US and China trade barbs at WTO amid calls for reform

GENEVA: The United States said on Monday that China’s “unfair competitive practices” were harming foreign companies and workers in a way that violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, but vowed to lead reform efforts. US trade ambassador Dennis Shea drew fire from Chinese envoy Zhang Xiangchen who said the Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and […]

Saudi Arabia to spend its way to higher growth

Dubai: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday unveiled its 2019 budget, revealing a record high spending plan of 1.11 trillion Saudi riyals ($295 billion; Dh1.07 trillion), targeted at boosting the country’s growth. The government expects revenue to increase by more than 9 per cent to touch $260 billion against a projected deficit of $35 billion. Figures in […]

Secret behind growth in Trump’s America is deficit spending

Halfway through Donald Trump’s first term, it’s getting easier to piece together an account of how his policies are supposed to drive economic growth. And the economy is, in fact, expanding pretty fast — but not necessarily for the reasons Trump said it would. The president promised to squeeze more American growth out of businesses […]

Founders of start-up Wadi to step down

Dubai: The founders of e-commerce start-up Wadi are set to step down from their positions, following a $30 million investment from retail giant Majid Al Futtaim. They both say that their decision is not linked to the increasing involvement of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF). Ankit Wadhwa, co-founder of Wadi, told Gulf News that his decision […]

Weak economic data send world stocks tumbling

LONDON: Stocks worldwide tumbled on Friday after weak economic data from China and Europe fanned concerns of a global economic slowdown and left investors fretting over the wider impact of a still-unresolved Sino-U. S. trade dispute. The MSCI All-Country World Index, which tracks stocks across 47 countries, was down over half a per cent by […]

As India looks for new central bank head, investors worry about independence

Mumbai, New Delhi: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel’s shock resignation following a policy tussle with the government sent tremors through financial markets on Tuesday, and investors are keen to see the government quickly name a credible replacement. Both foreign and domestic investors say any openly political appointee with little macro-economic experience, would […]

10 detained in Estonia over massive money laundering

Helsinki: Ten former employees of the Estonian branch of Danske Bank have been detained in connection with a probe into a major money laundering scandal that allegedly involved money from Russia and former Soviet states. Estonia’s Prosecutor General Lavly Perling said Wednesday the employees were mainly Danske Bank client managers suspected of knowingly assisting large-scale […]

What next for India’s central bank as Patel era ends?

New Delhi: The exit of Urjit Patel as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was the culmination of months of simmering tensions between the government and the central bank. In a way, it gives the government the opportunity to do what it wants: name a new governor who is more willing to do […]

Dubai issues nearly 2,000 new business permits in one month

Dubai: The city of Dubai continues to attract new businesses, with the emirate’s licensing division recently approving close to 2,000 permits. The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai issued 1,748 new licenses in November 2018, a testament that Dubai remains a destination of choice for investment […]

World economy set to feel delayed trade war pain in 2019

Hong Kong: While 2018 was the year trade wars broke out, 2019 will be the year the global economy feels the pain. Bloomberg’s Global Trade Tracker is softening amid a fading rush to front-load export orders ahead of threatened tariffs. And volumes are tipped to slow further even as the US and China seek to […]