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A woman using a Bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong. The Mena region accounts for 7% of global cryptocurrency volumes

Gulf asset managers remain wary of resurgent bitcoin

Gulf asset managers and institutional investors remain reluctant to invest in bitcoin, despite the cryptocurrency’s resurgence over the past year. The Middle East and North Africa accounted for 7 percent – or $390 million – of global crypto volumes in the 12 months to June 30, 2023, according to Chainalysis. Turkey made up nearly half, […]

The Salalah festival in Oman: the sultanate’s tourism sector is likely to contribute more than $8.6bn to GDP this year

Club Med resort tipped to help Oman hit tourism targets

Tourist arrivals in Oman are forecast to nearly double over the next four years, boosted by developments such as the region’s first Club Med resort. Analysts at BMI expect visitor numbers to rise by a quarter to 5.3 million this year – and reach nearly 11 million by 2028. The sultanate’s tourism sector is likely […]

Fitch expects Saudi Arabia to be one of the most active sukuk issuers this year

GCC debt market on way to trillion-dollar milestone

The total debt capital market in the GCC is likely to cross $1 trillion this year, after reaching $940 billion in the first quarter of 2024. New research from Fitch Ratings shows that more than a third of GCC debt issued last year was in the form of sukuk, also known as an Islamic bond.  […]

Europe provides a large source of Dubai's tourists

GCC-EU trade drops by $8bn as talks pause

Trade between the GCC and the European Union fell by 4 percent last year to $180 billion, as the two trading blocs struggled to agree terms for a free trade agreement. Figures shared exclusively with AGBI by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics authority, show Saudi Arabia was the bloc’s biggest trade partner from the GCC, with […]

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at a meeting last year to discuss the country's healthcare system. It is estimated that one fifth of Egypt's adult population has diabetes

Egypt misses healthcare targets as population ails

Egypt is failing to meet its healthcare spending targets, exacerbating deteriorating living standards that are leading to a rising number of illnesses and health problems. Egypt’s parliament approved legislation in 2018 to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, pledging to expand provision to include the 50 percent of Egyptians lacking insurance, according to a 2023 […]

Workers at a textile factory in Istanbul. Turkish exporters are hoping for an increase in shipments to the Middle East

Turkish exporters cautiously optimistic for rest of year

Turkish exporters are predicting a strong second half of the year, with expectations of increased shipments to traditional markets and growth into the Middle East.  There are lingering concerns that global risk factors will blow a chill wind over sales, however.  Turkey’s exports accelerated 3.6 percent in the January to March quarter, with sales worth […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at prayers to mark the end of Ramadan. He said in 2022 that flogging would be ended and the use of the death penalty restricted

Saudi Arabia grapples with new penal code

A legislative committee is grappling with the text of a new penal code which could cement — or jeopardise — the gains made by Saudi Arabia after it introduced a new commercial law code last year.  The kingdom is trying to shake off a reputation for opaque and arbitrary justice to meet ambitious tourism and […]

Crowd, Person, Adult

Adnoc strikes LNG supply deal with Germany

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed a 15-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply agreement with German energy major Energie Baden-Württemberg AG. The agreement includes the delivery of 0.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, primarily sourced from Adnoc’s lower-carbon Ruwais LNG project, currently under development in Abu Dhabi’s Al Ruwais Industrial […]

Family boards an aeroplane. There are 213 airlines operating in the Middle East, says the OAG report

Qatar dazzles as Middle East aviation picks up pace

The Middle East’s aviation sector is growing at twice the global rate and is expected to offer 257 million passenger seats this year, according to a new report. Not so long ago major airlines viewed the Middle East as a place to get cheap fuel on their way from Europe to South East Asia. Now […]

Egyptian schools sometimes operate in shifts to avoid classroom overcrowding and the country is facing a shortage of more than 300,000 teachers

Education underspend dents Egypt’s long-term prospects

Egypt’s failure to meet its constitutionally mandated spending on education – partly as a result of spiralling state debts – is hurting its long-term development. The country’s education sector plan for 2023-2027 estimates 1.5 million children were out of school in 2021 and that 250,000 additional classrooms must be built to accommodate the current school […]

A pilgrim prays during a visit to Mount Al-Noor in the holy city of Mecca. Saudi Arabia is building an additional 320,000 hotel rooms by 2030

Pilgrims remain bedrock of Saudi tourism plans

Saudi tourism is to undergo a massive expansion with religious travellers remaining its bedrock – but some hotel operators are wary of an overheated market. The kingdom is aiming to bring in 150 million visitors per year by 2030, with tourism accounting for 10 percent of non-oil GDP, playing a key role in its economic […]

Lebanon-restaurants

Lebanon’s diners defy both slowdown and spectre of war

It is a cliché in Lebanon that people will always find the money for restaurants, even with war and conflict once again threatening its southern borders. “No matter what, Lebanese people want to go out,” says Christian Ghosn, CEO of Ghia Holding, which operates 25 restaurants in Lebanon, the Middle East, and Europe.  When Ghosn’s […]

The Ceyhan oil terminal in Turkey. Turkish Petroleum made the country's biggest ever onshore oil discovery last year with the Sehit Aybuke Yalcin well

Lack of discoveries pushes up oil and gas exploration costs

Oil and gas exploration costs doubled last year as global discoveries fell to a record low. The total volume of discovered gas and liquids dropped by more than 50 percent last year to around 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to the 2024 annual report by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). The […]

An artist's impression of Al Maktoum. It will have to handle 700,000 passengers a day to meet its goals

Luggage, airspace and size: challenges for Dubai’s new airport

Sizing, air traffic control and passenger handling are among the challenges Dubai will face in building the world’s largest airport within the next 10 years, industry experts tell AGBI.  Authorities announced last month plans to expand Al Maktoum International into a facility that will handle 150 million passengers annually within a decade, and eventually 260 […]

Last year, there was a 29 percent increase in international tourist arrivals to the GCC compared to 2022

Why ‘over-tourism’ offers an opportunity for the GCC

The GCC region and its North African neighbour Egypt can reap the rewards of over-tourism across the globe, according to industry experts, with affordability playing a key role in fuelling the sector’s growth. The number of hotel rooms in the six countries of the GCC – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE […]

GCC boards female

UAE leads GCC on board gender mix but region still lags

More than 10 percent of board seats at listed companies in the UAE are filled by women, well ahead of its Gulf neighbours, but still lagging the global average. At the 168 companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market, just 133 out of 1,231 board seats, or 10.8 percent, are […]

Core countries account for the majority of Islamic finance – the GCC accounted for 86 percent of growth in 2023

Growth doubts over Islamic finance despite trillions in assets

Islamic finance assets grew to about $3.3 trillion worldwide last year, but credit ratings agency S&P has warned that a planned industry standard could drive down sukuk issuance in 2025 and beyond.  S&P is predicting high single-digit growth in total assets in 2024-25 after an increase of 8 percent last year.  The agency expects the […]

Abu Dhabi's Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Mubadala Investment Company and Kelix Bio announce plans to collaborate on R&D into biopharmaceutical technologies

UAE considers R&D tax incentives to help SMEs

The UAE is considering plans for a research and development tax incentive scheme to boost its ambitions to become a regional centre for homegrown innovation. The Ministry of Finance said it has launched an official consultation on the possible implementation of the tax incentive under the UAE corporate tax law.  The consultation will be open […]

An investor looks at a screen in Dubai Financial Market. Spinneys received over $19 billion in orders for its $375 million IPO

Hope for more private UAE listings follows Spinneys IPO

The record-breaking interest in supermarket giant Spinneys’ upcoming listing on the Dubai Financial Market could start a rush of private listings in the UAE, industry experts have predicted. The country’s privatisation strategy has led to a raft of government-owned entities being listed on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges. Last year there were 48 […]

An installation in Ottawa, Canada, near the venue where the UN is in a penultimate round of talks for a treaty to curb plastic pollution

Gulf petrochems sidestep curbs from global plastics treaty

Major petrochemical exporters such as Saudi Arabia are unlikely to face mandatory production curbs despite latest efforts to craft a global plastics treaty and clamp down on single usage. At a UN Environment Assembly in early 2022, member countries approved a resolution to end plastic pollution and forge an “international legally binding agreement” by the […]

Al Maktoum International

Dubai’s airport ambitions ramp up local and global rivalries

Dubai’s plan for a massive new airport intensifies the regional aviation race, while reinforcing the Gulf’s bid to overshadow its European and Asian rivals. The emirate’s authorities over the weekend approved the expansion of the cargo-focused Al Maktoum International into an airport ultimately capable of handling 260 million passengers a year.  The new airport will […]

Crypto miners have been drawn to the Gulf for its low electricity costs and comparatively unrestricted land use rules

Crypto miners see ‘enormous potential’ in the Gulf

With cryptocurrencies edging up again after last weekend’s “halving” – in which the rewards Bitcoin miners get for solving problems is cut in two to maintain scarcity – these are heady days for holders of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Bitcoin miners have been attracted to the Gulf by cheap electricity and established infrastructure.   “GCC […]