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National Bank of Kuwait

National Bank of Kuwait News

National Bank of Kuwait mortgage reform

Kuwait banks boosted by likely mortgage law reform

Kuwait bank stocks are hitting highs as traders bet that a long-awaited liberation of  the country’s mortgage laws will come into force and provide a windfall for lenders. Currently only the government-controlled Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) provides financing to Kuwaiti citizens and companies for them to buy real estate, and commercial banks are not permitted […]

The Avenues – Khobar will feature two shopping malls and hotels

The Avenues – Khobar to be built by Kuwait developer

Kuwaiti developer Shomoul Holding this week launched a retail and residential project in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar worth SAR7.2 billion ($1.92 billion), securing a SAR4.35 billion loan for the first stage of construction.  The government’s Tourism Development Fund, set up in 2020, provided the loan along with a consortium led by National Arab […]

A seller with packs of sugar at a market in Cairo. The Egyptian government recently announced it would lower the prices of seven essential commodities

Egypt needs more dollars before devaluation, warn experts

Egypt will devalue its currency further after December’s presidential election, as the country needs more time to increase its dollar reserves and give it a better chance of stabilising its ailing currency, analysts told AGBI. The Egyptian pound is linked to a basket of currencies in which the dollar is dominant. Policymakers have slashed the […]

Hoping for a rebound: an investor keeps track of prices at the Kuwaiti bourse

Kuwaiti stocks toil but analysts foresee 2024 rebound

Overpriced valuations, high interest rates and oil production cuts have sapped investor confidence in Kuwait, and the country’s stock market is among the Mena region’s worst performers this year.  Despite this, analysts predict a sustained rebound in crude prices, steady corporate earnings and renewed government infrastructure spending. This could boost ebbing sentiment and spark a […]

A worker counts Turkish lira at a currency exchange in Ankara. S&P Global Ratings this month upgraded Turkey to 'stable' from 'negative'

Turkey and Egypt can trip up Gulf lenders says analyst

Gulf banks are in a resilient position as oil production cuts crimp economic growth, but lenders could face headwinds from macroeconomic volatility in Egypt and Turkey, an S&P Global analyst said this week.  In Turkey, Dubai’s Emirates NBD owns Denizbank and Qatar National Bank owns QNB Finansbank, the country’s eighth and ninth largest banks by […]

Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait. Work has started on its $160m redevelopment

Kuwait’s building towards its $100bn ambition

Work has started on the first phase of Kuwait Port Authority’s $160 million redevelopment of Shuwaikh Port as the country steps up its multi-billion-dollar infrastructure strategy.  The port expansion has been awarded to a joint venture of South Korea’s Hyundai and Kuwaiti Gulf Dredging & General Contracting, as the government increasingly turns to private investors […]

Standard Chartered sells Jordan business as part of global strategy

UK-based Standard Chartered will sell its business in Jordan to Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB), the banks said in a joint statement. Under the agreement, Standard Chartered’s corporate, commercial and institutional banking and consumer, private and business banking businesses in Jordan will be migrated to AJIB. All Standard Chartered Bank Jordan’s employees will be transferred […]

Asian Agri's Buatan oil palm plantation in Riau, Indonesia. Apical is one of the largest exporters of refined palm oil in the country

Top Gulf banks help raise $787m in sustainable credits

Two leading Gulf banks have helped arrange nearly $800 million in sustainability-linked loans for a leading agricultural producer based in Singapore, as local institutions prioritise green lending in their portfolios.  First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank by assets, and National Bank of Kuwait, the country’s biggest financial institution, acted as lead arrangers, […]

Less dramatic year ahead for Middle East post-Covid and oil boom era

After the sugar rush of 2022, Gulf states will have to get used to less dramatic rates of growth in 2023, as economies stabilise following the immediate post-Covid period that coincided with the spillover effects from the Ukraine crisis.  GCC growth averaged 6.5 percent in 2022, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, and the […]

4Sale CEO Tarek Sakr is growing Kuwait’s largest online classifieds platform

Kuwait classified giant 4Sale aims to double up on business

The oldest form of classified ads can be traced back all the way to 2000BC, when the Egyptians invented outdoor advertising as they carved public notices into steel.  This earliest example of the ‘first mover advantage’ strategy is not lost on the CEO of 4Sale, Kuwait’s largest online classifieds platform, which has big ambitions to […]