Business

Mumbai, May 20 (PTI) The country's foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 2.676 billion to stand at USD 593.279 billion in the week ended May 13, RBI data showed on Friday.

In the previous week, the reserves had declined by USD 1.774 billion to USD 595.954 billion.

According to an article 'State of the Economy', published in the RBI's Bulletin for May, foreign exchange reserves at USD 596 billion as on May 6 were equivalent to about 10 months of imports projected for 2022-23.

20 May 2022; MEMO: The UK has lifted all restrictions on arms exports to Turkiye, the head of the Turkish Defense Industries Presidency said today.

"Important details on technical issues were discussed, and at the same time, steps were taken in principle to bring bilateral ties to a higher level in the field of defense," Ismail Demir said during his visit to London.

Thus, all of the products have been removed from the list of export restrictions which was created by British authorities in December 2021.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's fourth drillship, bought last year from a South Korean shipyard, was set to join its three other drillships in less than a week, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Turkiye's national oil and gas company, TPAO, the drillship, called "Cobalt Explorer" has now arrived, as the country is working to develop its extensive gas resources amid a growing need for the security of supply.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Qatar hopes to welcome the world to Doha for the soccer World Cup but also "we expect and we want people to respect our culture", Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said on Friday in Berlin when asked about gay people attending the tournament, Reuters reports.

The Gulf, Muslim-majority State will host the first World Cup in the Middle East for a month from late November.

21 May 2022; MEMO: Qatar and Germany have signed an energy partnership agreement on Friday focusing on hydrogen trade and liquefied natural gas.

21 May 2022; MEMO: The Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach announced on Thursday that it signed a contract with a Chinese factory to build a petrochemical plant in the state of Oran, at a value of 76 billion Algerian dinars ($542 million).

Sonatrach confirmed in a statement that the plant would produce methyl tert-butyl ether, which is added to the fuel to improve its quality and obtain unleaded gasoline.

Mumbai, May 20 (PTI) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said its board has approved a dividend payment of Rs 30,307 crore to the government for the financial ended March 2022.

The board approved the transfer of Rs 30,307 crore as surplus to the central government for the accounting year 2021-22 while deciding to maintain the Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.50 per cent, RBI said in a statement.

The decision on the dividend payment was made in the 596th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of RBI, headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, held on Friday.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has acquired a five per cent stake in Japanese gaming giant Nintendo, worth $2.98 billion.

According to a filing with Japan's Ministry of Finance yesterday, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought 6.5 million shares in the makers of the iconic Mario and Donkey Kong games.

19 May 2022; MEMO: A Finnish Member of Parliament has called for a boycott of Turkish kebabs, holidays and cars, as Turkiye continues to insist that Finland and Sweden should not gain NATO membership unless they cease support for groups Ankara views as terrorists.

In a statement to the media earlier this week, Finnish MP, Mikko Karna, urged "citizens to boycott Turkish holiday trips, Turkish kebab restaurants and Turkish-made cars until Turkiye has given its approval to Finland's NATO membership".

20 May 2022; MEMO: The Central Bank of Egypt announced Thursday it raised its key policy rates by 200 basis points, citing high commodity prices, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The bank said its overnight deposit rate and the overnight lending rate were increased to 11.25 per cent and 12.25 per cent, respectively.

The rate of the main operation and the discount rate were each raised to 11.75 per cent.