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Bloomberg Oil falls in New York and the global benchmark Brent plummeted to the lowest level since June after President Donald Trump’s positive Covid-19 diagnosis combined with labour market weakness heightened concerns over an economic recovery. US crude futures declined 4.3% and Brent slid below $40 a barrel in volatile trading. A top World Health Organisation (WHO) official said the …

Bloomberg India will subsidise interest costs for small borrowers who had availed of a six-month loan repayment holiday to survive as the pandemic devastated cash flows, according to court documents seen by Bloomberg. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will pay the “interest on interest” on loans of as much as 20 million rupees ($273,000) for the duration of the Reserve …

Bloomberg Changi Airport Group said the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t abating as officials behind the world’s best airport warned of a “daunting” period ahead. Passenger traffic for Changi for the fiscal year ended in March declined for the first time in more than a decade, as a slump in the last two months of the period wiped out …

Bloomberg Malaysia Airlines Bhd has reached out to lessors, creditors and key suppliers as part of its “urgent” restructuring exercise as it sees little sign of the pandemic easing. The flag carrier, wholly owned by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, would take more drastic measures if the restructuring can’t be completed over the next few months, according to …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) will start experimenting with a digital version of the euro while holding a public consultation in a major step towards introducing the technology. “Our role is to secure trust in money,” President Christine Lagarde said as the ECB published a study into the benefits and drawbacks of a digital currency. “This means making sure …

Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank will allow a faster depreciation of its tightly-controlled peso, in the government’s latest attempt to contain a hemorrhage of foreign reserves. The central bank is ending a policy of “uniform devaluation” and allowing greater volatility, according to a central bank statement. It also announced that it was raising repo rates to 24% up from 19% and …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Renewable energy continues to bring socio-economic benefits by creating numerous jobs worldwide, according to the latest figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). The seventh edition of Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review shows that jobs in the sector reached 11.5 million globally last year, led by solar PV with some 3.8 million …

Bloomberg Octopus Energy, the UK green power provider, bought US startup Evolve Energy as part of a $100 million push into the American market. The company hopes to attract millions of customers as it gets a foothold in the Texas market. It’s the latest step in Octopus’s plan to expand globally, driving down consumer prices with low-cost renewable power. Evolve …

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc will cut as many as 9,000 jobs as crude’s crash forces billions of dollars in cost savings and the oil and gas giant overhauls its business to embrace clean energy. The move reflects the challenge facing Big Oil as the virus pandemic persists, with some in the industry believing the era of demand growth is …

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) spent 90 billion francs ($98 billion) on interventions in the first half of 2020, the most in years, amid a market rout in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The SNB was forced to step up its battle against the strong franc as investors drove the haven currency to the strongest level in …