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GCC

Business news and financial news, analysis, opinion and statistics covering the six Gulf Corporation Council members Bahrain, Kuwait,  Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE

An estimated 90% of vessels that would have used the Suez Canal are now re-routing to avoid the chance of attacks in the Red Sea

Red Sea attacks dent Mena business activity

The attacks on shipping in the Red Sea are depressing economies across the Middle East and North Africa, as supply chain disruption takes its toll on business activity. The latest economic monthly bulletins for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all show a drop in operating activity for January. Houthi rebels in Yemen have been […]

Hive Coliv co-living

Millennial ‘co-living’ concept gains momentum in Gulf

The appetite for “co-living”, a form of communal housing that offers private rooms and shared spaces, is on the rise in the GCC, and more investors are entering the sector.  Co-living as a sub-segment of residential property has gained in popularity in markets such as the UK and the US, as developers seek to provide […]

These workers at a factory in Manama, Bahrain, could soon be enjoying a three-day weekend if the government goes ahead with proposed changes

Kuwait and Bahrain propose changes to working week

Lawmakers in Kuwait and Bahrain are pushing for major amendments to the working week, aiming to improve workers’ rights and boost the work-life balance in the two Gulf states. In Bahrain, the focus is on extending the weekend to three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  “There is an urgent need to keep pace with global […]

Visitors at the 2024 Intersec safety and security conference in Dubai, where the latest video surveillance tech was on display

Saudi is ‘young market’ for video surveillance tech

Demand for video surveillance technology is expected to grow rapidly in Saudi Arabia over the next few years, industry experts have said. “Saudi Arabia is a new and young market for video surveillance, and regulations are still being drafted,” Ettiene van der Watt, regional director at Swedish manufacturing company Axis Communications, told AGBI last week […]

Interest rate cuts in the US are likely to drive investors – particularly local investors – to put money into higher-yield bonds

Bonds to expand in 2024 as governments plug shortfalls

Gulf bond issuance this year will exceed that of 2023-24 as governments borrow to bridge budget shortfalls and tight spreads persuade more corporations to raise debt, according to experts. Gulf bond issuance in 2023 was $64.7 billion, up 74 percent year on year, according to data from Refinitiv. Yet last year’s total was still down […]

British Royal Navy vessel HMS Diamond launches a missile against Houthi targets in Yemen

Fears of supply disruption push crude prices over $80

Brent prices jumped by more than four percent on Friday after the US and its allies launched airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen in retaliation for attacks by the Iran-backed group on ships in the Red Sea. Global crude oil benchmark Brent traded at $80.74 per barrel, slightly above the estimated break-even mark of GCC […]

Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Forty percent of the $11trn held by sovereign wealth funds is in the Gulf region Video length: 05:39

Sovereign wealth funds: the Gulf’s biggest power players

Did you know that the world’s first sovereign wealth fund was set up in the GCC? Kuwait Investment Authority was established in 1953, eight years before the country’s independence, to invest surplus oil revenues. Now every GCC country has a sovereign wealth fund responsible for financial returns and national economic development.  “Today there are over […]

Solar PV power station Renewable energy capacity

Renewable energy capacity at record high says IEA

Renewable energy capacity surged worldwide by 50 percent in 2023, putting the planet nearly on track to triple capacity by 2030 and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C, analysts at the International Energy Agency (IEA) have announced. Renewable reserves reached almost 510 gigawatts (GW) last year, up from 340 GW in 2022, with solar […]

Hegra, one of Saudi Arabia’s six Unesco World Heritage sites. The kingdom is anticipating an economic expansion of 4.1% in 2024

Saudi’s economic rebound to propel GCC growth

Growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies is forecast to increase in 2024 and 2025, propelled by a rebound in Saudi Arabia’s economy, the World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report. The combined GDP of the GCC countries is expected to rise to 3.6 percent in 2024 and 3.8 percent in […]

A coral reef off Yabou' Island, part of Neom. The project aims to use mostly recycled materials and send zero waste to landfill

Gulf’s recycling industry grows with mega-projects

The volume of Gulf construction projects will increase the use of recycled materials, the head of the Bureau of Middle East Recycling has told AGBI.  Ibrahim Aboura, who is also managing director of Aboura Metals in Dubai and a committee chairman of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), added that it will also raise the […]