Business

SINGAPORE: The owner of spa chain Healing Touch is anxious about reopening his business when Singapore enters Phase 2 of its recovery journey after COVID-19 “circuit breaker” restrictions. On one hand, Mr Joshua Lung, who also owns Aesteem Aesthetic Clinic, is looking forward to receiving customers again after being closed […]

The UK is likely to be the hardest-hit by Covid-19 among major economies, a leading agency has warned. Britain’s economy is likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020, outstripping falls in other developed economics of Germany, France, Spain and Italy, it said. If there were a second peak in the […]

PARIS: The global economy will contract at least six per cent this year, with the unprecedented loss of income and “extraordinary uncertainty” caused by measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the OECD said Wednesday (Jun 10). In the case of a second wave of contagion later in the year, economic […]

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s state oil giant Pertamina said it has signed a deal with Taiwan’s CPC to develop a US$8 billion petrochemical complex, after years of negotiations. Operations are slated to begin in 2026 at the new plant, which is to be built at an existing refinery in Indonesia’s West Java […]

LONDON: The head of the NATO military alliance said on Wednesday (Jun 10) that the West could not ignore the rise of China and so it was important that the United Kingdom had a review of the role of Huawei in its 5G network to ensure its security. NATO Secretary […]

HONG KONG: Cathay Pacific Airways said it expects to repay the Hong Kong government for HK$19.5 billion (US$2.5 billion) of preference shares over a three- to five-year period. The shares are part of a US$5 billion recapitalisation package announced on Tuesday to help the airline weather the coronavirus crisis, which […]

WASHINGTON: The coronavirus pandemic inflicted a “swift and massive shock” that has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870 despite unprecedented government support, the World Bank said on Monday (Jun 8). The world economy is expected to contract by 5.2 per cent this year – the worst […]

SEOUL: The de facto leader of Samsung Group, Jay Y Lee, appeared before a South Korean court on Monday (Jun 8), awaiting a ruling on whether new allegations including accounting fraud and stock manipulation will send him back to jail after more than two years of freedom. Prosecutors on Thursday […]

TOKYO: Japan’s economy braced for its worst postwar slump even as first-quarter GDP contracted less than initially thought, as the cornonavirus crisis slams the brakes on global growth and raises pressure on Tokyo to cushion the blow to business and consumers. Banks are doing their bit to help as lending […]