Actual COVID death toll near 15 million The official death toll from the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic is about 5.4 million. But according to a new World Health Organization report, the actual number is around three times higher than that. The U.N. body said on Thursday there were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 by the end of […] April 29, 2022
Pearson maintains momentum after rejecting takeover Pearson beat first-quarter forecasts and said it would benefit from a lowertax rate this year, underscoring confidence at the education group after it rejected a private equity offer in March. The British company, emerging from years of turbulence sparked by the US education market moving online, reported a better-than-expected 7 percent rise in first-quarter underlying […] April 29, 2022
Agriculture Ukraine war push egg prices higher worldwide Severe outbreaks of bird flu in the United States and France are tightening global egg supplies and raising prices for the food staple as the war in Ukraine disrupts shipments to Europe and the Middle East. Higher prices are particularly painful for consumers who rely on eggs as a low-cost source of protein and substitute […] April 29, 2022
Sustainability Regulators call for external checks on bank climate data Regulators could force banks and other financial firms to hire external auditors to check on the accuracy of their climate data, the Financial Stability Board said in a report on Friday. Financial firms are being required to spell out how climate change is affecting their business as part of government efforts to meet net-zero economy […] April 29, 2022
Retail Turkish consumer confidence hits record low in April The Turkish consumer confidence index dropped 7.3 percent to 67.3 points in April, official data showed on Thursday, hitting its lowest ever level, driven by a 10 percent drop from the previous month in the financial situation of households. A slide in the value of the lira began driving a fall in consumer confidence late […] April 29, 2022
Energy Turkey hikes gas prices, as inflation tops 60% in March Turkish state-owned energy importer BOTAS said it had raised natural gas prices for industrial facilities by 50 percent and those for households by 35 percent, raising the prospect of further stoking inflation, which is expected to top 60 percent in March. BOTAS also said natural gas prices for electricity production were going up by 44.3 […] April 29, 2022
Manufacturing Lucid to buy 100,000 electric vehicles from Saudi Arabia Electric carmaker Lucid Group Inc on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with the government of Saudi Arabia for the purchase of up to 100,000 of its vehicles over the next 10 years. Saudi Arabia commits to purchase 50,000 vehicles under the agreement, with an option to buy an additional 50,000 vehicles during the ten-year time frame, […] April 29, 2022
Banking & Finance Al Rajhi Bank reports 24% rise in Q1 profit Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest lender, reported a nearly 24 percent rise in quarterly earnings, fuelled by a jump in net financing for customers, and higher investment income and fees from banking services. The bank reported a net profit of SR 4.1 billion ($1.09 billion) for first quarter ended March 31, up SR 3.34 billion in the […] April 29, 2022
Tunisia’s dinar hits record low versus dollar Tunisia’s dinar currency has fallen to record lows versus the dollar, driven down by high inflation, a worsening trade deficit and the severe impact of the Ukraine crisis on public finances. It traded at 3.074 against the dollar on Thursday, central bank data showed on Friday. Earlier this month, the state statistics institute said Tunisia’s […] April 29, 2022
Banking & Finance Qatar Airways suffers setback in feud with Airbus A British judge has denied a bid by Qatar Airways to reinstate a jet contractcancelled by Europe’s Airbus in the latest twist to a dramatic feud playing out in UK courts. The companies have been locked in a safety dispute for months on Europe’s A350 long-haul jet. Their unprecedented bust-up widened in January when Airbus revoked a separate deal for […] April 29, 2022
Retail Tata Motors maps out long-range EVs for India and beyond Tata Motors says it plans to launch electric cars with a minimum range of 500 kilometres (310 miles) and advanced technology features, targeting buyers in India and beyond. The first electric vehicles (EVs) built using its new platform should be on the road in 2025, Tata said during an event in Mumbai where it unveiled […] April 29, 2022
Banking & Finance Americana selects banks for Saudi and UAE listings The Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut has hired banks for a potential dual listing in Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Americana Group has selected Goldman Sachs, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Saudi National Bank (SNB) for the deal, said the source, declining […] April 29, 2022
Banking & Finance Abu Dhabi bourse dips ahead of Eid break, Dubai flat Abu Dhabi’s shares closed lower on Friday in thin trade ahead of Eid al-Fitr holidays, while the Dubai bourse finished flat, ending three sessions of gains. In Abu Dhabi the index eased 0.2 percent, with the country’s largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) losing 1.3 percent, snapping two sessions of gains. On Thursday, FAB […] April 29, 2022
NMC administrators sue EY in UK for alleged negligence The administrators of NMC Health have filed a lawsuit against EY in the United Kingdom for alleged negligence on the audit work it did for the troubled hospital operator between 2012 to 2018, a spokesperson said. NMC, which used to be listed in London, ran into trouble in 2020 and went into administration after it […] April 29, 2022
Energy Oil will cushion Middle East from economic impact of Ukraine war The war in Ukraine will sharply reduce economic growth in the Central Asian region in 2022, but higher oil prices will partly cushion the blow for the Middle East and North Africa, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. Both regions, however, will feel the impact of surging commodity prices, the IMF said, warning higher […] April 29, 2022
Real Estate Turks “bewildered” as rents outpace rampant inflation Undeterred by industry figures showing rents in Istanbul have doubled inside a year, yoga instructor Ceren Tabak was fully prepared to spend most of her salary on housing costs when she decided last month to look for a home of her own. But she says real estate agents laughed when she quoted them the 6,000 […] April 29, 2022
Banking & Finance Lebanese central banker says ready to answer Swiss questions Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is ready to meet Swiss prosecutors in person to answer questions about their money-laundering investigation, he said in a television interview. Salameh is facing investigations in Lebanon and five European countries into the alleged embezzlement of some $330 million in public funds with the help of his brother, Raja, […] April 29, 2022
Tourism Visitors to Turkey jump 130% in March The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey jumped 129.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.08 million in March, data showed on Friday, as the sector continued to recover from the impact of measures to combat the spread of coronavirus since 2020. The arrivals compared with a level of 718,097 foreign visitors in March […] April 29, 2022
Tourism Airbus wins backing for 2024 jet output European planemaker Airbus looks set to raise narrowbody jetliner production for 2024 after reaching a compromise deal with at least two suppliers following months of wrangling over the speed of post-pandemic recovery. The world’s largest planemaker is restoring and slightly expanding pre-pandemic output for best-selling models as traffic rebounds in the West, but has been […] April 29, 2022
Tourism China’s airlines post heavy losses on coronavirus curbs China’s three biggest airlines have reported heavy first-quarter losses as prolonged coronavirus curbs weighed on travel demand and a weakening Chinese currency and rising fuel prices inflated costs, trends which persist in the current quarter. Analysts expect another year in the red for Chinese airlines as Beijing sticks with its zero-coronavirus policy to stop the […] April 29, 2022
Tourism Hong Kong eases coronavirus rules for aircrews Hong Kong will shorten mandatory hotel quarantine for passenger flight crews to three days from seven, while cargo crews will be exempt, modest steps at unwinding coronavirus curbs that have turned the city into one of the world’s most isolated places. The changes, which take effect in May, give the global financial hub’s aviation trade […] April 29, 2022
Energy Repsol’s profit doubles on high oil and gas prices Spain’s Repsol posted a first-quarter profit upswing on Thursday, bolstered by higher oil and gas prices and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Commodities prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, sending further shockwaves through markets already reeling from last year’s collision between tight supplies and high demand in economies reopening after coronavirus lockdowns. Adjusted […] April 29, 2022