Word: tap
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...most asset-rich corporations in the world. The market cap of PetroChina (PTR) recently passed Exxon Mobil (XOM) making it the most valuable company traded on any stock exchange. That gives it the option of using cash or stock to acquire assets in the West and Japan.PetroChina can also tap the Chinese treasury for cash...
...long time, the normal laws of economics did not seem to apply in Dubai, the most populous of the seven states that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi, the seat of political power in the UAE, controls most of the country's oil resources. With less oil to tap, Dubai has used low taxes, easy money and cheap Asian labor to transform itself into one of the region's most dynamic economies. The city state developed a kind of signature swagger, expressed most gaudily in the gargantuan real estate projects - an indoor ski slope, man-made islands shaped like...
...elsewhere in the region. The nation's wealth was also placed in very liquid investments, predominantly U.S. government paper assets, rather than real estate. While other regional investment funds were buying into international banks, Saudi Arabia was purchasing U.S. government bonds, or paying down its debt. The country can tap into those liquid assets while its neighbors are struggling to sell their investments in banks, equities and companies - Saudi's debt now stands at just 13% of the total size of its economy...
Infrastructure and sanitation remain huge problems. Major roads are still in need of repair; large towns still do not have safe tap water. Schools cannot provide students with textbooks, and civil servants grumble over the $100 monthly salary they receive. And Zimbabwe owes international financial organizations more than $1 billion. While the World Bank has agreed to resume aid to Zimbabwe for the first time since 2000 with a tentative $22 million grant, bigger loans will follow only after Harare retires its debt. (See pictures by James Nachtwey on some of the poorest people in the world, including in Zimbabwe...
...most of the past five years, the Chinese gambling mecca of Macau seemed a sure bet. After the local government ended a decades-old gaming monopoly in 2002, some of the biggest casino and hotel operators in the world rushed in with new projects, eager to tap into the hoards of wealthy Chinese who increasingly flocked to the "Asian Las Vegas." The first American company to enter the market was Las Vegas Sands, which opened the Sands Macau casino in 2004 - and earned back its $285 million investment in only a year. U.S. casino mogul Steve Wynn, who opened...