By Julie Gordon and Nichola Saminather OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada has an ambitious plan to double the pace of homebuilding within a decade but the first big challenge is finding enough skilled workers, as the country grapples with the tightest labor market on record and with construction already at a multi-year high. Building more homes…
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Russian bank VTB can no longer exercise any control over its European subsidiary in the wake of new sanctions, German regulator BaFin said on Sunday. The European Union on Friday formally adopted new sanctions against Russia, which will ban a range of imports and also ban all transactions with four Russian banks,…
(Reuters) -The Russian government said on Sunday it has increased its reserve fund used for emergency spending by 273.4 billion roubles ($3.52 billion) to ensure economic stability against the backdrop of Western sanctions over Ukraine. The sanctions, imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Moscow describes as a “special military operation”, cut…
(Reuters) – The Russian government said on Sunday it was increasing its reserve fund by 273.4 billion roubles ($3.52 billion) to ensure economic stability against the backdrop of Western sanctions over Ukraine. “The funds, among other things, will be used to implement measures aimed at ensuring economic stability in light of external sanctions,” the government…
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong will re-launch its inaugural retail green bond this month as the coronavirus pandemic eases to raise as much as HK$20 billion ($2.55 billion), the city’s financial chief said on Sunday. The Asian financial hub last month delayed a sale worth HK$6 billion because of the rapid spread of COVID-19….
(Reuters) – Elon Musk, Twitter Inc’s biggest shareholder, on Saturday suggested a raft of changes to the social media giant’s Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin. Musk, who disclosed a 9.2% stake in Twitter just days ago, was offered a…
By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, one of its key trading partners before the war with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow and impose harsher economic sanctions on Moscow. “Today we officially announced a complete termination of trade in goods…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s economic growth could fall to 1.4%-1.5% this year, from 2.7% in 2021, with an average of around 590,000 people on reduced-hours lay-off schemes over the course of the year, Labour Minister Hubertus Heil said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag. “We will still be growing,” Heil said. “But this all…
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Thousands of Sri Lankans rallied in the country’s main business district and Christian clergy marched in the capital to observe a day of protest on Saturday calling on the debt-ridden nation’s president to resign, as anxiety and anger over shortages simmered. Protesters carrying national flags and placards, some bemoaning the…
BOSTON (AP) — The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its assessment of Russia’s ability to repay foreign debt, signaling rising prospects that Moscow will soon default on external loans for the first time in more than a century. S&P Global Ratings issued the downgrade to “selective default” late Friday after Russia arranged…
