Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

People

Nayla Tueni told Frank Kane over lunch that the financial crisis in Lebanon 'taught us that, if we are going to survive, we need to expand'

Nayla Tueni: ‘I am a journalist, a journalist, a journalist’

Nayla Tueni is as close as you get in the Middle East to media aristocracy. She is the fourth generation of a family that, for the best part of a century – through wars, assassinations, man-made disasters and economic crises – has kept publishing Annahar, a Lebanese broadsheet described by Time magazine as “the newspaper […]

Saudi e-commerce woman shopping on laptop The growth in e-commerce is aligned with government efforts to attract venture capital and promote small businesses

Online retail sales in Saudi Arabia to double, report says

Ecommerce in Saudi Arabia’s retail sector is likely to double between 2020 and 2025, with annual compound growth of 15 percent a year, a government report has revealed.  “As the second-highest venture capital-funded sector in Saudi Arabia, ecommerce is booming,” the report by the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority said.  Venture capital funding in ecommerce […]

Shopping for gold jewellery in Doha, Qatar Video length: 04:26

AI is adding extra lustre to gold market

Gold isn’t just for jewellery and bullion bars – it is also an important material in the tech sector. Andrew Naylor, head of the Middle East region at the World Gold Council, explains how the precious metal’s increasing use in artificial intelligence chips is raising demand – and prices. Watch the video to find out […]

An EGA employee looks out over its Al Taweelah facility in Abu Dhabi. The electricity used in aluminium smelting makes up 60% of its carbon footprint

Adnoc, Emirates Global Aluminium and the outlook for net zero

It is a tall order. The UAE is striving to develop its industrial capacity while also decarbonising in a world that needs a 40 percent-plus reduction in emissions by the end of the decade to avoid devastating climate change. Two of the country’s biggest state-owned enterprises – Adnoc and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) – are […]

Shoppers across the Gulf are boycotting Western brands; in Saudi Arabia 72% say their brand choices are influenced by the conflict in Gaza

Saudi brands cash in on Gaza boycott as food market grows

Saudi Arabian food and beverage brands are hoping to benefit from regional consumers shunning Western brands over the conflict in Gaza, with some franchise owners beginning to feel the impact of an informal boycott.  Some outlets in the Gulf have stopped stocking Western soft drinks and are replacing them with Saudi versions that have shot […]

The total value of Qatari mortgage transactions has risen by 110 percent in two years. New regulations came into force in 2023

Qatar’s mortgage market buoyed by law reforms

Qatar’s mortgage market has been given a lift by a package of regulatory reforms, industry experts told AGBI after transactions rose sharply despite high interest rates. In the first quarter of 2024, the value of Qatari mortgage transactions was nearly 90 percent higher than in the previous three months, according to ValuStrat research. It was […]

Migrants attempting to reach Italy from Tunisia. About 270,000 so-called irregular migrants arrived in the EU via sea crossings last year

EU reveals total aid to North Africa to combat migration 

The European Union provided €673 million ($718 million) in funding to four North African countries from 2021-23 to help the quartet reduce what it calls irregular migration to the 27-member bloc, official data shows. Last year about 270,000 “irregular migrants” arrived in the EU via sea crossings, 64 percent more than in 2022. Crossings from […]

6G tech

Batelco in talks to trial 6G technology in Bahrain

Bahrain telecommunications giant Batelco is in talks to trial 6th generation (6G) connectivity as the kingdom attempts to cement its position as a technological leader in the region. The island kingdom is among the first countries to have a comprehensive 5G network coverage in most urban areas, with more than 95 percent coverage courtesy of […]

Cenomi will reduce its number of stores from 1,000 to 367 following last year's losses

Cenomi Retail to divest more brands in turnaround plan

Franchiser Cenomi Retail has announced another round of brand divestments as it seeks to tackle rising losses. The Saudi company closed more than 200 stores last year and sold 16 brands in the first quarter of 2024. On Wednesday Cenomi Retail said its board of directors had approved the third phase of the sell-off. The […]