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

DUBAI / WAM Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza) attracted more than 55 new food and beverage companies last year from 20 countries around the world. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Executive Director of DP World Group, Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation in Dubai, said that Jafza strengthens the strategic location of the UAE in general and Dubai ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai real-estate developer Azizi Developments has announced the launch of Royal Bay Residence, an exclusive collection of 90 fully serviced luxurious residential apartments situated on the crescent of Palm Jumeirah, next to Anantara Hotel. The new project is part of company’s Dh4.5 billion development plan to build thousands of flats in Nakheel’s Al Furjan project and ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China’s stocks slumped by the most in a month after money-market rates jumped. The Australian dollar fell on concern investment is weakening while oil resumed declines and gold advanced. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares halted two days of losses, while China’s equities slumped as concern increased that recent gains were overdone relative to the outlook ...

New Delhi / AFP India’s government is expected to deliver on promises to overhaul the tax regime and ramp up public spending in its budget on Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi bids to shore up his sagging reputation as a reformer. The business-friendly premier came to power almost two years ago with promises to overhaul Asia’s third-largest economy and ...

Shanghai / AFP G20 finance ministers gather in Shanghai from Friday with the global economy assailed on multiple fronts, from China’s slowing growth to weak commodity prices, amid simmering disagreements over how best to face the challenges. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday warned risks of a “derailed recovery” are growing, citing China’s faltering economy, falling oil and commodities ...

Tokyo / AFP Money-losing Sharp on Thursday accepted a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the parent of Taiwan’s Foxconn, ending speculation over its uncertain future with the first foreign takeover of a major Japanese electronics firm. Sharp — which has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for years — had been mulling rival offers from Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, better known as ...

Bangkok / AFP Thai exports fell by nearly nine percent in January, their worst drop in more than four year as economic woes continue to pile up on the kingdom’s military rulers, government figures released Thursday showed. Once one of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant and successful economies, Thailand has struggled with lacklustre growth fuelled by more than a decade of ...

Say it ain’t so, Doug. From 2009 to early 2015, Douglas Elmendorf was the widely respected director of the Congressional Budget Office, where he repeatedly warned lawmakers that chronic deficits are unsustainable, pose long-term dangers — and that shrinking them sooner rather than later would make the task easier. Now, economist Elmendorf, who has become dean of the Kennedy School ...

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made a pertinent point when she described tax as “the lifeblood of modern states”. Addressing finance ministers at the recent Arab Fiscal Forum in Abu Dhabi, she drove home the idea of introducing Value Added Tax (VAT) to shore up GCC economies. Her call for the Gulf states to introduce ...

Call it the new normal for European bank earnings. Standard Chartered shares plunged by the most in more than three years on Tuesday after the bank posted a “surprise” 2015 pretax loss of $1.5 billion, somewhat different from the $1.37 billion average profit estimate from 20 analysts. On Monday, HSBC delivered a “surprise” fourth-quarter pretax loss of $858 million, rather ...