WATCH: Narendra Modi has his eyes set on a third term as India’s prime minister. Will the upcoming budget be the policy push he needs to swing the undecided voters?

Here's what to watch out for ➡️ https://trib.al/855WZUF

India's Annual Interim Budget 2024

India’s government will increase infrastructure spending by 11% in coming financial year and curb its fiscal deficit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says in her last budget speech before elections. https://trib.al/BMSlupl

Read an in-depth analysis on Modi’s last budget before elections in our free blog. https://trib.al/oE1HIkJ

Here are the winners and losers from India’s latest budget. https://trib.al/K6wZrZd

Menaka Doshi explains the unmissable takeaways for India and the global economy. Get the India Edition delivered straight to your inbox tomorrow. Subscribe here: https://bloom.bg/3qEX2rh

Vivendi's bid for Multichoice: Canal+ has offered to buy the shares of the South African pay-TV company that it doesn’t already own in a deal that values the business’s shares at 46 billion rand ($2.5 billion). https://bloom.bg/4bnAcqn

Nigeria lifts forex caps: The country's central bank eased rules on international money transfers, taking another step in freeing up its volatile foreign-exchange market to attract billions of dollars being sent home by citizens living abroad. https://bloom.bg/42ook3s

IMF, Egypt $10 billion deal: An International Monetary Fund mission to the Northeast African nation has extended its visit until the end of the week for urgent talks on a potential deal that may bring in partners and exceed $10 billion. https://bloom.bg/47VJqY1

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Exclusive: India's order to freeze much of fintech pioneer Paytm's business comes after years of warnings about questionable dealings. https://trib.al/PPUZW4L

Severe Blow: Shares of the digital-payments provider plunged 20% after Indian regulators ordered it to halt a bulk of its business. https://trib.al/S56sVFq

Explainer: What happens to your money in the app? Here's all you need to know. https://trib.al/9hiLMAn

Rough week for naira: Even by the standards of Nigeria’s byzantine foreign-exchange market, it’s been a crazy week for the naira. But as the dust settles, new measures are in place that could prove decisive for the world’s worst-performing currency. https://bloom.bg/3ul0gSA

Mozambique to end power pact: The sub-Saharan nation plans to end half a century of hydropower supply to South Africa’s state-owned electricity utility, raising risks for the continent’s most industrialized economy. https://bloom.bg/4blgImo

Ethiopia plan:  Ethiopian lawmakers voted to extend a state of emergency in the northern Amhara region that the government first declared in August, following clashes between federal troops and a rebel group. https://bloom.bg/3SryID2

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Nigeria on the mend: Nigerian Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso says the country has almost cleared a backlog of foreign-exchange contracts that have weighed on the naira and repeated that the currency is undervalued. https://bloom.bg/3vVYwPV

South Africa's election: The country's ruling party risks losing its majority in this year’s elections, but should be able to form a governing coalition with smaller parties, a survey of political analysts shows. https://bloom.bg/42uHe92

World class copper: KoBold Metals, a mining startup that uses artificial intelligence to explore for materials key to the green-energy transition, said it’s discovered a huge copper deposit in Zambia. https://bloom.bg/3HNdVow

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

A momentous shift is under way in global markets as investors pull billions of dollars from China’s sputtering economy, two decades after betting on the country as the world’s biggest growth story.

Much of that cash is now heading for India, with Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley endorsing the South Asian nation as the prime investment destination for the next decade.

That momentum is triggering a gold rush. More here on how a historic shift is under way: https://bloom.bg/49m2rUL

Senegal postpones election: Lawmakers agree to delay presidential elections in one of Africa’s strongest democracies, raising tensions that risk destabilizing the country. https://bloom.bg/4buRxha

Cocoa output: Ivory Coast's prolonged weather crises risk leading to a cocoa bean shortfall, adding to global concerns over tight supplies. https://bloom.bg/42r51Xf

Naira reforms: Nigerian central bank governor says dollar liquidity in the country’s currency market has risen sharply, pointing to “positive outcomes” from recent reforms. https://bloom.bg/49fNq6S

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Singapore's DBS slashed CEO Piyush Gupta’s compensation by S$4.1 million ($3 million) after the lender suffered a series of digital banking outages last year and was reprimanded by the central bank.

The pay cut, announced alongside DBS earnings, represents a 30% reduction in variable pay for Gupta, one of the highest paid executives in the country who earned S$15.4 million in total in 2022. https://bloom.bg/3HMrlRI

Japan’s demographic struggles are forcing companies and communities to open up at an unprecedented rate.

Last year, the number of foreign workers hit a record 2.04 million, up 12.4% from 2022, according to the labor ministry. That inflow is set to continue at a fast pace.

Yet even with the steady inflows of workers, Japan’s immigrant population is only around 2%, the lowest among the Group of Seven advanced economies, with the other six having such numbers in the double digits. Read more: https://bloom.bg/494Zzfg

Oil smuggling: The capture of a Libyan tanker in Albanian waters opens a window on a $5 billion trade in smuggled fuel — much of it coming from Russia. https://bloom.bg/3HO1c55

ANC may lose majority: South Africa’s ruling party looks set to lose its outright majority in national elections for the first time since 1994, while support for the populist Economic Freedom Fighters may rise, an Ipsos poll finds. https://bloom.bg/3Ozd1Q8

Twelve year high rate surprise: The Central Bank of Kenya surprised financial markets by raising borrowing costs to their highest level since 2012, as risks to inflation remain elevated and to support the shilling. https://bloom.bg/3weMlOe

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Pakistan suspends mobile phone services nationwide as voting began in the general election.

“Given recent surge in terrorist incidents, it has been decided to shut mobile services nationwide temporarily to maintain the law and order situation and tackle threats,” the nation’s interior ministry says. Here are the details: https://bloom.bg/3SPge0q

🇵🇰 Pakistan is going to elect a new leader, with its most popular politician, Imran Khan, behind bars. The country has suspended its mobile phone service, citing a "recent surge in terrorist incidents."

Keep up with the latest news and analysis in our live blog, which is free to read.

https://bloom.bg/3HScQeZ

📷: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

Yen boost: Kenya plans to raise $500 million through a bond sale in Japan, widening its funding pool as it prepares to repay maturing debt. https://bloom.bg/42AhXde

Chocolate prices: Cocoa futures extend their surge to a record in New York as a shortfall gripped the market, threatening to make chocolate and other confectionery costlier. https://bloom.bg/3UAuBHy

Energy overhaul: Mozambique is seeking to become one of Africa’s biggest hydropower producers and launch a green hydrogen industry. https://bloom.bg/48clMXg

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz.

“My memory is fine,” says US President Joe Biden after a special counsel’s report fueled concerns about his mental acuity and age.

In an impromptu press conference, Biden, 81, answered defiantly — and sometimes angrily — questions about his capacity to continue serving in the White House. Read more from his response: https://bloom.bg/49sTt87

BREAKING: Donald Trump wins the Nevada caucuses without a challenge from Nikki Haley, as he closes in on the Republican nomination.

News networks, including NBC, ABC and the Associated Press, called the race for the former president about 40 minutes after caucus sites closed. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/3w7onEB

Oil turmoil: African countries have struggled to benefit from some of the world’s biggest oil and gas discoveries in decades. Senegal is the latest to have its energy hopes dashed. https://bloom.bg/3SBzxcn

Bond boom: The new East African Bond Exchange, a would-be competitor for the Nairobi Securities Exchange, sees the prospect for exponential growth in Kenya’s bond market as it prepares to start operating in the first half of this year. https://bloom.bg/4bth5LP

Gold standard: Zimbabwe may back its currency with gold in an effort to end exchange-rate instability, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. https://bloom.bg/3wmLfjx

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz

Police in Delhi and the neighboring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have blocked major city access roads in an effort to halt thousands of farmers marching to demand guaranteed crop prices and loan waivers. It comes three years after crippling anti-reform demonstrations that choked the Indian capital for months. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/42D0Png

India, France, Brussels, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Poland, Germany - across the world, agriculture is spreading as a key battleground. Read our Big Take on how this is becoming a global culture war over money, food and climate change: https://bloom.bg/42D0S2q

📷: Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Against all odds, Imran Khan loyalists beat Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari by securing the most votes. Now Pakistan’s two main political parties are trying to thwart Khan with their coalition. But, their talks have hit a snag, as they can’t agree who will become prime minister. Read more here: https://bloom.bg/3uzWhl9

India's finance industry has profited handsomely from an emerging culture of speculation. But retail traders are losing billions in a booming stock market.

In 2023, Indian investors traded 85 billion options contracts, more than anywhere else in the world. Regulators are alarmed that they are bypassing the tried-and-true way to build wealth. Despite rules against it, promoters and influencers have found a grey area to push the dream of stock market riches to the country's fast-growing cadre of small investors. Read how the authorities are trying to crack down: https://bloom.bg/48eRmnm

📷: Subhash Sharma for Bloomberg Markets

Mozambique raid: Islamic State-linked fighters carried out their deadliest attack on Mozambican troops since 2021, ratcheting up security concerns. https://bloom.bg/3wc5QHn

Dollar shortage: The naira plunges to a record low against the dollar as availability of the US currency in Nigerian markets declines sharply. https://bloom.bg/3HZ6v1x

Green finance: Sub-Saharan Africa’s investment in renewable energy needs to increase fivefold to meet a commitment of boosting global capacity to 11,500 gigawatts of clean energy by 2030, a new study shows. https://bloom.bg/4byjZPp

Watch Africa Amplified for a deep dive into the region’s biggest stories: https://bloom.bg/3u0S3Cz