Leisure & Hospitality Egypt to complete historic hotels sale by year-end Egypt will close the sale of a group of seven hotels, several of them historic, by the end of the year, the head of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt Ayman Soliman said on Thursday. “It has been awarded. So we’re now in partnership moving towards a close before the end of the year, closing with […] November 10, 2023
Finance Jordan agrees with IMF on new $1.2bn reform plan Jordan agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new $1.2 billion four-year reform programme that was a signal of confidence to investors and will help cushion the economy from the adverse impact of regional conflict, finance minister Mohamad Al Ississ told Reuters on Thursday. The new extended fund facility (EFF) arrangement will replace […] November 10, 2023
Finance Turkish banks seek inflation-adjusted accounting rules Turkish banks plan to urge treasury authorities to allow them to use inflation-adjusted accounting, rather than exempting them and ramping up taxes for the sector as the government currently plans, three senior bankers told Reuters. Last week, finance minister Mehmet Simsek said Turkey would move to the inflation-adjusted accounting method for companies, but that financial […] November 9, 2023
Energy Air Products profit beats estimates on Jazan project Industrial gas manufacturer Air Products and Chemicals beat fourth-quarter profit estimates on Tuesday, boosted by growth in its Jazan project in Saudi Arabia and higher LNG equipment sales. The Jazan project is a joint venture between the company and Acwa Holding to serve Saudi Aramco’s Jazan Refinery. The facility processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil […] November 8, 2023
Energy Kuwait Petroleum to borrow $45bn to meet fund shortfall State oil giant Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) sees a near 14.1 billion Kuwaiti dinar ($45.7 billion) shortfall in the funds it has available to meet its five-year spending plan, and will need to borrow and sell assets to help plug the gap, a document seen by Reuters showed. Retaining its annual dividends instead of transferring […] November 7, 2023
Transport Riyadh Air to add ‘large’ narrowbody aircraft order Riyadh Air will announce a deal to buy a “sizeable” number of narrowbody aircraft in the coming weeks, the startup airline’s chief executive said, as he helps build a second carrier for Saudi Arabia which is set for take-off in 2025. Former Etihad Airways boss Tony Douglas was hired in March to head up Riyadh […] November 7, 2023
Finance Turkish inflation marks first decline in three months Turkish annual consumer price inflation dipped for the first time in three months to 61.36 percent in October, official data showed on Friday, as fallout eased from both the lira’s sharp summer decline and post-election tax hikes. Month-on-month, inflation was 3.43 percent. Price rises in clothing and shoes, houses and hotels, and restaurants drove the […] November 5, 2023
Oil & Gas Israeli gas exports to Egypt resume in small volumes Israeli natural gas exports to Egypt have resumed after a disruption last weekend but in small volumes, an official in Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Thursday, without specifying the current flow. Three people with knowledge of the matter also told Reuters on Tuesday the flow had resumed, with two saying it had only been reduced, […] November 3, 2023
Economy Egypt keeps rates steady to tackle ‘future’ inflation Egypt’s central bank, as widely expected, left its overnight interest rates unchanged on Thursday, saying it was focused on future rather than present inflation and that economic growth appeared to have been stable in the July-September quarter. The central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) left the lending rate at 20.25 percent and the deposit rate […] November 3, 2023
Energy Kuwait’s fuel oil exports drop 30% in October Kuwait’s October fuel oil exports tumbled more than 30 percent after hitting a record high in September as some supply was diverted to domestic power generation, according to trade sources, analysts and ship-tracking data. Exports fell to 490,000 metric tonnes (104,000 barrels per day) in October, after hitting a record high of 720,000 tonnes in […] November 1, 2023
Tech Spanish fund plans stake in Telefonica after STC move Spain’s state fund Sepi said on Tuesday it is considering whether to buy a stake in Telefonica, a month after Saudi Arabia’s STC built a 9.9 percent holding in the telecoms group. STC, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom company, became Telefonica’s largest shareholder in September, building a stake worth €2.1 billion ($2.23 billion) through shares and […] November 1, 2023
Economy Pakistan central bank keeps key rate unchanged at 22% Pakistan’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged on Monday, as expected, and forecast inflation would ease in the months ahead after a sharp jump last month. The decision to keep its main policy rate at 22 percent comes ahead of a visit by a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday […] October 31, 2023
Oil & Gas Indian gas importer seeks no additional Qatar LNG India’s top gas importer Petronet LNG is not seeking additional volumes when it renews its long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with Qatar, its head of finance VK Mishra said on Monday on an analyst call. Petronet has a 7.5-million metric tonne per annum (mtpa) long-term LNG import deal with Qatar and its promoters Indian […] October 31, 2023
Finance Egyptian stock-tracked fund reports best week in 11 years Investors have flocked to an exchange-traded fund tracking Egyptian shares to ride a rally in the country’s stocks as domestic investors worried about soaring inflation and a potential currency devaluation take refuge in equities. The VanEck Egypt Index ETF, tracking the MVIS Egypt Index, jumped nearly 19 percent last week, its best weekly performance since […] October 31, 2023
Finance HSBC to buy back $3bn of shares London-based HSBC Holdings reported on Monday a 240 percent increase in third-quarter pre-tax profit as higher interest rates boosted the bank’s profitability and helped it fund a fresh $3 billion share buyback. Europe’s largest bank posted a pre-tax profit of $7.7 billion for the July to September quarter, versus $3.2 billion a year earlier, but […] October 30, 2023
Finance Turkey hikes rates sharply to 35% to tame rising inflation Turkey’s central bank raised its policy rate by 500 basis points to 35 percent as expected on Thursday, tightening aggressively for a third straight month as it steps up efforts to rein in the country’s inflation, which has soared for years. The bank’s policy committee repeated that it was ready to raise rates further as […] October 27, 2023
Leisure & Hospitality Accor raises outlook after strong post-pandemic growth Europe’s biggest hotel group, Accor, raised its core profit target for 2023 on Thursday for the second time this year, citing positive business momentum in all of its markets after another strong post-pandemic summer. The sector continues to benefit from a leisure travel boom, despite inflation and the resurgence of recession fears in Europe. Accor, […] October 27, 2023
Industry Maaden working to extract lithium from seawater Saudi Arabia’s flagship mining company, Maaden, is working to extract lithium from seawater, its chief executive, Robert Wilt, said on Wednesday, as competition for the rare metal rages between the US and China. Wilt said Maaden, the Gulf’s largest miner, is trying to stay above the fray and was “doing what’s best for the kingdom”. […] October 26, 2023
Industry Indian steel producer Essar plans regional hub in Saudi Indian conglomerate Essar Group plans to make Saudi Arabia a hub to drive its expansion locally and regionally, its chief executive Prashant Ruia said on Wednesday. The group, built by brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia, is setting up a 4 million metric tonnes per year steel plant along with port facilities at Ras Al-Khair in […] October 26, 2023
Finance S&P revises Israel’s outlook to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ S&P Global revised Israel’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” on Tuesday, blaming risks that the Israel-Hamas war could spread more widely, with a more pronounced impact on the economy and security situation in the country. Last week another big credit ratings agency, Fitch, placed Israel’s sovereign debt rating of “A+” on rating watch negative and […] October 25, 2023
Finance Norway’s wealth fund posts $34bn loss in Q3 2023 Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, posted a 374 billion crown ($33.8 billion) loss in the third quarter, the fund said on Tuesday, after seeing heavy drops in the value of equities and bonds. The fund’s return on investment was minus 2.1 percent for the July-September period, 0.17 percentage points stronger than […] October 25, 2023
Energy Lebanon wants Total-led consortium to drill new well Lebanon wants a consortium led by TotalEnergies to drill another well at offshore Block 9 quickly, after a first well did not find enough natural gas to be commercialised, the country’s energy minister, Walid Fayad, told Reuters. The consortium drilling in Block 9 also includes the Italian energy group Eni and the state-owned QatarEnergy. Fayad, […] October 25, 2023
