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Sharjah / Emirates Business Al Qasba Street Fiesta (QABAM), where live music and interactive art events merged into one fun-filled and artistic platform for all visitors, kicked off on March 10, at “Al Qasba”, Sharjah’s premier tourist and leisure destination. QABAM welcomed Sharjah residents and visitors through a colorful mix of animated and sparkling artworks, various artistic and entertainment activities ...

Bloomberg Algeria is the latest country in the Middle East and North Africa to push ahead with early preparations for a nuclear power facility. The Algerian Commissariat of Atomic Energy (Comena) has started initial talks with Russian state nuclear provider Rosatom about the potential for atomic energy in Algeria. The North African state has set a target for generating its ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg Asia needs to take a leadership role in the global economy that reflects the continent’s growing clout, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said. Asian officials should keep monetary policy supportive, while using fiscal policy to boost growth and macro-prudential measures to protect financial stability, Lagarde said in a speech on Saturday in New Delhi. ...

New Delhi / AFP India’s central bank chief on Saturday said “new rules of the game” were needed for monetary policy-making, arguing that greater oversight was crucial in an increasingly integrated global economy. Central banker Raghuram Rajan proposed a traffic light-style system whereby a central bank’s policies could be rated red, orange or green depending on their level of harmful ...

Hong Kong / AFP Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded its outlook for Hong Kong on Saturday, citing increasing political riskiness and closer economic ties with China, which is facing a growth slowdown. Moody’s changed Hong Kong’s outlook from “stable” to “negative” as the semi-autonomous city continues to reel from political unease following mass pro-democracy protests in 2014. The city saw violent ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China will combine its biggest state-owned enterprises as part of a sweeping plan to cut overcapacity in the $18 trillion sector but won’t see the widespread layoffs that accompanied a similar overhaul in the 1990s, a senior regulator said. Reform of China’s state-owned enterprises must balance many interests, especially those of employees, Xiao Yaqing, the chairman of ...

Singapore / DPA With fewer contracts to go around and labour costs continuing to rise, construction firms are being squeezed from both sides. The broader effect on the economy may not be dire, with the sector accounting for only about 5 per cent of GDP. But economists expect – and firms fear – that there will be casualties within the ...

Bloomberg U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is sticking to his guns. Tripped up by an economy proving weaker than forecast and with lower tax revenues as a result, Osborne is set to use his budget on March 16 to deliver even more austerity to meet a legally binding pledge of a fiscal surplus by the end of the ...

Bloomberg The pound’s best rally in eight months against the dollar may be in danger of unraveling as investors brace for the stewards of both monetary and fiscal policy to give sobering messages on the outlook for Britain’s economy. Sterling, still the worst-performing Group-of-10 currency of 2016, got a reprieve in the past two weeks. The gains reflected easing investor ...

Bloomberg Finland had its credit grade cut to AA+ by Fitch Ratings, which cited a limited potential for a pickup in economic growth. “Economic performance remains weak,” Fitch said in a statement Friday announcing the reduction to the second-highest credit grade. Finland had a triple-A rating from Fitch since 1998. The company changed its outlook to negative in March 2015, ...