Tag Archives: economy

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa is the continent’s most industrialised economy and among its most developed, but marked by gaping inequalities rooted in years of racist white-minority rule that ended in 1994. – Apartheid – Black South Africans, around 80 percent of the population, voted for the …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled an ambitious proposal to renew American infrastructure as part of a budget that calls for a stunning rise in debt and trillions in cuts to social and other spending. The blueprint for the 2019 fiscal year abandons the long-held …

Kuwait City, Kuwait | AFP | Iraq needs $88.2 billion to rebuild after years of war against the Islamic State group, Planning Minister Salman al-Jumaili said Monday, as an international conference on the country’s reconstruction opened in Kuwait. Iraq hopes to raise billions of dollars in pledges at the three-day …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s administration will sketch out more details of its plan to invest in America’s creaking infrastructure Monday, hoping it can leverage up to $1.5 trillion for the cause. Senior White House officials said the president’s budget, due to be released on Monday, will …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi capped a whirlwind visit to the UAE on Sunday, giving a keynote address as guest of honour at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Modi praised the United Arab Emirates, home to 3.3 million Indian nationals, for having …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe promised lower taxes and a business-friendly France at a global summit in Dubai on Sunday, seeking investment from the oil-rich Gulf region. “France is undergoing great transformation,” Philippe said, addressing a thousand-strong audience at Dubai’s World Government Summit. …

Paris, France | AFP | The world’s leading oil companies published a bumper crop in profits last year as rising crude prices helped turn their fortunes around, but they remain cautious and are unlikely to rush out on a new spending spree just yet. In a flourish of earnings reports …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday urged Arab countries to slash public wages and subsidies in order to rein in spending, achieve sustainable growth and create jobs. Speaking at the one-day Arab Fiscal Forum in Dubai, Lagarde welcomed “promising” reforms adopted by some …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad’s finance minister says the country will not impose further cuts on civil servants’ pay this year, after strikes and protests erupted over one of the most unpopular measures in an austerity programme. “There won’t be further cuts this year,” the finance and budget minister, Abdoulaye …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The world’s biggest producer of cobalt, a key ingredient in modern batteries, plans a five-fold increase in tax on the commodity as part of an overhaul of its mining laws, industrial sources said Friday. The Democratic Republic of Congo would impose a tax of 10 …