|By Arabian Post Staff| The growing list of OPEC members seeking exemptions from a planned supply cut has investors seeing future price drops, Bloomberg reports. Money managers increased bets on lower West Texas Intermediate oil for the first time in five weeks as Iraq joined Iran, Nigeria and Libya in seeking to be excluded from OPEC’s first agreement to reduce output in eight years. The deal was reached […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia’s $17.5 billion debut sovereign bond issue had a most successful start, with investor orders reaching $67 billion, according to reports. The huge response has meant that the oil kingdom is in a position to borrow more cheaply than was originally expected. According to Financial Times, the order book was also sufficiently large to enable the country to raise the amount it […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE has started the process of staffing the Federal Tax Authority, which will be responsible for the implementation of the proposed federal tax system, beginning with the introduction of VAT. The Ministry of Finance is scouting around for a Compliance and Enforcement Director, who will help maximise Federal tax revenues through the development and implementation of compliance and enforcement strategies. Deloitte LLP […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| US$51.6 billion of Dubai’s debt will come due for repayment in 2016-18, with US$27.4 billion due in 2018, IMF has estimated. Over US$28.9 billion of Abu Dhabi’s debt will also come due during this period. According to IMF, these imply short-term rollover risks for both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but for a larger extent in the case of Dubai. The Fund feels that […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Adnoc announced plans to merge Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co., Petroleum Services Co. and Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Operating Co. by the end of 2017. The new shipping company will operate more than 165 vessels, including vessels to carry liquefied natural gas, chemicals and bulk cargo, Adnoc said. The consolidation is expected to lead to improved efficiency and savings. The move is seen […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Signs of friction over OPEC’s production freeze plan are already emerging, with more members questioning the proposed numbers. Iraq and Venezuela had already expressed doubts over data compiled by OPEC for this purpose on the ground that the data has been compiled from secondary sources. And now Iran has joined the protest. Output estimates compiled by OPEC’s Vienna-based secretariat are “not acceptable,” Bloomberg […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The three-month Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, or Saibor, used as a benchmark to price loans, has climbed 15 successive months to the highest in seven years, Bloomberg reported. It gained 84 basis points this year to 2.385 percent on Sunday, compared with a 27 basis-point advance in the London Interbank Offered Rate for dollars. Meanwhile, the loans-to-deposit ratio among Saudi banks, a key measure of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| A high level panel will examine the effects and ramifications of de-risking for Middle East banks, under which correspondent banking relationships are constrained or blocked by international regulators protecting their banks from perceived risk such as money laundering or financing terrorism. The panel will discuss how banks manage de-risking, how it affects their small and medium sized corporate clients in the Middle East […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre is in the process of developing a National Bonds Sukuk Trading Platform, which uses assets in the local economy to structure Shariah-compliant consumer financing. This is pat of the initiative to develop new strategies to meet the liquidity management and personal financing needs of Islamic banks and Islamic windows at conventional banks. These products are expected to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| GE marked a new milestone in its operational presence in Kuwait with the opening of the GE Kuwait Technology Center (GEKTC), a flagship facility that will foster localized research, provide hands-on training and build an innovation ecosystem specifically for the power sector. Approved by the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) for a Foreign Investment License last year, the 6,000 sq meter GEKTC, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. won a landmark case when a London court ruled that there is no evidence to prove the bank resorted to unlawful practices to get Libyan officials to invest with it, a move that led to $1.2 billion loss to Libya. The verdict put to rest claims the bank leveraged its reputation as well as lavish meals and prostitutes to […]
By Mai Nguyen and My Pham | HANOI HANOI Samsung Vietnam will maintain its current staff numbers and its exports target this year, the firm said on Wednesday, despite the parent company scrapping its flagship Galaxy Note 7 phone following a series of battery fires. Samsung Electronics, which employs around 110,000 people in Vietnam, finally pulled the plug on the new Note 7 phone on Tuesday, less […]
By Se Young Lee | SEOUL SEOUL Samsung Electronics Co slashed its quarterly profit estimate by a third on Wednesday, soaking up a $2.3 billion hit from ditching its flagship smartphone in what could be one of the costliest product safety failures in tech history. Quantifying the financial pain of Tuesday’s move to scrap the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a global recall and weeks of mounting […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Saudi Arabia said it was holding investor meetings in London, Los Angeles, Boston and New York from Wednesday to sell benchmark bonds maturing in five, 10 and 30 years. The issue is expected to be at least $10 billion. “It’s very good timing,” Bloomberg quoted Angelo Rossetto, a trader at GMSA Investments Ltd. in London, as saying. “I wouldn’t say now or never as […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Etihad Aviation Group and TUI AG confirmed they are in discussions to create a strong European leisure airline group, focused on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets. It is proposed to contribute the touristic operations of the airberlin group and the German TUIfly company, including the aircraft currently operated by TUIfly for airberlin under a wet-lease agreement, into a new airline group established […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, which bought Barclays Plc’s UAE retail business, has cut more than 200 jobs over the past three months, Bloomberg reported quoting some people. The cuts were made mostly in the retail business, the report said. About 100 people were dismissed last month, with the layoffs mostly affecting junior staff, one of the people said. A spokesman for the bank, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Despite external debt remaining at tight spreads due to still-high leverage and refinancing challenges, Dubai will muddle through the current crisis in terms of debt rollovers, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in its latest research. Although the investment bank expects the local bid on the shorter end to weaken due to low oil prices, it sees chances of less supply risk for Dubai […]
BlackBerry plans to stop making its signature smartphones internally, signaling a strategic shift for a company that built its reputation on innovative smartphone technology. Rather, all development for BlackBerry-branded phones will be left to BlackBerry’s partners, which will license BlackBerry’s technology and brand, while the Canadian company concentrates on growing its software business. “We believe that this is the best way to drive profitability in the device […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has witnessed a 210.8% growth in the use of Chinese currency for payments in the last two years, data released by SWIFT has shown. More than 80% of the direct payments made between the UAE and China and Hong Kong in August 2016 were in CNY, representing one of the highest increases worldwide. Data also shows that the EMEA […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| High gold prices are threatening India’s status as a leading importer of gold and this has significant impact on Dubai gold trade. According to Indian reports, the Indian gold bazaars have seen a mass movement of people selling their gold jewelry. The market has transformed from whole sellers and brokers to individual gold sellers looking to take advantage of the high price of gold, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| OPEC members aren’t likely to reach a supply deal in Algiers next week, but an agreement to boost prices could be drawing closer after Saudi Arabia signaled for the first time in two years that it’s willing to cut production, Bloomberg reported. Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose rivalry thwarted a deal with other major producers in April, didn’t reach agreement after two days of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai is seeking $2.5 billion in loans to finance a 15-kilometer extension of its metro line to the World Expo site, Bloomberg reported quoting unnamed sources. The news agency said banks have submitted various proposals, including a $1.34 billion facility backed by European export credit agencies. Lenders also bid for a $1.12 billion unsecured, commercial facility that is guaranteed by the Dubai government, […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The global oil market will most likely remain oversupplied for the rest of 2016 and well into 2017, rating agency Standard & Poor’s has forecast. The view has been attributed to global oil production remaining in excess of demand, and the resulting persistently high crude oil and product inventories putting spot prices and near-term futures under significant pressure. Members of the Organization of […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Platts, independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, announced that it will publish independent, outright price assessments for a range of oil products for the Middle East market on a Free-On-Board Fujairah basis starting October 3, 2016. The new assessments are for gasoline, diesel/gasoil, jet fuel and fuel oil. They will be published alongside existing physical netback […]
