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People using Mashreq Bank ATMs in Dubai. UAE banks’ combined net profit was a record AED 76.9bn in 2023

UAE banks struggling to match 2023’s record profits

Banks in the UAE will struggle to repeat last year’s record annual profits in 2024, after the introduction of corporate tax, expected US interest rate cuts and the likely absence of the bumper one-off gains that bolstered their bottom line in 2023. However, a slight decline in profitability would still represent a strong performance by […]

People accept gifts from a man dressed as the Chinese God of Wealth during Spring festival in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province. The region is vital to China's economy

Saudi Arabia courts China’s Shandong province

Saudi Arabia is targeting more investment from the Chinese province of Shandong after hosting a delegation of more than 200 private sector and government officials. The Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority (ECZA), in collaboration with Invest Saudi, entertained the visitors last week with the aim of cultivating investment prospects for Chinese enterprises considering expansion […]

Saudi Arabia's first robot, Sara, is inspected by a visitor at Leap in 2023. This year she was joined by a male counterpart, Mohammad

Saudi Arabia ‘leads GCC’ in adoption of robotics

The rising number of robotics companies in Saudi Arabia has helped the kingdom become a regional leader in the adoption and development of the technology, experts have told AGBI.  The number of robotics companies registered in the country surged to 2,344 in the second quarter of 2023, up from 1,537 a year earlier, according to […]

Italian exporters Dubai boat show 2024

Boats, baubles and balsamic lift Italian exports to UAE

Italian boat manufacturers were out in force at the Dubai International Boat Show earlier this month, doubtless buoyed by the news that nautical exports to the UAE totalled nearly $120 million in the first 11 months of 2023.  More than 20 Italian companies attended the event at Dubai Harbour, part of a strengthening Italy-UAE trade […]

Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry, said the two countries are close to finalising the deal

Digital economy focus of UAE-Malaysia trade talks

The UAE is expected to sign a free trade deal with Malaysia by the end of June as the latter courts more investment to develop its digital economy. Talks on establishing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) began last year and Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry, said the two […]

Islamic banks had a 42% share of Bahrain's domestic market in 2023

Mergers drive growth in Bahrain’s Islamic finance sector

When Al Salam Bank, one of the largest Islamic banks in Bahrain, became majority shareholder of its Algerian subsidiary last June, CEO Rafik Nayed made clear that the shopping spree was not over. Mergers and acquisitions “will remain an important pillar of our growth plans”, Nayed said – and last month Al Salam announced a […]

Riyadh's Majdoul Tower under construction. Saudi Arabia is trying to improve regulations around contracts and payments in the sector

Saudi Arabia pushes to end construction payment issues

The construction industry in Saudi Arabia is still plagued by payment delays but the kingdom has made significant efforts to improve workflow among developers, contractors and subcontractors to resolve what is a global problem. Cash flow and payment problems trigger claims or disputes in more than a third of all projects in the kingdom. This […]

UAE business Ramadan

UAE businesses dispute predicted Ramadan downturn

UAE businesses are optimistic about Ramadan’s prospects in spite of a projected 10 percent decline in spending over the holy month. The anticipated dip is partly linked to considerable consumer expenditure after the pandemic and during recent festive sales, according to a study by Redseer Strategy Consultants. “The last two years were a period of […]

CEOs in the UAE have the lowest average current age, but women still only account for 5% of hires

Alstom breaks mould as Gulf lags on hiring women as CEOs

Dalya Al Muthanna is a member of an exclusive club. In January she became Gulf CEO for the transport giant Alstom, the company behind tram systems in Dubai and Qatar.  She was previously a senior executive at GE in the UAE, bucking the trend of men dominating senior C-suite jobs in the Gulf. Just 5 […]

Saudi construction delay

Big events take priority for stretched Saudi builders

There will be delays in delivering Saudi Arabia’s massive construction pipeline in time for 2030, but projects directly linked to specific international events such as the Asian Winter Games in 2029 will take priority, industry players told AGBI at the Big5 conference in Riyadh last week. About $1 trillion in giga-projects are under way across […]

Francis Ngannou (left) fighting Tyson Fury in Riyadh last year for the heavyweight title

Saudi Arabia gives boxing a chance to reinvent itself

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is no stranger to hyperbole. Thus only a few eyebrows were raised when he boldly claimed that boxing would be “dead” if it wasn’t for Saudi Arabia. The sport was looking decidedly punch-drunk before Saudi Arabia entered the ring almost six years ago. The first boxing card in Jeddah that […]

AlUla Old Town. The heritage site is one of Saudi Arabia's flagship tourism projects

Volatility of crude markets masks Saudi non-oil momentum

Volatility in global oil markets, which led to Saudi Arabia’s GDP shrinking last year, is masking the strength of the kingdom’s non-oil economy, analysts have said.  Its non-oil revenue is forecast to rise by more than 5 percent in each of the next two years, according to Jadwa Investment. The 2023 contraction was driven by […]

saudi space debris

Saudi Arabia warns of space debris threat

Saudi Arabia is targeting lucrative and environmentally critical opportunities in the rubbish removal sector – in outer space. More than 27,000 man-made objects larger than 10 centimetres, such as defunct satellites and spent rocket stages, orbit Earth, according to Nasa. This space debris puts at stake billions of dollars of assets such as spacecraft and […]

Attendees at the Big 5 convention in Riyadh ranked Saudi Arabia among the top three most enticing construction markets in the world alongside China and India

Foreign expertise vital for Saudi construction

Saudi Arabia’s construction industry needs more foreign involvement if achieving its Vision 2030 goals is to become a reality, according to attendees of the Big 5 conference in Riyadh. In the first half of 2023 alone $44 billion worth of new projects were awarded in the kingdom’s $140 billion construction sector, according to real estate […]

MIITE SME UAE Make It In The Emirates

Make it in the Emirates ‘needs more SMEs’

More than AED120 billion ($33 billion) has been invested by UAE-based companies to develop hundreds of new product lines under the country’s “Make it in the Emirates” (MIITE) campaign. As the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology prepares to host its third forum on local manufacturing, latest statistics show that the number of MIITE products […]

A worker on a construction site in Riyadh. Foreign companies with offices in Saudi Arabia have adapted to supply chain disruptions

Localisation shields Saudi builders from Red Sea crisis

Houthi attacks in the Red Sea may have been disrupting the construction supply chain into Saudi Arabia but companies, in particular larger ones, are adapting to the challenge.  Since November, the Yemeni militia has launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels on their way to or from the Suez Canal, forcing many global shippers to […]

Dubai's Mashreq is among the GCC banks looking for growth in the US and Europe

GCC banks look to US and Europe

GCC banks may be forced to look overseas to fulfil growth ambitions as home markets become increasingly saturated, experts say. While some banks have already ventured abroad – mainly into Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, which constitute nearly a half of their presence outside the Gulf – more developed markets such as the US and Europe […]

A market worker in Cairo stands under a pro-President Sisi banner. The ADQ deal has raised hopes that Egypt's economy can rebuild

Abu Dhabi’s $35bn throws Egypt a liquidity lifeline

A $35 billion investment by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ to develop a resort on Egypt’s north coast could cover the country’s liquidity needs for the next three to four years, analysts have said. Mostafa Madbouly, the Egyptian prime minister, said on Saturday he had signed an agreement with ADQ to develop a site […]

Workers at a uranium mine in Kazakhstan, which produces 43 percent of the world's total

Uranium prices rise with demand for nuclear power

Barakah in the UAE, Dabaa in Egypt, Bushehr in Iran and Akkuyu in Turkey. Nuclear energy is now seen by many countries as central to emissions reduction. It is little surprise then that demand for feedstock – mainly uranium – has been spiking. Prices for the mineral, which is critical to the production of nuclear power […]

The value of the Egyptian pound has halved since 2022, leading to reduced investment

Egyptian economic woes to prolong startup funding slump

Egyptian startups face another tough year finding funding, as the prospect of further currency devaluations and stubbornly high inflation deter investors, despite the attractive demographics of the Arab world’s most populous nation. The number of venture capital deals in Egypt in the first nine months of 2023 was 47, down by nearly two thirds on […]

VC firms expect Mena investment will pick up again this year after a slump in 2023

VC firms ready for Mena investment rebound

Venture capital companies expect investment activity in the Middle East and North Africa to rebound this year after a slump in 2023, with startups in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates likely again to dominate dealmaking. In 2023 there were 517 VC deals in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. They raised a […]