Discord at OPEC is turning into a price war, loosening the cartel’s grip on the oil market and exacerbating a recent steep selloff. Fissures have widened as Mideast turmoil frays political alliances and producers vie for customers amid a flood of oil from the U.S. and slowing growth in Asia. “No one is telling anyone what they are up to,” one Gulf oil official said. Saudi Arabia […]
| By TAP Staff| A mismatch between buyer and seller expectations is attributed to be one of the main reasons for the signs 0f Dubai property market levelling off, according to analysts. The “over-exuberance” seen in recent months is clearly losing steam and this by itself should ensure that the market does not head towards the traditional crash. The annual price growth in the Dubai property market […]
Big On Telecom signs distribution deal with Blackphone DUBAI, 3 days ago Blackphone has signed a master distributor partnership with Big On Telecom, a Big on Group company headquartered in Dubai, to expand the brand’s presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions. The agreement marks a significant step in Blackphone’s growth, with Big On Telecom having started testing and launch discussions with telecom operators in […]
Officials at the announcing of the Gitex Technology Week 2014 Mideast ICT market to hit $20bn, outpacing global average DUBAI, 3 days ago The Middle East region’s information and communication technology (ICT) market is set to jump from a projected $15 billion this year to $20 billion in 2020, outpacing the global average, according to market intelligence firm IDC. The growth is being buoyed by region-wide investment […]
German engineering has an outstanding reputation worldwide for quality, technological innovation and reliability, yet in the obsession for perfection, it can miss market opportunities. The German watch industry, for example, with its hundreds of companies, has for long had a fixation for mechanical perfection, but in the process neglected the design aspect and the very quartz technology it had developed on its own. Similarly, Siemens had a […]
UAE. A working paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called for the countries of the GCC to create a dynamic non-oil tradable sector to support sustainable growth. The paper ‘Soaring of the Gulf Falcons: Diversification in the GCC Oil Exporters in Seven Propositions’, authored by Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov, says this strategy should be implemented right away, even for the richest GCC countries. Charles […]
SAUDI ARABIA. Jadwa Investment, the Saudi asset manager focused on Sharia’ah compliant mutual and private equity funds, has just issued its Quarterly Global Oil Market Update (Q3 2014). Summary of the report · The combination of accelerating US supply, weaker than expected global demand, stabilization in geopolitics, and an appreciation of the dollar, led to oil prices dropping by 7.3 percent in Q3 2014, to an average of […]
The planned merger of the United Arab Emirates’ two main stock exchanges, home to the second-best performing share gauge in the world, will take more time to complete, according to a Dubai government official. “It’s still on the table,” Mohammed Al Shaibani, chief executive officer of Investment Corp. of Dubai, the emirate’s main state-owned holding company, said in an interview today at a Dubai conference. “We were […]
Nasser Al Sayer, chairman of NBK NBK to sell IBQ stake to Qatari investors for $538m KUWAIT, 1 days ago National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has agreed to sell its 30 per cent stake in its Qatari associate, International Bank of Qatar (IBQ), to Qatari investors in a transaction worth $538 million (KD155 million), at a $87 million profit. Nasser Al Sayer, chairman, highlighted that this transaction […]
Emaar Malls Group jumps 20pc on listing DUBAI, 1 days ago Shares in Dubai’s Emaar Malls Group (EMG) jumped in early trade on Thursday as the stock started trading on Dubai’s main stock exchange and drained liquidity from the rest of the emirate’s market. EMG shares, which were sold at Dh2.90 in the heavily oversubscribed $1.6 billion initial public offer, rose 13.8 per cent to Dh3.30 after […]
AirAsia is in talks to relaunch flights to the United Arab Emirates from its hubs in Southeast Asia, and has this time chosen Dubai rather than Abu Dhabi for its Western expansion. The low-cost airline’s founder Tony Fernandes was in Dubai Wednesday to talk to officials about flying Airbus Group NV A330 jets into one of the emirate’s two airports, Dubai International or Al Maktoum International. AirAsia […]
By Kalyani Shankar While there could be debate about the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five day visit to the US this week, there can be no doubt that he had conquered the 3 million strong Indian American community. The Madison square garden rock show on Sunday was a shining example to prove this. Although his meeting with the US President Obama was spent on substantive […]
By Subrata Majumder At the time when India unveiled its much hyped “Make in India” dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China silently unleashed its “Made in China” programme to re-build its manufacturing hub. “Make in India” and “Made in China” sound similar in their perspectives. But, conceptually they are different. While “Make in India” was a call to establish world’s biggest manufacturing hub and increase share […]
Gulf banks are feeling the pinch of rapidly shrinking corporate loan margins, with some predicting a bounce in lending rates as soon as the first half of 2015 as the escalating price war bites into profitability. Lenders are being forced to cut rates and loosen lending terms to secure business as local banks, flush with cash as their balance sheets recover from the global financial crisis, seek […]
Kuwait plans clamp on energy subsidies Kuwait starting to cut subsidies, says IMF DUBAI, 3 hours, 26 minutes ago Kuwait’s government has started reducing some state subsidy payments and is in an advanced stage of preparing a plan to cut subsidies for kerosene and electricity, the International Monetary Fund said. Subsidy cuts are an important economic reform for Kuwait because lavish subsidies, mostly on energy, swallow about […]
Qatar… construction activity jumps 14.5 per cent Qatar’s economic growth edges up to 5.7pc in Q2 DUBAI, 4 hours, 21 minutes ago Qatar’s economic growth picked up slightly to 5.7 per cent on an annual basis in the second quarter of this year as robust non-oil activity outweighed a decline in the hydrocarbon sector, official data showed on Tuesday. Real gross domestic product growth accelerated from a […]
By S. Sethuraman The Reserve Bank of India’s Fourth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement on September 30 does not offer any hint of monetary easing in the near future, again citing risks to lowering at present the policy lending repo rate from 8 per cent it has maintained since April, in the current fiscal year. This leaves all other policy rates and reserve ratios unchanged, (reverse […]
Participants at a microfinance conference in Dubai this week. Sanabel Microfinance has blossomed in recent years, helping fill a funding need for businesses too tiny and risky for traditional banks. Curiously perhaps, while microfinance has been a big hit across parts of Asia and South America, its start in the Middle East and North Africa hasn’t been as auspicious. Microfinance institutions have existed in the Middle East […]
| By TAP Staff| A report titled Future of Travel by flight comparison website Skyscanner predicts that Lebanon will be the ‘new Dubai’ in a decade’s time. The report looks at how hotel rooms and holiday destinations could change over the next decade. It lists 50 destinations that could emerge as holiday hotspots over the next 10 years, ranking them according to the projected growth per annum […]
Al Sudairy … GEMS is a leading player Saudi group buys waste management firm for $300m RIYADH, 1 days ago Jadwa Waste Management Opportunities Fund, a unit of leading Saudi Arabian private equity house and investment bank Jadwa Investment, has acquired Global Environmental Management Services (GEMS) together with its co-investment partners in a deal valued at around $300 million. The acquisition was funded by funds managed by […]
Deloitte Middle East hires 700 new staff BEIRUT, 2 days ago Deloitte Middle East, a leading provider of audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services, hired 700 new people this year while continuing to deliver double digit growth, said the company’s chairman and chief executive. “The firm is also investing heavily in its internal systems and in developing world-class expertise in such areas as cyber security, Private […]
Leading Saudi IT firm achieves 20pc growth RIYADH, 21 hours, 18 minutes ago Al Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Company, a leading IT and communications solution provider, said it has registered a growth average of 20 per cent for the last three years. The company has been witnessing continuous growth in its operations in both Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC region over the last […]
Airlines like Emirates (pictured above) and Etihad are leading the expansion of the Arab world’s carriers. European Pressphoto Agency Airlines of the Arab world will carry double the number of passengers by 2026 as the region’s carriers, particularly those of the Persian Gulf, buy hundreds more planes and governments invest in airports on the ground. That’s according to the latest figures from the Beirut-based Arab Air Carriers […]
Demand for aircraft leasing is expected to stay steady. Aircraft lessors wary as new rivals crowd into aviation ISTANBUL, 1 days ago By Tim Hepher Aircraft leasing companies voiced confidence in steady jetliner demand, but warned new aviation investors that they may take a painful hit when central banks start unwinding their efforts to stimulate the economy. Deterred by poor returns elsewhere as interest rates remain at […]
