| M A Hossain |United States has walked- out of the Iran deal that had been touted mainly by Barack Obama. Washington’s argument in this latest development is pretty clear. In their opinion, Iran though had stopped its nuclear development program, still was pursuing the ballistic missile development project. Meaning, Tehran did not abandon its nuclear ambition. Most importantly, Iran is seen as a potential threat to […]
|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 James M. Dorsey A Saudi Moroccan soccer spat speaks volumes about the depth of change in the Arab world. The spat over Saudi Arabia’s refusal to support a Moroccan bid for the hosting rights of the 2026 World Cup tells the tale of the rise of individual country nationalism at the expense of Arab solidarity, Saudi determination to safeguard its alliance with the United States at whatever cost, […]
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 […]
By James M. Dorsey The Gulf crisis that pits a United Arab Emirates-Saudi-led alliance against Qatar is escalating in discreet but no less worrisome ways that effect major third-party commercial interests and could increase international pressure for a resolution of the dispute. In a major shift away from Saudi and UAE restraint in attempting to force the international community and multi-nationals from taking sides in the 11-month […]
By James M. Dorsey Twin attacks earlier this week on Pakistani security forces in the troubled province of Balochistan cast a light on a sustained and violent campaign against police and paramilitary units as well as Shiite and Christian minorities. The attacks by groups, some of which have had links to Pakistan’s powerful military and intelligence apparatus as well as Saudi Arabia, spotlight the Pakistani state’s inability to […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) reported a 9 per cent increase in its net profit for the first quarter of 2018 as net interest income and income from Islamic financing rose. The bank reported Dh1.2 billion in profit for the first three months, up from the Dh1.1 billion in net profit in the same period of 2017. The earnings are marginally higher than analyst […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| In another setback to the region’s most high-profile private equity firm, state-owned Mubadala is reported to have halted talks to buy Abraaj’s investment business. Abraaj is facing an investigation by investors into how it used some of their money. Abraaj has been trying to sell some or all of the unit following a row with four investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation […]
By James M. Dorsey Stepped up Saudi efforts to forge close diplomatic, economic and cultural ties to Shia-majority Iraq in a bid to counter significant Iranian influence in the country appear to be paying off. The Saudi initiative demonstrates the kingdom’s ability to engage rather than exclusively pursue a muscular, assertive and confrontational policy towards the Islamic republic and its perceived allies. It raises the question whether […]
By James M. Dorsey Bangladesh, in a twist of irony, is looking to Saudi Arabia to fund a $ 1 billion plan to build hundreds of mosques and religious centres to counter militant Islam that for much of the past decade traced its roots to ultra-conservative strands of the faith promoted by a multi-billion dollar Saudi campaign. The Bangladeshi plan constitutes the first effort by a Muslim country to enlist […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| The GCC’s first and the world’s only Shari’ah Compliant Spot Gold contract (DGSG), was listed on the DGCX on March 29th. The contract opened with world-record Exchange traded Shari’ah Compliant Gold volumes on the first day of trading. The product traded volume of 84 Kilograms worth USD 3.56 million, on its opening day. The contract’s launch follows months of planning and preparation for the […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) announced FTSE Russel has decided to classify Tadawul as a “Secondary Emerging” market in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, moving up from its previous status as “Unclassified”. This decision followed a series of market enhancements introduced by Tadawul and the Capital Market Authority (CMA) over the past two years. These developments have fulfilled market quality criteria set by […]
|By Arabian Post Staff|Global trade enabler DP World announced strong financial results for the twelve months ending 31 December 2017. On a reported basis, revenue grew 13.2 percent and adjusted EBITDA increased 9.1 percent with adjusted EBITDA margin of 52.4 percent, delivering profit attributable to owners of the company of $1,209 million, up 7.3 percent, and EPS of 145.6 US cents. On a like-for-like basis, revenue grew […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abraaj Group, the Middile East’s biggest private equity firm, is facing the biggest crisis in its history, with a number of major management changes and top-level resignations. According to reports, chief financial officer Ashish Dave has left the company and two other other senior executives are also preparing to leave. The investment firm, which manages $13.6 billion in assets, is also considering a […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| UAE residents consider VAT to be a challenge, but are largely optimistic about the year ahead, a YouGov survey revealed. The results found that 50 percent of residents have positive sentiment towards the UAE for 2018, while 34 percent are neutral and 15 percent are negative. Some 62 percent of residents feel the introduction of VAT will be a challenge for the country. The […]
|By Matein Khalid| I had projected a bloodbath in the US Treasury bond market since late 2016, when it was obvious that Trump’s tax reform would double the US budget deficit at the same time as the Federal Reserve prepared to “normalize” or shrink its balance sheet by $470 billion. Fiscal stimulus is often a policy ballast amid a depression, as in the early 1980’s or 2009, not […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and seven leading global Central Securities Depository (CSD) companies to collaborate on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) implementation in post trade operations, as well as capital market transactions. Today, securities processing, particularly in areas requiring multi-party contact and involving extremely cumbersome manual processes carry […]
|By Matein Khalid| When I first started on a Treasury bond futures trading desk in New York fresh out of Wharton, a senior mentor once advised to keep track of the four heartbeats of gold finance in real time. The price of money (interest rates), the price of currency (the US dollar), the price of oil and the price of gold. The price of money can be […]
Carillion, the British company building a number of high profile construction projects across the Gulf region, including building part of the infrastructure for Qatar 2022 World Cup, has collapsed. The implications of the development on the Qatar World Cup are yet unknown. British media reported that Carillion collapse is one of the UK’s biggest corporate failures, leaving the future of some of its Middle Eastern projects unclear. The […]
|By Matein Khalid| Dubai based Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) acquired a one million square foot Amazon logistics center in Dortmund, Germany for $144 million. This deal is a testament to the boutique global merchant bank created in Dubai by GII’s co-founder/CEO Pankaj Gupta, who I am honored to call a friend. I consciously model my own firm Asas Capial on the strategic path laid out by GII and […]
By Saifur Rahman Dubai Government expects its Dh376.8 billion (US$102.67 billion) economy to grow at 3.5 per cent in 2018, slightly lower than the UAE economic growth, pegged at 3.9 per cent, according to a news release issued by the Department of Economic Development (DED), the government’s trade licensing body. The country has just implemented a 5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) from January 1, 2018, expects […]
|By Matein Khalid|The rise in Brent crude to $60 a barrel and the trade volume ballast generated by the world’s first post Lehman synchronized economic recovery is hugely positive for UAE economic growth in 2018. After all, the UAE is unique because Abu Dhabi’s 100 billion barrels of proven oil reserves is complemented by Dubai’s role as the Gulf’s financial, logistics, aviation, shopping and services hub. The […]
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Arab Bank have signed a financing agreement of €300 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and the Palestinian territories. The operation comes under the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI), aimed at enhancing the prospects for more resilient and inclusive growth in the region, as well as creating sustainable employment opportunities. It also represents the first […]
