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As part of his March budget, the UK's Jeremy Hunt announced plans to abolish the country's 200-year-old non-dom tax status

UK’s non-dom shake-up to attract high earners to Gulf

There is likely to be an influx of expats and returning nationals to the Gulf as a result of the UK’s abolition of non-domicile tax status from April 2025, experts told AGBI. ‘Non-doms’ live in the UK but claim to have a permanent residence in another country, so they do not pay tax on overseas […]

UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Gulf region in February

India is top Asian target for Middle East investors

India is more than twice as important as China as a target for Middle East investment, an industry report has revealed. Since 2020, private capital deal value from the Middle East into Asia has soared more than sixfold, from $14 billion between 2016 and 2019 to $83 billion since 2020, data from the Global Private […]

CEOs in the UAE have the lowest average current age, but women still only account for 5% of hires

Alstom breaks mould as Gulf lags on hiring women as CEOs

Dalya Al Muthanna is a member of an exclusive club. In January she became Gulf CEO for the transport giant Alstom, the company behind tram systems in Dubai and Qatar.  She was previously a senior executive at GE in the UAE, bucking the trend of men dominating senior C-suite jobs in the Gulf. Just 5 […]

Saudi Aramco and Adnoc are in talks over LNG offtakes with Sempra and NextDecade, respectively

Aramco and Adnoc to invest in US LNG projects

Two of the biggest oil companies in the Gulf region plan to invest in US liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company based on daily production, is holding discussions to invest in the second phase of Sempra Infrastructure’s Port Arthur LNG project in Texas, Reuters reported, citing informed sources. Aramco […]

Aviation IT Shop, Shopping Mall, Person Dubai Airports already uses biometric technology and is preparing to launch a Smart Corridor to speed up boarding procedures airport aviation IT airports airlines investment

Aviation spends billions on IT to improve experience

The aviation sector invested billions into IT in 2023, as companies sought to improve passenger experience, according to a new industry report. Global airports increased their IT spending by 23 percent year on year to almost $11 billion last year, while airlines upped spending by 15 percent to $34 billion, according to the 2023 Air […]

Sellers at the fish market in Jizan, Saudi Arabia. The kingdom brought in regulations in 2021 to curb overfishing

Saudi Arabia and UAE back fishing subsidies ban

The UAE and Saudi Arabia were the only GCC countries to back a failed bid by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to curb subsidies that contribute to overfishing and wider fishing sector overcapacity. It had been hoped that the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS), which, according to WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has “been on the […]

red sea shipping crisis gcc

GCC companies safeguard stocks against Red Sea crisis

Businesses in the GCC are adding up to three months to their supply chains as disruption in the Red Sea persists. Despite the increased costs, a survey of executives from the region revealed companies are maintaining “substantial extra inventory” in the face of the current geopolitical uncertainties. The fourth annual Trade in Transition study by […]

Dubai's Mashreq is among the GCC banks looking for growth in the US and Europe

GCC banks look to US and Europe

GCC banks may be forced to look overseas to fulfil growth ambitions as home markets become increasingly saturated, experts say. While some banks have already ventured abroad – mainly into Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, which constitute nearly a half of their presence outside the Gulf – more developed markets such as the US and Europe […]

Workers at a uranium mine in Kazakhstan, which produces 43 percent of the world's total

Uranium prices rise with demand for nuclear power

Barakah in the UAE, Dabaa in Egypt, Bushehr in Iran and Akkuyu in Turkey. Nuclear energy is now seen by many countries as central to emissions reduction. It is little surprise then that demand for feedstock – mainly uranium – has been spiking. Prices for the mineral, which is critical to the production of nuclear power […]

'International partnerships are crucial,' says Anne-Marie Mountifield, chair of The Solent Cluster

UK’s Solent Cluster courts Gulf for green investment

The Solent Cluster, a network of 114 companies with interests on the English south coast, is considering working with Gulf companies to deliver $15 billion of green investment.  The group is prioritising decarbonisation and among its proposals are a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant for which Dubai’s national carrier Emirates and other airlines could become […]

VC firms expect Mena investment will pick up again this year after a slump in 2023

VC firms ready for Mena investment rebound

Venture capital companies expect investment activity in the Middle East and North Africa to rebound this year after a slump in 2023, with startups in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates likely again to dominate dealmaking. In 2023 there were 517 VC deals in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. They raised a […]

The amount of cheese sent from the UK to the GCC was up by almost half cheese stall market

UK cheese sales buck trend in F&B exports to the GCC

British cheese continues to grow in popularity with regional consumers, but it could not prevent total food and drink exports from the UK to the GCC declining in 2023. Exports were down by almost 7 percent year on year to £816 million ($1 billion). The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs attributed the […]

Narendra Modi, India's PM, was met by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the president of the UAE, on his arrival in Abu Dhabi

Maharashtra plans food security corridor with UAE

The central Indian state of Maharashtra is working to develop a food security corridor with the UAE. The government of Maharashtra, which has 11 million farmers, has linked up with US fund manager Pegasus Capital Advisors for the food trade project. Under their agreement, the Maharashtra authorities will share an operational plan within three months, […]

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng, who paid $4.3bn in a money-laundering settlement. Investcorp says it would not currently recommend digital assets to investors

Investcorp stays cool on digital assets

Investcorp, the Gulf region’s largest alternative investment company, will not be turning to digital assets to boost its bottom line in the short term. The Bahrain company’s Abu Dhabi-listed Investcorp Capital invested more than $639 million in the first half of its financial year to December 31, 2023. The company’s latest financial reports revealed a […]

Stunted GDP growth 'is largely due to short-term cuts in oil production' said IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva

IMF chief says oil cuts weigh on Mena GDP growth  

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) is expected to reach 2.9 percent in 2024, which is higher than last year, but still below October 2023 projections, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said. “This is largely due to short-term cuts in oil production, the Gaza-Israel conflict, […]

Malina Ngai, Asia and Europe CEO of Watsons, says the GCC and Mena have 'immense significance' for the beauty retailer

Asia’s largest beauty retailer plans GCC expansion

Watsons, Asia’s largest health and beauty retailer, is to launch in two more GCC markets after recording sales growth of 53 percent in the region last year. The company has 18 stores in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar through a franchise deal with AI Futtaim Group. It is targeting expansion into Bahrain and Kuwait […]

Drones on display at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Gulf militaries rush to keep up with drone tech progress

A new form of drone warfare used during the Ukraine conflict has changed the nature of battle and created a challenge for military planners in the Gulf region, industry experts said at a defence show in Riyadh this week.  Drone swarms have been launched by both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.  The unmanned […]