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ABU DHABI / WAM The trade exchange between the UAE and Ghana amounted to over $1.2 billion by the end of 2017,a according to a senior Ministry of Economy official. “Afro-UAE relations are significantly evolving and we are attaching growing importance to strengthening business ties with the Republic of Ghana,” said Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Under-Secretary of the Ministry …

ST. PETERBURG / WAM Gazprom Neft, Mubadala Petroleum and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Russian Federation have announced the completion of a transaction establishing a joint venture to develop oil fields in the Tomsk and Omsk regions of Western Siberia. Further to an agreement announced on May 24 this year, Gazprom Neft has …

ABU DHABI / WAM Borouge on Wednesday signed with Marie Tecnimont Group, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for its fifth polypropylene (PP5) plant in Ruwais, which will grow Borouge’s polypropylene capacity by 25% to 2.24 million tonnes per year (t/y) and unlock new opportunities to reinforce local industries. With a nameplate capacity of 480,000 t/y, the new PP5 …

Bloomberg US stocks fell, with FANG shares tumbling as executives of the tech heavyweights face scrutiny on Capitol Hill. The selloff in emerging market currencies deepened, adding to the risk-off tone on global financial markets. Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet sent the Nasdaq Composite Index down by more than 1 percent during Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on social media and foreign …

Bloomberg A fresh sign that the financial industry’s love affair with cryptocurrencies is cooling pummeled the largest tokens. Ether sank as much as 15 percent and Bitcoin fell almost 7 percent to a three-week low amid a report that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is pulling back on near-term plans to set up a crypto trading desk. Litecoin and Ripple followed …

Bloomberg Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources. The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is …

Bloomberg Indonesia plans to delay $25 billion worth of power projects as it seeks to rein in a widening current-account deficit and a selloff in the nation’s currency. The government will delay almost half of the planned 35 gigawatts of electricity projects as it wants to ease pressure on imports, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters in …

Bloomberg The world’s biggest offshore oil driller may reactivate two to three mothballed rigs a year as the industry embarks on a full-fledged recovery for deepwater exploration. In announcing a $2.7 billion deal for a rival operator, Transocean Ltd. cited a forecast by energy consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. that day-rates in waters more than two miles deep will more than …

Bloomberg Canadian banks are scoring back-to-back record earnings, beating big US lenders on profitability, productivity and dividend yields. They still can’t outperform US banks on the stock market. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and the nation’s other six large lenders collectively boosted profit 10 percent to a record $8.9 billion in the fiscal third quarter. Still, that’s no match …

Bloomberg India’s rupee owes its tag of Asia’s worst-performing currency this year to the selloff sweeping emerging markets. There’s more pain in store from beyond its borders. While foreign currency debt has zoomed, various external vulnerability indicators paint a rather mixed picture, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report. Indeed, data due as early as next week will …