|TAP Special by K Raveendran| The UAE healthcare sector was the scene of high drama as the Al Noor Hospitals Group, being pursued by leading sectoral player NMC Group to form the country’s biggest private healthcare provider, apparently broke off and announced it has reached an agreement for a merger with South Africa’s Mediclinic International Ltd. Al Noor will also be renamed Mediclinic International. Al Noor said […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai is hoping that the lifting of sanctions on Iran will help the emirate’s economy to withstand some of the negative shocks it has been suffering in recent times. Those “pull factors,” which also include increased demand from India, will compensate for any economic headwind from China’s slowdown, Raed Safadi, executive director of the economic research and policy division at the Dubai Department of […]
|By TAP Staff| Global oil prices have bottomed out, with signs of a recovery seen in 2016, Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al Sada was quoted as saying. Growth in non-OPEC oil supply slowed “substantially” this year and is likely to remain flat or turn negative in the next, Al Sada said in a statement. “Call on OPEC oil is expected to become healthier,” to 30.5 million barrels […]
|By TAP Staff|Indian nationals were ranked first for foreign investment in Dubai’s property sector for the first half of this year, having made a total of 3,017 transactions worth AED 7.8 billion, according to statistics released by the Dubai Land Department. British investors were in second place having conducted deals worth AED 4.7 billion, followed by Pakistani investors with transactions worth AED 3.3 billion. Canadian investors came […]
|By TAP Staff| September data from Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker signaled a sustained upturn in output levels within Dubai’s private sector economy, helped by growth across all three key sub-categories of activity monitored by the survey. Overall rates of business activity and new orders growth were, however, softer than those seen on average through the first half of 2015. As a result, private sector companies were […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai Islamic Bank is exploring an entry into India as it seeks to benefit from the funding needs of one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, it was reported. “We as part of our international growth strategy are looking into India as one of the emerging Islamic finance markets,” Chief Executive Officer Adnan Chilwan said in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg News. India […]
|By Matein Khalid| 2015 has been a horror story for emerging markets and Asian shares have not escaped the fallout from the 40% plunge in Shanghai/Shenzhen since June. Yet financial markets discount the future while UAE investors invariably extrapolate the recent past. So even while I resurrect the ghosts of 1998 when Suharto’s regime fell amid anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta, South Korea was forced to accept a […]
|By TAP Staff| The downward trend in Dubai’s residential market continued in the third quarter with sale prices falling further and rents registering marginal declines, real estate consultancy JLL said in its report for the third quarter. While the general REIDIN sales index dropped 10% Y-o-Y in August, the rental index points to a 1% decline in rental values. This comes as tighter government regulations, higher inflation […]
The Twitter logo is shown at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California April 28, 2015. Twitter Inc. cut its full-year revenue forecast due to weak demand for its direct response products, sending its shares down as much as 24 percent on Tuesday.Twitter said it… Reuters/Robert Galbraith SAN FRANCISCO Twitter Inc rolled out its much-anticipated “Project Lightning” on Tuesday, a feature that shows users the site’s best […]
UAE. Across the GCC, public pension funds amount to US$397 billion, representing nearly a quarter of GDP and US$15,000 per national. This is according to EY’s GCC Wealth and Asset Management 2015 report – “Fast growth, divergent paths”, launched at the FundForum Middle East 2015. GCC Governments are relooking at existing models of both public and international pension funds to ensure they are sustainable. George Triplow, MENA […]
SAUDI ARABIA. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, today released its third quarter (Q3 2015) Riyadh and Jeddah Real Estate Market Overview reports that asses the latest trends in the office, residential, retail and hotel sectors. Mr Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL KSA, commented: “The Riyadh real estate market has maintained a steady performance this quarter. The office sector […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Saudi Arabia is leveraging low oil prices to accelerate development of its downstream petrochemical derivatives sector, and will add over 30 million tonnes of production capacity by 2020, raising production to 126 million tonnes from 2014 levels of 94.6 million tonnes, the latest edition of The Oil & Gas Year (TOGY) revealed. Capital expenditure in the petrochemical sector as well is set to further […]
UAE. In times of economic uncertainty, cold-hearted international investors seek more diversification of their property portfolios; as London provides opportunity for property capital appreciation with prices continuously on the rise in the last five years, reasonable prices and growing yields in Dubai market make an equally attractive income generating opportunity. Mutual InterestFor Middle Eastern investors, London has always been regarded as a strong investment complementary to their […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group (DHCOG) announced a net profit of AED 2.6 billion for the first half of this year ending 30th June 2015, an increase of 24 percent. Full year profits are expected to exceed AED 5.5 billion, the company said. Ahmad Bin Byat, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Dubai Holding, said Dubai Holding will continue to reinforce its successful strategy […]
UAE. Banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reported a good set of earnings in the first half of 2015 thanks in part to declining credit losses–and despite the continued squeeze on interest margins. But, owing to the knock-on effects of lower oil prices on growth and asset quality, earnings could weaken over the next several quarters. That’s according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ report, “Gulf […]
UAE. A recent report surveying 150 financial advisors in the UAE – part of a larger Natixis global study of 2,400 advisers in 14 countries across the globe – has revealed that investors making emotional investment decisions in turbulent markets is the top mistake advisors see among individual investors. Advisers are concerned that individual investors tend to be too focused on short-term market events, leading them to […]
Jack Dorsey, interim CEO of Twitter and CEO of Square, goes for a walk on the first day of the annual Allen and Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho July 8, 2015. Reuters/Mike Blake SAN FRANCISCO Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) co-founder and interim Chief Executive Jack Dorsey is expected to be named permanent CEO as early as Thursday, while keeping his job as the head of online […]
The Twitter logo is shown at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California April 28, 2015. Reuters/Robert Galbraith REUTERS – Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it was partnering with U.S. retailers to help them sell products through a “Buy Now” button in tweets, the latest move by the company to boost flagging user growth. The “Buy Now” feature, which was initially rolled out to a small percentage […]
UAE. In many industrial companies, services play virtually no role. Yet the service business is reporting growth rates up to 40 percent faster than sales of new products. What’s more, the gross profit margin of services is on average a good ten percentage points higher. These are the conclusions from international management consultants Bain & Company in their latest study, “Winning in Industrial Services,” in which 45 […]
QATAR. Broadband Internet is failing to reach those who could benefit most, with Internet access reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to benefit the billions of people living in the developing world, according to the 2015 edition of the “State of Broadband” report. The report reveals that 57% of the world’s people remain offline and unable to take advantage of the […]
Indonesia is drawing interest from Middle Eastern banks seeking to tap the world’s biggest pool of Shariah-compliant investors as some Islamic lenders wind down or close operations in Malaysia and Singapore. Emirates NBD PJSC wants to invest at least $300 million in a new Shariah lender or acquire a stake in an existing one, Dhani Gunawan Idat at Indonesia’s financial regulator said in a phone interview. That’s […]
|By Matein Khalid| Even as China’s President meets the capo di tutti capi in Seattle, its manufacturing PMI falls to 47, a post Lehman low, with new export orders in a slump. I found it significant that the offshore yuan fell 200 pips to 6.4346 after the PMI. This proves my core argument, outlined a month ago. The Middle Kingdom will respond to its economic decline and […]
BUT GROWTH NEEDS REFORMS AND CORPORATE ACTIONS By S. Sethuraman RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan has effected a hefty 50…
TRANSFORMING INDIA’S SECULAR MAKEUP By Amulya Ganguli It is slowly becoming clear that Narendra Modi is pursuing the twin agenda…
