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Top stories

Expat employees in the UAE traditionally leave with a "golden goodbye" bonus. But this is starting to change

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 Emirati companies are looking to set up workplace pension and saving plans […]

Corn harvest season in Zhangye, Gansu Province. China has trained 10,000 agricultural officials and staff from 22 Arab League member countries

China and Arab states sign $471m worth of agri deals

A total of 34 deals worth AED1.73 billion ($471 million) were signed at the China-Arab States Expo, promoting cooperation and development in the agricultural sector. Agriculture has become an important part of China-Arab cooperation, and trade in agricultural products has recorded steady growth, the UAE state-run Wam news agency reported, citing the China Economic Net […]

Artist's impression of the planned cliff-top football stadium in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia's entertainment and sports complex south-west of Riyadh

Saudi developer wins $610m Qiddiya giga-project contract

A SAR2.3 billion ($610 million) contract has been awarded to carry out key infrastructure work on Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya giga-project, described as the country’s capital of entertainment. The Saudi Real Estate Company said in a filing on the Saudi Stock Exchange on Monday that contracts have been agreed between the Qiddiya Investment Company and one […]

Trending

  1. Oman GDP falls after slowdown in oil activities

  2. More companies set up Saudi HQs as deadline nears

  3. Adnoc to expand its branded service stations across Egypt

  4. Funding secured for Adnoc’s $2.2bn water supply project

  5. Bahrain’s Investcorp completes first IPO in Indonesia

OPINION & Analysis

Cop28

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 […]

Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Cop28 president-designate, opened trading on Wall Street at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday

Fossil fuel phase-down ‘inevitable’ says Al Jaber

Cop28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber this week implored world leaders to cut reliance on fossil fuels to meet carbon reduction targets.  Addressing the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York, Al Jaber – who is also group chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company – urged nations to fast track the transition to a […]

A Bako electric car in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. Clean transport is one of the many sectors that can benefit from HSBC's $1bn fund

Mena companies can tap $1bn HSBC climate tech fund

HSBC has set aside $1 billion to help finance early-stage climate tech companies around the world, and “transformative investment opportunities” exist in the Middle East and Turkey, according to its regional chief.  “The Middle East has a key role to play in the transition to a net zero global economy,” said Patricia Gomes, regional head […]

“Climate change is already dramatically affecting us,” says IMF head Kristalina Georgieva

IMF lends Morocco $1.3bn to fight climate change

The International Monetary Fund is to lend Morocco $1.3 billion to help the country guard against climate-related risks. The staff-level agreement was confirmed by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, who said the funding would be used to build resilience against future climate disasters. “Climate change is already dramatically affecting us,” Georgieva said in […]

Best of AGBI

Muscat Stock Exchange will offer Oman's biggest IPO

Strong demand for Oman’s biggest IPO in two decades

Oman’s joint-biggest initial public offering is attracting huge interest among retail investors, despite subdued recent activity on Muscat’s bourse, a senior financial industry executive told AGBI. OQ Gas Network (OQGN), a subsidiary of national oil company OQ, will sell 49 percent – or 2.12 billion – of its shares in an IPO. The company this […]

Russians snap up plots of land to build ‘Little Moscow’ in Dubai

Russian investors in Dubai are working to become real estate developers or acquire clusters of homes to build “Little Moscow” communities in the emirate. Buyers from Russia have become big investors in Dubai property since sanctions imposed on Moscow locked them out of European and North American markets. The UAE has also become a key […]

The time could be right for a ‘Made in the Gulf’ brand

Creating a “Made in the Gulf” brand for the region’s manufacturing sector would not be easy – but such an initiative has potential, according to industry experts. Plans to establish a unified definition and standards for such a brand were discussed by trade and industry ministry representatives at a meeting of the Industrial Cooperation Committee […]

Saudi crowdfunding takes off as loans double in 2022

The number of new businesses taking on debt through crowdfunding platforms has soared in Saudi Arabia. The value of loans raised has more than doubled to SAR771 million Saudi riyals ($206 million) in 2022, the Saudi central bank (Sama) said in a new report.  Crowdfunding is a process in which multiple investors lend money to […]

Abraham Accords – 3 years on, $3 billion in trade

An Israeli politician has described how the Abraham Accords, signed three years ago today, have “opened a floodgate to, hopefully, a new Middle East”. Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, tells AGBI in an exclusive video interview that the agreement signed at the White House on September 15 2020, is transforming Israel’s relations with the […]

Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone

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UAE latest

Expat employees in the UAE traditionally leave with a "golden goodbye" bonus. But this is starting to change

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 Emirati companies are looking to set up workplace pension and saving plans […]

Metito desalination project in Port Ghalib Egypt

Alpha Dhabi takes over water specialist Metito

Investment company Alpha Dhabi announced on Monday the acquisition of a majority stake in Metito Holdings, a company involved in the water and wastewater industry worldwide.  Pending regulatory approvals, the deal marks Abu Dhabi-based Alpha Dhabi’s entry into the water and wastewater sector, with its CEO saying the need for sustainable water solutions “has never […]

The project is expected to reduce water injection-related energy consumption by up to 30% at Adnoc's Bab and Bu Hasa oil and gas fields

Funding secured for Adnoc’s $2.2bn water supply project

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) have completed the financial closing of a AED8.3 billion ($2.2 billion) project to provide a sustainable water supply for Adnoc’s onshore operations. The investment by the two Abu Dhabi energy majors aims to develop and operate facilities to sustainably treat and supply […]

Spinneys Dubai invited banks this week to pitch for roles in the offering, expected to be up to 30 percent of the company

Supermarket chain Spinneys Dubai plans IPO next year

Spinneys Dubai, the franchisee of the supermarket chain in the UAE and Oman, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of the business in the second quarter of 2024, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Albwardy Investment, the franchise’s 100 percent owner, hired Rothschild & Co to advise on the planned IPO, […]

Saudi Arabia latest

Artist's impression of the planned cliff-top football stadium in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia's entertainment and sports complex south-west of Riyadh

Saudi developer wins $610m Qiddiya giga-project contract

A SAR2.3 billion ($610 million) contract has been awarded to carry out key infrastructure work on Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya giga-project, described as the country’s capital of entertainment. The Saudi Real Estate Company said in a filing on the Saudi Stock Exchange on Monday that contracts have been agreed between the Qiddiya Investment Company and one […]

Marriott's W Hotel in Lake Village, part of Saudi Arabia's Neom giga-project, will have 236 rooms, including 47 suites

Marriott to open two luxury hotels in Neom’s Trojena

Global hotel chain Marriott International will open two luxury properties in Trojena, a year-round mountain destination in the $500 million Neom development. The deal with the US hotelier includes Saudi Arabia’s first W Hotel and a JW Marriott property. “We are excited to work with Neom to develop these two properties in one of the […]

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has opened a Saudi headquarters

More companies set up Saudi HQs as deadline nears

Saudi Arabia has had limited success so far in its plan to tempt major companies to open regional headquarters in the kingdom, but more are obliging as the deadline to do so draws nearer. Among the companies relocating their main offices – or at least creating a presence in the kingdom – are international names […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced plans for Vision 2040

Saudi Arabia to begin preparing Vision 2040

Saudi Arabia is to begin working on the next phase of its economic diversification plan known as Vision 2030 and hopes to unveil its Vision 2040 as early as 2027, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview this week.  “Today we’re trying to close a few things, we’re aiming to close in the […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's number one priority is funding the kingdom's Vision 2030 giga-projects

Saudi economy slips as government pushes oil cuts

Analysts see the Saudi economy contracting in 2023 as a result of voluntary oil production cuts.  Higher prices, however, will still ensure that state coffers are full enough to meet the kingdom’s number one priority – funding its mammoth Vision 2030 diversification projects.  The International Monetary Fund said this month it saw a slowdown in […]

Around the Middle East

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 […]

Muscat Stock Exchange will offer Oman's biggest IPO

Strong demand for Oman’s biggest IPO in two decades

Oman’s joint-biggest initial public offering is attracting huge interest among retail investors, despite subdued recent activity on Muscat’s bourse, a senior financial industry executive told AGBI. OQ Gas Network (OQGN), a subsidiary of national oil company OQ, will sell 49 percent – or 2.12 billion – of its shares in an IPO. The company this […]

A Bako electric car in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. Clean transport is one of the many sectors that can benefit from HSBC's $1bn fund

Mena companies can tap $1bn HSBC climate tech fund

HSBC has set aside $1 billion to help finance early-stage climate tech companies around the world, and “transformative investment opportunities” exist in the Middle East and Turkey, according to its regional chief.  “The Middle East has a key role to play in the transition to a net zero global economy,” said Patricia Gomes, regional head […]

The Fed has announced 11 rate hikes since March 2022, but decided to hold its benchmark rate steady

Fed interest rate pause will help GCC non-oil sector

The decision by the US Federal Reserve to leave policy rates unchanged will have a positive impact on the non-oil sectors of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, according to leading economists. The Fed has announced 11 rate hikes since March 2022, but on Wednesday decided to hold its benchmark rate steady, albeit at a 22-year […]

Arcapita sold its student housing community near Clemson University, the second largest university in South Carolina

Bahrain’s Arcapita exits US student housing portfolio

Arcapita Group Holdings, the Bahrain-headquartered alternative investment company, has exited from its student housing community investment in the United States. Arcapita sold its student housing community near Clemson University, the second largest university in South Carolina, to Chicago-based Core Spaces, an operator of student housing properties.  The transaction is Arcapita’s second student housing exit in […]

The private funding round values Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks at $3 billion

Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks raises $238m

Israeli cybersecurity company Cato Networks said on Tuesday it had raised $238 million in a private funding round that valued the company at $3 billion. The round, one of Israel’s largest this year and Cato’s biggest, was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners, with the participation of Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree […]

Topics:

Cop28
Neom
HYDROGEN
SAUDI ARABIA VISION 2030
BLOCKCHAIN
FOOD SECURITY
OPEC

Turkey Latest

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 […]

Brick, Building, Architecture

EU sets deadline for Arcelik and Whirlpool deal

European Union (EU) antitrust regulators will decide by October 23 whether to clear Turkish domestic appliances maker Arcelik’s proposed purchase of Whirlpool’s European domestic appliances business, an European Commission filing showed on Thursday. Under the deal announced in January, the companies will set up a new entity made up of Arcelik’s European units such as […]

A Bako electric car in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. Clean transport is one of the many sectors that can benefit from HSBC's $1bn fund

Mena companies can tap $1bn HSBC climate tech fund

HSBC has set aside $1 billion to help finance early-stage climate tech companies around the world, and “transformative investment opportunities” exist in the Middle East and Turkey, according to its regional chief.  “The Middle East has a key role to play in the transition to a net zero global economy,” said Patricia Gomes, regional head […]

The UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq are all "very, very determined" on the $17bn project said Turkey's President Erdoğan

Erdoğan lauds $17bn link between Turkey and Iraq

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lauded plans for a $17 billion infrastructure and transportation project linking southern Iraq to Turkey as an opportunity to “build a new world”. The Development Road project will link Grand Faw Port, a commodities port in Iraq, by rail and road to the border with Turkey. It will transform […]

Egypt Latest

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, […]

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is thought to be delaying devaluing the pound until after the next election, which could take place this year

Egypt’s economic outlook darkens as IMF postpones review

Egypt’s efforts to revive its economy were dealt a major setback this week after the IMF postponed its eagerly awaited September review of Egypt’s $3 billion bailout programme until the first quarter of 2024.  Originally scheduled to take place in March, it would have been the IMF’s first review of the $3 billion loan it […]

Egypt inflation interest rate

Egypt’s central bank keeps key interest rates steady

Egypt’s central bank, as widely expected, left its key overnight interest rates unchanged on Thursday, saying both economic growth and core inflation were slowing. The bank kept its lending rate at 20.25 percent and its deposit rate at 19.25 percent. The median forecast in a poll of 17 analysts had been for the bank’s monetary […]

The Rolling Plus factory will cover an area of 400,000 square meters in the Suez Canal Economic Zone

Egypt signs contract to establish $1bn tyre factory

Egypt has secured 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) worth of investment to establish a tyre factory in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the cabinet said in a statement. A contract was signed with Rolling Plus for Chemical Industries, a joint venture between Egyptian, Saudi Arabia and Cypriot companies, to establish a factory producing seven million […]

Features

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 […]

First Riyadh Fashion Week aims for global impact

The inaugural Riyadh Fashion Week will take place in the Saudi capital next month with a line-up of 30 of the kingdom’s brands taking over the runway.  Celebrities, VIPs, buyers and key industry figures from the global fashion community are expected in Riyadh to celebrate Saudi’s rapidly emerging fashion scene. The inaugural event will also […]

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 […]

‘Hi, this is your bank…’ Inside the war on payment fraud

“Hello. This is the Central Bank of the UAE. We are contacting you because you need to surrender your debit card.” The call comes from a conventional mobile number while you’re on the way home from work.   Welcome to the scamdemic – claim your prize, share your one-time password, update your bank details, click […]

People & Lifestyle

The Blinx headquarters in Dubai Media City

Blinx launches to cater to ‘tech-savvy youth’

A new digital media centre has launched in the Middle East focusing on Gen Z and millennial content creation, storytelling and reporting. Dubai-headquartered Blinx (spelt as “blinx”) wants to capitalise on the region’s burgeoning media and entertainment industry, expected to be worth over $61 billion by 2028, according to research from Mordor Intelligence. Blinx will […]

The Wynn resort and casino is set to open in 2027 on Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Kahaimah

Lottoland boss hails UAE move to set up gaming regulator

The entrepreneur behind the global lottery betting platform Lottoland has described the UAE’s new gaming regulatory authority as “big news”. David von Rosen-von Hoewel told AGBI that he looks forward to working with authorities to roll out lottery products in the UAE next year and beyond. “The UAE now has the chance to build the […]

A DBS Engineering air dome in Helsinki. The company is about to complete its second project in Saudi Arabia

Gulf events turning to inflatable domes

A Slovenian leader in the manufacture of high-tech air domes is seeking expansion across the Gulf after capturing deals in Saudi Arabia. DBS Engineering has agreements with the Ministry of Investment, Alwaseel Sport City, Filling & Packing Materials Co (Fipco) and Zamil Industrial. The company said it will soon complete its second project in Qassim […]

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

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 […]

People visit a show flat at a property development in Yunnan Province. The combined floor area of unsold homes in China stands at 648m sq meters

China’s unsold homes raise concerns over debt defaults  

Even China’s population of 1.4 billion would not be enough to fill all the empty apartments littered across the country, a former official said on Saturday, in a rare public critique of the country’s crisis-hit property market. China’s property sector, once the pillar of the economy, has slumped since 2021 when real estate giant China […]

Brick, Building, Architecture

EU sets deadline for Arcelik and Whirlpool deal

European Union (EU) antitrust regulators will decide by October 23 whether to clear Turkish domestic appliances maker Arcelik’s proposed purchase of Whirlpool’s European domestic appliances business, an European Commission filing showed on Thursday. Under the deal announced in January, the companies will set up a new entity made up of Arcelik’s European units such as […]

Opec+ oil

Solar energy shines in global survey beating fossil fuels

More than two-thirds of the world’s population favours solar energy, five times more than public support for fossil fuels, a global poll has found. The survey, conducted by Glocalities in collaboration with advocacy groups Global Citizen and The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, was based on interviews with more than 21,000 people in 21 countries […]