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

Bloomberg Singapore said it will bar all short-term visitors and limit foreign workers from entering to reduce the risk of imported cases of the coronavirus. The government will allow the entry or return of work-permit holders to those providing essential services in sectors such as health-care and transport, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs a ministerial task force to ...

Bloomberg India cancelled passenger trains and various states asked non-essential services to shut, as the world’s second-most populous country heads toward a complete lockdown to prevent the coronavirus from spreading locally. All except a bare minimum rail services will stop operating through March 31, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on Sunday, hours into a self-imposed curfew called ...

Bloomberg About a week into the month-long lockdown of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, businessmen are calling for a 281 billion peso ($5.52 billion) fiscal stimulus to soften the economic blow of the spreading coronavirus outbreak that has displaced millions of workers. More than 700 factories and 400 economic zones have been shut, while doctors are warning of a ...

Bloomberg India will set up a nearly 100-billion-rupee ($1.3 billion) fund to encourage companies to manufacture pharmaceutical ingredients domestically after supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic exposed the country’s dependence on China and raised the specter of drug shortages. The programme includes spending on infrastructure for drug manufacturing centers, and financial incentives of up to 20% of incremental ...

Bloomberg China’s mass deployment of medical aid to fight the coronavirus reached Africa as Ethiopia received its first shipment of supplies, including protective gear and test kits, for distribution across the continent from billionaire Jack Ma. The Horn of Africa nation received 5.4 million face masks, more than 1 million testing kits, 40,000 items of protective clothing and 60,000 sets ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s economy is set to grow at its slowest pace since the 2009 financial crisis as it struggles with a trio of troubles: coronavirus, oil-price crash and political upheaval. Analysts from Fitch Ratings to United Overseas Bank Ltd now expect Malaysia’s economy to grow about 2% this year. That compares with the government’s estimate that gross domestic product will ...

Bloomberg Coal companies want to suspend payments for mine cleanups. The trucking industry wants to waive rules that limit drivers’ daily hours. And oil producers want to put off a June 1 deadline to shift to summer-grade gasoline. A wide range of industries are pleading with federal agencies to waive environmental requirements and ease regulatory deadlines, arguing that the global ...

Bloomberg One of the most painful busts in the history of crude oil happened just six years ago when a sharp price drop cost 200,000 roughnecks, almost half the entire workforce, their jobs. And now, the spread of the coronavirus coupled with an oil-price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia threatens to devastate the oil services industry and its workers ...

Bloomberg As if the market crash threating their jobs wasn’t stressful enough, workers in Canada’s oil-sands are bracing for the coronavirus to upend life in the remote camps where they’re lodged. One suspected case among them is already haunting roughnecks who fly in from across Canada and live for weeks on end in barracks-like facilities built in the boreal forests ...

Bloomberg Zimbabwe has slashed its debt to South African power provider Eskom Holdings to $4 million from $33 million, the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported, citing Energy Minister Fortune Chasi. “We are making payments religiously,” Chasi was quoted as saying. “We have reduced the debt to $4 million or thereabouts. We are also working on further reducing our indebtedness to ...