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Shane McGinley

News Editor

An award-winning editor with over 20 years of experience in the media industry, across newspapers, magazines, digital, TV and radio. A resident of Dubai since 2008, Shane has held senior roles at some of the Gulf’s biggest media outlets, including Head of News at Expo 2020 Dubai, Editorial Director of Arabian Business, and Head of Editorial Content for Emerging Businesses at Thomson Reuters Middle East. He attended the International Journalists Seminar at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City as one of the winners of the Citi Journalistic Excellence Awards 2015, representing the UAE

Shane McGinley
Dubai alcohol tax

Dubai distributors to swallow 30% tax on alcohol brands

Dubai’s two main alcohol distributors have promised to absorb most, and in some cases all, of the 30 percent tax that was reinstated on alcoholic drinks from January 1. The Dubai Municipality tax on alcoholic beverages was suspended from the start of 2023, continuing into 2024. It was widely seen as an attempt to make […]

A diver off the coast of Neom. About 106m people visited Saudi Arabia in 2023

Saudi hotel rates are flat, but tourists are staying longer

Room rates in Saudi hotels are flat, but visitors to the kingdom are staying for longer, according to government figures. The average daily room rate was SAR725.50 ($193.50) in the second quarter of 2024, said the General Authority for Statistics. This was a dip of 0.4 percent year on year. Average room occupancy rates in […]

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. Goldman Sachs received a license to open its Saudi HQ in May

Goldman Sachs appoints new CEO for Saudi Arabia

US investment bank Goldman Sachs has appointed Omar Alzaim as chief executive officer of its operations in Saudi Arabia.  Alzaim joined Goldman in 2021 from HSBC Saudi Arabia and replaces Khalid Albdah, who left Goldman in October after nearly a decade and took up a position at Neuberger Berman. Goldman received a licence to set […]

Tourists visiting Hegra in Saudi Arabia. PIF describes hotel management company Adeera as a 'national champion' for Saudi tourism

PIF sets up company to develop Saudi hotel brands

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has launched Adeera, a hotel management company. The aim is to develop homegrown Saudi hotel brands and help the kingdom achieve its goal of attracting 150 million annual tourists. Adeera has been described as “a national champion” that will build new world-class Saudi hotel brands […]

Cargo is loaded onto an aeroplane. The Middle East-Europe route accounts for 5% of global traffic

Middle East-Europe is ‘fastest-growing route for air cargo’

The Middle East-Europe route for air cargo was the fastest growing in the world in October, according to International Air Transport Association figures.  Annual growth in cargo tonne-kilometres stood at 15.3 percent in October, IATA said. The global average is 9.8 percent and the Middle East average is 4.5 percent. The Middle East-Europe route has […]

Shoppers in Dubai Mall. Retail rents in the emirate have risen as vacanacies fall

Retail rents rise at Dubai malls due to lack of supply

Rents in Dubai’s retail sector grew by an average of 15 percent in the third quarter of this year, as a lack of new supply and high demand from shoppers meant it remained a landlords’ market at the emirate’s popular malls. There were no new completions of retail space in the second quarter of the […]

Swiss gold

Record gold price dents demand for Swiss bullion in Gulf

Swiss gold exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE have slumped in the past year, as its price rose by more than 30 percent driven by geopolitical challenges. Gold passed $2,700 per ounce on Friday for the first time ever. A year ago it was $1,980 per ounce, and a month ago $2,559. While global […]

US President Joe Biden meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in 2022; the US has announced new visa waiver arrangements between the two countries

Qatar is first Gulf state to join US visa waiver programme

Qatar has become the first Gulf state to join the US visa waiver programme, allowing Qatari citizens to visit visa-free for up to 90 days from December 1. The US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State said in a statement on Tuesday that the move would help to “significantly enhance the security […]

Around 3.5 million bottles of Champagne were shipped to the Gulf states in 2023, an increase of about 40 percent

Champagne shipments to the Gulf slow but still flowing

The growth in champagne shipments to the Gulf has slowed in recent years but the market is still one of the strongest in the world, bucking a global trend for declining sales. Around 3.5 million bottles of champagne were shipped to the Gulf states in 2023, an increase of about 40 percent, according to data […]

family offices ultra wealth Simpson Bay Marina St Maarten

Ultra-wealthy pinpoint Gulf to set up family offices

US private equity investor Leon Black, who has a net worth of around $14 billion, last week confirmed he was opening a branch of his family office in Abu Dhabi. The co-founder of New York investment giant Apollo Global Management joins the likes of Egyptian tycoon Nassef Sawiris, Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, India’s Adani […]

new Saudi factories, Saudi industrial growth, Saudi manufacturing, Saudi economy

New factories underpin Saudi non-oil activity surge

Investment of nearly SAR6 billion ($1.6 billion) in 300 new factories in Saudi Arabia has spurred a resurgence in non-oil activity in the kingdom, as oil production hits a three-year low. Estimates in a report by Riyadh-based advisory company Jadwa Investments found that non-oil GDP in the first half of 2024 was up by around […]

Apex Botswana giant diamond

Diamond weighing 1lb cheers Mubadala-backed financier

The discovery in Botswana of a rough diamond weighing more than a pound, the second largest ever found, is likely to prove timely for Apex Group, the global financial services provider, which counts the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala among its key backers. The huge gem’s discovery was announced on Thursday by Lucara Diamond Corp, […]

People, Person, Backpack

Bad loan provisions drop markedly at UAE banks

Most of the UAE’s top banks have significantly reduced how much they put aside to cover bad loans, in an indication of a generally benign economy and expectations of growth stretching into next year. During April and June this year, banks set aside AED1.3 billion ($350 million) in net loan loss provisions (LLPs) – the […]

Paramount The Godfather An offer they can't refuse? Among the best-known films from Paramount Pictures, currently the subject of two takeover bids, is The Godfather, from 1972

Abu Dhabi-backed financier among bidders for Hollywood giant

A New York investment company backed by Abu Dhabi is part of a group that has launched a bid to take over Paramount Global, one of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment companies. The conglomerate, led by the industry veteran Edgar Bronfman Jr, a former CEO of Warner Music Group, submitted a $4.3 billion bid on Monday to […]

Airlink Qatar

Slice of South Africa’s Airlink bought by Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has acquired a 25 percent stake in the Southern African independent carrier Airlink, expanding its operations further into Africa. The privately-owned, Johannesburg-based Airlink already has a code-sharing partnership with the Doha airline and flies to 45 destinations in 15 African countries. Financial details of the deal were not revealed. Qatar Airways’ group chief […]

A container ship in the port at Jeddah. Saudi Arabia's biggest non-oil exports in H1 were chemicals and plastics

Saudi export financing grows while trade deficit widens

Credit facilities for Saudi Arabian exporters surged in the first half of 2024 as the kingdom aimed to curb its non-oil trade deficit. The Saudi Export-Import Bank awarded SAR16.3 billion ($4.3 billion) in financing and insurance during the first six months of this year, an increase of 128 percent year on year, the state-owned Saudi […]

A construction site in Dubai. Sidara had raised its offer for Wood in May

Dubai’s Sidara shelves bid to take over UK’s John Wood Group

Dubai’s Sidara has abandoned its multi-billion-dollar plan to take over the British consultancy John Wood Group. The Emirati engineering and consulting group cited “geopolitical risks and market uncertainty” for its decision. Shares in Wood slumped by 37 percent on the news, hitting their lowest level since December 2022. Sidara raised its offer to 230p per […]

Egypt recorded its highest foreign exchange reserves ever in June

IMF postpones $820m Egypt loan meeting

An executive meeting between Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss the North African country’s next loan instalment has been postponed to the end of the month. “The IMF executive board meeting on Egypt’s third review under the extended fund facility has been rescheduled to July 29th,” the IMF’s Egypt mission chief, Ivanna […]

B8KRCP The Bank of England underground Gold Vaults in London Stacks of Gold Bars are taken into storage Gold bars are taken into storage at the Bank of England;central banks around the world are increasing reserves

UAE increases gold reserves with growth set to continue

The UAE’s gold reserves reached almost AED20 billion ($5.5 billion) at the end of March, rising 12.6 percent year on year, with expectations that the growth will continue into the rest of the year. The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) said the Gulf state’s reserves of the precious metal have risen considerably over the […]

The UAE, which is keen to embrace new technologies, ranked second for employment and third for international trade World Competitiveness Ranking

Saudi Arabia and UAE up in World Competitiveness Ranking

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have improved their rankings in the annual IMD World Competitiveness Ranking this year, as both Gulf states embrace artificial intelligence (AI) to make their economies more productive. The list, which is compiled by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, saw the UAE rise three places to seventh, […]

Qatar Kazakh mobile network

Qatar company buys Kazakh mobile network for $1bn

Qatar Power International Holding has bought Kazakhstan’s largest mobile phone network. The Qatari company, a private conglomerate based in Lusail, has bought Kazakhtelecom subsidiary Mobile Telecom-Service LLP, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the Kazakh government on Tuesday. Mobile Telecom-Service LLP is a joint venture between Swedish telco Tele2 and Kazakh high speed mobile internet […]

Saudi imports GCC

UAE dominates Saudi imports

Saudi Arabia’s imports from its neighbouring five GCC countries rose 5 percent to SAR21 billion ($5.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2024. Oman led the growth, but goods trade with Qatar suffered a steep decline, according to figures from Saudi platform Argaam, citing the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). Goods shipped from the […]