
AFP
17701 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
17701 articles published since 08 Mar 2022
Passenger traffic at European airports returned to pre-Covid levels in the first half of the year as the sector finally "turned the corner" on the pandemic crisis, the main industry association said on Wednesday.
The eurozone's annual inflation rate unexpectedly edged up in July due to rising energy costs, official data showed on Wednesday. Across the eurozone, Finland recorded the lowest inflation rate in July, at 0.6 percent, Eurostat data showed.
The World Bank has approved a $1.5 billion financial package to support cash-strapped Ethiopia's economic reform programme after officials loosened curbs on the local currency. The IMF board on Monday approved a four-year loan programme worth around $3.4 billion to support the reforms, with around $1 billion immediately disbursed.
Banking giant HSBC said Wednesday that pre-tax profits in the first half of 2024 came in at $21.6 billion, slightly lower than last year's record performance. "After delivering record profits in 2023, we had another strong profit performance in the first half of 2024, which is further evidence that our strategy is working," said Noel Quinn, the group's outgoing chief executive.
The Bank of Japan lifted its main interest rate Wednesday for just the second time in 17 years in another step away from its long-standing ultra-loose monetary policies. The bank is seeking to normalise its outlier ultra-loose policies, which have driven down the value of the yen.
When Konstantinos Tsanis got his doctorate in finance in 2011 at the height of Greece's debt crisis, his chances of a well-paid job at home were pretty thin. Some 350,000 people who emigrated during the crisis have since returned, the finance ministry said in March.
The US Federal Reserve is highly unlikely to waver from its position of holding interest rates at a two-decade high on Wednesday, but could drop hints about a September start to rate cuts.
The yen extended its rally against the dollar Wednesday ahead of a much-anticipated Bank of Japan announcement, with debate centred on whether it will hike interest rates, while equities mostly rose on growing hopes for a cut in US borrowing costs.
Bot-like accounts on social media platform X that spread misinformation and hate ahead of Britain's election are now amplifying conspiracy theories around US politics, a watchdog investigation revealed Tuesday, as the race to the White House kicks into high gear.
AFP
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