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Local vendors at the Souq Al Zel in Riyadh. The Saudi economy will come out of negative year-on-year growth this year "almost certainly" said one analyst

Analysts predict growth despite Saudi GDP fall

Saudi Arabia’s year-on-year GDP fell again in the second quarter, according to adjusted government figures released this week, but analysts have said the quarterly increase shows the economy is nearing the end of its negative run.  GDP was down 0.3 percent year on year in the second quarter, but has risen by 1.4 percent since […]

Ömer Bolat, Turkey's trade minister, told an e-export summit that the aim is for Turkish e-exports to reach $8 billion this year

Turkish ecommerce growing faster than wider economy

Turks are embracing online life in ever growing numbers, both as users and as service providers, with ecommerce gaining a strong foothold in the domestic economy and scaling up in overseas markets. Turkish ecommerce is expanding at a rate far faster than the general economy, Ömer Bolat, the trade minister, told delegates at a summit […]

Architecture, Building, Outdoors

One year on, Atlas earthquake still highlights Morocco’s divide

Last Sunday marked one year since a devastating earthquake hit Morocco, flattening entire villages in the Atlas Mountains and killing around three thousand people. Within a week of the disaster, the country’s deadliest earthquake in 63 years, King Mohammed VI pledged MAD120 billion ($11.6 billion) over five years for reconstruction of the area.  That included […]

Trending

  1. Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI sells The Spectator for $131m

  2. New shipping route links Jeddah to major Indian ports

  3. UAE non-oil GDP grows on back of financial sector

  4. Saudi Arabia plans refund scheme to cater for tourists

  5. QatarEnergy signs $2bn deal with Chinese shipyard

OPINION & Analysis

Best of AGBI

An employee inspects construction work at the Fadhili gas plant project; Aramco reported a second-quarter net profit of $28.3 billion – almost half the regional profit total – but Sico excludes the company from its calculations

Gulf’s profits rise thanks to petrochemicals and banks

A turnaround in Saudi Arabia’s long-troubled petrochemicals industry has helped Gulf companies’ second-quarter earnings rise year on year. The region’s banking, telecom and real estate sectors also prospered. GCC listed companies’ earnings totalled $60.7 billion in the three months to June 30, up from $57.4 billion a year earlier, a report by Kuwait’s Kamco Invest […]

Natural gas, the Middle East and the $1.1 trillion question

The Middle East is emerging as the main driver of global demand for natural gas – and production growth. The region is working to diversify its energy industries, but analysts believe it needs significant investment if it is to become a reliable gas supplier to the rest of the world. The Middle East’s gas consumption […]

Saudi Arabia leads international bond issuance

Saudi Arabia is the leading emerging market issuer of sovereign and quasi-sovereign international bonds, and experts predict the kingdom will expand its borrowings further to help fund infrastructure spending. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s largest economy despite a 0.8 percent decline in real GDP last year, sold $26.8 billion of international bonds from January 1 […]

Masdar ‘on the lookout’ for deals in China, says CFO

Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned clean energy company, is looking to acquire assets in China as part of its strategy to expand its portfolio of renewable energy projects. Mazin Khan, its chief financial officer, told AGBI that “macroeconomic conditions, with high interest rates and renewable players looking for capital” were opening the door for mergers and […]

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UAE latest

Redbird Spectator

Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI sells The Spectator for $131m

Redbird IMI, a US investment group backed by Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, has sold the British magazine The Spectator to hedge fund boss Paul Marshall. The deal with Marshall, through his Old Queen Street Ventures fund, was worth £100 million ($131 million). Marshall is co-founder and chief investment officer of the global hedge fund […]

UAE and India deepen energy ties

The UAE has signed long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) and strategic petroleum reserve development agreements with India, supporting New Delhi’s energy security initiatives. The agreements were signed during the two-day visit of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India.  Under the UAE-India comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa), Abu Dhabi […]

The UAE’s real GDP reached AED430 billion in Q1 2024, recording an annual growth of 3.4 percent

UAE non-oil GDP grows on back of financial sector

The UAE’s non-oil GDP grew by 4 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2024, driven by increased financial and insurance activities in the private sector. This growth in the financial and insurance sector was supported by the significant increase in the local credit granted to the private sector, resulting in a 6 […]

Alpha Dhabi Holding and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, acquired the 15 percent stake in OCI Methanol for $375 million in February 2022

Alpha Dhabi exits 11% of OCI Global’s methanol business

Alpha Dhabi Holding, the fourth most valuable listed company in Abu Dhabi, will sell its 11 percent equity stake in OCI Global’s methanol business. The stake sale follows the acquisition of Netherlands-based OCI Methanol by Canada’s Methanex Corporation for $2 billion. OCI Methanol is indirectly owned 85 percent by OCI Global. Alpha Dhabi Holding and ADQ, an Abu […]

Carrefour Apparel Group India

Carrefour and Dubai’s Apparel Group plan India expansion

Dubai’s Apparel Group has teamed up with Carrefour to take the French supermarket retailer into the Indian market. The franchise agreement will see the first five Carrefour stores open in 2025, with a particular focus on the north of India, before expanding nationwide. “This partnership represents a significant step in strengthening our position in India,” […]

Saudi Arabia latest

A container vessel docked at Jeddah Islamic Port, which handled 5.58m containers in 2023

New shipping route links Jeddah to major Indian ports

Saudi Arabia has launched a new shipping route between Jeddah Islamic Port and Mundra and Nhava Sheva, two of India’s largest ports.  The 10-day service, operated by Folk Maritime Services, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, started this month. The new route aims to increase the movement of goods such as petrochemicals, aligning with […]

Local vendors at the Souq Al Zel in Riyadh. The Saudi economy will come out of negative year-on-year growth this year "almost certainly" said one analyst

Analysts predict growth despite Saudi GDP fall

Saudi Arabia’s year-on-year GDP fell again in the second quarter, according to adjusted government figures released this week, but analysts have said the quarterly increase shows the economy is nearing the end of its negative run.  GDP was down 0.3 percent year on year in the second quarter, but has risen by 1.4 percent since […]

Saudi fund Bahamas North Eleuthera International Airport

Saudi fund loans $55m to expand Bahamas airport

Saudi Arabia will provide $55 million financing for the development of an airport project in The Bahamas that will more than double its capacity. The project aims to expand North Eleuthera International Airport’s operational capacity from 300,000 to 700,000 visitors annually, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported. The expansion will generate more than 300 direct […]

A woman arranges luxury fragrance in a Riyadh mall; Saudi Arabia hopes to increase tourist spending with a tax refund scheme

Saudi Arabia plans refund scheme to cater for tourists

Saudi Arabia is planning to introduce a tourist tax refund scheme in an attempt to boost visitor numbers and compete with its Gulf neighbours.  The Zakat, Customs and Tax Authority opened a public consultation at the end of August on proposed changes to tax regulations that aim to improve compliance with valued added tax legislation […]

Around the Middle East

OQ IPO OQ by Oman Racing BMW M4 GT3

OQ to list oil production arm in largest ever Omani IPO 

Oman’s state energy company, OQ, is planning to sell up to a quarter of its exploration and production arm, OQEP, through an initial public offering, in what will be the largest IPO in the country’s history. The subscription period is expected to commence this month, while the listing is scheduled for October on the Muscat […]

Kuwait's National Assembly building. A new oil minister has been appointed amid challenges in the industry and ongoing political instability

Kuwait’s oil minister resigns amid energy challenges

Kuwait’s finance minister, Nora Suleiman Al-Fassam, has been appointed acting oil minister, after the resignation on Sunday of the deputy prime minister and minister of oil, Imad Al-Ateeqi, amid ongoing political instability in the country. Al-Fassam is also minister of state for economic and investment affairs, having been appointed just last month. She came from […]

Opec secretary general Haitham Al Ghais. Analysts say the body is running out of options to stabilise oil prices

Opec+ delay to output rise fails to rejuvenate oil price

The decision by Opec+ on Thursday to postpone its oil output hike until December has failed to pump up the markets, where the sentiment remains bearish.  While Opec+ still holds sway over global balances, it is running out of options to stabilise prices, analysts said, as the share price of Aramco, the world’s biggest producer, […]

An oil field in the Dibis area on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Iraq. The government plans to launch major projects in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors

Iraq targets 6m bpd crude oil output by 2028

Iraq will increase its crude oil production to 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2028, a senior government official has said. The ambitious plan aims to support production levels and increase exports, state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported, citing deputy minister for extraction affairs Basim Khudair. Iraq, the second-largest producer in Opec, extracts more […]

Riad Salameh was governor of Lebanon's central bank for three decades

Lebanon’s former central bank governor ‘arrested in Beirut’

The former governor of Lebanon’s central bank, Riad Salameh, was arrested on Tuesday after a hearing in Beirut, a senior judicial source has told Reuters. Salameh has been charged with financial crimes including money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment. He has denied all wrongdoing. Neither he nor his lawyer immediately responded to Reuters’ attempts to […]

Virgin Australia jets at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. The airline was bought out in 2020 when it went into administration

Qatar Airways’ expansion ‘on a different path from Etihad’

Qatar Airways is reportedly keen to buy more stakes in legacy airlines – a strategy that sounds familiar to anyone who knows the history of Etihad but is likely to have a different outcome, according to aviation experts. Almost a decade ago Abu Dhabi’s flag carrier was running into serious problems with its aggressive expansion […]

The Botas-Shell LNG deal provides additional regional and global trade opportunities said Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar

Turkey’s Botas strikes deal to buy LNG from Shell

Turkish energy company Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma AŞ (Botas) has agreed to buy up to four billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British energy major Shell. The companies signed a 10-year supply pact, with Shell starting deliveries from 2027 from its US and global portfolio. The deal will enable Botas to […]

Production from the project’s first new urea train is expected this decade, said QatarEnergy CEO Saad Al-Kaabi

QatarEnergy’s new plant will double urea production

State-backed QatarEnergy will build a new urea production complex to more than double the Gulf country’s urea output to meet growing global demand. The new project involves building three ammonia production lines to supply feedstock to four new urea production trains in Mesaieed Industrial City, located 36 kms from Doha.  Accordingly, urea production will increase […]

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Turkey Latest

Ömer Bolat, Turkey's trade minister, told an e-export summit that the aim is for Turkish e-exports to reach $8 billion this year

Turkish ecommerce growing faster than wider economy

Turks are embracing online life in ever growing numbers, both as users and as service providers, with ecommerce gaining a strong foothold in the domestic economy and scaling up in overseas markets. Turkish ecommerce is expanding at a rate far faster than the general economy, Ömer Bolat, the trade minister, told delegates at a summit […]

The Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey. The first reactor is expected to be commissioned next year

Turkey to commission first nuclear plant by 2028

Turkey is set to commission its first nuclear power plant by 2028, which is expected to meet 10 percent of its power needs. All four reactors will be fully commissioned simultaneously at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar. “We are at the largest nuclear […]

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shake hands after a signing ceremony in Ankara

Turkey and Egypt mend relationship with state visit

Turkey and Egypt have moved closer to rapprochement after a decade of strained ties. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi signed 17 memorandums of understanding during the latter’s one-day visit to Ankara on Wednesday. Among the agreements signed were commitments to boost cooperation in finance, energy, defence and tourism. Ties […]

Turkey Brics Erdogan Putin Xi

Doubts grow over Turkey’s Brics application

A report that Turkey has formally applied to join the non-Western aligned Brics bloc is looking premature, with a Turkish government spokesman refusing to confirm the claim. Bloomberg reported that Turkey had submitted its application to join the bloc that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, plus more recent members, the United […]

A textile factory in Istanbul. Many employers in Turkey have scaled back on their workforce, blaming rising costs and weak demand

Cooling inflation little help for Turkey’s struggling manufacturers

Although Turkey’s consumer inflation slowed in August to the lowest rate for nearly a year, analysts say it was not enough to help the country’s struggling manufacturing sector. Consumer inflation in Turkey dropped almost 10 percentage points to an annualised 52 percent in August, the smallest figure since mid-2023, state statistics agency Turkstat said on […]

Egypt Latest

A woman at a supermarket in Cairo. Egypt's annual headline and core inflation fell for the fifth consecutive month

Egypt holds key policy rates steady as inflation eases

Egypt’s central bank left its key policy rates unchanged as inflation continued to subside amid softening growth. The lending and deposit rates were kept intact at 28.25 percent and 27.25 percent. Inflationary pressure has continued to subside with the gradual easing of previous shocks, the central bank said in a statement. Annual headline and core […]

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shake hands after a signing ceremony in Ankara

Turkey and Egypt mend relationship with state visit

Turkey and Egypt have moved closer to rapprochement after a decade of strained ties. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi signed 17 memorandums of understanding during the latter’s one-day visit to Ankara on Wednesday. Among the agreements signed were commitments to boost cooperation in finance, energy, defence and tourism. Ties […]

The historic Mogamma El Tahrir building redevelopment project in Downtown Cairo, the once administrative governmental offices will be converted into a luxury hotel complex.

Egypt’s private sector begins to feel impact of reforms

Egypt’s non-oil private sector economy expanded for the first time in three years as the impact of the government’s currency strategy and international investment drive begins to trickle down to the business community. The country’s economic outlook was transformed in February following a $35 billion investment deal for Emirati sovereign wealth fund ADQ to develop […]

A train arrives at the Cairo subway. Line 1, which spans 44 km and connects 35 stations, transports more than 1.5 million passengers daily

Egypt awards $885m contract to upgrade Cairo metro

A consortium led by Orascom Construction, listed on Dubai, Egypt and Nasdaq stock exchanges, will commence the modernisation of the Cairo metro line 1 next month. The €800 million ($885 million) project will be completed in 64 months without disturbing commercial operations. The consortium has signed a contract with Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels to […]

A shot from a UN Habitat animation showing the Ras El-Hekma development. Property in the region is being snapped up before any building has started

ADQ’s Egypt project lights fire under region’s real estate

The $35 billion investment by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ in Egypt’s tourism sector appears to have spurred a jump in real estate transactions on the country’s Mediterranean coast. In February ADQ unveiled its plan to build Egypt’s “largest new city” in Ras El-Hekma, and develop the coastal region into a Mediterranean vacation […]

Features

Prince Faisal: growth, not profit, is focus for esports

Cost-intensive spectator events are not going to be a “serious profit generator”, Prince Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud told AGBI, as Saudi Arabia concluded the first Esports World Cup last week.  The event was watched by more than 500 million people but Prince Faisal, president of the Arab Esports Federation, said: “In esports, sustainability is […]

Turks turn to crypto to ‘escape’ currency fluctuations

As blockchain platform Tether introduces the first dirham-pegged stablecoin – cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to a currency, commodity or financial instrument – in the UAE, AGBI looks into how unstable economies such as Turkey have used cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation. Turkey banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments in 2021, the same year […]

Kuwait Entertainment City targets Gulf tourism rivals

Kuwait Investment Authority taking over a planned Entertainment City development in the nation’s capital is the latest sign of an upturn in its commercial real estate sector, according to experts. Authorities first announced the nearly $660 million (KWD 200 million) project in October 2019, then relaunched it in May 2023. A study at the time […]

Morocco makes 2030 World Cup a focus for investment

The artist’s impression shows a massive polygonal structure, with an aluminium lattice roof draped in floating cream sheets.  This is the Grand Stade Hassan II de Casablanca at Benslimane, north of Morocco’s commercial capital. The successful design was unveiled earlier this week by the winning architects, the Casablanca-based Oualalou + Choi and the arena specialist […]

People & Lifestyle

Executive, Person, Adult

Recruitment portals try to ease logjam in Saudi labour market

Saudi Arabia presents a golden opportunity for recruitment platforms that seek to match multitudes of job seekers with a plethora of employers looking to hire, labour market specialists say.   There are around 168 Public Investment Fund companies working on the $1.25 trillion Vision 2030 economic diversification programme, as well as foreign companies setting up offices […]

Turkish transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said that the user rights of social media accounts belonging to Turkish citizens will be protected

Turkey lifts ban after Instagram agrees to demands

Turkey has lifted its more than week-long ban on Instagram after the social media company agreed to collaborate with the government to address its concerns. The ban was removed on Saturday night after Instagram promised to work on demands regarding “catalogue crimes” and censorship on users, transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said in a […]

Oman biofuels

Oman’s entrepreneurs hope to turn biofuels into liquid gold

A bus powered partly by date kernels launched on the streets of Muscat at the end of 2022. It was a Sultan Qaboos University project, set up as Oman strives to develop sustainable sources of energy. The bus successfully runs on a mix of biodiesel made from the oil extracted from date kernels and conventional […]

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out at social media platforms on Monday after his government blocked Instagram

Turkey’s Instagram ban hits $57m-a-day ecommerce trade

For four days and counting, Instagram has been blocked in Turkey – not only putting a dent in the social lives of millions of users but also placing additional pressure on an economy under strain.  Turkish regulators gave no reason when they imposed a ban on the Meta-owned platform on August 2.  However, the shutdown […]

'Growing local talent is not a luxury' – experts say the UAE must move beyond hiring AI workers from abroad

Local talent vital for UAE to achieve AI ambitions

The UAE is on a quest to lead the artificial intelligence sector but one of the stumbling blocks it is striving to address is the lack of local professionals coming into the industry. AI is expected to contribute $320 billion to the Mena region’s economy by 2030 – $96 billion of which will be attributed […]

Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone

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Around the world

Palm Jebel Ali

Belgian company wins $220m Palm Jebel Ali dredging contract

The AED 810 million ($220 million) contract to complete dredging, land reclamation, beach profiling and other work at Palm Jebel Ali has been awarded to a subsidiary of the Belgian-owned Jan De Nul Group. In May the Dubai state-owned developer Nakheel announced that local contractor DBB Contracting and Khansaheb Civil Engineering, a subsidiary of Khansaheb […]

The deal includes UCB’s neurology and allergy portfolios in mainland China and its Zhuhai manufacturing site

Mubadala joins $680m acquisition of UCB’s Chinese business

Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company and Singapore’s CBC Group have jointly acquired the neurology and allergy business of UCB, a Belgian biopharmaceutical company, for $680 million. The deal includes UCB’s neurology portfolio (Keppra, Vimpat and Neupro) and allergy portfolio (Zyrtec and Xyzal) in mainland China and its Zhuhai manufacturing site. The combined net sales for […]

Apex Botswana giant diamond

Diamond weighing 1lb cheers Mubadala-backed financier

The discovery in Botswana of a rough diamond weighing more than a pound, the second largest ever found, is likely to prove timely for Apex Group, the global financial services provider, which counts the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala among its key backers. The huge gem’s discovery was announced on Thursday by Lucara Diamond Corp, […]