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

MADRID / Reuters The sale of hundreds of subsidised flats by Madrid’s former city council to private equity investors such as Blackstone was riddled with flaws, a preliminary report from a local auditing body said. The 2013 sale has long been a target of public anger in Spain at a time when the economy is still recovering from a deep ...

Bloomberg American household borrowing climbed more than forecast in February from a month earlier, led by financing for automobiles and college education. The $17.2 billion increase followed a $14.9 billion gain in the prior month that was larger than previously estimated, Federal Reserve figures showed on Friday. Non-revolving credit, which includes student and automobile loans, rose while revolving credit, which ...

VANCOUVER / Reuters British Columbia said it had reached a C$480 million ($369.7 million) deal to sell a large swath of land on Vancouver’s exclusive west side to three local aboriginal groups, opening up the property for potential redevelopment. The deal, which includes two parcels totaling a combined 38.8 acres (15.7 hectares), will give the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations ...

Dubai /EMIRATES BUSINESS Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), the flagship freezone entity of Dubai and the trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region, has achieved strong performance in terms of the quality of investments and the number of new companies registered in 2015. HE Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World and Chairman of ...

WAM Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s US$11 billion national railway network, has announced that it has transported more than 5.24 million tonnes of granulated sulphur in the first 18 months of Stage One operations for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), from sources at Shah and Habshan to its point of export at Ruwais. Equivalent to ...

OUR CORRESPONDENT / EMIRATES BUSINESS The UAE-based eyewear company is the first in the optical market to offer free insurance to children with addition to test at home facility. Specsaddict.com aims to provide the UAE customers with new and innovative services, which also makes them the pioneer in using MIT technology for eye testing. Considering the complications related to the children ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The UAE Banks Federation, a professional body representing 49 member banks operating in the UAE, held its Ordinary Annual General Assembly Meeting at the Head Office of the Commercial Bank of Dubai. The meeting, chaired by HE AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, was attended by Federation Board members and representatives of ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Manufacturing Conference & Exhibition for Oil & Gas (MAF 2016) closed on a grand note in Dubai. While attendees were able to forge new partnerships, foster relationships with existing clients and throw spotlight on innovative mechanisms, the three day high-profile event also witnessed some discussion on challenges faced by the region’s Oil & Gas sector. The ...

MOSCOW / Reuters Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak hopes leading oil producers will agree to freeze output at a meeting in Doha on April 17, he said, which should help the global oil market to rebalance. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed in February to freeze production at January levels, but said at the time the deal was contingent ...

RABAT / Reuters French carmaker Renault and component suppliers will invest 10 billion dirhams ($1.04 billion) in Morocco to build an “industry ecosystem”, the country’s industry minister said on Friday. Renault’s ecosystem and its new plants will raise Renault’s local sourcing of components to 65 percent from 32 percent and are projected to generate 20 billion dirhams in revenues, Moulay ...