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Dan Schulman of Valor Capital Group predicted 15-20 percent unemployment as a result of AI AI future

Leaders all agree: AI will be good – or bad – for the future

Elon Musk thinks it has a 90 percent chance of being for the good of humanity, while critics say it is certain to decimate jobs across the developed world.  Artificial intelligence, or AI, dominated the discussions at Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit this year like never before, with increasingly upbeat – and dire […]

The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline: the US is importing more oil from Canada and less from Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia loses out as US oil refiners turn to Canada

US crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia have dropped to one of the lowest points since the start of the decade, as American refiners increasingly turn to supplies from Canada. Imports fell to only 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the week ending October 25, according to the US Energy Information Administration – the lowest […]

An excavator operates in Sidon, Lebanon. Local observers believe the Middle East should take the lead in rebuilding

Middle East, not the West, should lead rebuilding, say experts

Rebuilding Palestine and Lebanon will take upwards of a decade once the conflict between Israel and Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah ends, according to the International Monetary Fund. But the two countries should be assisted by Middle East neighbours and not left in the hands of Western superpowers, say experts. The United Nations Development Programme’s initial […]

Trending

  1. PIF signs Japan and Hong Kong pacts worth $52bn

  2. Kuwaiti companies looking at Saudi exchange listings

  3. New Zealand agrees free-trade deal with GCC

  4. Dubai bourse operator’s Q3 profit surges 27% to $26m

  5. Driverless monorail planned for Riyadh’s financial district

OPINION & Analysis

Best of AGBI

At-Turaif in Diriyah. Restoration and other projects in the region are now due for completion in 2030

Diriyah delays completion date as projects vie for funds

The historical district of Diriyah, one of Saudi Arabia’s major giga-projects, will be completed in time for the World Expo in 2030 – three years later than previously announced, its CEO Jerry Inzerillo said on Wednesday.  The giga-projects, valued in total at more than $1.25 trillion, are competing for government and private sector resources amid […]

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 […]

Duo dream big with Abu Dhabi’s first tokenised treasuries fund

The first tokenised treasury bill fund licensed in the Abu Dhabi Global Market launched on Thursday, with its creators hoping to attract $100 million from investors within a year. Such funds buy United States treasuries, which are US government bonds, and then create a blockchain-based token to represent these assets, thereby enabling digital, fractional ownership […]

Turkey targets butchers, bakers and tax law breakers

Ankara has opened a new front in its war on tax avoidance, as the Turkish finance minister flags a crackdown on small and medium-scale businesses to help balance the budget and increase transparency. Just weeks after announcing a major offensive against tax avoiders in the corporate world, with hundreds of state auditors to be deployed […]

Private credit will be ‘hottest asset class in the region’

Private credit has yet to take off in the Middle East but will become the “hottest asset class” in the region, according to Ted Koenig, CEO of US asset manager Monroe Capital. Speaking to AGBI at the Future Investment Initiative conference taking place this week in Riyadh, Koenig explained why private credit – non-bank lending […]

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Finance

‘The FII consensus was that a re-elected Trump would be good for the Saudi-US relationship’

Frank Kane, Editor-at-Large

UAE latest

The Dubai bourse attracted 91,151 new investors, of which 85 percent were foreigners who invested AED1.5 billion

Dubai bourse operator’s Q3 profit surges 27% to $26m

Dubai Financial Market, the stock exchange operator, said net profit rose 27 percent to AED94 million ($26 million) in the third quarter of 2024 compared to AED74 million a year earlier. Revenue jumped 12 percent year on year to AED155 million as trading volume increased to 1.7 million, a 20 percent year on year increase. […]

Crypto traders brokers stock exchange investors analyzing trading charts.

Duo dream big with Abu Dhabi’s first tokenised treasuries fund

The first tokenised treasury bill fund licensed in the Abu Dhabi Global Market launched on Thursday, with its creators hoping to attract $100 million from investors within a year. Such funds buy United States treasuries, which are US government bonds, and then create a blockchain-based token to represent these assets, thereby enabling digital, fractional ownership […]

BlackRock and Aditum's five public funds were incorporated on October 25, 2024 at the DIFC

UAE’s Aditum pairs with BlackRock to launch funds

Aditum Investment Management is to launch five funds for UAE investors, according to reports confirmed by AGBI. The five funds will include one focused on sustainable energy investments and another on health science, Citywire first reported. A representative of Blackrock confirmed to AGBI that the Citywire reports are accurate. Blackrock has registered BlackRock Aditum Dynamic […]

UAE telco e& said its subscriber base showed an annual increase of 6 percent, reaching 177.3 million

Revenue at e& rises as subscriber base grows

The UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, said revenue rose 10 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2024 amid an increasing subscriber base. The top line for July to September reached AED14.4 billion ($3.9 billion), compared to AED13.4 billion a year ago. Net profit remained stable at AED3 billion in […]

Saudi Arabia latest

The expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline: the US is importing more oil from Canada and less from Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia loses out as US oil refiners turn to Canada

US crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia have dropped to one of the lowest points since the start of the decade, as American refiners increasingly turn to supplies from Canada. Imports fell to only 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the week ending October 25, according to the US Energy Information Administration – the lowest […]

A Saudi man walks at the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Kuwaiti companies looking at Saudi exchange listings

Kuwaiti companies are eyeing up opportunities to list on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange, according to reports. It comes almost two years since deals were signed between market regulators in both Gulf states to explore collaboration around cross-listings on the Tadawul and Kuwait’s bourse. Firas Al-Salem, chairman of the Kuwaiti Business Council, said that listings could […]

Dan Schulman of Valor Capital Group predicted 15-20 percent unemployment as a result of AI AI future

Leaders all agree: AI will be good – or bad – for the future

Elon Musk thinks it has a 90 percent chance of being for the good of humanity, while critics say it is certain to decimate jobs across the developed world.  Artificial intelligence, or AI, dominated the discussions at Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit this year like never before, with increasingly upbeat – and dire […]

The Riyadh monorail will connect with the Metro running through King Abdullah Financial District

Driverless monorail planned for Riyadh’s financial district

An agreement to launch a driverless monorail project has been signed by King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The 3.6-kilometre system will have six trains travelling on an elevated circular track that will wind between the main towers of the district.  The system will have six stations across the district, connecting […]

Around the Middle East

Oil prices were also supported by expectations that Opec+ could delay December's planned production increase by a month or more

Oil prices gain amid growing Middle East tensions

Oil prices extended gains in early Asian trade on Friday, following reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.24, or 1.8 percent, to $70.50 a barrel by 22:29 GMT after settling up 0.95 percent in the previous session. […]

A sheep farm in Pukekohe, North Island, New Zealand. The country exported meat worth $155m to the GCC in 2023

New Zealand agrees free-trade deal with GCC

The GCC has agreed a new free-trade deal with New Zealand. The agreement will give duty-free access to 99 percent of New Zealand exports over 10 years, according to New Zealand trade minister Todd McClay.  McClay said the agreement was the culmination of an 18-year-long ambition to agree a trade deal in the Middle East. […]

Traded volume on Boursa Kuwait grew by 54 percent annually to 43.83 billion shares between January and September 2024

Higher traded volume drives up Boursa Kuwait’s profit

Boursa Kuwait reported a 15 percent rise in net profit for the first nine months of 2024 as traded volume surged. The stock exchange operator’s bottom line reached KD14.43 million ($47 million) during the period, compared to KD12.6 million a year ago. Operating profit increased by 21 percent year on year to nearly KD18 million. […]

Kuwait oil minister

New oil minister in Kuwait after reshuffle

A new oil minister, Tarek Suleiman Ahmed Al-Roumi, has been appointed in Kuwait as part of a broader cabinet reshuffle. Al-Roumi will replace Nora Suleiman Al-Fassam, who is Kuwait’s finance minister and was overseeing the oil ministry temporarily, the state news agency, Kuna, reported. Al-Fassam stepped in after the resignation in September of the deputy […]

OQEP is the exploration and production arm of Oman's state oil company OQ

Shares in Oman’s OQEP recover after poor debut

Shares in Oman’s OQ Exploration and Production rebounded on Tuesday, recovering some of their losses following a shock slump on the Muscat bourse a day earlier as dividend-seeking institutional investors took advantage of the sell-off to acquire at lower prices. OQEP, the upstream subsidiary of state oil company OQ, raised OMR748.8 million ($1.94 billion) in […]

The solar power plant in Iraq will be developed in phases and will come online between 2025 and 2027

QatarEnergy to develop solar project in Iraq with Total  

State-backed QatarEnergy and France’s TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to develop a solar power plant as part of the gas growth integrated project (GGIP) in Iraq. The two companies will equally own the project, but the agreement is subject to regulatory approvals. The project, “one of the largest in the world”, will consist of two […]

The oil tanker Cordelia Moon is hit by a missile in the Red Sea, off Yemen's Red Sea Port of Hodeida, in this screengrab from a video released on October 1, 2024

Houthis target three ships in Red and Arabian Seas

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday that they targeted three ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, attacks they called part of their efforts to enforce a naval blockade on Israel. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a televised address the vessels were targeted with missiles and drones for attempting to approach ports bound […]

Al Mudhaibi Industrial City Oman

Tender for first phase of Oman industrial city issued

A tender for the first phase of the Al Mudhaibi Industrial City project in North Al Sharqiyah governorate has been issued by Oman’s Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn). The tender, aimed at specialised companies in Oman and Saudi Arabia, covers the development of around 2.5 square kilometres of basic services. This includes road networks, […]

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Turkey Latest

The CIF funding will raise $790 million to transform the country’s power transmission system and invest in smart-grid upgrades

Turkey’s clean energy plan gets $1bn backing

Climate Investment Funds (CIF), one of the world’s largest multilateral funds, has backed a $1 billion funding for Turkey’s green energy scale-up. The fund’s board approved a $70 million investment from its renewable energy integration (REI) investment platform, which will contribute to the green expansion of Ankara’s energy system. The CIF funding will raise $790 […]

Finance minister Mehmet Şimşek said “Bakeries are the places where the most tax evasion occurs" in Turkey but those in the industry dispute this

Turkey targets butchers, bakers and tax law breakers

Ankara has opened a new front in its war on tax avoidance, as the Turkish finance minister flags a crackdown on small and medium-scale businesses to help balance the budget and increase transparency. Just weeks after announcing a major offensive against tax avoiders in the corporate world, with hundreds of state auditors to be deployed […]

Turkey's finance minister Mehmet Şimşek said the ban on short selling domestic stocks is under review

Turkey considers easing ban on short selling

Turkey may partly lift a ban on short selling domestic stocks, a policy initiated almost two years ago, in an attempt to woo foreign investors back to the nation’s share market and reverse a capital exodus.  Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC on October 25, Turkish treasury and finance minister Mehmet Şimşek said […]

A solar power plant in eastern Turkey. The country aims to quadruple renewable generation to hit a capacity of 120,000MW by 2035

Saudi lender ICD provides $16m for Turkish solar plant

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in Saudi Arabia has signed a €15 million ($16.2 million) financing agreement with Turkish company Sampa to support the development and construction of a solar power plant in Turkey. The planned captive solar plant will provide 21 megawatts of energy, reducing Sampa’s energy costs […]

Store in Istanbul City: Turkish businesses braced for challenging times as insolvency rates climb, evidenced by a 28% increase in liquidations compared with the same period last year

Turkish businesses face rising insolvency rates

The Turkish economy is set to be hit by a rising tide of business insolvencies, with near-record numbers of companies going to the wall, which in turn could result in a domino effect along the business supply chain. While many countries will experience a rise in insolvencies, Turkey will be among the hardest hit this […]

Egypt Latest

United Marine Egypt Shipping will receive an undisclosed number of the Regent seaglider

Egyptian company buys into Neom-backed seaglider

United Marine Egypt Shipping will be the launch customer for a large passenger seaglider that is designed to travel at high speeds over water.  US maritime transport company Regent said UME will be the first to receive its Monarch seaglider. The Monarch is a 50-to-100-passenger electric craft that Regent says will travel up to 650km […]

Dubai's Emaar Properties owns 79 percent of Emaar Development and also has hospitality and retail divisions

Dubai’s bellwether Emaar to report Q3 profit rise

Dubai’s Emaar Properties, bellwether of the emirate’s bourse, and its real estate development subsidiary, are likely to report sizeable increases in third-quarter profits versus the preceding three months as margins expand and under-construction projects reach revenue recognition thresholds. Emaar Properties owns 79 percent of Emaar Development and also has hospitality and retail divisions. It is […]

Egypt real estate investors. Luxury bungalows in the Red Sea lagoon in el Gouna. Developers are optimistic about foreign investors buying in waterfront communities at least for the next five to 10 years. Video length: 03:31

Egypt’s weaker currency attracting foreign real estate investors

Egypt’s economic recovery and currency devaluation has resulted in the “rediscovery of the real estate market by foreign investors”, according to the chief of the country’s largest waterfront developer, fuelling price rises in the secondary and tertiary segments. Population growth in the Arab world’s biggest country, and wealth creation in some socioeconomic segments, have also […]

Body Part, Finger, Hand Karim Badawi, Egypt's minister for petroleum, has been meeting with international companies to restore trust

Egypt slashes renewables target to focus on natural gas

Egypt has cut its renewable energy goal for 2040 from 58 percent down to 40 percent and will focus on natural gas in order to meet increasing energy demand, according to Karim Badawi, the minister for petroleum. Before hosting the Cop27 climate conference in 2022, the North African state announced a target of achieving a […]

A petrol station in Cairo. Egypt has raised fuel prices three times this year as it aims to comply with IMF requirements

Egypt plans bonds drive and may review IMF measures

Egypt plans to issue new sukuks and green bonds worth between EGP5 billion ($102.9 million) and EGP10 billion ($205.8 million) before June 2025, the end of its current financial year. The country’s finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk told reporters on Saturday of the ministry’s intentions to issue the new bonds. Earlier in the year Kouchouk spoke […]

Features

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 […]

US sanctions unlikely to stop Iran’s oil smugglers

Tighter US economic sanctions are unlikely to disrupt Iran’s oil exports in the long run because Tehran has developed a sophisticated system of oil smuggling, using a dedicated fleet of tankers and middlemen in multiple countries, industry observers say. The regime in Tehran has been under US sanctions since the Islamic revolution of 1979.  But […]

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 […]

People & Lifestyle

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 […]

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 3.5 million bottles of Champagne were shipped to the Gulf states in 2023, an increase of about 40 percent

Champagne shipments to the Gulf slow but still flowing

The growth in champagne shipments to the Gulf has slowed in recent years but the market is still one of the strongest in the world, bucking a global trend for declining sales. Around 3.5 million bottles of champagne were shipped to the Gulf states in 2023, an increase of about 40 percent, according to data […]

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 […]