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

  Moscow / AFP Russia has accused Ukraine of abducting two Russian servicemen on the annexed Crimea peninsula, but Kiev said it had merely detained two Ukrainian army deserters. In a statement carried late Monday by local news agencies, the Russian defence ministry said servicemen Maxim Odintsov and Alexander Baranov were “illegally detained and removed from Crimea by Ukrainian security ...

  Bloomberg Oil traded near $48 a barrel as OPEC members sought to reach an agreement on output cuts. January crude fluctuated in New York, rising as much as 2 percent after dipping 1.1 percent. The details of a deal will be finalized Tuesday and “everybody is on board,” Nigerian OPEC delegate Ibrahim Waya said in Vienna, where the group ...

  BENGHAZI / Reuters Libya’s Waha Oil Co says its production has reached more than 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) through the Waha and Samah fields and it expects that to increase when crude from the Jalu field comes online. Production at the Waha field, one of the main contributors to Libya’s Es Sider export grade, resumed last month after ...

  Riyadh / Emirates Business The Middle East is one of the largest importers of French dairy products according to the latest research from the country’s official cheese board, the Centre National Interprofessionnel de l’Economie Laitière (CNIEL). The research puts the Middle East ahead of China (US$354m), North America (US$270m), Switzerland (US$137m) and Australia (US$30m). Edwina Salvatori, Account Director, SOPEXA ...

  MOSCOW / Reuters A planned gathering of Russian oil firms and President Vladimir Putin which was expected to discuss possible output curbs has been delayed until after OPEC holds its Vienna meeting on Nov. 30, two energy industry sources said. The meeting of Russia’s energy industry commission, which had been scheduled for Nov. 23, has been put back to ...

  Riyadh / Reuters Saudi Arabia will establish a national program to optimise water and energy consumption, it announced in a cabinet statement, further moves in areas where the government is seeking to cut back huge subsidies. The new program will review policy incentives currently in place for the energy and water sectors, taking into account both economic productivity needs ...

  For those of us troubled by Brexit, and for Europeans concerned about the survival of the wider European project, a much-awaited book by one of the world’s most renowned economic historians and an expert on long-run economic growth might, on the face of it, offer some light at the end of the tunnel. According to Joel Mokyr, Europe’s magisterial ...

  India is conducting a big test of the idea that getting rid of cash can help address crime and corruption. Unfortunately, it might achieve nothing more than a lot of inconvenience. Criminals and corrupt officials often conduct business in cash, because it’s hard to trace. So in a sense it’s logical to assume that abolishing cash will help reduce ...

  It’s become a favorite holiday tradition around these parts: wait for the National Retail Federation annual holiday spending forecast each October, then write a few choice words about why their methodology is awful and their forecast track record is even worse. I overlooked the Federation’s Oct. 3 forecast this year, as the 2016 presidential election obscured everything else. That ...

  With US President-elect Donald Trump vowing on Tuesday to scrap the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the deal’s future hangs in the balance. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pointed out that TPP without the US would be “meaningless”. The US and Japan are the core members of TPP that encompasses 40% of the global economy. Trump’s announcement to abandon TPP ...