Saudi secondary school pupils will soon have classes on artificial intelligence (AI) added to their curriculum. More than 50,000 17 and 18-year-olds will be offered the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course, a joint initiative between the ministry of education and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority. It is part of an effort by the […]
Blue water swimming enthusiasts drawn to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits are providing a boost to the economy
US President Donald Trump’s imposition of additional import tariffs will trouble GCC banks, despite the bloc’s meagre non-oil exports to the United States, according to analysts. Trump’s tariff strategy, targeted principally at China but worldwide in scope, has roiled global equity markets, sent the dollar tumbling and exacerbated oil price declines. As such, “the indirect […]
Opinion
logistics
It is estimated border waiting times result in a loss to the Gulf region of $266m a year
Opinion
agriculture
Agricultural trade in the Gulf will not be shielded from the ripple effects of US tariffs
Opinion
banking
Why are banks traditionally so bad at customer service? The reasons are many
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The Gulf is one of the most water scarce regions in the world, so it has had to adopt innovative solutions for its water resources. One of the most prominent of these is desalination. While less than 1 percent of the world’s drinking water is desalinated, GCC countries depend on their desalination plants for up to […]
Mubadala is the latest big name to announce a foray into the UAE’s $7 billion education market as experts predict an increase in mergers and acquisitions in the sector, fuelled by the Gulf state’s rising population, economic diversification and expatriate demand. The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has more than $300 billion in assets under […]
Al Farhan Group, a family-owned company with 16 three- to four-star hotels across Saudi Arabia, plans to open at least one hotel every year for the next several years. Its ambitions reflect those of the Saudi government, which wants to encourage more domestic and inbound business and leisure travel and almost double the number of […]
Aircraft leasing companies in the Arabian Gulf are profiting from prolonged delivery delays at aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus, with order backlogs at the manufacturers unlikely to clear before the end of the decade. “These [aircraft leasing] guys are in a fantastic position because they have a fantastic fleet of aircraft,” Willie Walsh, director general […]
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Global has launched its first island development on the $23.6 billion Red Sea giga-project. The opening comes despite the $925 billion Public Investment Fund ordering deep spending cuts across more than 100 of its companies, as AGBI reported last month. Some budgets have been cut by as much as 60 percent, sources said, […]
Matein Khalid, Investor
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has been shortlisted to acquire Shell’s fuel stations and other downstream assets in South Africa for as much as $1 billion. Shell’s portfolio in South Africa includes about 600 fuel stations and local trading operations, Bloomberg reported, without identifying its sources. Shell has appointed Rothschild to run the sale […]
Amazon has partnered with the Middle East and North Africa social impact startup Manara to train thousands of people in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in cloud software skills. Amazon Web Services, a division of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis, will invest $3.6 […]
Syria’s flag carrier, Syrian Air, will resume direct flights to Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, the airline said in a Facebook post. All flights between Syria and the UAE had been suspended in January after Islamist-led rebels toppled the country’s former leader, Bashar al-Assad, in December last year. The announcement […]
China’s state-owned planemaker, Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corp of China), is decades away from breaking up the global dominance of Boeing and Airbus, according to the head of the world’s largest airline trade association. The result will be that Gulf Arab carriers such as Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have little choice but to stomach […]
DWF Labs, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi, has bought $25 million of a cryptocurrency linked to Donald Trump. The company describes itself as a next-generation Web3 investor and cryptocurrency trader. Web3 includes concepts such as decentralisation, blockchain technologies and token-based economics. It said in a statement that it bought $25 million of World […]
A German elevator company backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is exploring selling shares to the public in the US, Reuters has reported, without citing sources. Düsseldorf-based TK Elevator is expected to be valued at more than €20 billion ($22.7 billion), according to earnings calculations by the news agency. TK Elevator is the […]
Amazon has partnered with the Middle East and North Africa social impact startup Manara to train thousands of people in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in cloud software skills. Amazon Web Services, a division of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis, will invest $3.6 […]
Saudi secondary school pupils will soon have classes on artificial intelligence (AI) added to their curriculum. More than 50,000 17 and 18-year-olds will be offered the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course, a joint initiative between the ministry of education and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority. It is part of an effort by the […]
Al Farhan Group, a family-owned company with 16 three- to four-star hotels across Saudi Arabia, plans to open at least one hotel every year for the next several years. Its ambitions reflect those of the Saudi government, which wants to encourage more domestic and inbound business and leisure travel and almost double the number of […]
Diriyah Company has awarded a more than SAR5 billion ($1.4 billion) construction contract to a Saudi-Chinese joint venture to build the Royal Diriyah Opera House and surrounding assets. The joint venture partners include Saudi Arabia-based El Seif Engineering Contracting and Midmac Construction, and China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The opera house will be Diriyah’s flagship performing […]
China’s state-owned planemaker, Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corp of China), is decades away from breaking up the global dominance of Boeing and Airbus, according to the head of the world’s largest airline trade association. The result will be that Gulf Arab carriers such as Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have little choice but to stomach […]
Chinese imports of oil by sea rose in March to their highest in 17 months, with imports from Iran hitting a record, according to tanker tracking consultancy Vortexa. Seaborne crude arrivals – which account for about 85 percent of total Chinese oil imports – rose to 10.6 million barrels per day in March, up from […]
Jordan is planning to build a 320km pipeline to distribute gas for the domestic market from the Risha field in the northwest of the country, according to an official. The project also includes the construction of a gas treatment plant near Risha, where the country’s largest reserves are located. Officials have said Risha holds nearly […]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released $130 million to Jordan as part of an extended fund facility of $1.2 billion which was approved in January 2024. “Jordan’s economy continues to show resilience and macroeconomic stability has been maintained, despite considerable external headwinds from the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon,” the IMF said in a statement. […]
Kuwait has told its industrial facilities to suspend operations for six hours daily during summer as part of a power rationalisation plan spurred by severe electricity shortages due to high demand. The Public Authority for Industry (PAI) said on its website this week that industrial units in the Gulf emirate must shut down during peak […]
Oman is holding talks with the US to review the implications of reciprocal tariffs, according to a news report. “Despite the existing free trade agreement with the US, the new tariffmeasures have included Omani exports,” Oman Daily Observer, a local news outlet, reported, quoting Shaikh Saud Al Nahari, a board member of Oman Chamber of […]
The sovereign funds of Qatar and Russia have created a $2 billion joint fund to invest in technology, minerals and healthcare projects. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will each invest $1 billion, a statement from the RDIF said. In 2014 the two wealth funds launched a $4 billion joint […]
Iraq’s industry and minerals minister broke ground on Thursday on a major fertiliser plant in the north of the country which was destroyed by Daesh militants nearly 10 years ago. Khalid al-Najm laid the ground stone for the plant in Baiji city in the northern Saladin Governorate during a ceremony attended by local tribal chiefs, […]
Blue water swimming enthusiasts drawn to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits are providing a boost to the economy
Turkey’s central bank raised its key lending rate for the first time in a year on Thursday, reversing a steady decline this year, on concerns of higher inflation in the coming months. The bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) increased its one-week repo auction rate to 46 percent on April 17 from 42.5 percent, the rate […]
Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tupras has returned to buying Russian Urals crude cargoes, after it stopped doing so earlier this year due to stronger US sanctions on Moscow, according to three trading sources and shipping data. Tupras did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. The three sources said Tupras resumed its purchases […]
Turkish property sales rose by 20 percent in the first quarter, but recent political unrest and economic uncertainty from mid-March onwards may weigh on the market. The number of property transactions rose to 335,786 in the three months to March 31 compared with the same period last year, according to data issued this week by […]
The Central Bank of Turkey lost 700 billion lira ($18 billion) last year, its second biggest loss ever after a record 2023. The loss came as the central bank made efforts to defend the Turkish lira while at the same time offering depositors higher interest rates on the local currency versus other currencies, paving the […]
Egypt’s central bank lowered overnight interest rates by 225 basis points (bps) on Thursday, its first cut in more than five years, saying lower inflation had opened the way to yet further rate cuts in the future. The bank lowered the lending rate to 26 percent and the deposit rate to 25 percent. The median forecast in […]
Remittances from Egyptian expatriates rose for 11 consecutive months following the start of economic reforms introduced in March 2024. Overseas Egyptians sent home $20 billion between July and January — the first seven months of the 2024-2025 fiscal year — an increase of 81 percent from $11 billion a year ago, according to the Central […]
Egypt-listed Orascom Construction has commenced commercial operations at the newly expanded Red Sea wind farm six months ahead of schedule. The largest operational wind farm in Africa is being developed by the Red Sea Wind Energy consortium under a 25-year build-own-operate scheme, the company said in a statement. The alliance comprises France’s Engie (35 percent), Orascom […]
Qatar has pledged to invest $7.5 billion in Egypt as the North African country seeks to attract new money and boost economic growth, the countries said in a joint statement. The commitment was given during a meeting between Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad A-Thani, the state-owned State Information […]
Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning to create a joint fund to carry out real estate projects in the two countries, an Egyptian official has revealed. Egypt, which is locked in an IMF-recommended programme to stimulate its economy, also wants Saudi investors for new projects in central Cairo, in line with a plan to be […]
Abu Dhabi has invited companies to bid for a contract to develop a “digital twin” focused on real-time monitoring of air quality in a desert region that is among the dustiest in the world. A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object or system designed to accurately reflect a physical object, in this […]
The emirate of Fujairah’s plans to expand its storage facilities and develop cleaner fuels and petrochemical production may be delayed as a result of the impact of tariff-led global trade tensions, according to a local authority. After Singapore and Rotterdam, Fujairah is the largest so-called “bunkering”, or ship-fuelling, port. It lies almost immediately outside the […]
A shortage of completed homes for sale in Dubai is pushing people to buy off-plan properties, which have hit record highs in terms of units bought and as a proportion of purchases. Off-plan investors in the emirate have long had to fund their own purchases, but the growing importance of yet-to-be-completed properties may spur more […]
The chief executive of OQEP gives our Editor-at-Large a crash course in Omani energy past, present and future
A shiny office tower in the heart of Downtown Dubai may not be an obvious home for a growing international art collection but ICD Brookfield Place is becoming just that. Among the works or exhibitions it has showcased recently are Canadian visual artist Jordan Söderberg Mill’s light and glass installation Standing Wave, Emirati artist Hashel […]
Food is part of a place's cultural identity. Plenty of cities and countries have dishes associated with them
A shiny office tower in the heart of Downtown Dubai may not be an obvious home for a growing international art collection but ICD Brookfield Place is becoming just that. Among the works or exhibitions it has showcased recently are Canadian visual artist Jordan Söderberg Mill’s light and glass installation Standing Wave, Emirati artist Hashel […]
As the population grows and the economy swells, the food and beverage service industry in Saudi Arabia is expanding. Half Million, a coffee shop chain that started in the capital Riyadh in 2018, now operates 59 stores across the kingdom. Its 60th recently opened on London’s Oxford Street. Barn’s, a Jeddah-based coffee chain that already […]
From customer service to the C-suite, AI “employees” are climbing the corporate ladder in the Gulf as the technology behind them improves. Regional wealth funds such as ADQ are now using AI “boardroom advisers” to help make decisions according to Middle East AI News, while startups are raising capital and launching so-called “AI employees”. These […]
In the same way that non-alcoholic drinks are now a regular feature in restaurants and bars in the UAE, hookah smokers are increasingly turning to healthier substitutes to satisfy their shisha fix. “People are seeking alternatives that are better for their health yet do not impact lifestyle choices,” said Naim Madaad, a founding member of […]
A shortage of completed homes for sale in Dubai is pushing people to buy off-plan properties, which have hit record highs in terms of units bought and as a proportion of purchases. Off-plan investors in the emirate have long had to fund their own purchases, but the growing importance of yet-to-be-completed properties may spur more […]
Turkish seafood processors are expanding their product range to cash in on new tastes, eating habits and markets, adding the Japanese delicacy sushi to their offerings. Not so long ago sushi was a rarity in Turkey. It featured on the menus of a few Japanese restaurants in tourist areas catering to foreign visitors rather than […]
Satish Sanpal established ANAX Holding in Dubai in 2018 as a diversified investment entity. Today, ANAX Holding operates across multiple sectors, including real estate development, hospitality and financial services. ANAX Developments, one of its key subsidiaries, has emerged as a prominent real estate developer in Dubai, delivering high-demand projects across the city. What one piece […]
India’s IDFC First Bank will raise up to 75 billion rupees ($877 million) from affiliate companies of private equity group Warburg Pincus and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, the lender said on Thursday. IDFC First Bank will issue Warburg Pincus, an existing investor, and Adia convertible shares, which, if fully converted, will give them a combined 15 percent […]
Despite the congestion – in the market and on the streets of the UAE’s most populous city – yet another competitor, UK company Zapp, is entering Dubai’s rapid-delivery market. This is evidence there is still room for growth, analysts say. Zapp focuses on rapid grocery deliveries from its own so-called dark stores. A dark store is […]
China’s Shanghai Electric Wind Power Group has signed a $200 million agreement to build a wind turbine factory in Oman’s central industrial city of Duqm. Duqm, which sits on international shipping routes, has attracted over $15 billion in project spending, including a 230,000 barrels per day oil refinery, a crude oil storage facility, a free […]
Indonesian sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia and Qatar Investment Authority will set up a joint fund worth $4 billion to invest in so-called domestic priority sectors in the southeast Asian country. These include food and energy security, downstream processing, digital infrastructure, healthcare and tourism, Indonesian state-run Antara news agency reported, quoting Danantara chief investment officer […]
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