Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Arabian Gulf Business Insight

closing prices

ABU DHABi -0.2%
BAHRAIN closed
dubai -0.1%
egypT closed
kuwait closed
oman closed
qatar closed
Saudi closed

Top stories

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 […]

A view of Dubai Marina. The overall value of property transactions in Dubai in 2023 reached AED322 billion (nearly $88 billion)

Buoyant property market puts billions in Dubai’s coffers

Dubai authorities have recorded a five-fold surge in the sums they earn from fees related to real estate transactions over the past five years to almost $4 billion, as the emirate’s property market grows stronger and prices rise sharply, AGBI has calculated. The transfer fee, payable to the Dubai Land Department (DLD) upon a sale, […]

Shopping for groceries in Ankara; Turkey has benefitted recently from a period of stability and cooling of inflation

Turkey to boost borrowing to bridge budget gap

Turkey’s Treasury has issued its borrowing programme for 2025, seeking to build a bridge over the budget deficit through a mix of domestic and external debt offerings, though any instability in global markets could add to financing costs.  Under the programme, the government will seek to raise the equivalent of up to $13 billion from […]

Trending

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

  2. Lucid reports higher revenue but steeper losses

  3. Sales of Nvidia stock soar in UAE in record rally

  4. Talabat profits soar ahead of planned IPO

  5. Gulf central banks mirror US Fed interest rate cut

OPINION & Analysis

Best of AGBI

US and China in race to get their tech into Gulf markets

Gulf countries are likely to face mounting pressure to adopt American technology as the US tries to exploit its best-in-class semiconductor and artificial intelligence products to muscle China out of their markets before the Asian superpower catches up. The US is walking a fine line between increasing the regional uptake of its chips and software […]

Macron’s Morocco trip the catalyst for $11bn in deals

France and Morocco have announced a series of deals, from railways to phosphates to renewables, worth up to $11 billion during a state visit last week by Emmanuel Macron, his first to the north African kingdom since becoming president in 2017.  The 22 deals followed French recognition of Morocco’s claims to the disputed Western Sahara […]

Muscat maps out its future development plans

Muscat is set to approve a plan that will create a central 55km spine where much of the future development of the Omani capital city will take place.  The city is predicted to double in size by 2040. The Greater Muscat Structure Plan, awaiting approval at cabinet level, provides a map of where future growth […]

John Grant

aviation

Emirates and the A380: an enduring affair

John Grant, Partner, Midas Aviation

UAE latest

Sefe CEO Dr Egbert Laege and Adnoc executive vice president Fatema Al Nuaimi sign the long-term LNG supply deal

Adnoc signs 15-year supply deal for Ruwais LNG

Adnoc, the Abu Dhabi state oil company, has signed its first long-term sales and purchase agreement for the lower-carbon Ruwais liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. The 15-year, 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) agreement was signed with Sefe Marketing and Trading Singapore, a subsidiary of Germany’s Sefe – Securing Energy For Europe – at the […]

Nvidia shares Jensen Huang

Sales of Nvidia stock soar in UAE in record rally

As Nvidia’s stock market value hit $3.65 trillion on Thursday to make it the world’s most valuable company, so shares are in hot demand among retail investors in the Gulf.  The Californian chipmaker overtook Apple, which previously held the record for the highest closing market capitalisation at $3.57 trillion on October 21. “It’s our most […]

Talabat couriers in Abu Dhabi. The company operates in eight countries across the Mena region

Talabat profits soar ahead of planned IPO

Food delivery company Talabat reported a 46 percent increase in third-quarter profits ahead of its planned IPO.  Delivery Hero, the Berlin-headquartered parent company of the business, said net income reached $98 million in the three months, up from $67 million the previous year. It said the increased profit was due to improved logistics efficiency, continued […]

Nine-month revenue at Spinneys hit a new high of AED2.3 billion, rising 11.4 percent year on year

Spinneys profit rises 25% on UAE and Saudi expansion

UAE supermarket operator Spinneys said net profit attributable rose to AED39.7 million ($10.6 million) in the third quarter, an increase of 25 percent from AED31.8 million a year ago. The profit rise was driven by expansion in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the roll-out of new concepts and the expansion of its e-commerce offerings. Top […]

Saudi Arabia latest

Lucid has begun taking orders for its Gravity electric SUV

Lucid reports higher revenue but steeper losses

Saudi-backed US luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid reported a larger net loss than last year in the third quarter, but said revenue rose 45 percent, slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations. The company’s losses of $992.5 million in Q3 compared with $630.9 million in 2023. Revenue reached $200 million, narrowly beating estimates of $198 million.  Lucid […]

Saudia had placed an order for 50 of the pilotless jets before Lilium announced its intention to file for insolvency

Saudia to receive flying taxis despite Lilium’s insolvency

Saudi national carrier Saudia still plans to receive some of its 50-plane order of pilotless electric flying vehicles from Lilium despite the German company’s intention to file for insolvency.  “We are in close coordination with the Lilium leadership team. We are expecting to receive the first jets in the second half of 2026, as per […]

Sales agents taking bids at a Sotheby's auction in London. The 2025 auction will mark the opening of the company's Riyadh office

Sotheby’s pins hopes on Saudi auction launch

Sotheby’s is to open an office and stage its first auction in Saudi Arabia next year.  The new branch will be located in the Faisaliah Tower in the capital Riyadh. The auction will take place on February 8, 2025 in the Unesco World Heritage site of Diriyah.  Prior to the auction, an exhibition featuring the […]

Investcorp's Saudi MD tells AGBI about the Bahrain investor's plans Video length: 03:54

Investcorp refocuses on inward GCC investment

Bahrain’s Investcorp is involved in investment-related initiatives worth $4 billion, the latest of which is a commercial partnership with Awaed, the first commission-free Saudi trading platform. After investing heavily in the US and Europe, it is now focusing more to GCC opportunities. AGBI spoke to Investcorp’s Saudi Arabia MD Mashaal AlJomaih in the video above.

Around the Middle East

Talabat couriers in Abu Dhabi. The company operates in eight countries across the Mena region

Talabat profits soar ahead of planned IPO

Food delivery company Talabat reported a 46 percent increase in third-quarter profits ahead of its planned IPO.  Delivery Hero, the Berlin-headquartered parent company of the business, said net income reached $98 million in the three months, up from $67 million the previous year. It said the increased profit was due to improved logistics efficiency, continued […]

Investcorp's Saudi MD tells AGBI about the Bahrain investor's plans Video length: 03:54

Investcorp refocuses on inward GCC investment

Bahrain’s Investcorp is involved in investment-related initiatives worth $4 billion, the latest of which is a commercial partnership with Awaed, the first commission-free Saudi trading platform. After investing heavily in the US and Europe, it is now focusing more to GCC opportunities. AGBI spoke to Investcorp’s Saudi Arabia MD Mashaal AlJomaih in the video above.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI and French President Emmanuel Macron sign documents in Rabat: Macron’s recent visit saw a thawing of political relations

Macron’s Morocco trip the catalyst for $11bn in deals

France and Morocco have announced a series of deals, from railways to phosphates to renewables, worth up to $11 billion during a state visit last week by Emmanuel Macron, his first to the north African kingdom since becoming president in 2017.  The 22 deals followed French recognition of Morocco’s claims to the disputed Western Sahara […]

Beta electric aircraft

QIA helps raise $318m for US electric aircraft maker

A funding round led by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has raised $318 mlllion for Beta Technologies, a US electric aerospace company that is developing all-electric aircraft and infrastructure.  Beta, based in Vermont, said the series C equity capital funding would help support the production, certification and commercialisation of its fixed-wing and eVTOL (electric vertical […]

A stand in Beirut displays Arabic newspapers featuring the inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2017. The Arab world has generally welcomed Trump's return to the White House

Arab world welcomes Trump back to the White House

The Arab world has hailed Donald Trump’s successful bid to return to the White House, with his long-standing personal, business and political ties to the region bringing hopes of closer bilateral relationships with the United States for the next four years. The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was the first GCC leader […]

A stakeholder survey revealed that residents love the mountainous skyline of Muscat; new developments are planned to be a maximum of 25 storeys high

Muscat maps out its future development plans

Muscat is set to approve a plan that will create a central 55km spine where much of the future development of the Omani capital city will take place.  The city is predicted to double in size by 2040. The Greater Muscat Structure Plan, awaiting approval at cabinet level, provides a map of where future growth […]

A KFC store in Cairo. Americana brands across the Mena region have been suffering from a customer boycott

Americana CEO says boycott ‘worst is behind us’

Americana Restaurants, the Middle East franchise owner for KFC, Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme and Hardee’s, believes the company has weathered the worst of the boycott issues it faced this year, which led to a significant slump in its profit. CEO Amarpal Sandhu said it is not predicting a “hockey stick recovery” – a sudden and […]

The 44.01 team. Together with Adnoc the company mineralised 10 tonnes of CO2 in Fujairah in under 100 days

Adnoc and Oman’s 44.01 scale up carbon-to-rock project

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Omani company 44.01 have announced plans to scale up their carbon-to-rock project in the emirate of Fujairah following the successful completion of a pilot initiative. Muscat-based startup 44.01 – named after the molecule mass for CO2 – uses technology to accelerate a natural process in which carbon dioxide […]

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

Shopping for groceries in Ankara; Turkey has benefitted recently from a period of stability and cooling of inflation

Turkey to boost borrowing to bridge budget gap

Turkey’s Treasury has issued its borrowing programme for 2025, seeking to build a bridge over the budget deficit through a mix of domestic and external debt offerings, though any instability in global markets could add to financing costs.  Under the programme, the government will seek to raise the equivalent of up to $13 billion from […]

Coca-Cola Turkey

Boycotts help send Turkey’s Coca-Cola sales down

A boycott of brands seen as supporting Israel in the Middle East has helped bring a double-digit drop in third-quarter sales in Turkey and Pakistan for a Coca-Cola subsidiary. Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI), which is based in Istanbul, said sales in Turkey in Q3 fell 12.2 percent, while sales in Pakistan were down by 22.9 percent. […]

UAE Turkey trade DMCC

More Turkish companies open in UAE after trade deal

A free trade agreement between the UAE and Turkey has been followed by a jump in the number of Turkish companies opening offices in the UAE.  The signing of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) between the two nations in March 2023 was designed to create greater collaboration and remove tariffs on a range of […]

Turkish Airlines' fleet consists of 467 aircraft, with Airbus and Boeing split at 56 percent and 44 percent, respectively

Turkish Airlines profit falls despite revenue rising 8%

Revenue at Turkish Airlines rose 8 percent year on year in the first nine months of 2024 to $17 billion, driven by increased passenger numbers. The airline flew 65 million passengers from January to September, rising 2 percent annually, according to its latest investor presentation. Passenger revenue climbed 3 percent year on year to $14 billion, […]

Trendyol

Alibaba-backed Trendyol plans $2bn Gulf investment

Trendyol, Turkey’s largest ecommerce platform, is to invest $2 billion in the Gulf region over the next three years. The company is backed by Chinese tech giant Alibaba, and has established a presence across all six GCC countries. It has had rapid growth in Saudi Arabia, now its second-largest market, in particular. Its group president, […]

Egypt Latest

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 […]

Water, Waterfront, Construction

Suez Canal Economic Zone plans $3bn investment

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ) plans to invest $3 billion on infrastructure over the next few years to attract new investors, chairman Waleid Gamal El-Dein said. “We have been able to attract more than $6.3 billion of investments in various sectors and logistics and ports,” he told Reuters, expecting the number of projects to […]

The undersea cable will connect Duba (pictured) in Saudi Arabia with Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt

First Saudi Arabia-to-Egypt subsea cable announced

Mobily and Telecom Egypt have signed an agreement to lay the first subsea cable between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the companies announced in a joint press statement on Monday. The new cable will connect the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh with the Saudi city of Duba. Egypt already has landing points for 18 […]

Eni had paused its operations at the Zohr gas field but plans to resume drilling in Egypt by the end of the year

Italy’s Eni will restart gas drilling in Egypt and Libya

Italian energy company Eni is reviving its exploration operations on Zohr, Egypt’s largest natural gas field, by the end of the year, its CEO confirmed on Monday. “After some time, we were not really working on Zohr, we will restart drilling by the end of the year, and we are going to drill another well […]

Features

A stakeholder survey revealed that residents love the mountainous skyline of Muscat; new developments are planned to be a maximum of 25 storeys high

Muscat maps out its future development plans

Muscat is set to approve a plan that will create a central 55km spine where much of the future development of the Omani capital city will take place.  The city is predicted to double in size by 2040. The Greater Muscat Structure Plan, awaiting approval at cabinet level, provides a map of where future growth […]

The remaking of Riyadh ahead of World Expo 2030

Expo 2030 is already propelling real estate development in Riyadh six years before the international fair is scheduled to take place – and, along with other giga-projects, is helping to shift the city’s core to the north. The World Expo, which typically takes place in a different city every five years, is expected to occupy […]

UK is ‘actively seeking’ Gulf investors, says trade minister

“Britain is back and Britain is open for business,” UK trade minister Douglas Alexander has told AGBI.  In an interview at the Future Investment Initiative summit taking place this week in Riyadh, Alexander said the Labour government’s budget on Wednesday would seek to “raise the level of investment in the UK economy”. “The kind of […]

Diwali gold buyers change their approach as prices rise

Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali, is seen as an auspicious time to buy gold by the Gulf’s roughly three million Hindus. But as the price of gold hits record levels consumers are shopping differently, gold traders told AGBI. Gold’s price has surged by 34 percent in the past year alone. This trend is being […]

People & Lifestyle

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 […]

Saudi Arabia tourism projects Dragon Ball theme park

Arab Disneyland and Da Vinci: Saudi Arabia’s two great hopes

Saudi Arabia is spending billions on tourism projects at the heart of its grand plan to transform a once isolated kingdom into a global tourist destination. But a nagging question is haunting policymakers: will the world pay attention?   Tourism numbers are rising, hitting 27.4 million in 2023, but half of those were religious visitors.  The […]

Saudi healthcare

Health sector next target for Saudi private equity

Private equity is looking to Saudi Arabia’s healthcare and wellness sectors for the kingdom’s next growth areas as it tries to manage a burgeoning young population.  Some 60 percent of Saudi Arabia’s 32 million-plus population are under 30, and analysts from research company S&P say the kingdom’s demographics are the main reason for a sustainable […]

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

Swiss gold

Record gold price dents demand for Swiss bullion in Gulf

Swiss gold exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE have slumped in the past year, as its price rose by more than 30 percent driven by geopolitical challenges. Gold passed $2,700 per ounce on Friday for the first time ever. A year ago it was $1,980 per ounce, and a month ago $2,559. While global […]

Manara's stake in First Quantum Minerals’ Zambian operations could be worth between $1.5bn and $2bn

PIF’s Manara in talks to buy minority stake in Zambian mines 

Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) and the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF), is in advanced talks to acquire 15 to 20 percent in Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals’ Zambian copper and nickel assets. The stake could be potentially valued between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, Reuters reported, citing informed […]

Visitors tour the exhibition halls at Gitex Global. This year's expo runs until October 18

Tech startups drive rise in Ireland’s exports to UAE

Exports from Ireland to the UAE rose by 21 percent last year, driven by Irish technology and healthcare companies.  The trade agency Enterprise Ireland says exports to the GCC increased 13 percent last year, reaching €532.5 million ($580 million). Qatar had the region’s fastest growth in exports from Ireland last year, with a rise of […]

A Mitsubishi H3 rocket on the launchpad in Japan. The UAE will use the model in its asteroid belt mission

UAE and Mitsubishi sign agreement for asteroid belt mission

The UAE has signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to provide services for its 2028 mission to the asteroid belt.  The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt – the first multiple-asteroid tour and landing mission to the main belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter – will launch the Mohammed Bin Rashid Explorer spacecraft […]