|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai CommerCity, a joint venture between Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA) and the Wasl Asset Management Group, dedicated to e-commerce firms, says its investment value has increased by 18.5 percent to AED 3.2 billion with an increase in the total leasable area by 32.5 percent. Launched in 2017, Dubai CommerCity is an area of 2.1 million square feet located in Umm Ramool, an […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Dubai has annonnced the world’s first faciltiy to make Blockchain-based digital payments for school fees, bills and retail purchases. The digital currency has been launched in partnership between Blockchain payment provider Pundi X, Ebooc Fintech and Loyalty Labs along with Dubai’s Credit Bureau named emcredit. Consumers in Dubai, UAE will be able to use digital currency to make retail payments in-store, pay for government […]
|Arabian Post Staff|Dubai continues to generate strong demand for premium office space according to new data released by global real estate consultancy firm CBRE. Total office stock in the emirate stood at 9.21 million sqm of gross leasable area (GLA) in the first half of 2018. This represents a 14% rise from levels recorded during the same period in 2014. Recent completions in the market further highlight […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| In an unusual move, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund,which is a stake holder in Elon Musk’s Tesla, has invested $1 billion in rival Silicon Valley start-up Lucid Motors. This means the Saudis will benefit, irrespective of which new generation car company achieves leadership in this automobile sector. Lucid is set to start making its first model, the Air sedan, in 2020. The comapny […]
By James M. Dorsey Dug in for the long haul in its increasingly bitter dispute with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Qatar is emerging as a key player in efforts to prevent tension between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, from spinning out of control. Qatar’s increasing role counters Saudi and UAE efforts to shape Palestinian politics in their mould. It further […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Media reports have quoted Houthi forces as claiming a rocket battalion attack on the Dubai International Airport. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), however, denied the Houthi media claims and affirmed that the UAE air traffic was operating business as usual. The denial was carried by official news agency WAM in a one-sentence statement. According to the Houthi forces’ official media wing, […]
Dubai will become a multi-billion dollar magnet for stone trade suppliers from around the globe next month as massive urban growth and infrastructure development continues to make the Middle East one of the world’s highest spending construction markets, analysts say. According to market analysts BNC, a raft of new mega projects valued at US$29.19 billion were launched in the Middle East and North Africa’s residential, hospitality, retail, healthcare and […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Global DP World Limited handled 35.6 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) across its global portfolio of container terminals in the first half of 2018, with gross container volumes growing by 4.8% year-on-year on a reported basis and 6.0% on a like-for-like basis. The first half of 2018 continues to see an upswing in global trade and all three DP World regions delivered growth, particularly […]
|By Arabian Posst Staff| Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) CEO Tony Douglas and Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company Limited (JOCIC) Chairman Luo Hua inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit to the United Arab Emirates. The two sides plan to cooperate on a wide range of areas in order to better support the development of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Hindustan Infralog Private Limited (HIPL), a joint venture between DP World and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), announced closure of the transaction to acquire 90% stake in Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Seva) Ltd. CWCNSL’s founders, the Reddy family, will retain the remaining 10% shareholding and will remain involved in the business operations. It is the first investment of HIPL, the recently created […]
By James M. Dorsey Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could well dash expectations that he is gunning for a break with Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism rather than a shaving off of the rough edges of Wahhabi ideology that has been woven into the kingdom’s fabric since its founding more than eighty years ago. Prince Mohammed has fuelled expectations by fostering Islamic scholars who advocate a revision of […]
By James M. Dorsey The Pakistani government’s removal of a virulently anti-Shiite militant from its terrorism list at the very moment that an international money laundering and terrorism finance watchdog was deciding to put the country on a watchlist highlights Pakistan’s struggle to come to grips with militancy. The decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that was reported by Pakistani media but has yet to be announced […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The Sharjah Petroleum Council (SPC) announced it is inviting petroleum exploration and production companies and investors to bid in an inaugural onshore acreage licencing round covering three Concession areas. SPC has appointed Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) to conduct the licencing round, which will open on 25th June,offering companies 30-year contracts with a 10-year extension. “Sharjah has always strongly supported private investment, providing the appropriate economic environment to encourage sustainable […]
Dubai property developer Danube Properties announced the launch of its 11th project, a Dh550 million Lawnz at the International City.Construction of the project is expected to start in 2018 with completion in 2020. Lawnz is Danube Properties’ first project at the International City and its first gated complex. “This is our biggest project so far that will add 1,064 units to our existing portfolio and we are […]
|By Matein Khalid| Crude oil prices plunged by 7% in two sessions as Saudi Arabia and Russia confirmed that they would release 1 million barrels a day in the wet barrel markets. Speculative froth in the oil futures markets vanished, to be replaced by a new trading calculus based on the realities of supply and demand – as well as the unknowable (and unquantifiable!) arc of […]
By James M. Dorsey A look at a decade of failed social, economic and political reform in Jordan goes a far way to explain recent mass anti-government protests demanding the resignation of the government. The protests, prompting concerns about the survival of the Hashemite dynasty, also bear witness to the fallout of the region’s epic power struggles and the pitfalls of government failures to respond to long-standing […]
Azizi Developments, one of the leading private developers in the UAE, has announced a construction update for their upcoming AED 470 million project in Dubai Healthcare City, Azizi Aliyah Residences. Construction is progressing rapidly with concrete works fully completed. The developer has announced that finishing and façade works are currently underway, ensuring that the project meets the highest construction and building design standards. Commenting on the update, […]
Etisalat Digital announced that it has signed strategic partnerships with four scale-ups as part of the ‘Dubai Future Accelerators Program,’ the world’s largest governbment supported accelerator. The 4th cohort of the ‘Dubai Future Accelerators’, launched in March this year with the participation of Etisalat Digital and other government bodies and in cooperation with the world’s most innovative companies, came to a close on xx May. The program […]
SNC-Lavalin announced that it has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Central District Cooling Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Tabreed, for the expansion of its Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC) district cooling scheme in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Under the contract, SNC-Lavalin is responsible for the design, procurement, construction and commissioning of an additional cooling capacity of 12,000 Refrigeration Tons (RT) with all associated […]
By Arabian Post Staff Macro economic and market conditions remained stable in the UAE in 2017 and the global and domestic economic growth and outlook improved during the year. In financial markets, the money market spreads, dirham-dollar forward points and credit market spreads narrowed reflecting ample liquidity and confidence in the UAE financial system. The UAE’s economic growth and outlook showed an improvement in 2017, but the […]
|By Saifur Rahman, Associate Editor| The historic first cargo of two million barrels of crude oil from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), destined for the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) has been loaded and is en-route to India, in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO at a ceremony in Abu […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emirates Group reported a 67 percent jump in net profits to $1.1 (Dh4.1 billion) billion in 2017-18 financial year ending March 31, 2018 compared to the previous year, with revenues reaching $27.9 billion (Dh102.4 billion), crossing the Dh100 billion mark for the first time in the history of the 32 year old airline group that includes Emirates Airline and its ground handling and ticketing arm, […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had written an article titled “six reasons to be bullish Saudi equities in 2018, published in the KT on January 28. Yet I was surprised to see Saudi Arabian equities become the world’s second best performing stock market in 2018 after Egypt. The Saudi equity index fund (KSA) I recommended in my column is up 18% at a time when the MSCI emerging markets […]
By Matein Khalid A dismal legacy of civil war, sanctions, insurgency, foreign invasion and terrorism has had a catastrophic impact on the Iraqi economy. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the assembled global elite at Davos 2018 that Iraq needed $100 billion in postwar construction. Yet money alone will not solve Iraq’s problems of systemic corruption, a society divided by sectarian cleavages, poverty, the displacement of 2 million […]
