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Cop28

Mena youth climate anxiety

Climate anxiety rises among Mena youth

More than two-thirds of 18-to-24-year-olds in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) say they are “very concerned” about the potential impacts of climate change. More than half are ready to boycott brands that damage the environment, a survey shows.  Previously unreleased findings from the 15th annual Asda’a BCW Arab Youth Survey, published earlier this […]

Al Zeyoudi trade climate change

UAE minister urges trade to reduce environmental impact

Trade is the “lifeblood” of the global economy but it needs to urgently play a part in the fight against climate change, a UAE minister said on Wednesday. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of state for foreign trade, conceded that global trade “has one of the biggest contributions to make” to reducing […]

A worker at Shell's Pearl GTL facility in Doha, Qatar. The country has yet to set a net zero target

Majority of Mena countries lack net zero target, IEA warns

Just six out of 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) have set a target for reaching net zero carbon emissions, hampering global efforts to tackle climate change, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).  The IEA has published a detailed update to its net zero roadmap of 2021. In the report, […]

aviation offsets

Aviation offset rules face shake-up as doubts persist

An imminent change to rules governing aviation carbon offsets ahead of the Cop28 climate conference may not be enough to convince airlines and others they have a meaningful effect, it has emerged. Aviation, like steel- and cement-making, is a hard-to-abate industry. It is difficult for companies within the sector to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide […]

Best of AGBI

Gulf refinery upgrade programme

Gulf invests in major oil refinery upgrade programme

Gulf states are expanding their oil refining capacity through a series of massive upgrades, at the same time as they drive towards net zero and seek to move away from petroleum and natural gas. The apparent contradiction is, however, only apparent.  From Az-Zour in Kuwait to Duqm in Oman, the refinery upgrades are central to […]

Talented Emiratis don’t have appetite for food-related jobs

Working in the UAE’s food and agriculture businesses is not “very attractive” for Emirati students and the industry must do more to attract local talent, according to the chief of a Dubai Chamber-run food entity.  “Nationals don’t even represent two percent of the overall workforce in the food sector,” Saleh Lootah, chairman of the F&B […]

Israel expects religious tourism to Saudi holy cities

Israel sees religious tourism among its Muslim population as a major benefit of a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, Israeli minister of tourism Haim Katz said in Riyadh this week.  “Twenty percent of Israel is Muslim, two million, and they will come to Mecca easily,” Katz told AGBI on September 27 at a gala dinner […]

Foreign investors turn to World Bank for Mena disputes

Foreign investors are increasingly filing cases at the World Bank’s arbitration unit to resolve disputes with countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The World Bank launched the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in 1966 to enforce investor rights that are guaranteed within bilateral investment treaties between countries. In […]

Expats in UAE get ready to leave ‘golden goodbye’ behind

The “golden goodbye” has long been a staple of UAE office life. Expat staff are handed a lump sum by their employer when they leave, based on a percentage of their salary and length of service.  But the practice is starting to change. More companies are looking to set up workplace pension and saving plans instead.  […]

UAE latest

UAE Egypt central bank governors

UAE and Egypt sign currency swap agreement

The central banks of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have signed a bilateral swap deal in local currencies to boost trade and bolster financial stability. The agreement allows for the exchange of UAE dirhams and Egyptian pounds with a nominal amount of up to AED5 billion ($1.36 billion) and EGP42 billion, the UAE state-run […]

Damac Gems

Damac awards $160m contracts for two projects

Damac Properties has awarded two contracts worth AED588 million ($160 million) for Damac Hills, the Dubai developer’s flagship master development. The first contract, valued at AED341 million, is for the main works of the Gems Estates cluster – a luxurious collection of high-end mansions branded by Swiss jeweller de Grisogono, with home interiors branded by […]

Adani

Abu Dhabi’s IHC to sell stake in two Adani entities

International Holding Company (IHC), an Abu Dhabi-headquartered investment firm, is to sell its stake in two of India’s Adani Group companies. The conglomerate’s subsidiaries, Green Energy Investment Holding RSC and Green Transmission Investment Holding RSC, have entered into definitive agreements with a buyer to sell their stake in Adani Green Energy Limited and Adani Energy […]

Hospital

Mubadala in talks to buy stake in Indian hospital

Mubadala is in talks to acquire a stake of less than 10 percent in India’s Manipal Hospitals, in what could be the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund’s first investment in the booming Indian healthcare space, people with direct knowledge said. The fund is holding talks with Singapore’s Temasek, which spent $2 billion in April to raise […]

Adnic Allianz SF

Abu Dhabi insurer Adnic takes over Saudi’s Allianz SF

Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (Adnic) is to take a majority stake in one of Saudi Arabia’s top insurance companies as it looks to increase its presence in the kingdom. Adnic announced to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Thursday that it plans to acquire 51 percent of share capital of Allianz Saudi Fransi […]

Saudi Arabia latest

Adnic Allianz SF

Abu Dhabi insurer Adnic takes over Saudi’s Allianz SF

Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (Adnic) is to take a majority stake in one of Saudi Arabia’s top insurance companies as it looks to increase its presence in the kingdom. Adnic announced to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Thursday that it plans to acquire 51 percent of share capital of Allianz Saudi Fransi […]

Aramco MidOcean

Aramco invests $500m in LNG business MidOcean

Saudi Arabia’s Aramco has made its first investment in the international liquefied natural gas (LNG) market with a $500 million investment in MidOcean Energy. The Saudi oil supermajor has acquired a minority stake in the company, which is the LNG unit of US-based energy investor EIG. The deal includes an option to increase the size […]

Israeli Muslims could visit Saudi holy sites

Israel expects religious tourism to Saudi holy cities

Israel sees religious tourism among its Muslim population as a major benefit of a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, Israeli minister of tourism Haim Katz said in Riyadh this week.  “Twenty percent of Israel is Muslim, two million, and they will come to Mecca easily,” Katz told AGBI on September 27 at a gala dinner […]

Saudi unemployed - most are willing to work in private sector

Almost all unemployed Saudis ready to join private sector

Almost 95 percent of unemployed Saudi nationals are open to taking up jobs in the private sector, according to the latest survey by the kingdom’s statistical authority. Unemployment among citizens of the kingdom state declined marginally to 8.3 percent in the second quarter from 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023. The overall unemployment […]

Lucid opens first global EV factory in Saudi Arabia

Californian electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group has opened its first international manufacturing plant in the newly-launched King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) special economic zone. The Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority last week issued Lucid a permit to operate a manufacturing unit at KAEC in Jeddah. The US-based EV maker, which is backed by […]

Around the Middle East

QatarEnergy and Korean shipyard HHI signed a deal for LNG carriers

QatarEnergy awards $3.9bn contract to Korean shipyard

State-owned QatarEnergy has signed a QAR14.2 billion ($3.90 billion) contract with South Korean shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of 17 liquefied natural gas carriers. The deal marks the start of the second phase of the state-run energy company’s LNG ship acquisition programme, which will support expanding its LNG production capacity from the […]

Cyprus’s cabinet prepares surplus-yielding budget

Cyprus’s cabinet approved its 2024 draft budgetary plan on Wednesday which is expected to yield a surplus of 2.2 percent of national output, authorities said. Growth was expected to reach 2.9 percent, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said. The budget, which requires parliamentary approval, is the first prepared by Christodoulides’s centrist administration after winning presidential elections […]

Israeli hi-tech firms raise $1.7bn in Q3 2023

Israeli high-tech firms raised $1.7 billion in the third quarter, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, in a sign that investment in startups is stabilising. The amount raised in the third quarter was down 38 percent over the same period in 2022 but only 14 percent lower from the second quarter, the IVC Research Center and […]

Government agency Anesrif is seeking companies to build 575km of railway to the mine in the western Tindouf province

Algeria’s rail tender aims to boost iron ore mining sector

Algeria has issued a construction tender for a rail project that the government hopes will unleash the potential of an iron ore mine in a remote province. Anesrif, a transport business set up by the government to expand and modernise the railway system, is seeking companies to build a 575km section to the Gâra Djebilet […]

Oman's foreign exchange reserves will rise modestly this year as debt repayments continue

Fitch raises Oman’s credit rating on lower external debt

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Oman’s credit rating to BB+ from BB with a stable outlook as lower external debt has reduced liquidity risks. The upgrade reflects the use of high oil revenues to pay down debt and spread its maturity, spending restraint reducing external risks, and an increase in oil price forecast, the ratings agency […]

Investcorp co-CEO Rishi Kapoor. The Bahraini investment company has more than $50 billion in assets under management across three continents

Bahrain’s Investcorp completes first IPO in Indonesia

Investcorp has successfully listed its Indonesian franchisee of the Mothercare brand as its focus on Asia continues to grow. The listing of PT Multitrend Indo is the Bahrain alternative investment company’s first IPO on the Indonesian stock exchange and the 26th in its 40-year history. Mothercare is one of Indonesia’s leading baby and kids retailers, […]

Oil production in Oman rose very slightly in Q2, but prices and oil-related activity fell

Oman GDP falls after slowdown in oil activities

Oman’s GDP recorded a fall of 9.5 percent in the second quarter of this year, largely as a result of a slowdown in oil-related activities. The sultanate’s GDP was OMR10.1 billion ($26.24 billion) in the second quarter, compared with OMR11.1 billion for the same period last year, according to the National Center for Statistics and […]

LG's plant aims to produce 50,000 metric tonnes of lithium-phosphate-iron cathode materials annually, enough to be installed in 500,000 entry-class EVs

LG lithium plant in Morocco to start production in 2026

South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd has entered into partnership with China’s Huayou Group’s subsidiary Youshan to build a joint electric vehicle (EV) battery material plant in Morocco in an effort to diversify its portfolio. The plant, set to start production in 2026, aims to produce 50,000 metric tonnes of lithium-phosphate-iron (LFP) cathode materials annually, enough […]

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Turkey Latest

Turkey's finance minister Mehmet Simsek

Erdoğan’s stock grows as Turkey’s index doubles

Turkey’s main stock index has nearly doubled since veteran leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s surprise re-election in May, and experts forecast the rally can persist until early 2024 at least. Further gains seem probable as retail investors buy equities to hedge against resurgent inflation and the president’s new finance chiefs convince institutions the country is returning […]

People, Person, Crowd

European bank ups Turkey’s GDP growth to 3.5% in 2023

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has raised its 2023 GDP growth forecast for Turkey to 3.5 percent, up from a previous estimation of 2.5 percent. The upward revision is driven by the fiscal stimulus in the run-up to the May elections and the shift in the economic policymaking post-election, according to the […]

Turkey lira reserves

Turkey begins rolling back ‘costly’ lira protection scheme

Turkey’s central bank has begun rolling back a costly scheme that protects lira deposits from FX depreciation by removing minimum interest rates, according to a document sent to banks and seen by two bankers. Last week the central bank raised its interest rate to 30 percent, which would have been the new minimum rate for […]

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently met President Erdogan in New York while the Turkish leader was visiting the UN

Elon Musk’s Starlink applies for Turkey licence  

SpaceX’s satellite internet venture Starlink has applied for a licence in Turkey after a meeting in the US between its founder Elon Musk and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Turkey’s deputy transport and infrastructure minister, confirmed that the application has been filed. “Starlink, which offers low Earth orbit satellite services, expressed their desire to operate […]

Shoppers at a supermarket in Sanaa, Yemen. In the UAE, inflation in the cost of staples such as flour is slowing

Turkey hikes rates to 30% to strengthen hawkish turn

Turkey’s central bank raised its key interest rate by a lofty 500 basis points to 30 percent on Thursday, marking a second month of aggressive tightening after President Tayyip Erdogan set aside his long opposition to tight policy. The bank reiterated it is ready to raise rates further as needed to rein in inflation that […]

Egypt Latest

Egyptian stock exchange

FTSE places Egypt on potential demotion watch list

Global index provider FTSE Russell will add Egypt and Pakistan to the watch lists for potential demotion in its equity index suites. The two countries will be on watch lists for demotion from “secondary emerging markets”, with Egypt moving to become an “unclassified market” and Pakistan getting “frontier market” status. “Market participants and index users […]

Egypt to issue new bonds to meet 2050 sustainable goals

Egypt is planning to launch new bond issuances on the debt markets to support its 2050 national climate change strategy, a local news daily reported. The finance ministry intends to issue “blue and green bonds”, which are linked to environmental and water projects, as well as social and sustainable bonds related to women’s empowerment, Daily […]

Egypt minister Tarek El-Molla announced oil and gas exploration bids

Egypt opens bidding for new oil and gas exploration

The Oil Ministry of Egypt on Monday launched an international bidding round for exploration in 23 blocks by oil and gas companies.  Of the blocks on offer, 10 are in the Western Desert, seven in the Gulf of Suez, four in the Red Sea, and two in the Eastern Desert. The tenders are part of […]

Adnoc to expand its branded service stations across Egypt

Adnoc Distribution, a subsidiary of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, plans to open six new service stations in Egypt by the end of the year. The UAE company announced the opening of three Adnoc branded service stations on Saturday after acquiring a 50 percent stake in TotalEnergies Marketing Egypt earlier this year. The newly opened […]

Logo, Person, Man

Egypt says IMF to merge two reviews of reform program

Egypt said it had agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to merge the fund’s first and second reviews of its economic reform programme, after the first review was repeatedly delayed amid questions over Egypt’s progress in meeting the IMF’s terms. The IMF in December approved a $3 billion extended fund facility loan for Egypt, […]

Features

Expats in UAE get ready to leave ‘golden goodbye’ behind

The “golden goodbye” has long been a staple of UAE office life. Expat staff are handed a lump sum by their employer when they leave, based on a percentage of their salary and length of service.  But the practice is starting to change. More companies are looking to set up workplace pension and saving plans instead.  […]

Collectors buy for love, but Arab art is big business too

One of the first things that strikes you about the modern and contemporary Arab art on display at Christie’s gallery in central London is its variety.  Cubist pieces from Baghdad hang alongside figurative Egyptian paintings, saffron-coloured tapestries next to abstract ink-on-paper drawings.   Dreams of the Detainee, a portrait in profile from 1961 by Cairo-born activist […]

Russians bulk buying iPhones in UAE to sell back home

Last year Apple officially stopped all product sales on its Apple store in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite this, Russian telecom operator MTS and Russian e-commerce sites are already accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 15 – to be unveiled by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday – and some of […]

People & Lifestyle

Qiddiya tourism

$1bn tourism school to open in Saudi’s Qiddiya

Saudi Arabia plans to build a $1 billion tourism school in the Qiddiya sports, culture and entertainment city giga-project.  The Riyadh School for Tourism and Hospitality will train workers from around the world, not only Saudi Arabia, tourism minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb told a UN World Tourism Organization gathering in the capital. The training headquarters at […]

Lottoland's David von Rosen-von Hoewel says Dubai is "perfectly suited" for his new project after the launch of its new gaming authority

Lottoland founder sets sights on $1bn Dubai lottery

The founder of the global lottery betting platform Lottoland has revealed plans to launch the world’s first $1 billion overnight jackpot in Dubai. David von Rosen-von Hoewel told AGBI he is set to hold talks with the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA). The UAE’s new industry watchdog was established earlier this month, which will lay […]

RAK film tourism

Lights, camera, action: RAK seeks leading role in film tourism

The UAE is no stranger to the silver screen, whether it be Tom Cruise dangling perilously from Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible blockbuster Ghost Protocol, or Vin Diesel powering his $3 million supercar from one Etihad Tower in Abu Dhabi to the next in the seventh iteration of the Fast and Furious franchise. Ras […]

Bicester Village

Middle East shoppers surge at UK’s Bicester Village

Travelling on the train to Bicester Village, do not be surprised if you hear announcements in Arabic as you approach the British designer outlet retail destination an hour from London.  This is just one example of the steps Bicester Village’s parent company Value Retail has taken in recent years to attract more Middle East shoppers.  The […]

Saudi Pro League footbal - Al-Feiha's Mohammed Al Baqawi in action with Al-Hilal's Michael

Saudi football sells TV rights in hope of net profit

Saudi Arabia’s professional football league has sold broadcast rights to 12 networks across 130 countries for coverage of the 2023-24 season, following a spending spree on players that has captured global attention.  But wary of previous experience with China, broadcasters will be following closely to see if a global appetite exists for Saudi Arabia.  “The […]

Around the world

African leaders argue that they must be allowed to exploit their resources to lift their people out of poverty and raise living standards

Afrexim taps traders for $3bn loan to Nigerian oil company

African Export–Import Bank (Afrexim Bank) is tapping oil traders to finance a $3 billion loan to Nigeria’s state oil company that is central to the country’s efforts to support the naira, three sources told Reuters. The currency hit an all-time low of 1,000 to the dollar on the black market on Tuesday. Afrexim approached traders […]

World Bank president sees over $100bn lending boost

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga on Tuesday said proposed new contributions from wealthy countries combined with balance sheet changes could boost the bank’s lending capacity by $100 billion to $125 billion over a decade. Banga told a council on foreign relations event that the contributions would come outside the bank’s normal shareholding structure and […]

President Joko Widodo launched Indonesia emissions trading on Tuesday

Indonesia launches carbon emissions trading

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo launched his country’s first carbon emissions trading on Tuesday, as it aims to create a market that will fund efforts to reduce emissions. Indonesia, an archipelago home to the world’s third largest area of rainforest, is also one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters. The Southeast Asian country has set […]

Aircraft, Flight, Transportation

Qantas warns rising fuel costs may hit fares

Australia’s biggest airline Qantas Airways said on Monday it will spend more than previously planned to improve “customer pain points” but warned spiraling fuel costs may force it to raise fares from already-elevated levels. The update sent its shares down as much as 2.5 percent to a one-year low as investors questioned the airline’s ability […]