Global news briefs from the Economist

Global business

George Osborne, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, said the government would start selling its majority stake in Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS has struggled since its bailout in 2008 despite various restructurings and the hiving off of its bad assets in 2013. Osborne thinks that now is the time to cut the government's losses and begin the process of returning RBS fully to the private sector. Taxpayers stand to lose billions if the bank is sold at its current share price.

Iceland has said that it would gradually remove the capital controls imposed at the peak of the financial crisis, a sign that the economy has moved on. In 2008, Iceland's three biggest banks collapsed with debts held mostly in foreign currencies. At the time their combined assets dwarfed Iceland's GDP.

In an attempt to revive a sluggish economy, the Brazilian government set out incentives for private-sector bidders to invest 198 billion reais ($64 billion) in infrastructure over the next few years. A similar package of concessions in 2012 attracted only about a fifth of the targeted amount because of overbearing conditions, but the government is offering better terms this time.

The yields on bonds issued by eurozone countries reached their highest point of the year so far, with the yield on German 10-year bonds rising above 1 percent for the first time since September. With long-term inflation forecasts picking up, the yields on U.S. and British government bonds also rose.

CI, a company that compiles share indexes that are tracked by leading funds, once again chose to exclude Chinese equities from its benchmark emerging-markets index. It said that Chinese stock markets were "on track for inclusion," but made it clear that the pace needs to be quicker.

Tokio Marine, a big Japanese insurer, agreed to buy U.S.-based HCC Insurance for $7.5 billion. Japanese companies are making foreign acquisitions at a record pace this year.

Political economy

Japan's economy grew faster in the first quarter than was thought. A revised estimate found that GDP expanded by 3.9 percent at an annualized rate, up from the 2.4 percent reported last month. Inventories remained very high, prompting more warnings about an oversupply of goods, but the revision also reflected a surge in business investment.

The United States announced plans for a modest increase of its training forces in Iraq. A new base will be manned in Anbar Province, with about 450 additional soldiers on top of the 3,100 currently deployed in the country. Their job will be to train Iraqi forces for the expected attempt to recapture Ramadi, Anbar's largest city, which fell to Islamic State fighters last month.

There was more heavy fighting in Yemen, as the warring parties prepared to send delegates to Geneva for a round of UN-sponsored "consultations," as opposed to "peace talks," Saudi-led airstrikes on the headquarters of the Yemeni army in Sana'a, the capital, killed 44 people.

The leaders of Africa's three trading blocs, which represent 26 countries, signed an agreement to establish a free-trade area that would cover the continent's biggest economies and stretch from Cape Town to Cairo. Yet no timeline was set for a reduction in tariffs, nor have the three blocs had much success in boosting trade among their members.

Hundreds of thousands of people face starvation in South Sudan as a result of a civil war, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Similar numbers, meanwhile, face a shortage of food and medical care in northeastern Nigeria because of the insurgency by Boko Haram, a jihadist outfit.

In Turkey's election, a big chunk of voters deserted the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, which lost its parliamentary majority. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) easily cleared the 10 percent threshold for parliamentary seats. The president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, may now have to abandon his plan to boost presidential powers, and forming a governing coalition will be difficult.

The G-7 summit was held in a castle in Bavaria under the chairmanship of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. The political leaders promised to end all fossil-fuel emissions by the end of the century. They also undertook to maintain sanctions on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine.

Belgium is minting euro coins to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, despite strenuous French objections. It got around the need for French agreement by issuing them as €2.50 coins instead of €2.

News Services