|By Alaa Alghamdi| Daniel Quinn is a lesser known American writer, albeit with an enthusiastic, if not huge, following. I, personally, find his ideas rather brilliant, but I understand why they may not be widely understood or accepted. Quinn uses simple fictional frameworks to convey powerful, often controversial social and political messages. And he has some notions that may be considered odd until one carefully reconsiders them […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The announcement by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a possible floatation of state-owned oil firm Aramco is part of a larger game plan, a report by a US private intelligence corporation has concluded. “Whether or not the IPO happens is not important. What is vitally important is that it was publicly discussed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He was […]
|By Matein Khalid| The sultanate of Oman has enjoyed phenomenal economic development success in the 45 year reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Modern Oman is one of the true social, political and economic success stories of the Arab world. However, the Achilles heel of the Omani economy is its huge dependence on oil and gas export earnings, 60% of the sultanate’s GDP. Standard and […]
/By Arabian Post Staff/ Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) plans to increase its retail business by 40 per cent between 2016 and 2020 across its network of service stations in the UAE. The growth plans include the construction of 54 more stations in Dubai. The expansion will meet ENOC’s long-term strategic objectives which are aligned with the Dubai Plan 2021 of creating a ‘Smart & Sustainable City’ […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Ajman-based Tech Group, comprising a number of construction verticals, announced an investment of $100 million for the next three years, in what the company declares as an endorsement of the positive outlook for the country’s construction industry. Piling Tech, one of the group companies specializing in foundation engineering, design engineering and boring and driven piling systems, has acquired a new set of Soilmec […]
The yearlong decline in global equities that started with a selloff in energy became a full-blown bear market Thursday as a rout in bank shares extended losses in the broadest worldwide gauge past 20 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index slipped 1.3 percent, pushing its decline since May to 20 percent and marking the biggest retreat from risk since Europe’s sovereign debt crisis in 2011. Every industry […]
|By Dr Alaa Alghamdi| Saudi relations with Iran have long been, to say the least, contentious, and it is possible that to an outside observer it may seem like a two-way dispute, or a series of them. However, there are concrete reasons behind the current decision to cut diplomatic ties, and they have little to do with ideological, territorial or political quarrels, and everything to do with […]
UAE. The start of 2016 signalled another loss of growth momentum at UAE non-oil private sector firms, with business conditions improving at the weakest rate since March 2012. Underpinning the slowdown was a relatively subdued rise in new work, which was linked in turn to a near-stagnation in new export business. Growth rates for output and employment also eased, though stocks of pre-production items increased more quickly. […]
On the seventh floor of a Doha tower block, in a room filled with display cases containing old coins, clocks and Koranic manuscripts, 82-year-old Hussain Alfardan sits fingering a pearl necklace he says is worth $2 million. “These pearls are yakka, the highest grade of natural pearl – each piece is rare. Today the pearl is the number one stone in the world. The most expensive stone, […]
Saudi Arabia may further ease restrictions on foreign ownership in the economy and overhaul one of the world’s most restrictive visa systems as the kingdom seeks to draw investors to help reduce its reliance on oil exports. The world’s biggest oil exporter is considering allowing foreigners to own 100 percent of a company in at least four more industries, Mohanud Helal, secretary general of the Economic Cities […]
ENERGY-HUNGRY BANGLADESH SAW DECADES-LONG WAIT
By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: Diplomacy may have won the day for Russia more than financial/technological reasons, in bagging the order to build two nuclear power generating stations in Bangladesh by 2022-23.
This would enable Bangladesh to become the third country in South Asia to generate nuke power, after India and Pakistan. However, Sri Lanka could join the list soon according to present indications.
A proposal to build nuclear power plants in East Pakistan had been put forward as early as 1961 and approved in 1963, according to open source information. Therefore, neither Awami League (AL) leader Sheikh Hasina, nor Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia, can be rightfully accused of harbouring illusions of grandeur in going nuclear. Bangladesh has pledged to observe non-proliferati
The $15 trillion rout in global equity markets since May is reawakening the lure of gold for investors seeking safety. Hedge funds more than doubled their net-long position in bullion last week, just three weeks after they were the most-bearish ever. Investor holdings of gold through exchange-traded products are expanding at the fastest pace in a year, and the value of the ETPs has jumped by $3 […]
The removal of sanctions on Iran may trigger at least $50 billion a year in foreign investment to finance a rebound in an economy hit by the oil slump, the country’s central bank governor said. “Our country can absorb a great deal of foreign investment, considering its potential,” Valiollah Seif said in an interview Wednesday at his office in Tehran, days after the trade and financial curbs […]
As the chattering chieftains of the global economy gather this week in Davos, Switzerland, they’re facing the darkest outlook since the financial crisis tipped the world into recession seven years ago. The Chinese slowdown and accompanying slide in the yuan are imperiling already sluggish international growth, oil is trading at its lowest level in more than a decade, stocks have suffered their worst January ever, and the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Decreasing Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil revenues could include the introduction of VAT and so-called sin taxes, observers say. Other issues under consideration include the partial privatization of selected state assets – including Saudi Aramco – and better utilization of state-owned real estate. The Kingdom has been successfully diversifying its economy over the past decade, with non-oil revenues increasing by 29 percent this […]
Global oil markets could “drown in oversupply,” sending prices even lower as demand growth slows and Iran revives exports with the end of sanctions, according to the International Energy Agency. The IEA trimmed 2016 estimates for global oil demand as China’s economic expansion weakens and raised forecasts for supplies outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. While non-OPEC supply is set to drop 600,000 barrels a day […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE’s non-oil private sector ended the year on a low note, with business conditions improving at the slowest rate in 40 months, the headline Emirates NBD UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index for December showed. A key factor weighing on the sector as a whole was relatively muted growth of new work – the pace of expansion was the weakest since August 2011. Output, […]
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saudi rulers will face repercussions after the kingdom executed an outspoken Shiite cleric. “The divine hand of revenge will take the Saudi politicians by the throat,” Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority, said on Sunday. Cleric Nimr al-Nimr “was neither encouraging people to armed protests, nor plotting secretly, all he did was to openly criticize,” said Khamenei, who frequently lashes out at […]
Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, the Arab world’s largest, aims to sell shares in an initial public offering in 2018. The Saudi Stock Exchange – Tadawul seeks to offer shares after completing a “readiness exercise and obtaining the necessary approvals,” according to a statement on its website on Thursday. One of the world’s biggest petrochemicals manufacturers, Saudi Basic Industries Corp., trades on the Tadawul All Share Index. The gauge closed […]
Gulfnews.com Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s economy, hit hard by a sharp decline in oil prices, on Monday an announced 840 billion riyal (Dh822 billion) spending plan for 2016. The budget deficits for 2015 soared to 367 billion riyals this year. The government plans to cut the deficits to 326 billion riyals (13 per cent of GDP) in 2016 through a combination of spending cuts and augmenting of additional […]
RURAL DEVELOPMENT MAY CLINCH 2016 POLL FOR MAMATA
By Ashis Biswas
As the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition parties gear up for the next round of West Bengal Assembly elections, their campaign themes have been established.
The TMC is contesting on a ‘development’ slogan, while the twin pillars of the opposition’s campaign will be ‘lawlessness and economic stagnation’, broadly speaking.
At first sight, the TMC’s claim of having improved the state’s economy may look suspect, if not downright dubious, to most observers. However, initial impressions may be deceptive. After 54 months of its tenure, the ruling TMC has consolidated its position in rural Bengal. Especially in the highly populated South Bengal districts, which account for most of the 294 seats in the Assembly, the TMC is confident of doing better than its op
|By K Raveendran| With the new Public-Private Partnership law having come into being last month, Dubai is set to witness a new phase in its development, as private investments begin to flow into further development of the emirate’s infrastructure. This would mean the private sector directly getting involved in projects like airport expansion, extension of the Dubai Metro and similar infrastructure projects and sharing the risks in […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Emirates landed a windfall gain this week as it guaranteed itself bulk of the US-originating passenger traffic to the Gulf by way of a decision by the United Airlines to cancel flight service between Washington and Dubai starting in late January, meaning no U.S. passenger carrier will fly direct to the Gulf states. According to a Reuters report, the move comes after the […]
OPEC has seemingly dropped any attempt at trying to fulfill its founding mission and manage the global oil market. For Saudi Arabia’s Ali al-Naimi, the most powerful and longest-serving of the group’s oil ministers, it may have seemed like history was repeating itself. There are several striking parallels between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ current situation and the period from 1997 to 1999, when the group lost […]
