World Economy

Qatar’s trade surplus expanded to QR12.8 billion ($3.52 billion) in November, a 32% jump from a year ago and 54.8% surge from the previous month, a preliminary data released by the ministry of…

The solid growth that Slovakia has been experiencing over the past three years should continue in 2018–and even gear up a bit–close to 4% in real terms and possibly even more in 2019 when the…

A decade after its onset, 2017 was the year markets finally saw the financial crisis come to an end. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times and began to wind down its crisis-era…

The Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute, one of Taiwan’s leading economic think tanks, said Wednesday that it has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s gross domestic product growth for 2018 to 2.2% at…

British shoppers could be facing higher prices if the government fails to secure new global trade deals post-Brexit, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The organization says…

Singapore’s economy is expected to have lost some steam in the fourth quarter, but may show enough momentum to keep alive expectations of a monetary policy tightening next year.

Gross…

Sudan is to devalue its currency to 18 Sudanese pounds per dollar in January from the current exchange rate of 6.7, the finance minister said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The International…

Egypt’s central bank will keep key interest rates on hold in its monetary policy meeting on Thursday, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, as inflation eased but remained in double digits. Six out…

The recent government decision to withdraw the licenses of businesses and freeze their bank accounts has resulted in freezing the entire economy. Eritreans are complaining that the unpopular…

Russia should scrap the 13% profit tax on funds repatriated from abroad and renew an amnesty from penalties for businesses returning capital, as Washington moves towards tougher sanctions,…

There was no way Jose Ramon Garcia, a food transporter in Venezuela, could afford new tires for his van at $350 each. Whether he opted to pay in US currency or in the devalued local bolivar…

A host of positive factors will likely keep foreign direct investments flowing to the Philippines but risks will continue to stem from domestic political environment, Japanese financial giant…

The world’s central banks recently signed off on the Basel III rules for bank capital. The new system, years in the making, is a step forward: It will make banks stronger and safer. But there…

Japanese workers will see a 1% increase in their total earnings next year, the most since 1997, as rising profits and the tightest labor market in decades add upward pressure on pay, a Bloomberg…

India looks set to leapfrog Britain and France next year to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in dollar terms, a report showed on Tuesday.

Britain’s Center for Economics and…

Banks have long been at an advantage when it comes to data on their customers. From current accounts to credit cards, established lenders have access to vast amounts of information that…

Bitcoin extended its recovery in holiday-thinned trading on Tuesday, rising 10% to be up more than a third from last week’s lows of below $12,000.

Gold prices edged up on Tuesday to more than a three-week high on a weaker dollar, while palladium hit its highest since Feb. 2001. Spot gold was trading 0.3% higher at $1,278.04 per ounce,…

Signs of life are returning to the Spanish real estate market. Investment in the country’s hotels, warehouses, offices and malls is poised to reach its highest levels since 2007, right before…

China is likely to set its 2018 money growth target at an all-time low of around 9% to curb debt risks and contain asset bubbles, the official China Daily reported on Monday, citing economists…

Sudan’s draft budget for 2018 is estimated at 173.1 billion Sudanese pounds ($24.7 billion), state news agency SUNA quoted Finance Minister Othman Rukabi as saying at an emergency parliamentary…

Taiwan had 439,000 jobless citizens in November 2017, equivalent to an unemployment rate of 3.71% which dropped 0.04pp sequentially and 0.16pp on year, according to the Directorate-General of…

The United States on Sunday applauded a $285-million-cut in the UN core budget, saying it was “a big step in right direction”.

The UN General Assembly adopted a budget of $5.396 billion…

Shares were mixed in quiet trading Monday in the few Asian markets open during the Christmas holiday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2% to 22,943.43 by early afternoon, while the…

Prolonged ultra-easy monetary policy is weighing heavily on Japanese bank profits but financial institutions should not expect business conditions to brighten dramatically even after the central…