While a global deal to cut oil production has helped to rebalance the market, Kuwait, along with other oil-reliant countries, must now look to what happens when the deal ends. Kit Gillet reports.

Dr Meshaal Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, director-general of the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority, discusses the country’s plans to cut bureaucracy and its ambitions to be a regional business hub.

Indebtedness to China has obliged Sri Lanka to hand over a major port to its financier. Is this an emerging pattern in Asia? Nikkei staff writer Yuji Kuronuma reports. 

Mohammad Al-Hashel, governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, tells James King how a focus on shoring up capital adequacy has enabled Kuwaiti banks to withstand the pressures of the low oil price environment.

Kuwait is positioning itself as a future regional financial, cultural and institutional hub, forging ahead with infrastructure mega-projects and developing private sector investment – apparently unbowed by disputes at home and between its Gulf neighbours. James King reports.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is set to include the first high-speed railway in Indonesia, but questions linger on the funding prospects for the $6bn project. Nikkei staff writer Erwida Maulia reports.

Andy Cairns, First Abu Dhabi Bank’s head of global corporate finance, tells Danielle Myles what’s next for Middle Eastern Eurobonds, and how the bank is promoting the region to foreign investors.

China and Kazakhstan have signed many agreements for the Belt and Road Initiative but tangible projects have yet to materialise. Chinese investors blame red tape, while Kazakhs express concern over land reforms and the environment, as Nikkei Asian Review contributing writer Naubet Bisenov reports.

Amid the China-funded infrastructure push in Pakistan, concerns are starting to mount about rising deficits. Go Yamada, Nikkei senior deputy editor, reports.

Kuwaiti banks are in ebullient mood, reporting both decent profits and healthy capital adequacy levels. But while government spending promises further growth opportunities, competition for customers is heating up in a crowded market, as James King reports.