Browsing: Business

In the southwestern province of Sichuan, where a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Monday, Chinese state media reported that the roads leading to the epicenter have reopened. Traffic has resumed. However, the death toll has risen to 74. The People’s Daily reported Tuesday night that 259 people were injured in the disaster, and 26 remained missing. According to Reuters, the strongest earthquake to hit the province since 2017 destroyed numerous buildings and severely damaged power and water infrastructure. 11,000 people were evacuated from Luding county, where the quake was centered, as rescuers rushed to reach stranded people, restore utilities, and…

As the impact of COVID-19 curbs in top crude importer China and expectations of more interest rate hikes spurred fears of a global economic recession and decreased fuel consumption, oil prices dropped more than $1 on Wednesday to their lowest level since before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Brent crude futures fell $1.35, or 1.5%, to $91.48 a barrel by 04:20 GMT after falling 3% in the previous session. The contract reached its lowest level since February 18 at $91.35. Crude futures for West Texas Intermediate fell $1.55, or 1.8%, to $85.33. Crude futures for West Texas Intermediate fell to a session…

In July 2022, industrial producer prices rose by 4.0 percent in the Euro area, by 3.7% in the EU, in comparison with the same month last year. This is according to the latest estimates from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, which provides statistical information for the European Union. There was an increase in prices of 1.3% in the Euro area in June 2022 and a rise of 1.5% in the EU in June 2022. Euro area industrial producer prices increased by 37.9% in July 2022 compared with July 2021, while EU producer prices increased by 37.8%. Euro area industrial…

Spark Security Services, a leading provider of manned guarding security services in the UAE, is being fully acquired by Aldar Properties in order to scale up its property management and integrated facilities management platform. Aldar’s property and facilities management platform is further strengthened by the all-cash transaction of AED125 million, which will enable the company to offer customers a wider range of services, such as sales, leasing, property management, consultancy, valuation advice, energy management, and hard and soft real estate maintenance. As a result, Aldar’s AED23 billion (US$6.3 billion) portfolio of prime properties, including retail, residential, commercial, and logistics properties,…

MENA Newswire: Bank ABC, MENA’s leading international bank, has won The Banker Transaction Banking Awards 2022, for Middle East by the Financial Times. The Banker’s highly coveted awards are an industry benchmark for banking excellence, adjudged by industry stalwarts and its top editors. Mr. Sael Al Waary – Acting Group CEO of Bank ABC (left) | Mr. Amr ElNokaly​ – Group Head of Wholesale Banking (right) The award stands testament to Bank ABC’s consistent efforts to develop a stronger, more resilient bank for its corporate banking clients, by way of accelerating its ambitious digital transformation programme, driven by innovation, in thought…

A record two-decade low in the euro was recorded on Tuesday as renewed concerns over an energy shock pushed inflation higher and made Europe more likely to become recession-prone. The Chinese yuan slid down to a two-year low on Monday, while the pound briefly touched its lowest level since March 2020. Reuters reports that European business activity data weren’t as grim as feared, pushing the euro away from a 20-year low at $0.99005. In spite of this, by 0820 GMT, the currency was still down 0.15% to $0.9930 and remained below the key $1-level. “What we’re trying to figure out…

Updated official figures published on Monday showed that Britain recorded its biggest drop in output in more than 300 years as it faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Reuters reported. According to the Office for National Statistics, the gross domestic product fell by 11 percent in 2020 as compared to the previous year. According to historical data hosted by the Bank of England, this drop was significantly larger than any of the ONS’s previous estimates. It represents the biggest fall since 1709. Based on the initial estimates of the ONS, it was already apparent that in 2020…

In a statement, the head of Sri Lanka’s central bank said that he hopes that the government can reach a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that might lead to a bailout package during this month’s visit by IMF officials to the crisis-hit island nation. IMF officials and Sri Lanka’s government should “finalize and reach a staff-level agreement” during their talks, Sri Lankan central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said. In April, Sri Lanka announced that it would suspend repayments on its foreign loans. A total of $51 billion is owed to foreign creditors, of which $28 billion must…

As a result of rising oil prices, the increase in production in Arab oil-exporting countries, and continuing reforms that promote growth, the Arab countries are expected to grow at 5.4 percent in 2022, according to the Seventeenth Edition of the Arab Economic Outlook Report (AEOR), published by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). Due to local and global inflationary pressures, Arab countries are expected to experience relatively high inflation rates in 2022. Based on macroeconomic forecasts, growth forecasts, and inflation forecasts for Arab economies for 2022 and 2023, the report indicates that global supply chains and high commodity prices are posing…

A broad selection of US stocks was purchased by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), bringing its investment portfolio’s value to about $40.8 billion at the end of the second quarter. According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the PIF acquired 213,000 class A shares in Alphabet, 4.7 million in Zoom, and 1.8 million in Microsoft. In addition, PIF purchased shares in JPMorgan and BlackRock, investing in 3.9 million shares and 741,693 shares, respectively. Additionally, the fund purchased shares of Adobe Systems, Advanced Micro Devices, Salesforce, Home Depot, Costco, Freeport-McMoRan, Datadog, and NextEra Energy. With $620 billion in…