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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

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Landscape, Outdoors, Nature

Egypt’s urban inflation accelerates to 10.5%

Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation accelerated in March to 10.5 percent, its highest in nearly three years and faster than analysts had expected, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Sunday. The inflation figure, up from 8.8 percent in February, was greater than a median forecast of 10 percent in a Reuters […]

Egypt gets Gulf aid as eyes turn to currency flexibility

The central bank allowed Egypt’s pound, which had been stable since November 2020, to drop by 14 percent against the dollar on March 21 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted investors to withdraw billions of dollars from Egyptian treasury markets. Last week Saudi Arabia said it had deposited $5 billion with Egypt’s central bank and […]

UAE’s Aldar Properties reports 26.5% Q1 jump

UAE-based developer Aldar Properties on Wednesday reported a 26.5 percent increase in first-quarter profit driven by record quarterly sales and the inclusion of the financial results of Egypt developer SODIC, in which it co-owns a majority share. The company made AED 688 million ($187 million) in the quarter, up from 544 million a year earlier, […]

  • Analysis

Russia-Ukraine fallout puts fragile ‘frontier’ economies in MENA at risk

The fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world’s poorest countries, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk – and the queue at the International Monetary Fund’s door – will only get longer from here. Countries such as Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt are at […]

UAE, Pakistan in push for stronger trade ties

Leaders of the UAE and Pakistan have reaffirmed earlier commitments made by the two countries to boost bilateral trade. Pakistan imports from the UAE stood at £5.9 billion in 2021, according to the United Nations’ Comtrade database on international trade, but there is currently no formal free trade agreement between the two countries. A free […]

Afghan economy ‘dire’ as household incomes shrink

The outlook for Afghanistan’s economy is dire with per capita income having fallen by over a third in the last four months of 2021 after the Islamist Taliban seizedpower and foreign forces withdrew, the World Bank said. “One of the poorest countries in the world has become much poorer,” said Tobias Haque, World Bank senior […]

Shopify’s revenue growth slowest in seven years, shares plunge

Canada’s Shopify Inc reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth since going public in 2015 and delivered a big miss on profit, sending the company’s U.S.-listed shares tumbling 17 percent on Thursday. Easing global e-commerce growth from the frenetic pace seen during the peak of the pandemic has hit Shopify, which provides merchants tools and service […]

President Erdogan of Turkey
  • Analysis

Erdogan heads home from Riyadh, hoping to have mended ties

Three-and-a-half years after accusing Saudi Arabia of murder and running a sham trial over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has made a trip to the Gulf kingdom to mend ties. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have a common will to “reactivate a great economic potential” between the two countries, Erdogan said after […]

UAE top lender FAB posts record profit

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, reported on Thursday its highest ever quarterly net profit, helped by the sale of a majority stake in its payments business. The UAE banking sector is improving on the back of a further easing in COVID-19-related restrictions and a rebound in oil prices, boosting […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Turkey, Saudi to revive great economic potential, Erdogan says

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have a common will to “reactivate a great economic potential” between the two countries, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, after his first trip to the kingdom since 2017. Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Saudi Arabia, where he sought to mend frayed ties, Erdogan said the sides […]

Pearson maintains momentum after rejecting takeover

Pearson beat first-quarter forecasts and said it would benefit from a lowertax rate this year, underscoring confidence at the education group after it rejected a private equity offer in March. The British company, emerging from years of turbulence sparked by the US education market moving online, reported a better-than-expected 7 percent rise in first-quarter underlying […]

Turkey hikes gas prices, as inflation tops 60% in March

Turkish state-owned energy importer BOTAS said it had raised natural gas prices for industrial facilities by 50 percent and those for households by 35 percent, raising the prospect of further stoking inflation, which is expected to top 60 percent in March. BOTAS also said natural gas prices for electricity production were going up by 44.3 […]

Al Rajhi Bank reports 24% rise in Q1 profit

Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest lender, reported a nearly 24 percent rise in quarterly earnings, fuelled by a jump in net financing for customers, and higher investment income and fees from banking services. The bank reported a net profit of SR 4.1 billion ($1.09 billion) for first quarter ended March 31, up SR 3.34 billion in the […]

Tunisia’s dinar hits record low versus dollar

Tunisia’s dinar currency has fallen to record lows versus the dollar, driven down by high inflation, a worsening trade deficit and the severe impact of the Ukraine crisis on public finances. It traded at 3.074 against the dollar on Thursday, central bank data showed on Friday. Earlier this month, the state statistics institute said Tunisia’s […]

Airplane, Aircraft, Vehicle

Qatar Airways suffers setback in feud with Airbus

A British judge has denied a bid by Qatar Airways to reinstate a jet contractcancelled by Europe’s Airbus in the latest twist to a dramatic feud playing out in UK courts. The companies have been locked in a safety dispute for months on Europe’s A350 long-haul jet. Their unprecedented bust-up widened in January when Airbus revoked a separate deal for […]

Logo, Trademark, Symbol

Americana selects banks for Saudi and UAE listings

The Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food restaurants KFC and Pizza Hut has hired banks for a potential dual listing in Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Americana Group has selected Goldman Sachs, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Saudi National Bank (SNB) for the deal, said the source, declining […]

Abu Dhabi bourse dips ahead of Eid break, Dubai flat

Abu Dhabi’s shares closed lower on Friday in thin trade ahead of Eid al-Fitr holidays, while the Dubai bourse finished flat, ending three sessions of gains. In Abu Dhabi the index eased 0.2 percent, with the country’s largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) losing 1.3 percent, snapping two sessions of gains. On Thursday, FAB […]

Oil will cushion Middle East from economic impact of Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine will sharply reduce economic growth in the Central Asian region in 2022, but higher oil prices will partly cushion the blow for the Middle East and North Africa, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. Both regions, however, will feel the impact of surging commodity prices, the IMF said, warning higher […]

Turks “bewildered” as rents outpace rampant inflation

Undeterred by industry figures showing rents in Istanbul have doubled inside a year, yoga instructor Ceren Tabak was fully prepared to spend most of her salary on housing costs when she decided last month to look for a home of her own. But she says real estate agents laughed when she quoted them the 6,000 […]

Lebanese central banker says ready to answer Swiss questions

Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is ready to meet Swiss prosecutors in person to answer questions about their money-laundering investigation, he said in a television interview. Salameh is facing investigations in Lebanon and five European countries into the alleged embezzlement of some $330 million in public funds with the help of his brother, Raja, […]

Repsol’s profit doubles on high oil and gas prices

Spain’s Repsol posted a first-quarter profit upswing on Thursday, bolstered by higher oil and gas prices and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Commodities prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, sending further shockwaves through markets already reeling from last year’s collision between tight supplies and high demand in economies reopening after coronavirus lockdowns. Adjusted […]