The US trade deficit narrowed more than expected in July, as imports retreated and exports shot to their highest since August 2008, according to a government report that could lift hopes for third-quarter economic growth. The monthly trade deficit shrank 14 percent to $42.8bn, which was smaller than the mid-point forecast of $47.3bn from economists […]

Afghan security forces used batons on unruly customers scrambling to withdraw their savings from a branch of the graft-hit Kabulbank, the country’s biggest private financial institution. Officers from the National Security Directorate struggled to maintain control of up to 200 people outside one branch in the capital as desperate customers tried to take out money […]

Economic recovery is gathering pace in the European Union and growth this year will be higher than initially forecast, according to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. In a policy speech to the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, the head of the EU executive said structural reforms must be accelerated in the […]

South Africa’s biggest union federation COSATU, a partner of the ruling ANC party, has called for a reversal of measures taken to relax foreign exchange controls and taxing short-term capital flows. The positions laid out in an economic policy paper put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to reconsider its foreign exchange and economic […]

Zambia has raised its 2010 economic growth forecast to 6.6 percent from a June forecast of 5.8 percent after a higher than expected performance in the first half of the year, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has announced. “We adjusted the growth forecast to 6.6 percent from 5.8 percent because we now know that mining, agriculture […]

Ukraine has secured a $950m loan from China to build a railway link between Kiev and the capital’s main airport and has hired a Chinese company for the project, the Chinese People’s Daily newspaper said on Friday. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who arrived in China on Thursday for a state visit – the first by […]

German President Christian Wulff has increased pressure on the Bundesbank to dismiss its contentious board member Thilo Sarrazin, arguing that the central bank needed to limit damage to Germany’s reputation. Sarrazin has divided Germany with criticism of the country’s large Muslim community, and outspoken remarks asserting that Jews have a particular genetic makeup, sparking calls […]

Norway’s Seadrill Ltd, the world’s number two deepwater oil rig group, is ready to throw its weight around now that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has made life harder for smaller players. “We see the current market volatility as a good opportunity to look for investment opportunities,” the group controlled by shipping tycoon John […]

Irish publishing group Independent News & Media has posted its first revenue growth in more than two years as recovering advertising pushed first-half sales up eight percent. Pretax profit excluding one-off items rose 39 percent. The Dublin-based group has had to sharpen its focus on titles in Ireland, as well as in South Africa, New […]

Aggreko, the world’s biggest provider of temporary power, again upgraded its outlook for the year after posting a jump in first-half profit, helped by contracts for major sporting events

Dubai World is prepared to sell prized assets including previously ringfenced ports firm DP World in a bid to raise as much as $19.4bn to repay creditors, a document obtained by reporters shows. The document, presented on July 22 to creditors at Dubai’s lavish Atlantis Hotel, also revealed that the state-owned conglomerate’s debt stood at […]

Chilean miner Antofagasta has posted a near doubling in first-half earnings per share on higher production and a rebound in prices, but trimmed its annual production target “Group copper production from the three operating mines is expected to be approximately 530,000 tonnes, slightly below the forecast of 543,000 tonnes announced in March, reflecting updated forecasts […]

HSBC will buy up to 70 percent of South Africa’s Nedbank, in a potential $6.8bn deal that would give Europe’s largest lender a bigger presence in Africa’s top economy and a gateway to the fast-growing continent. HSBC and Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual, which owns a controlling stake in Nedbank, said in separate statements that […]

Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese said the miner would keep seeking regulatory approval for a $116bn joint venture with BHP Billiton after a report that the deal faces collapse

China has played down the risks in a wave of borrowing by local governments, saying that officials were getting to grips with a debt problem that economists warn could yet destabilise the financial system. A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) gave a largely clean bill of […]