With elections looming in many African countries, banks are likely to feel increasing political heat to cut sky-high lending costs but are unlikely to unleash growth-boosting cheap credit into their e....

The Russian drought has intensified a debate about food security in a warming world and helped frame a multi-billion-dollar takeover bid for fertiliser company Potash Corp as a bet on rising food pric....

New EU rules to boost insurers' financial strength will spur more issues of securities tied to natural disasters and peak mortality risks as the sector moves onto even safer footing, Swiss Re sai....

Buyout surge to test European leveraged loan market

The European leveraged loan market, in the doldrums for nearly two years, is set for further growth in the second half as risk appetite returns to help private equity sponsors and trade buyers fund se....

Confidence is high among small businesses globally

Many small businesses around the world, especially in Turkey and the Middle East, plan to boost investment and hiring, a survey showed on Wednesday, at a time when the global outlook is increasingly u....

Global Markets Preview: Pricing for double-dip

By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent (Reuters) With the global economy slowing, interest rates about as low as they can go, governments getting austere and banks being investigated....

How some US textile mills sidestepped Armageddon

To get an idea of how some U.S. textile mills can compete with developing-world rivals who pay far lower wages, roll a bowling ball down one of the production lines at Parkdale Mills' Walnut Cove....

Will Greece leave the Eurozone?

BY DR. JIM LEONTIADES CIIM, The Cyprus Business School The Eurozone was greeted with many doubts at its inception. These were based mainly on economic arguments, for and against its benefits. ....

Market sentiment remains subdued, despite Greek bailout agreement

BY COSTIS STAMBOLIS Although the word “bailout” is not actually used by either EU or Greek government officials when commenting on the ongoing negotiations, there is little doubt among....

The Risk Watch Column: Risk myths and delusions

BY DR ALAN WARING Many large organisations are terribly naïve when it comes to recognising their significant risk exposures. Two independent cases exemplify just how unrealistic some compan....

Corporate carbon reduction efforts at risk by climate scepticism - EIU

The past year has seen an upsurge in public scepticism about climate change, following the perceived failures of December’s Copenhagen summit and rising concerns about the accuracy of climate sc....

UBS Comment: Trade is not sports

BY COSTA VAYENAS One of the oldest misconceptions in the field of economics is that trade has something to do with competition. When talking about competition, we usually mean sports. The year h....

The impact of the global financial crisis in MENA region

BY DOMINIKA GAJDZIEL MECOS Infocredit Insight The worldwide turbulences of last quarters, caused by the breakdown of the financial market, showed that every country in the world was affected....

Successful exporters shouldn’t be stingy

BY COSTA VAYENAS In our globalized world, the recipe for a "successful" economy is well known. If a country wants to enjoy rapid economic growth and avoid high unemployment, it has to be....

Don’t cut spending – re-think it

The strikes in Greece against budget cuts are a warning to all the other governments which have dug themselves into deep debt. But the good news is that budget reform can be done: Canada did it the mi....

European steel industry outlook revised to stable

Moody's Investors Service has changed its Industry Sector Outlook for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) steel industry to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’, driven by the v....