Business

22 May 2020; MEMO: A survey conducted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) revealed that 70 per cent of the companies operating in Dubai will suspend their activities within the next six months, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the implications of the global decrease of demand in various fields.

22 May 2020; MEMO: An Indian court has ordered to freeze the assets of billionaire, B.R. Shetty, who earlier fled the UAE with his wife, considering those funds as personal guarantees of debt to the Bank of Baroda, India’s international bank.

Lucknow, May 22 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) banning strikes in all departments and corporations under it for a period of six months.

The ESMA, as it is commonly known, gives the police right to arrest without a warrant anybody violating the Act's provisions. It has been invoked after taking permission from Governor Anandiben Patel and a notification in this regard has been issued by Mukul Singhal, Additional Chief Secretary, a senior official said on Friday.

(Reuters) - Unemployment rates rose and total employment fell in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in April as efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to close across the country, the Labor Department said on Friday.

The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said 43 states set record-high rates of unemployment last month, with the highest being in Nevada, the state with the greatest reliance on the hard-hit food services and hospitality industry.

22 May 2020; MEMO: Ethiopia’s Irrigation Minister Seleshi Bekele told resident African ambassadors in Addis Ababa that his country has so far completed 73 per cent of the Renaissance Dam, adding that Ethiopia intends to fill the dam’s reservoir with water in July, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported.

22 May 2020; MEMO: The world’s top 12 publicly-traded oil-producing companies posted a total net loss of more than $20 billion in the first quarter of 2020, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on these firms’ financial results.

Bengaluru, May 22 (PTI): Infosys Ltd said on Friday the class action lawsuit filed against the company and certain of its current and former officers in a United States court last year, alleging claims for violations of the US federal securities laws, has been dismissed.

As previously announced, in October 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court against the company and certain of its current and former officers, the Bengaluru-headquartered company noted in a filing to stock exchanges.

Mumbai, May 22 (PTI) The Reserve Bank on India (RBI) on Friday said India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be in negative territory in 2020-21 as the outbreak of coronavirus has disrupted economic activities.

In a televised address, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the global economy is heading into recession. He also said inflation outlook is "highly uncertain".

Mumbai, May 22 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday slashed interest rates, extended moratorium on loan repayments and allowed banks to lend more to corporates in an effort to support the economy which is likely to contract for the first time in over four decades.

The benchmark repurchase (repo) rate was cut by 40 basis points to 4 per cent, Governor Shaktikanta Das said announcing the decisions taken by the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that met ahead of its scheduled meeting in early June.

BEIJING, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China’s annual high-level political meetings opened with a minute’s silence for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed over 4,600 lives in the country since emerging late last year.

Delayed by two months because of the outbreak, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — a largely ceremonial advisory body — began its first session a day before the start of the country’s most important legislative congress.