IMF lowers growth forecast for Saudi Arabia, region

DUBAI: The International Monetary Fund on Monday lowered its 2019 economic growth forecast for Saudi Arabia and the region over low oil prices and crude output along with rising geopolitical tensions. In its World Economic Outlook update for January, the global lender lowered its projection for Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product growth this year to […]

Facebook’s WhatsApp limits text forwards to 5 recipients to curb rumours

Jakarta: Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp messenger service is globally limiting the number of times a user can forward a message to five, in a bid to fight “misinformation and rumours”, company executives said on Monday. “We’re imposing a limit of five messages all over the world as of today,” Victoria Grand, vice president for policy and communications […]

China’s 2018 growth slows to 28-year low, more stimulus seen

BEIJING: China’s economy cooled in the fourth quarter under pressure from faltering domestic demand and bruising US tariffs, dragging 2018 growth to the lowest in nearly three decades and pressuring Beijing to roll out more stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown. Growing signs of weakness in China — which has generated nearly a third of […]

Has Davos actually made the world better?

Geneva: Klaus Schwab, who founded the World Economic Forum (WEF), has said his childhood during the Second World War inspired him to build an organisation that would make the world a better place. His foundation, which hosts many of the world’s most powerful, famous and wealthy people at its annual meeting in the Swiss ski […]

Kuwait to boost spending, eyes oil price at $55-$65bbl

Kuwait on Monday projected a 4.7 per cent rise in spending to 22.5 billion dinars ($271.59 billion) as part of its state budget for the year ending on March 31, 2020, as the major oil producer seeks to spur economic growth. The Kuwaiti Finance Minister Nayef Al Hajraf said he expected the average oil price […]

The world gathers at Davos

Zurich: An array of crises will keep several world leaders away from the annual World Economic Forum in Davos this week, which takes place against a backdrop of deepening gloom over the global economic and political outlook. Anxieties over trade disputes, fractious international relations, Brexit and a growth slowdown that some fear could tip the […]

Goldman says pound will rise against all G-10 peers this year

(Bloomberg) — The pound may advance against all its Group-of-10 peers this year as the risk of a no-deal Brexit has been declining, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sterling has strengthened for five straight weeks as the defeat of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan last Tuesday was seen boosting the prospects of a […]