific ...

Bloomberg Everyone is a food photographer these days. So where does that leave Martin Parr, who has been snapping food portraits for 25 years? His new book “Real Food” features more than 200 slates of everyday meals and snacks from 36 countries. Why focus on food when everybody else is doing it and he is known for capturing ordinary people ...