Video length: 07:34 Retail Retail staff shortage dents GCC shopper satisfaction Shoppers across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are being put off their purchases by a shortage of skilled staff in the region’s retail sector, as prices of products continue to rise. Annual retail sales in the six GCC countries are expected to grow to $300 billion by 2028, a 37 percent increase from 2022. But […] August 21, 2024
Finance Saudi Arabia’s PIF is focused on the home advantage The value of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund’s domestic assets under management have doubled year on year in further evidence of a strategy to focus investments in the kingdom. The AuM, referred to in the fund’s annual report as “Saudi sector development (SSD)” increased from 21 percent to 33 percent last year. The investments are […] August 20, 2024
Telecoms Analysts question possible Adia bid for India telecoms group Abu Dhabi’s top sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), is among the preferred bidders for a minority stake in Vodafone Idea, a struggling Indian telecom company. However, analysts are warning that the deal makes little commercial or financial sense. Vodafone Idea is India’s third largest mobile operator, but has lost about 210 million […] August 20, 2024
Trade Metals market under pressure with India-UAE pact review The UAE’s lucrative trade in gold, silver and other precious metals is facing fresh scrutiny as India seeks a review of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries. The evaluation could significantly alter the flow of these metals, impacting UAE businesses and particularly affecting exports from Russia via the Gulf state. Sunil Barthwal, […] August 20, 2024
Telecoms Worst is over for Etisalat shares but don’t expect a rebound Shares in UAE blue-chip e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – have fallen by more than half from a 2022 peak as investors fret over difficulties related to some of the telecom operator’s foreign investments. Yet analysts believe these issues are now priced in and so the worst should be over for the stock. Etisalat […] August 19, 2024
Telecoms UAE broadband users pay dearly for lack of competition Telcos may have generated nearly AED94 billion ($25 billion) in revenue for the UAE government, but a lack of competition and steep costs means that residents have been hit with the highest broadband bills in the Gulf. With an average price of $142.65 per month, people in the UAE are paying more than double than […] August 18, 2024
Sustainability Egypt launches Africa into carbon trading market The first three trades were made on Egypt’s new carbon trading platform on Tuesday, the first of its kind in Africa. Two local food companies, Daltex and ISIS Organic, became the first Egyptian buyers of the instruments, purchasing a combined 2,000 carbon credits. Each credit represents a tonne of carbon reduced or removed from the […] August 16, 2024
Telecoms Telcos turning to tech to propel growth Fear of market irrelevance has spurred former Gulf telecom operators such as e& to bet on providing more sophisticated, tech-based services to consumers and businesses. This strategy differs from earlier efforts to create a vast geographic footprint for their operations, which, in many cases, led Gulf telcos to nurse billion-dollar losses. E&, which is listed […] August 15, 2024
Markets Oman reveals plan to steer IPOs to Muscat exchange Oman’s Financial Services Authority has revealed its strategy to overhaul the country’s capital markets – which could provide extra funds for underrepresented sectors and lure investors looking for less saturated markets, according to analysts. However, the success of the plan will depend on how incentives for listing are implemented, they warn. Trading activity has been […] August 15, 2024
Logistics Cold storage in hot demand across the Gulf Demand for chilled and frozen foods is rising across the Gulf, driving growth in the region’s cold chain infrastructure. Maersk, the Danish logistics company, says this demand – along with food security concerns – motivated it to open its first UAE cold store at Dubai Industrial City last summer. Population growth and concerns around climate […] August 14, 2024
Banking and Finance Riyadh’s investment law reforms tipped to win over sceptics Saudi Arabia’s investment law reforms are poised to release a backlog of pent-up deals – and are a tacit admission that procedures have often been cumbersome, analysts have told AGBI. Under the overhaul announced on Sunday, elements of Vision 2030 and the National Investment Strategy will be combined in a single framework that aims to […] August 13, 2024
Markets Saudi blue-chips help Gulf dividends dwarf global average Saudi companies form the bulk of Gulf businesses that have announced second quarter dividends, but it is the Commercial Bank of Kuwait that provided the highest dividend yield. Saudi Aramco, Bahrain’s Batelco and Dubai’s Tecom Group are other standouts by this metric. Of the listed Gulf companies with a market capitalisation of more than $1 […] August 13, 2024
Economy Kuwait overhauls tax system and signs UAE treaty Kuwait, which has developed a reputation as an economic laggard among wealthy Gulf states, is undertaking an overhaul of its tax regime to meet global standards and reduce reliance on oil revenues. The Gulf state plans to introduce a 15 percent business profits tax, new rules on transparency and compliance with international agreements, and an […] August 12, 2024
Mining Rare earth elements: a complex issue that’s vital to net zero Used in everything from car batteries and fridges to iPhones and elevators, rare earth elements are an ever-present – but rarely noticed – part of daily lives. They are also now central to the global energy transition, and their importance to Gulf states was highlighted this week by a $180 million investment by Qatar. The […] August 12, 2024
Markets Analysts bullish on Aramco despite share price drop Shares in Saudi Aramco slumped to a four-year low this week as turmoil on global equity markets spurred a further sell-off in the world’s largest listed oil company. Yet analysts believe Aramco’s poor performance this year – the stock had fallen 17 percent in 2024 as of Tuesday’s close – masks a bullish outlook for […] August 8, 2024
Renewable Energy Oman’s entrepreneurs hope to turn biofuels into liquid gold A bus powered partly by date kernels launched on the streets of Muscat at the end of 2022. It was a Sultan Qaboos University project, set up as Oman strives to develop sustainable sources of energy. The bus successfully runs on a mix of biodiesel made from the oil extracted from date kernels and conventional […] August 6, 2024
Leisure & Hospitality Recruitment a sticking point for Gulf hospitality The tourism industry is expected to support the creation of thousands of jobs in the UAE and wider GCC this year, yet hospitality firms might struggle to fill many of these vacancies. Heightened competition, the physical and emotional intensity of the work, and more flexible professional alternatives are among the factors luring prospective staff in […] August 2, 2024
Construction Saudi real estate hiring drops amid giga-project review Saudi Arabia’s review of its many giga-projects dented real estate hiring in the country in the second quarter of this year, driving a larger decline across the GCC. The drop, revealed by Cooper Fitch’s latest Gulf Employment Index which tracks new hires, mirrors a broader slowdown in the Saudi property and construction markets. However, it […] August 2, 2024
Real Estate Supply shortage looms large in outlook for Dubai property The Dubai residential real estate market remains one of the world’s best performers, but a shortage of supply is having an increasingly big impact on rents and sale prices. This is the picture that emerges from three real estate consultancies’ reports on the emirate’s market in the first six months of 2024. Dubai had the […] August 1, 2024
Oil & Gas Turkey expands its energy search into troubled waters Turkey is stepping up its efforts to become a major player in hydrocarbons, preparing to conduct surveys off the coast of Somalia and working on an agreement with Libya to identify deposits in the Mediterranean. Alparslan Bayraktar, the energy minister in Ankara, announced last Friday that the seismic research vessel Oruç Reis would be dispatched […] July 31, 2024
Entrepreneurs Gulf investors show renewed appetite for Egypt’s startups Venture capital companies are reporting renewed interest in Egyptian startups after a difficult few years for the country’s tech entrepreneurs. Emirati and Saudi investors are leading the return, say VC experts, after record-high inflation and a prolonged foreign exchange crisis dented deal-making. Since the Egyptian authorities floated the pound in March and the economy has […] July 31, 2024
Giga-projects Giga-project slowdown to hit Riyadh population growth Riyadh’s population is unlikely to meet a growth target by 2030, when it is due to host the World Expo, as giga-projects are scaled back. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set an ambitious goal for the population to grow to between 15 and 20 million in 2021. However it is now absent from the website […] July 29, 2024
