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Ukraine-Russia war

Kingdom Holding bucks European investment exit trend

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company is investing $269 million in British insurance and asset management firm M&G Plc, despite the trend towards Middle East sovereign wealth funds backing away from Europe. M&G has over $370 billion in assets under management. Kingdom is part-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), manages a global portfolio of […]

Chair, Furniture, Ballroom

UAE’s Rotana expands further into Egypt with Luxor property

Rotana, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered hotel management company, has signed a new agreement to operate a property in Luxor, as Egypt continues to be the dominant player in Africa’s hotel sector. The five-star Luxor Rotana in Egypt’s historic city is set to open in the fourth quarter of 2023. The UAE hotelier operates around 100 properties […]

Sanctions won’t dampen Dubai property allure for Russians

The popularity of Dubai among Russian property buyers is unlikely to be dented by a US threat to impose sanctions on UAE banks who process their financial transactions, as most payments are made using cash or cryptocurrency. Dubai-based Mira Estate said its property sales to customers from Russia and the 11 other Commonwealth of Independent […]

Wally Adeyemo said fresh sanctions could be applied to any countries seen to be helping Putin

US warns UAE banks to swerve Russian deposits

The US has warned UAE banks to be more proactive and take extra care when dealing with Russian clients, or the emirates may face stateside sanctions. Addressing a roundtable of the United Arab Emirates Banks Federation during a two-day visit to the country, Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the US Treasury, commended UAE-based financial institutions […]

  • Analysis

The Ukraine war is pushing up insurance premiums everywhere

An EU/UK plan to ban their insurers from providing cover to ships transporting Russian oil is causing tensions with Washington. America contends that Europe’s dominance of global insurance will make it difficult for Russia to export oil if this goes ahead, potentially pushing oil prices far higher than they are already. Yet this may not […]

Around 90 percent of clean energy spending comes from advanced economies and China

ACWA places faith in hydrogen to power Saudi’s future

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has grand ambitions to become the globe’s number one producer of green hydrogen. The kingdom is aiming to produce around four million tonnes of the gas by 2030 as part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MbS) Vision 2030 to diversify the economy. Green hydrogen is set […]

World Cup, Russians and business travel help airlines rebound

Middle Eastern airlines reported a 265 percent year-on-year increase in demand in April, according to the latest monthly data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Industry analysts also reported that while demand in the region is still operating at around two-thirds what it was pre-pandemic, the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Russian tourists […]

Saudi Arabian banks see profits up 17.6% in first quarter

Saudi Arabia’s top banks saw profitability increase by 17.6 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year, on the back of a buoyant energy market, interest rate hikes in line with the US, and an increase in consumer spending. “The first quarter saw broad-based profitability improvement across the banking industry,” Asad Ahmed, managing […]

Ukraine and Gulf announce diplomatic and economic alliance

Ukraine, the Gulf bloc and the Organisation of lslamic Cooperation (OIC) announced on Tuesday the establishment of a special Advisory Council.  The Council, headed by the Ukraine President’s Office and Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will focus on political, diplomatic, economic and humanitarian cooperation between Ukraine and the Middle East. The Head of the President’s […]

Egypt dominates African hotel investment market

Egypt is very much the dominant player in Africa’s hotel sector, as the Arab world’s largest country looks to rejuvenate its tourism sector following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 80,300 rooms in 447 hotels, across 42 African countries, are currently in the pipeline for development, according to a study by hospitality […]

Turkey tourism Borden

Tourism growth stokes hopes of economic recovery

The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey last month more than tripled from a year earlier, reinforcing expectations that a rebound in the sector will help repair an economy battered by a weak currency and high inflation. Sector representatives expect tourist numbers this year to return to around 2019 levels, leaving the 2020-21 coronavirus slump […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory
  • Analysis

Rising inflation and falling tourism deals Egypt a ‘double whammy’

With inflation surging and the government forced to fix the price of bread to head off civil unrest, Egypt has felt the heat from the Ukraine crisis more acutely than most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Higher commodity prices and the loss of tourism revenues from both Russian and Ukrainian […]

Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will once again lead the UAE's delegation in Davos

Climate change top of the agenda at Davos

The Gulf’s two largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are sending top-level delegations to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, which begins today.  The UAE’s delegation, led by Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, deputy prime minister and minister of finance, will also include Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, […]

Tie, Accessories, Accessory

Russian oil dilemma may kickstart EU-GCC trade deal

A new partnership adopted today between the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could kickstart stalled talks on a free trade agreement. The High Representative and the European Commission said in a joint communication that the strategic partnership would focus on areas such as energy security, climate change and the green transition, digitalisation, […]

A worker displays grains of wheat at a mill in Lebanon, where the cost of a loaf of bread rose 70 percent in March

Ukraine war drives Gulf to double down on food security

As the war in Ukraine has pushed up food prices and disrupted supply chains, hard-hit Mena countries explore ways to protect themselves In Abu Dhabi clusters of fresh tomatoes are growing inside rows of climate-controlled greenhouses in the middle of the desert – just one example of the lengths the arid region must go to […]

Person, Human, Suit

Omani leader meets with Russian Foreign Minister in Muscat

Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Muscat today, as the Russian politician toured the Sultanate. During the meeting, Lavrov conveyed the greetings of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation to Sultan Haitham and wished the Omani people continued progress and prosperity, praising the country’s wisdom in dealing […]

Expo 2020 Dubai

Costs at three-year high in UAE non-oil sector

Energy and material costs are at their highest levels for more than three years in the United Arab Emirates non-oil sector, forcing businesses to increase their prices, according to the latest S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released on Monday. “The burden of rising input prices continued to be felt across the UAE non-oil […]