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It’s early spring and that means India’s national budget session is in the air. The Indian government will be formally presenting its budget for the next fiscal year on Monday. Last year’s $290 billion budget, as I discussed in The Diplomat at the time, showcased a gradualist approach to reforming India’s fiscal policy. The 2016 budget is the second to ...

None of the remaining Republican presidential candidates has a detailed health-care plan. The one who has done the most to outline an agenda, Senator Marco Rubio, is still a bit lighter on those details even than Barack Obama was when he ran in 2008. But Rubio is at least on the right track, while the other candidates are wandering aimlessly, ...

Last November, in a bid to internationalize its currency, China’s yuan was successfully admitted to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of reserve currencies, joining the Euro, the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen and British sterling in the cohort of elite currencies. The yuan’s ascension is an economic milestone for China and a political victory for the world’s ...

LONDON / Bloomberg London City Airport’s sale to a Canadian-led group of investors at a steep premium received a cool reception from both its biggest user and the top UK airline, which said they won’t accept the higher fees that might be imposed to justify the price. Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of International Airlines Group (IAG) SA, said that ...

London / AFP International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways (BA) and Iberia, said that net profit surged 52 percent last year on tumbling fuel prices and its purchase of Irish carrier Aer Lingus. Profit after tax jumped to 1.495 billion euros ($1.654 billion) in 2015 compared with 982 million euros one year earlier, IAG said in an earnings statement. ...

Indianapolis / Bloomberg Short-haul carrier Republic Airways Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, blaming a lack of pilots for its failure to succeed when major airlines are enjoying record profits. Indianapolis-based Republic operates a fleet of smaller planes that provide flights for larger airlines including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. Although it landed ...

PARiS / Bloomberg Air France told a workers’ council it will eliminate 1,605 jobs this year, with all cuts to come through voluntary departures, people familiar with the situation said. Ground staff, including mechanics and airport workers, account for the vast majority of the cuts, with 1,405 jobs set to go, or 3 percent of their total, the people said ...

Bloomberg Brokers would have to reveal how much they earn on bond transactions that involve retail clients under a US regulator’s plan for cracking down on inflated commissions. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) proposal, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, would force brokers to report markups on bonds they hold for no more than one day, according ...

BLOOMBERG Rising home prices in hot housing markets are robbing buyers of a favorite pleasure: looking at pictures of homes they can’t afford. Or at least, that’s one way to read a blog post published by real estate brokerage Redfin. Traditionally, buyers browsing online listings have looked at homes that cost more than they are planning to spend, said Redfin. ...

BLOOMBERG The longest losing streak in Singapore residential prices in 17 years may prompt the government to take its foot off the brakes and relax some property curbs this year, the city-state’s second-biggest developer said. Kwek Leng Beng, the billionaire executive chairman of City Developments Ltd., which built luxury condominiums such as the St. Regis Residences near the Orchard Road ...