Category: Economy

Media outlets as reporting that the Soffers’ big-name partner in the Miami Beach resort Fontainebleau , the government of Dubai, is ready to sell its 50 percent stake back to the family’s Turnberry Associates. The deal would mark a satisfying bookend for Jeffrey Soffer, who spearheaded buying the resort in 2005 and then completing a $700 million renovation in 2008 on the eve of the financial crisis, the Miami Herald reported.A year earlier, Dubai’s Nakheel Hotels paid $375 million for

Dubai Duty Free is planning to borrow $750 million from a syndicate of international banks in the coming weeks to help further finance the expansion of Dubai's international airport, the company's executive vice chairman Colm McLoughlin said.DDF, which operates all of the retail outlets at Dubai's airports, raised its first international financing last year, a $1.75 billion, six-year syndicated loan with tranches in dollars and U.A.E. dirhams. The new $750 million loan will be priced at 2.25% above Libor and

General Motors  said it expected the automobile industry in the Middle East to show growth that is sustainable, but at a slower rate than in the last few years, hurt by uncertainty and political crisis in markets such as Egypt and Syria.The U.S. automaker temporarily closed its Egyptian assembly plant outside of Cairo last month, and shut its local office, after deadly clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Mursi.It later reopened them but was still monitoring

Police have sealed off the Dubai Prosecution Building after a woman visitor threatened to detonate an explosive belt.Prosecution sources said that the woman - thought to be a Syrian in her late 30s - entered the building shortly after 1pm accompanied by a child, thought to be aged 6, and stood next to the reception desk.Sources said the woman was known to prosecutors and had previously visited the building on numerous occasions. Her husband is thought to be in custody.-The

France said on Sunday it could not act alone against Syria after the United States stepped back from the brink, making Paris the last remaining top ally in the Western coalition to hesitate over punishing President Bashar al-Assad.After President Barack Obama delayed an imminent strike by deciding to consult Congress and the British parliament vetoed any involvement, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is to discuss with senior lawmakers on Monday how to respond to allegations chemical weapons attacks were launched

CEOs of 73 percent of companies in the UAE say prepared to lose profit in the short term for the sake of protecting long-term reputation.Once the sole remit of the marketing and PR departments, reputational risk is now seen as a critical company-wide concern, according to a global survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).The survey of UAE finance leaders who hold the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation identified the

The patriotism of wealthy overseas Indians has helped the country avert economic crises in the past and it is little surprise that embattled policymakers are turning to them again to plug a record trade gap that is battering the rupee.This time, though, big investors among the more than 25-million overseas Indian community - the world's second-largest diaspora - are staying away as the economic outlook darkens and political instability looms ahead of national elections.Shoring up inflows from the overseas Indians

The Indian rupee rebounded on Thursday from a record low after the central bank's move to provide dollars directly to oil companies provided relief to the currency, while a recovery in emerging market currencies also helped offer support.The central bank decision is aimed at removing a major source of dollar demand from the spot market - worth $400 million to $500 million daily - and so reduce downward pressure on the Indian currency.The rupee rose as high as 66.85 per

Dubai and Kuwait City have been ranked in the top 10 biggest improving cities in a global livability survey released on Wednesday.The Economist Intelligence Unit said Dubai’s ranking at number 77 had improved 2.9 per cent in the past five years.Kuwait City, which came in at 81, was also amongst the top 10 most improved, with a 2.5 per cent jump.The survey ranks five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.Cities, which dropped down the rankings with negative

Dubai’s stock market reputation as a safe haven in the Middle East was jolted this week as the possibility of a U.S. military strike against Syria spooked all global asset classes.The benchmark DFM stock index slumped 7% on Aug. 27, making it the worst global stock market performer that day. It fell another 1% today as the prospect of Syria’s woes spreading to the wider region, potentially drawing in neighbour Iran, unsettled investors.But geopolitical tensions are not new for a

A Dubai court has dismissed a Kuwaiti sheikh's $21.4 million claim against UBS in which he alleged the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9 billion asset sale by Kuwaiti telecom operator Zain.The case highlighted the complexity of doing business in the Gulf, where personal connections to high-ranking officials or executives are often valued in deal making.But in a damning written verdict, Justice Sir David Steel described Sheikh Meshal - a member

The heightened economic activity in Dubai has undoubtedly been supported by the recovery of the emirate’s real estate sector, with capital values in some residential submarkets quickly closing in on their Q3 2008 pre-crisis peaks, Cluttons said in its latest market analysis.During Q2 alone, villa values rose by an average of 21%, compared to 24.4% last year.Apartments on the other hand recorded capital value increases of 25.1% in the second quarter, almost double the corresponding 2012 figure of 13.4%. Overall

The Indian rupee hit a record low and shares slumped on Tuesday after parliament's approval of a $20 billion plan to provide cheap grain to the poor renewed doubts about the government's resolve to control spending ahead of elections due next year.The alarm over India's fiscal deficit eclipsed an announcement by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram that the government had approved infrastructure projects worth 1.83 trillion rupees ($28.38 billion), a step aimed at reviving economic growth and shoring up investor confidence.Instead,

 Saudi British Bank (SABB), an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, is aiming to sell an Islamic bond by year-end to strengthen its capital base, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Monday.HSBC is advising SABB on the potential riyal-denominated sukuk issue to boost its Tier 2 capital position, the sources said, declining to be identified as the matter is not public.SABB's total capital ratio - combining core Tier 1 and supplementary Tier 2 capital - was one of the

Iran is raising its exports of iron ore and iron products to China and India in an attempt to replace at least a small part of the massive revenue that has been lost due to sanctions on its oil sales.While Iran's oil exports have halved in the last few years due to western sanctions over the country's disputed nuclear program, iron ore exports have grown by more than 60 percent over the same period to an annual rate of about

Contractors working in the Saudi market claim that public sector projects in Saudi Arabia are monopolized because of contractors' classification rules currently in use. They said monopoly causes high project costs and delays. "The method of putting up projects for tender hasn't been modernized in 30 years, which benefited a limited number of companies that monopolized Saudi projects," said Mansour Al Areefi, general director of a company that operates in the public sector. He said that the lack of modernizing companies' classification

Deposits with UAE banks climbed to an all-time high at the end of the first half of 2013 while assets also peaked at their highest level and loans picked up sharply. Official data showed the UAE's 23 national banks and 28 foreign units are pushing ahead with a provisioning drive to bolster their financial base in the wake of the 2008 global fiscal distress, with allocations for loan loss provisions gaining around Dh500 million to reach their highest level of nearly

The UAE's new Land Transport Act will come into effect from September 1. The new act clearly explains the rules of carrying passengers and goods between the UAE and other countries as it specifies the responsibilities and commitment of the parties to ensure the safety of passengers and goods. According to this law, no land transport business maybe practiced without getting a license from the National Transport Authority (NTA). The license applicant must be a UAE citizen and the transport vehicle should be

Gold fell for a second session on Thursday after minutes from a Federal Reserve policy meeting failed to ease fears the U.S. central bank would begin tapering its economic stimulus from next month.The minutes of the Fed's July 30-31 meeting, released on Wednesday, showed that a few officials thought last month it would soon be time to slow the pace of their bond buying "somewhat" but others counseled patience.Gold, often bought as a hedge against inflation, initially gained on the

Saudi Arabia and India topped the charts for sending the most tourists to Dubai in the first half of this year as a new report by Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) revealed record-breaking figures. More than 5.5 million tourists visited Dubai from January to June this year, representing an increase of 11.1 per cent over the previous year.Director-General of DTCM Helal Saeed Almarri said: “The figures for the first half of 2013 are extremely encouraging and indicate that we

Dubai contractor Arabtec on Wednesday denied media reports that it was considering a merger with Kuwait's Combined Group Contracting Co and Saudi Arabia's Saudi Oger."The company would like to state that there are no discussions to merge with either of the two companies and there are no current plans to do so," Arabtec said in an emailed statement.The company's chief executive had said it was considering a merger with the largest contractors in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to create a

Emirates NBD, the United Arab Emirates’ biggest bank by assets, expects to raise more than $12 billion for clients in the remainder of the year, boosting investment banking income as the lender seeks expansion.The Dubai government-controlled lender has mandates for about 20 bond and loan deals after helping raise $14.6 billion for clients in 23 such transactions so far this year, Giel-Jan Van Der Tol, the lender’s head of wholesale banking, said in an interview yesterday. The deals have an

Asian markets were under the cosh on Thursday as a spike in U.S. bond yields drove up borrowing costs globally, and even surprisingly strong data from China couldn't completely staunch the bleeding.Emerging markets again bore the brunt of the selling as many have come to rely on cheap dollars to underpin domestic demand and fund current account deficits. The currencies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand all hit multi-year lows, while the Indian rupee ploughed another historic trough.Their stock markets likewise

A mechanism to standardize medicine prices in member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to be put in place by November ahead of a meeting of Gulf Health Ministers early next year to endorse the price list. The entire scheme is aimed at reducing and maintaining uniform prices of medicines and profit margins. Dr. Fahad Al-Dosari, head of medicinal pricing at the executive office of the Council of Ministers of Health of the GCC, explained that the project will

The Dubai Economic Council (DEC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Deloitte Corporate Finance Limited for mutual cooperation.Hani Al Hamli, Secretary General DEC; and Humphry Hatton, Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Corporate Finance, signed the MoU in the presence of the executive teams of both sides.Al Hamli stated, "We’re proud to have Deloitte Corporate Finance Limited as our partner, which comes in our role as a strategic partner to Dubai Government in economic policy making with the intention

New cable network Al Jazeera America introduced itself to viewers on Tuesday with reports on political strife in Egypt and the impact of climate change on U.S. cities, shortly after a major pay TV distributor declined to carry the channelThe decision by AT&T's U-verse pay-TV service stemmed from a contract dispute over terms to carry the new network, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. Al Jazeera responded by suing AT&T for breach of contract in Delaware Chancery Court.Globally, Al Jazeera is

India's central bank has said that it will inject 80 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) into the country's banking system by buying long-term government bonds. It comes just days after the central bank tightened the money supply in an attempt to stem the rupee's decline.The move is expected to make more credit available and also bring down borrowing costs for the government.On Tuesday, the bond yield or the cost of borrowing on India's 10-year bonds touched 9.48%, the highest since 2001.The Reserve Bank

LONDON--Iran's Bank Mellat is claiming GBP500 million ($782 million) from the U.K. Treasury after a London court ruled against a British decision to sanction the bank, a defense lawyer said.The claim underscores the financial risks faced by Western governments as they seek to enforce sanctions over Iran's controversial nuclear program.The U.K.'s "Supreme Court has referred [the claim] to the High Court so it can assess the loss" to Mellat due to sanctions, said lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla, a senior partner at

(Reuters) - Qatar's government spending rose 2.2 percent to a record 178.2 billion riyals ($48.9 billion) in its last fiscal year, slowing sharply from double-digit increases seen in the previous decade, official data showed.It was the first time that the government's annual spending undershot its budget plan since 1990 - a sign of the difficulties which Qatar is having in pushing forward huge and complex infrastructure projects.Some big projects, such as a new airport, have been delayed by difficulties in

(Reuters) - In his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing "terrorism and sedition".That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world's top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt's crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince the generals to back down.When the "Arab Spring" revolts blew across the Middle East

(Reuters) - India will ban the duty-free import of flat-screen televisions from August 26, the government said in a statement on Monday, adding to a package of measures designed to prop up the rupee by stemming the flow of foreign currency out of the country.Government officials estimated that more than 1 million television sets were brought into the country last year -- many from Dubai, Thailand and Singapore -- under a scheme that allowed airline passengers to bring in screens

A.P. Moeller-Maersk, owner of the world’s biggest shipping line, said concern that emerging markets are losing their growth momentum is overdone.“The underlying story is very good,” Maersk Chief Executive Officer Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in an interview on Aug. 16. “Our expectation remains that the U.S. will be the key driver of growth, but we’re also relatively optimistic on emerging markets. There is growth potential, even if we have a temporary set-back in commodity prices.” Investors dumped emerging market assets last

RIYADH - Healthcare spending in Saudi Arabia is expected to grow by 10.3 percent this year to SR98 billion over 2012's SR88.9 billion. The Saudi government has announced that major projects involving healthcare, along with other key sectors such as education, will get additional funding and strong governmental focus in the coming months. At the same time, the Kingdom's IT expenditure is projected to increase by around 6.6 percent to SR15.3 billion this year. These parallel developments are expected to open

Qatar has reiterated there is no going back on its currency's peg to the US dollar and said the riyal's rate to the greenback is to be maintained at QR3.64.Local banks and exchange houses involved in foreign exchange dealings must use this rate with a margin of 0.24 percent. While converting the riyal to other currencies, they must use the above riyal-dollar rate as the basis of those conversions.“The riyal’s peg to the dollar is the cornerstone of the country’s