Headlines

State-owned Dubai World is set to reach a deal with creditors to extend repayments on its $25 billion (Dh91.8 billion) debt, according to one of Dubai’s top government officials, Gulfnews.com reported. “I can say for sure we will reach it. It is there and I’m sure you will hear about it soon,” said Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee and President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group. Shaikh Ahmad declined to divulge further details aside from assuring reporters that there will be an announcement soon.

China has launched a fresh effort to boost its flagging economy with cash injections by the central bank, but signs are mounting that monetary stimulus is losing its effectiveness as debt-ridden companies lose their appetite for borrowing even at low rates, the Financial Times reported. ‘Mini-stimulus’ measures launched since April have focused on increasing the supply of money and credit. Last week the central bank moved to inject $81bn into the banking system via loans to the five biggest banks.

Russia will remain committed to developing its market economy as the state offers billions of dollars of aid to help the country’s biggest companies weather sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe, Bloomberg News reported. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with business leaders to discuss state aid to cope with the strain as Russia’s economic slowdown is exacerbated by the sanctions, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said today at an investment forum in the Black Sea city of Sochi, site of the Winter Olympics.

Dubai government-owned property firm Limitless has held positive talks with creditors as it seeks to re-negotiate the terms of a $1.2 billion debt facility which has already been restructured once before, its chief executive told Reuters on Sunday, Gulf Business reported. “We have a revised business plan which we are discussing with creditors. The discussions have been positive and we hope we can announce the outcome of these talks soon,” Mohammed Rashed told Reuters on the sidelines of a real estate event.

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) chief, Kevin Toland, warned trade unionists yesterday that workers at the State company could lose close to €200 million in pension benefits if they do not agree to proposals designed to wind up the insolvent aviation staff retirement scheme, the Irish Times reported.

Another rural bank has been shuttered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, ABS-CBN News reported. The Monetary Board (MB) placed the Rural Bank of Padre Burgos (Southern Leyte), Inc. under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) last September 12. The PDIC took over the bank on September 15. The rural bank's head office is located in Poblacion, Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte. As of June 30, 2014, records showed the bank has 6,120 accounts with total deposit liabilities of P32.6 million.

Economist Paul Krugman thinks that if Japan’s sales tax reaches 10%, it could mean a disastrous return to deflation, The Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time blog reported. In an interview published this week in Shukan Gendai, a weekly Japanese magazine, Mr. Krugman, a Princeton University economist and New York Times columnist, weighed in on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policy as Mr. Abe’s administration closes in on the two-year mark in December. Saying that Mr. Abe has listened to the wrong people, Mr.

Banks borrowed less than expected from the European Central Bank in a disappointing start for a program intended to encourage more lending to businesses and households and to pump money into the ailing eurozone economy, the International New York Times reported. The central bank said on Thursday that it would allot nearly 83 billion euros, or about $107 billion, to 255 commercial banks next week. Estimates of how much money banks would borrow had varied widely, but many analysts said before the announcement that anything less than €100 billion would be a disappointment.

Argentina is holding a gun to the head of Citigroup, a lawyer for the bank told a three-judge panel in Manhattan on Thursday, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. The bank has found itself in an awkward position: It must decide between defying a New York court order or a sovereign government, a move that it says would result in “grave sanctions” from Argentina. “We’re going to obey, and if we obey, we have a gun to our head and the gun will probably go off,” Karen Wagner, a lawyer representing Citigroup, said.

The Italian economy is struggling to emerge from a prolonged recession and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi needs now to firmly push through his bold reform agenda to address Italy's structural weaknesses and unleash the country's growth potential while continuing to reduce its huge debt load, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. In its annual staff report completed at the end of August after bilateral consultations with Rome, the IMF forecast a 0.1% drop in Italy's gross domestic product in 2014, highlighting the challenges that Mr.