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Finance

Finance, economics, markets and trade news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Egypt inflation interest rate

Egypt’s central bank keeps key interest rates steady

Egypt’s central bank, as widely expected, left its key overnight interest rates unchanged on Thursday, saying both economic growth and core inflation were slowing. The bank kept its lending rate at 20.25 percent and its deposit rate at 19.25 percent. The median forecast in a poll of 17 analysts had been for the bank’s monetary […]

Shoppers at a supermarket in Sanaa, Yemen. In the UAE, inflation in the cost of staples such as flour is slowing

Turkey hikes rates to 30% to strengthen hawkish turn

Turkey’s central bank raised its key interest rate by a lofty 500 basis points to 30 percent on Thursday, marking a second month of aggressive tightening after President Tayyip Erdogan set aside his long opposition to tight policy. The bank reiterated it is ready to raise rates further as needed to rein in inflation that […]

Talks between Egypt and the UAE over the loan deal to purchase wheat from Kazakhstan are in early stages

Egypt in talks with UAE bank to fund wheat purchase

Egypt is in talks with an Abu Dhabi-based bank for a loan facility that would finance wheat purchases from Kazakhstan, three traders told Reuters. The move could give Egypt a cheap alternative to grain from Russia, which has supplied an increasing share of Egypt’s wheat since last year but recently blocked a deal for a […]

Muscat Stock Exchange will offer Oman's biggest IPO

Strong demand for Oman’s biggest IPO in two decades

Oman’s joint-biggest initial public offering is attracting huge interest among retail investors, despite subdued recent activity on Muscat’s bourse, a senior financial industry executive told AGBI. OQ Gas Network (OQGN), a subsidiary of national oil company OQ, will sell 49 percent – or 2.12 billion – of its shares in an IPO. The company this […]

A Bako electric car in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. Clean transport is one of the many sectors that can benefit from HSBC's $1bn fund

Mena companies can tap $1bn HSBC climate tech fund

HSBC has set aside $1 billion to help finance early-stage climate tech companies around the world, and “transformative investment opportunities” exist in the Middle East and Turkey, according to its regional chief.  “The Middle East has a key role to play in the transition to a net zero global economy,” said Patricia Gomes, regional head […]

The Fed has announced 11 rate hikes since March 2022, but decided to hold its benchmark rate steady

Fed interest rate pause will help GCC non-oil sector

The decision by the US Federal Reserve to leave policy rates unchanged will have a positive impact on the non-oil sectors of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, according to leading economists. The Fed has announced 11 rate hikes since March 2022, but on Wednesday decided to hold its benchmark rate steady, albeit at a 22-year […]

Cuisine in India and the Middle East is ‘incomplete without spices’, said Indian minister Piyush Goyal

India-Middle East-Europe corridor to revive spice route

Indian spices and spice products are likely to be the first commercial products to find their way through the new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (Imec), an Indian minister has said. Imec, announced last month at the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, aims to integrate railway routes and link ports along a route from India […]

Ades Holding is expected to raise about $1.22bn from selling more than 338.72 million existing and new shares

PIF-backed Ades Holding’s order book hits $76bn

Saudi oil and gas driller Ades Holding set the final price for its initial public offering (IPO) at the top-end at SAR 13.50, implying a valuation of SAR 15.242 billion ($4.06 billion). The institutional book-building process was 62.7 times oversubscribed, while the order book stood at SAR 286.853 billion ($76.49 billion). The Public Investment Fund-backed […]

Palestine startups

Funding options on the rise for Palestine startups

Palestine is home to a wealth of entrepreneurial talent but its startups have struggled to gain access to funding. A number of initiatives are aiming to change all that by doubling the amount of startup funding available and offering mentoring opportunities. Support is also being offered to Palestinians living in the Middle East and North […]

Tomislav Momirovic, Serbia’s trade minister, with his UAE counterpart Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi at the trade talks

UAE-Serbia talks begin in Dubai as trade speeds up

“I want to have Dubai as a base for my business and innovation,” says Novak Djokovic. “I love the champion mentality.” The world tennis number one, arguably Serbia’s most famous son, describes the emirate as his “second home”. Emirati officials, who launched trade talks with the European country on Monday, will be hoping Djokovic’s compatriots […]

oil $100 oil price

$100 a barrel oil raises global inflation fears

Oil has risen to its highest level since November, reigniting fears over inflationary pressures on the global economy as it approaches $100 a barrel. Brent crude hit $95 barrel this week, before reducing gains, as the extension of Opec+ supply cuts tightened the markets. In a sign of a massive uptick in the energy markets, […]

The Fuze team, from left: CTO Srijan Shetty, CEO Mohammed Ali Yusuf and COO Arpit Mehta

Digital assets startup Fuze raises $14m in seed round

UAE digital assets provider Fuze has raised $14 million in a funding round, in what it claims is the “largest” seed investment in a digital assets startup in the Middle East and North Africa.  The investment was led by Abu Dhabi-based Further Ventures, with participation by US-based Liberty City Ventures.  The startup enables banks, fintechs […]

The private funding round values Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks at $3 billion

Israeli cybersecurity startup Cato Networks raises $238m

Israeli cybersecurity company Cato Networks said on Tuesday it had raised $238 million in a private funding round that valued the company at $3 billion. The round, one of Israel’s largest this year and Cato’s biggest, was led by LightSpeed Venture Partners, with the participation of Adams Street Partners, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Sixty Degree […]

“Climate change is already dramatically affecting us,” says IMF head Kristalina Georgieva

IMF lends Morocco $1.3bn to fight climate change

The International Monetary Fund is to lend Morocco $1.3 billion to help the country guard against climate-related risks. The staff-level agreement was confirmed by Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, who said the funding would be used to build resilience against future climate disasters. “Climate change is already dramatically affecting us,” Georgieva said in […]

Climate health risks

Al Jaber: climate change health risks need more investment

Cop28 participating nations must increase financing to identify and mitigate climate change’s risks to human health, the summit’s president designate Sultan Al Jaber has said. “The connection between health and climate change is evident, yet it has not been a specific focus of the Cop process – until now,” Al Jaber told the UN General […]

Saudi businesses are making more use of crowdfunding

Saudi crowdfunding takes off as loans double in 2022

The number of new businesses taking on debt through crowdfunding platforms has soared in Saudi Arabia. The value of loans raised has more than doubled to SAR771 million Saudi riyals ($206 million) in 2022, the Saudi central bank (Sama) said in a new report.  Crowdfunding is a process in which multiple investors lend money to […]

UAE ambassador to France Hend Al Otaiba (second from right) takes part in the opening ceremony for the Dubai Chamber office in Paris

Dubai Chamber opens offices in France and Italy

Dubai has opened new representative offices in Paris and Milan as part of the UAE’s ambitions to build trade and investment opportunities with the European Union. Dubai International Chamber made the move on the back of more than $53 billion of trade between the UAE and Europe last year, up $11 billion on 2021. The […]

The Tadawul move is part of Saudi Arabia's strategy to attract more local and international investors

Saudi Tadawul to launch four Size Indices

The Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) is launching four new indices based on company size and public listing performance. The four Size Indices are the Tadawul Large Cap Index, Tadawul Medium Cap Index, Tadawul Small Cap Index and the Tadawul IPO Index. The maximum weight for any single stock will be 15 percent, following Tadawul All […]

UAE minister of state for financial affairs Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini has hailed the 'strong results' of the bond offering

UAE’s $1.5bn bond issue oversubscribed five-fold

The order book for the UAE government’s US dollar-denominated $1.5 billion bond issue exceeded $7.4 billion, representing strong demand from domestic, regional and international investors, the finance ministry said in a statement. The 10-year bond, maturing on September 2033, was issued with a yield of 4.91 percent. This represented a spread of 60 basis points […]

Alibaba's investment in Turkey will involve data and logistics centres in Ankara and an export centre at Istanbul Airport

China’s Alibaba plans $2bn investment in Turkey

China’s e-commerce major Alibaba Group is planning to invest around $2 billion in Turkey, according to a local media report. The plan was shared by Alibaba president Michael Evans during a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing a statement from the company’s Turkish unit. No timeframe was given but the […]

DAE's credit facility was increased to more than twice the proposed initial target following significant investor demand

Dubai plane lessor increases credit facility to $1.6bn

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has signed a new facility worth $1.6 billion with a group of 26 financiers, its largest bank loan financing to date. The transaction was increased to more than twice the proposed initial target following significant investor demand, the state-owned company said in a statement published on the UAE Wam news agency. […]

Architecture, Building, Tower

Egypt’s new capital developer plans IPO in 2024

Egypt is planning to float five to 10 percent of the shares of the company building its vast new capital 45 km east of Cairo by the second quarter of 2024, its chairman said on Monday. The sale on the stock exchange of shares in the Administrative Capital for Urban Development (ACUD), now owned 51 […]