Bloomberg The European Union (EU) needs to find new ways to recapitalise businesses so that the hole on corporate balance sheets doesn’t derail the recovery, according to a financial-industry group. Companies face an equity shortfall of as much as $724 billion, as existing government programs and private funding won’t suffice ...
Read More »UK firms tell Sunak they need urgent help to survive lockdown
Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak can’t afford to wait for the budget on March 3 to provide extra support for hobbled UK firms, according to the UK’s biggest business lobby group. With Britain back in a severe lockdown, urgent action is needed to help companies survive, the Confederation ...
Read More »Nordic businesses warn of ‘crazy’ outcome if EU relief misspent
Bloomberg The European Union (EU) risks squandering the potential of its recovery fund unless spending is properly policed, according to the biggest business lobby groups in eight Nordic and Baltic countries. The 27-member bloc agreed on a 750 billion-euro ($907 billion) pandemic relief package in December to help end the ...
Read More »Car sales in Europe suffer biggest drop in 2020
Bloomberg European car sales plunged the most on record last year as relatively resilient demand in the second half did only so much to make up for the collapse during the initial outbreak of Covid-19. New-vehicle registrations fall 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Tuesday, the biggest annual ...
Read More »French bankruptcies hit 33-year low as state aid masks reality
Bloomberg Call it the prop-up effect. As France lived through its worst economic slump since World War II, business failures paradoxically slid to the lowest in 33 years. The number of bankruptcies and firms seeking protection from creditors or entering receivership fall 38% in 2020, as government aid in the ...
Read More »Dubai issues 9,949 DED Trader licences till 2020-end
DUBAI / WAM The DED Trader licence, launched by the Business Registration & Licensing (BRL) sector of Dubai Economy (DED) to licence freelancers at their place of residence in Dubai and enable start-ups to conduct business activities online and across social networking accounts, has seen overwhelming response with 9,949 licences ...
Read More »India’s ‘richest men’ caught in crossfire over farming laws
Bloomberg Two of India’s richest men have landed in an unlikely controversy over farming laws, becoming targets of protesters who allege the tycoons have benefited from their close links to PM Narendra Modi. For weeks, tens of thousands of farmers have camped outside the nation’s capital, demanding the withdrawal of ...
Read More »Malaysia says ‘not slow’ in getting vaccines
Bloomberg Malaysia isn’t a laggard in securing vaccines, Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said, seeking to allay concerns about the speed of the country’s purchases of shots. The nation is set to get its first delivery of vaccines before the end of February and the government will try its best to ...
Read More »Covid-19: China to donate vaccine doses to Philippines
Bloomberg China will donate 500,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to the Philippines and vowed to accelerate infrastructure investment in the Southeast Asian nation as ties between the two improve. The pledge was made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during meetings with Filipino counterpart Teodoro Locsin and President Rodrigo Duterte in ...
Read More »India gold sales likely to climb as buyers unleash pent-up demand
Bloomberg Gold demand in the world’s second-biggest user will rebound this year after collapsing in 2020 as the rollout of vaccines pushes life back closer to normal, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Some of the weddings and festive buying that had been postponed because of the pandemic will ...
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