Russia has been expanding its gold reserves at a record pace, according to information from the World Gold Council (WGC). Russian business newspaper Kommersant suggests this gold rush will give Russia guarantees against sanctions and economic and geopolitical risks. In the third quarter of 2017, the Central Bank of Russia bought 63 tons of the precious metal, bringing…
One of the world’s top energy importers, China, is set to roll out a yuan-denominated oil contract as early as this year. Analysts call the plan, announced by Beijing in September, a huge move against the dollar’s global dominance. The so-called petro-yuan is a “wake up call” for investors who haven’t paid attention to the…
Caribbean states devastated by recent hurricanes are selling citizenship to Middle Eastern investors to raise funds to help their recovery. But some officials warn that the islands’ rival schemes have fuelled a “race to the bottom” in which prized passports are being handed out cheaply. Islands badly hit by last month’s storms included Dominica, where…
An agreement on using local currencies in trade has been inked between the central banks of Iran and Turkey. The aim is to improve economic links and make bilateral trade easier. Under the deal, the Iranian rial and Turkish lira will be easily converted to help reduce the costs of currency conversion and transfer for…
US President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser acknowledged that the president said Germany is “very bad” when it comes to flooding the U.S. with cars, but insisted it wasn’t an attack on one of America’s most-important allies. “He said, ‘They’re very bad on trade,’ but he doesn’t have a problem with Germany,” Gary Cohn, director…
Only 34 out of 88 armored vehicles supplied by Ukraine to Iraq as part of a 2009 deal were able to move, leaked results of the inspection revealed. The botched contract is still being probed in Kiev, but now it wants to find a Russian role there. Ukrainian website ZN.ua obtained a letter, addressed by…
