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

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia may offer “almost interest-free” loans to companies in labor-intensive industries as part of a plan to stimulate an economy squeezed by low oil prices and spending cuts, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said. Al-Jadaan, speaking in an interview in Washington, also said the government is on track to slash its budget deficit by 30 percent this year ...

  Bloomberg US oil drillers slowed the pace of a months-long expansion as invest- ors worry that growing shale production will ruin OPEC’s efforts to prop up prices. Drillers added 5 rigs targeting crude this week, bringing the total to 688, according to Baker Hughes Inc. data reported. While all four of the biggest oil basins boosted activity this week, ...

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t be allowed to bypass US sanctions against Russia to resume drilling for oil in a joint venture that seeks to tap billions of barrels of that country’s crude. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the decision was made after consultation with President Donald Trump, according to a statement. Exxon initially requested the drilling waiver in ...

  Bloomberg BP Plc’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused damage to beaches, animals, fish and coral that the public values at $17.2 billion, according to a financial accounting released on the seventh anniversary of the disaster. The tally, published in the journal Science, is based on a survey of thousands of Americans that asked what they’d be willing ...

  Bloomberg Samsung BioLogics Co., an arm of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, said it is in negotiations to manufacture drugs for more than 15 international pharmaceutical companies as it tries to expand in the growing industry for complex biologic medicines. The talks mostly involve US and European firms, Chief Executive Officer Kim Tae-han said in an April 19 interview at ...

  Bloomberg China should open up its services sector to ease trade tensions with the US and bolster global trade, according to a senior official from the International Monetary Fund. The medical, health, legal and financial services sectors are among areas that could be liberalized, Changyong Rhee, the Asia-Pacific director at the IMF, said in an interview at a gathering ...

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump’s plan to upgrade the nation’s roads, ports and bridges will drive demand for steel and support iron ore prices, Australia’s Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said. “The US and the Trump administration has put out a very ambitious infrastructure investment program” and the steel will have to come from somewhere, Cormann said in an interview ...

  Bloomberg Britons’ confidence in the housing market stayed near a three-year low in March as sentiment toward the economic outlook soured, according to Halifax. An index of home-value expectations climbed to 44 from 42 in October, when Brexit pushed it down by a record to its lowest level since June 2013, the lender said. Fifty-eight percent of respondents predict ...

  Bloomberg Sales of previously owned US homes rose more than forecast in March to the fastest pace in a decade, signaling sustained momentum in the housing market despite higher prices and scarce supply, a report from the National Association of Realtors showed. Contract closings jumped 4.4 percent to a 5.71 million annual rate (forecast was 5.60 million), the highest ...

  Bloomberg After almost three years of booming health-care dealmaking in the US, 2017 is off to a slow start. Pharmaceutical and biotech acquisitions totaled $44 billion last quarter, down 13 percent from a year earlier, and 35 percent below the first quarter of 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And exchange-traded funds, a good indicator of investors’ appetite ...