NAIROBI: Kenya’s government plans to cut 2024-25 spending by 1.9 percent and widen the fiscal deficit to 3.6 percent of GDP in a revised budget, the treasury said, weeks after it was forced to roll back tax hikes due to mass protests.

BEIJING: China’s economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter as a protracted property downturn and job insecurity knocked the wind out of a fragile recovery, keeping alive expectations Beijing will need to unleash even more stimulus.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will cut power prices by 22.5 percent from Tuesday, the utilities regulator said, as the Indian Ocean nation attempts to ease the cost of living for millions of people amid its worst financial crisis in decades.

WASHINGTON: Goldman Sachs’ profit more than doubled in the second quarter and beat analysts’ estimates on strong debt underwriting and fixed-income trading, but slipped from a bumper first quarter when earnings were the highest since 2021.

BEIJING: China has requested the World Trade Organization to set up an expert panel to help settle a dispute over electric vehicles subsidies under the US Inflation Reduction Act, the country’s commerce ministry said on Monday.

MOSCOW: The Russian ruble strengthened slightly against the dollar on Monday after the government lowered a mandatory foreign currency sales requirement on major exporters to 40 percent from 60 percent over the weekend.

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged Thursday, giving the eurozone time to digest last month’s first cut since 2019 as the inflation path remains unpredictable.

MOSCOW: A deal to split the assets of Russian technology company Yandex was finalized on Monday, with a Russian consortium of investors buying the bulk of Yandex’s businesses in a cash and shares deal worth around $5.4 billion.

WASHINGTON: Struggling US department store chain Macy’s said Monday that it has ended discussions with an investor group which sought to buy the company for roughly $6.9 billion - after months of negotiations.