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Top stories

Salvator Mundi Salman park

Salvator Mundi destined for Riyadh giga-park, say sources

The $450 million Leonardo Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi is destined for a museum of art inside the King Salman Park giga-project in Riyadh in time for hosting the World Expo in 2030, two separate sources have said.   The artwork is a big part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to rebrand itself globally as a socially […]

DP World chairman and CEO Sultan bin Sulayem met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in January

DP World CEO shrugs off threat of US tariffs

A prominent Dubai business leader has downplayed the threat of tariffs from the incoming US administration of Donald Trump. Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman and CEO of DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators and a flagship enterprise of the emirate of Dubai, said on Monday that he was unfazed by Trump’s proposed blanket […]

Adnoc CEO Sultan Al Jaber speaks at the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi, during which he announced the launch of the EnergyAI project

Oil and gas companies place trust in AI

Lower oil prices and the race for higher returns are pushing regional and national oil and gas companies to spend billions of dollars on artificial intelligence.  The hope is that the technology will improve margins and reduce operating costs. Saudi Aramco last year invested around $3.5 billion in research and development including in AI, according […]

Trending

  1. Golden returns draw investors to fitness markets

  2. More companies tipped to list on Bahrain Bourse

  3. Oman’s OQGN to expand network as demand grows

  4. Morocco secures $211m loan to improve water security

  5. Foreign investment in Turkey rises 8% to nearly $8bn

OPINION & Analysis

Best of AGBI

Algeria tourism

Algeria must forge own identity to hit tourism targets

If Algeria’s tourism industry is to become the vital engine of the country’s economy its tourism minister hopes, it must find a way to differentiate itself from its neighbours, experts have told AGBI. The Algerian government aims to welcome more than 12 million foreign visitors by the end of the decade, as part of its national tourism […]

UAE marketing enters the YouTube age with MrBeast video

Why is the world’s most popular YouTuber scaling the Burj Khalifa? He is helping the UAE to unlock a fresh demographic, marketing experts have told AGBI. MrBeast – a 26-year-old American whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson – is a pop culture phenomenon. His channel has 329 million subscribers and his gameshow-esque videos have racked […]

Saudi giga-projects are going local with new focus

A nationalist sensitivity towards the leadership and aims of Saudi Arabia’s massive giga-projects is slowly taking hold, as foreign CEOs are swapped out for locals and the government makes a stronger push on housing for Saudi citizens.  Last month, the King Abdullah Financial District replaced its Indian CEO Guatam Sashiittal with Mohammed Alsudairy – head […]

Bahrain government rebuffs citizens’ quota in healthcare

A unanimous call by the Bahraini parliament for half the jobs in private healthcare to be reserved for citizens has been rejected by the government on the grounds of possible harm to patients and the potential impact on foreign direct investment. Government officials told the National Assembly that the proposed quota would constrain private healthcare’s […]

Why Gulf governments keep investing in EVs

Oil-based economies need a Plan B – something they can turn to when crude markets are troubled. Gulf governments are using electric vehicles as that hedge, according to Kevin Chalhoub, CEO of EV Lab. “When oil won’t go well, probably electric cars will go well,” he says. “It’s a very exciting strategy. The Middle East […]

Donald Trump

economy

Trump’s second term poses challenges for the Gulf

Justin Alexander, Director, Khalij Economics

UAE latest

DP World chairman and CEO Sultan bin Sulayem met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in January

DP World CEO shrugs off threat of US tariffs

A prominent Dubai business leader has downplayed the threat of tariffs from the incoming US administration of Donald Trump. Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman and CEO of DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators and a flagship enterprise of the emirate of Dubai, said on Monday that he was unfazed by Trump’s proposed blanket […]

Masdar and Socar began construction of the two solar projects in Azerbaijan in June 2024

Masdar secures funding for Azerbaijan solar projects

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and Socar Green, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Socar), have achieved financial closure for two $600 million large-scale solar projects in Azerbaijan. The projects, comprising the 445 megawatt (MW) Bilasuvar and 315MW Neftchala solar plants, are being funded by the European […]

A woman works out at a gym in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. One investor said they had never seen as much interest from VCs in the fitness industry

Golden returns draw investors to fitness markets

Investors are showing increasing interest in homegrown fitness companies, tempted by the “golden egg” returns on offer. The fitness market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) has been growing at an annual rate of 30 percent since 2020, with the UAE sector valued at an estimated $550 million and Saudi Arabia at $1.7 […]

Saudi Arabia latest

Salvator Mundi Salman park

Salvator Mundi destined for Riyadh giga-park, say sources

The $450 million Leonardo Da Vinci painting Salvator Mundi is destined for a museum of art inside the King Salman Park giga-project in Riyadh in time for hosting the World Expo in 2030, two separate sources have said.   The artwork is a big part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to rebrand itself globally as a socially […]

Machine, Motor, Engine

Acwa Power to build energy storage systems in Uzbekistan

The Saudi renewable power company Acwa Power has agreed with Uzbekistan’s energy ministry to develop up to two gigawatt hours (GWh) of standalone battery energy storage systems capacity (BESS) avross the Central Asian country. The deal comes after a memorandum of understanding signed during the Tashkent Investment Forum in Uzbekistan in May 2024. Under the agreement, […]

In the absence of any concrete structures as yet, Neom exhibitors provided virtual reality sets to give throngs of curious visitors a sense of what The Line will look like

Leaders of The Line share vision of a brave new world

Its managers and designers say it is the human society of the future, but others might see in it a dystopian vision of life shielded in a glass box from an uninhabitable world.  Leading figures behind the Neom city The Line – the boldest of Saudi Arabia’s $1.25 trillion giga-projects – made a coordinated pitch […]

Around the Middle East

Bahrain Bourse is one of the Gulf's smaller exchanges, with a market cap of about $20bn

More companies tipped to list on Bahrain Bourse

AlAbraaj Restaurants Group’s debut on Bahrain Bourse – the first listing on the exchange in more than five years – will pave the way for more activity, experts have told AGBI. The AlAbraaj initial public offering (IPO) this month is the first since the listing of APM Terminals Bahrain in 2018, according to consultancy EY. […]

Hamad International Airport Doha, Qatar

Bahrain identifies offshore plot for new airport

Bahrain is to build a new airport on reclaimed land in the north west of the country. Just three years after the new terminal building of Bahrain International Airport was officially opened, plans are being developed for a new facility following the conclusion of a study looking into possible locations for the greenfield project. “It’s […]

royal jordanian Samir Majali

Royal Jordanian losses mount due to conflict

Royal Jordanian is likely to record a loss of $11 million for the second year running, due to a sharp drop in passengers because of the Middle East conflict. The airline was expected last year to report its first profits since the Covid pandemic, and boasted a $15 million surplus in the first nine months […]

People queueing to use a National Bank of Bahrain ATM in Manama. The merger with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait was announced this year

Bahrain bank merger to complete in 2025

A merger between National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) is expected to be completed in 2025. Plans to join the two banks were announced to the Bahrain Bourse earlier this year and preliminary proceedings started this month. “Considering that we are almost at the end of this year, I […]

KIA will continue prioritising investments in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, data centres and semiconductors

Kuwait appoints new head of $1trn wealth fund

Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, has appointed a new managing director. Sheikh Al-Sabah, a fund board member, will assume the role, replacing Ghanem Al-Ghenaiman, whose four-year term was cut short as he reached retirement age, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. The change in top leadership comes as the […]

Bahrain International Airport near Manama: British Airways says it is halting flights to Bahrain and Kuwait due to supply chain issues

Bahrain seeks reversal of BA route cut

Talks are underway between Bahrain and UK officials in a bid to reverse a decision by British Airways to cease flights to the Gulf state. The UK’s flag carrier announced earlier this month that it would be stopping direct flights to Bahrain and Kuwait as a result of supply chain pressures, which it is said […]

Habib Hazzan, managing general partner at Ibtikar Fund, which has just closed its second fund at $25 million

Funding increase to support Palestinian startups

Funding levels are being ramped up to support Palestinian startups in the war-torn territory and across the wider Middle East and North Africa. Just $8.8 million has been invested in Palestinian startups – marked as Ramallah, West Bank or Gaza-based – in 18 deals on record from 2022 to the present day, according to Racha […]

Architecture, Building, Cityscape

Qatar replaces chief of its $510bn sovereign fund

The Qatari government has appointed Mohammed Al Sowaidi to lead its $510 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). He replaces Mansoor Al Mahmoud who had headed the sovereign wealth fund since 2018. Al Sowaidi joined the fund in 2010 and worked as the Americas region’s chief investment officer. The QIA, set up in 2005, manages revenues […]

Topics:

Neom
HYDROGEN
SAUDI VISION 2030
IPOs
mergers & acquisitions
crypto
Electric cars
israel-hamas war
FOOD SECURITY
islamic finance
ukraine-russia war
OPEC
SPACE

Turkey Latest

Foreign investment in Turkey rises 8% to nearly $8bn

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkey hit $7.7 billion in the first nine months of 2024, up 8 percent year on year, according to data from the country’s central bank. Equity capital inflows contributed $4.33 billion, while the wholesale and retail trade sector attracted $932 million, Daily Sabah newspaper reported. Real estate investments from foreign […]

An employee at a textile factory in Istanbul; Turkstat figures show female unemployment levels for September at 12.3 percent

Development bank targets female employment in Turkey

Turkish women are to be one of the main beneficiaries of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) latest investment strategy, through a series of initiatives to fund training, skills growth and business development in the country.  In its 2024-29 strategy, released on November 12, the European lender identified four key areas that it […]

Power distribution in Bodrum. Turkey is working with the World Bank to upgrade its power transmission system

Turkey seeks World Bank funds to upgrade power grid

Turkey is in talks with the World Bank to access funding to strengthen and extend the country’s energy transmission grid, part of broader plans to quadruple renewable energy generation capacity and transition away from fossil fuel dependency.  World Bank country director for Turkey Humberto Lopez said the international lender will work with Ankara to unlock […]

Turkey tourism beach

More tourists in Turkey, but they spend less and leave quicker

Turkey is on track to break records for tourist arrivals this year, but it may fall short of revenue targets, as visitor numbers are up but spending is flatlining and average holiday stays are getting shorter.  Just over 23.2 million overseas visitors made Turkey their destination in the third quarter of the year, the statistics […]

A Turkish pistachio farmer. Prices for shelled pistachios have risen to $41 a kilo.

Chocolate trend sends Dubai nuts for Turkish pistachios

It may have started with a UAE resident trying to assuage her hunger cravings during pregnancy, but the latest taste sensation to sweep the Middle East and beyond is causing contractions in the supply of Turkish pistachios as demand for Dubai chocolate swells. Turkey is in line to post a record high pistachio harvest for […]

Egypt Latest

Computer Hardware, Electronics, Hardware

Egypt’s United Bank set to raise $104m from listing

Egypt’s United Bank is set to raise between EGP4.2 billion and EGP5.1 billion ($85-104 million) through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Egyptian stock exchange. The bank set the indicative price range of EGP12.7 to EGP15.6 per share, according to local media reports. The final price will be determined through a book-building process. In […]

Egypt 5G

Vodafone and Telecom Egypt sign $600m deal to push 5G

Telecom Egypt and Vodafone Egypt have signed a series of infrastructure service agreements worth $609 million, including deals to prepare the country for the rollout of 5G. The agreements will enable Vodafone Egypt, the country’s largest mobile operator by market share, to use Telecom Egypt’s extensive infrastructure and fibre optic network. Amr Talaat, Egypt’s minister […]

Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy and CEO of QatarEnergy Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, CEO of QatarEnergy, said the deal strengthens the company's partnership with Chevron

QatarEnergy to acquire stake in Egyptian exploration basin

State-backed QatarEnergy has announced plans to buy a 23 percent stake in an offshore exploration block in Egypt from US oil company Chevron. Chevron will retain a 40 percent interest in the concession agreement for the North El-Dabaa (H4) Block in the Mediterranean Sea.  The other partners in the block, which is about 10km offshore […]

A farm in Luxor. Egypt's agricultural exports have grown consistently year on year

Egypt’s food exports grow by a third

The value of Egyptian agricultural exports grew by $1 billion in the first 10 months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of around a third, as the government strives to open up new global markets and product lines. Egypt exported 7.1 million tonnes of agricultural goods between January 1 and October 30, with a total value […]

Egypt minerals

Minerals come into focus as Egypt wrestles with oil reforms

Egypt’s proposed platform to encourage investment into their minerals sector is likely to launch early next year, the minister of petroleum and mineral resources said this week. The so-called Mining Portal, which was originally scheduled to be operational by the end of 2024, is part of a drive to exploit what the government says is […]

Features

Algeria tourism

Algeria must forge own identity to hit tourism targets

If Algeria’s tourism industry is to become the vital engine of the country’s economy its tourism minister hopes, it must find a way to differentiate itself from its neighbours, experts have told AGBI. The Algerian government aims to welcome more than 12 million foreign visitors by the end of the decade, as part of its national tourism […]

Chocolate trend sends Dubai nuts for Turkish pistachios

It may have started with a UAE resident trying to assuage her hunger cravings during pregnancy, but the latest taste sensation to sweep the Middle East and beyond is causing contractions in the supply of Turkish pistachios as demand for Dubai chocolate swells. Turkey is in line to post a record high pistachio harvest for […]

Ras Al Khaimah’s tourist draw: concerts, casinos and crypto

Historically, the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah has been known for industry and manufacturing, but tourism has taken centre stage over the past decade. It has just 400,000 residents and attracted 600,000 visitors to its airport this year, but expects to increase its tourist numbers to 3.5 million overnight guests in the coming years. Raki […]

Minerals come into focus as Egypt wrestles with oil reforms

Egypt’s proposed platform to encourage investment into their minerals sector is likely to launch early next year, the minister of petroleum and mineral resources said this week. The so-called Mining Portal, which was originally scheduled to be operational by the end of 2024, is part of a drive to exploit what the government says is […]

People & Lifestyle

Saudi consumers are looking for non-alcoholic drinks that deliver the flavour of traditional cocktails

Saudis getting a taste for non-alcoholic drinks

The Saudi government’s drive to improve the nation’s health is boosting the food and beverage market in the most unlikely of places – zero-alcohol beer.  A report by MarkNtel Advisors shows the Gulf market is growing by 7.7 percent a year. The local and international brands vying for share include Aujan Group Holding, Anheuser-Busch InBev, […]

Habib Hazzan, managing general partner at Ibtikar Fund, which has just closed its second fund at $25 million

Funding increase to support Palestinian startups

Funding levels are being ramped up to support Palestinian startups in the war-torn territory and across the wider Middle East and North Africa. Just $8.8 million has been invested in Palestinian startups – marked as Ramallah, West Bank or Gaza-based – in 18 deals on record from 2022 to the present day, according to Racha […]

Turkey tourism beach

More tourists in Turkey, but they spend less and leave quicker

Turkey is on track to break records for tourist arrivals this year, but it may fall short of revenue targets, as visitor numbers are up but spending is flatlining and average holiday stays are getting shorter.  Just over 23.2 million overseas visitors made Turkey their destination in the third quarter of the year, the statistics […]

Men on the Muscat waterfront. Omani citizens who earn more than $1m will have to pay income tax

Oman to impose income tax on high earners post-2026

Oman is expected to implement its proposed personal income tax on high earners after 2026, according to a new report. In July, the Majlis al-Shura, the lower house of the Omani parliament, approved a draft law on income tax – the first of its kind in the GCC region – forwarding it to the State […]

A perfume shop in Sabya, Saudi Arabia. The country's fragrance sector is worth $2.3bn

Investors scent riches in Middle East perfume

The retail offering of Al Majed for Oud Company was more than nine times oversubscribed this week, as investors rushed to buy up the first tranche of 1.5 million shares in the Riyadh-based perfume and oud products manufacturer. The full listing of 7.5 million shares, or a 30 percent stake in the company, will raise […]

Lionel Messi poses for a photo at Dubai Expo 2020. He and his Argentina teammates will soon be appearing on 'giant billboard on Sheikh Zayed Road' to advertise property

Project stardust: why Dubai developers still want celeb tie-ins

Lionel Messi, Rohit Sharma and Chris Hemsworth are just some of the famous faces who have promoted UAE real estate in recent years. Superstar sportsmen and Hollywood heroes do not come cheap, but are they really a good investment for developers or just an excuse for the CEO to get a selfie?  Many industry observers […]

Around the world

Arizona water Saudi dairy cattle shed

Arizona to prosecute Saudi company over water use

The attorney general of the US state of Arizona is set to launch legal proceeding in the next two weeks against the Saudi dairy company Almarai over groundwater pumping on two farms in the state. Fondomonte, an Almarai subsidiary, grows alfalfa for animal feed on 6,000 acres in Butler Valley, La Paz County, Arizona, which […]

September 19, 2023, New York City, New York: (NEW) President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Speaks at UN 78th GA in New York.

Nigeria nears trade deal with Saudi Arabia

Nigeria is looking to finalise a $5 billion bilateral trade facility with Saudi Arabia, it said, following a meeting between its president, Bola Tinubu, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. The pair met on the sidelines of the joint Arab-Islamic Summit, which was convened to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Following the meeting, […]

Audi Qatar F1

Audi slams brakes on Qatari F1 buyout rumours

Carmaker Audi has said its F1 team is not for sale, scuppering online rumours that the company was preparing to sell to Qatar’s QIA sovereign wealth fund. “We do not engage in speculation. The team is not for sale,” an Audi F1 spokesperson told AGBI on Tuesday. Qatar already holds a major stake in VW, […]