On Friday, the government unveiled a package of initiatives to attract high-growth, high-tech local and regional companies that will get listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). With an initial tranche of $1.5 billion, the biggest initiative is to set funds that will assist promising high-growth companies to raise capital from public listing in SGX. The funds will be co-invested by the Government and Temasek. The cash flow of firms that are growing fast usually exceeds the growth of the overall economy. In contrast, most companies do not pay dividends to stockholders, instead choosing to re
The United Arab Emirates seeks to grow its economic ties with Israel over $1 trillion in the coming decade. On Monday, Economy Minister Abdulla Bin Touq said that strengthening a year-old relationship with Israel has already produced billions of dollars worth of business. Since normalizing its relationship in 2020, UAE has signed nearly 60 memorandums of understanding with Israel. They plan to expand an “influx” of trade in a coming couple of years. In a virtual conference from the US, Bin Touq said that he is leading a high-level business delegation where the USA was looking at sector
The African Summit that began on Tuesday, September 7, organised Collective action to combat climate change, was listed as the key agenda at the inaugural Caribbean Community and the African Union (CARICOM). The virtual meeting will bring CARICOM and African Union Heads of States and Government from the Caribbean community together. They will deliberate the trade and investment between the two nations. The summit will be on “Unity between continents and oceans: opportunities to deepen integration” The statement released from Kenya's Foreign Office said that the Participants at the e
El Salvador became the first country to accept cryptocurrency Bitcoin as legal tender. Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador and advocate of digital currency said that the policy that took effect on Tuesday made the morning historic. The nation opened its digital wallet app to residents and consumers for the first time. However, the first few hours for the status of Bitcoin in the country were marred by technological hiccups. The government of El Salvador holds 550 Bitcoin which is equivalent to $26 million. Earlier the president suggested that the legalization of Bitcoin will spur inv
China wants to import more African agricultural products across its e-commerce platform and wants to expand the sales as per a senior Chinese foreign ministry official. The director-general of the ministry department of African affairs Wu Peng said at the launch of “African Products Online Promoting Season” that the nation has never stalked surplus trade with Africa. He said the online promotion will be helpful for African products, especially agricultural products that will gain more market shares in China. The country will encourage e-commerce with live streaming platforms to promote
President Xi Jinping announced that a new Beijing Stock exchange will be set up as part of this year’s China International Fair for Trade in Services. He remarked this in a video link at the Global Trade in Service Summit on September 2. Jinping believes this to be the primary platform to serve the leading innovation-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its decision caught widespread attention as the Beijing Stock Exchange will become the main financing provider for innovation-driven small-sized enterprises. It is the latest deepening reform known as the New Third Board of
On Monday, the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia slashed crude prices for Asia over the weekend as oil prices extended losses. This signaled that the global markets are well supplied. Since November, the Brent crude futures fell 98 cents (1.8%) to $71.63 a barrel by 0613 GMT and US West Texas Intermediate crude for October fell 95 cents (1.4%) to $68.34 a barrel. On Sunday, a statement was released from the state oil giant Saudi Aramco to the customers that they will cut October prices by at least $1 a barrel for all crude grades sold to Asia. Asia is their biggest buying region and the cu
On Wednesday, India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Iran’s new foreign minister Amir Abdollahian held talks with the top focus on the Afghanistan situation and the Chabahar port project. This was the first time when the call was exchanged between S. Jaishankar and Amir Adbollahian since he took charge as the finance minister. Jaishakar also congratulated Amir on his new position. Both nations agreed to continue the consultations with the Iranian readout saying that Amir reiterated Tehran’s “principled policy to support the formation of an inclusive government in Afg
On Wednesday, Japan launched a new Digital Agency with the hope to bring a much-needed overhaul to antiquated systems that have had their shortcomings highlighted by the pandemic. Japan tried to give its government services and record-keeping a technological upgrade. Currently, the country has old-fashioned paperwork for its people to apply for government services, and the central and local government offices use different systems for storing and managing the data which lacks compatibility. During the Pandemic, the lack of digitalization for the government services became the major prob
On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil producer's cartel and allied non-member countries led by Russia signed off on gradually increasing production. The global economy's demands for fuel continue to recover from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. The US pressured the OPEC group to move faster in restoring the production which was cut during the pandemic. The US asked them to potentially ease costs at the pump for American drivers. OPEC+ agreed via online meeting to follow the earlier plan to produce 4,00,000 barrels per day from October 1. The c