Economy Saudi Crown Prince will not attend Arab summit in Algeria Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not travel to Algeria next month to attend a summit of the Arab League on medical advice, the royal court confirmed in a statement on state media on Sunday. Doctors had advised Prince Mohammed, 37, to avoid long-haul flights that might affect his middle ear, said the royal […] October 24, 2022
Banking & Finance Turkey slashes rates more than expected, lira hits record low Turkey’s central bank slashed its policy rate by a more-than-expected 150 basis points (bps) to 10.5 percent on Thursday, and promised to halt the easing cycle urged by President Tayyip Erdogan after another similarly-hefty cut next month. The move pushed the lira to a record low near 19 to the dollar and comes after Erdogan […] October 21, 2022
Tech Google activates Israel’s first local cloud region Alphabet’s Google on Thursday activated a local cloud region for Israel, offering cloud services to the country’s government and military in a move expected to boost jobs and economic growth. Israel signed a deal with Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in May 2021 for the more than $1 billion four-phase ‘Nimbus’ project. As part […] October 21, 2022
Opinion Development Truss’s exit has battered Britain’s global image Next week the UK will get its third prime minister in four months, who has the unenviable job of getting it back on track domestically and internationally October 20, 2022
Opinion Energy Lebanon eyes Israeli gas to ease energy woes Gas could ease disastrous energy shortages but it doesn’t replace the work of reforming Lebanon’s failed political system October 20, 2022
Media & Advertising Saudi MBC Group signs deals with Turkish production companies Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s largest broadcaster, said on Wednesday it had signed a five-year partnership with two Turkish production houses, signalling an end to an unofficial boycott imposed on Turkey by Saudi Arabia as the two countries work to improve ties. MBC, which in March 2018 scrapped Turkish programmes including soap operas popular […] October 20, 2022
Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank markets 5-year Islamic bond The Islamic Development Bank has given initial price guidance for a planned five-year Islamic bond at around mid-60s basis points over the five-year US secured overnight financing rate (SOFR), a bank document showed. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Dukhan Bank, Goldman Sachs, The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, JPMorgan, Mizuho , SNB […] October 20, 2022
Economy Pensions in demand as expats stay longer in the Gulf Expats are staying in the Gulf longer than the global average, leading to greater demand for pension services in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “We have observed an increase in interest and discussion in the Middle East around offering pension type savings for expatriate employees,” said Robert Ansari, head of investment and retirement for India, […] October 20, 2022
Banking & Finance Lebanon passes new banking secrecy law after IMF concerns Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday passed another round of amendments to a banking secrecy law after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said a previous draft retained key deficiencies. The IMF has laid out a list of reforms, including amending its banking secrecy law, that Lebanon must implement before it can gain access to $3 billion to […] October 19, 2022
Banking & Finance Turkish central bank takes more steps to boost lira deposits Turkey’s central bank took fresh steps to boost lira deposits on Tuesday, raising the ratio of bonds that banks must hold for foreign exchange deposits and requiring those with less than 50 percent lira deposits to hold even more bonds from next year. The central bank raised the securities maintenance ratio required for forex deposits […] October 18, 2022
Economy King Salman hails Saudi’s ‘renaissance’ in annual speech The king pointed to a $53.2bn infrastructure spend, praised 'unique' projects such as NEOM and discussed oil markets and the role of women October 18, 2022
Development UAE and UK partner to support women entrepreneurs The UAE-UK Business Council announced a new partnership with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women on Monday as it rallies business leaders to mentor more female entrepreneurs in the least developed countries. The 100,000 Women Programme has already secured the participation of over 100 business leaders in the UAE but it plans to turbo-charge the […] October 17, 2022
Banking & Finance ‘Economic diplomacy’: how ADQ is bolstering UAE goals The ADQ fund’s investments across the Middle East and North Africa are part of an “economic diplomacy” strategy designed to build the UAE’s alliances with the likes of Turkey, Israel and Egypt, three sources have said. ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi’s three main sovereign wealth funds, began in 2018 as a vehicle for holding […] October 17, 2022
Trade UK drinks firms raise glass to Morocco and Tunisia trade deal British drinks companies have raised a glass after the UK removed trade barriers that deterred alcohol sales to Morocco and Tunisia. The changes in the countries, which extends to Argentina and Angola as well, will help the UK’s products to reach millions of new potential customers and boost alcohol exports, which reached £6.5 billion last […] October 17, 2022
Economy China’s Xi talks up security, COVID stance as congress opens Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the building of a world-class military while touting the fight against COVID-19 as he kicked off a Communist Party Congress by focussing heavily on security and reiterating policy priorities. Xi, 69, is widely expected to win a third leadership term at the conclusion of the week-long congress that […] October 17, 2022
Energy Turkey backs Russia’s gas plan as Nord Stream faces long outage Large sections of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines built to supply gas to Europe might need to be replaced, the head of Gazprom said, while Turkey on Friday backed Russian proposals to build a gas hub there as an alternative supply route. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week proposed Turkey as a base for gas […] October 16, 2022
Banking & Finance IMF and Egypt agreement set to finalise ‘very soon’ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Egyptian authorities have agreed to finalise work to reach a staff-level agreement ‘very soon’, the multilateral lender said on Saturday. “IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held very productive in-person discussions on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings and made substantial progress on […] October 16, 2022
Tourism Qatar Airways to hire 10,000 staff amid World Cup preparations Qatar Airways is boosting its workforce by 10,000 to handle an influx of passengers flying into Doha for the soccer World Cup and in line with a broader post-pandemic expansion, the airline told Reuters. The Doha-based carrier is in the midst of a recruitment drive which will lift its total workforce to more than 55,000 […] October 14, 2022
Banking & Finance Turkey plans to write off nearly $1.6bn of debt under draft law A Turkish parliamentary commission began discussing on Thursday a draft bill that would write off nearly 30 billion lira ($1.61 billion) of debt, according to an impact report. Under the draft prepared by President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP), the government will waive nearly 27 billion lira of debt used for student housing, as well […] October 14, 2022
Economy Lebanon president accepts maritime border deal with Israel Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, announced on Thursday his country’s acceptance of the US-brokered maritime border deal with Israel, saying talks had come to “a positive end.” Aoun said the deal represented an “historic achievement” in which Lebanon regained 860 square kilometres (km) of disputed maritime territory but insisted it did not pave the way to […] October 14, 2022
Energy Qatar and Russia discuss Ukraine conflict’s impact on oil markets Qatar’s Emir and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Ukraine crisis and its impact on energy markets during a meeting on the sidelines of a summit in Kazakhstan on Thursday, the emir’s office said. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Putin also discussed the conflict’s impact on food security as well as the situation in […] October 14, 2022
Economy Inflation in Saudi Arabia rises to 3.1% on higher food prices Saudi Arabia’s inflation rose to 3.1 percent in September, driven mainly by higher food prices, rents, and the rising cost of utilities, the General Authority for Statistics said on Thursday. Compared to the previous month, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September was marginally higher, up 0.3 percent, it added. Food and beverage prices rose […] October 14, 2022
