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

Surprise: America’s discouraged workers are finding jobs — or so it seems. Unanticipated by many economists, this is good news for the country (and, assuming it continues, probably for Democrats this fall). Ever since the Great Recession, economists have worried that the severity and length of the slump would forever consign many workers to the sidelines. Their prolonged disconnect from ...

With Barack Obama becoming the first US president to set foot on Cuban soil in 88 years, the US-Cuban relations are taking a new turn towards normalization after long decades of animosity. The trailblazing visit would gradually usher in a new era of bilateral economic ties. The US businesses see potential in Havana and on the island’s beaches where tourism ...

A new piece in Wall Street Journal discusses how the increasing number of Chinese students at U.S. universities generates discord within them, emanating from cultural shocks, academic dishonesty, and pedagogic challenges. To some degree, all these concerns are legitimate and they reflect a general picture of the shortcomings of the Chinese educational system, which tends to put more emphasis on ...

Rising inequality threatens to derail, from the start, successful implementation of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific region. Stronger, more equitable social protection will be critical in overcoming these challenges. New research by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) indicates that inequality, related to both outcomes and opportunities, is ...

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 ...