Economy
UAE says wants Gulf to agree on any currency basket
The United Arab Emirates wants all its oil producing Gulf neighbours to agree to a currency basket that they can use to track exchange rates should they decide to drop pegs to the dollar, the finance minister said.
Dubai freezone to sell at least US$1 billion Islamic bond
Dubai's Jebel Ali Freezone, a state-owned business park around the Middle East's largest container port, will sell at least US$1 billion of Islamic debt along with a benchmark-sized conventional bond. Jebel Ali Freezone said earlier it was looking at two benchmark-sized bonds including one that complies with Islam's ban on lending on interest. Benchmark size is typically considered to be at least US$500m.
Executive Briefing: A deepening global credit crunch
While growing credit woes were recently still being attributed to a small but troubled US sub-prime market for speculative mortgage lending, the problems have now spread far beyond what was originally anticipated.
Globally, the chief result is that loans are harder to come by and more expensive, with risk aversion spiking in the credit markets after years of cheap and easy lending. This is already killing, or at least constraining, the financing of some deals in the Middle East region including the recent bids for Sainsbury and Tamoil.
IPOs all the rage in oil-rich Gulf
Stock flotations are booming in the oil-rich Gulf region, spurred by strong economic growth, a wealth of spare cash created by record-high oil prices and government encouragement, market specialists say. The most recent case, an initial public offering by Dubai port operator DP World, shows the magnitude of demand. The state-owned company said it had raised US$4.96 billion in an IPO that was 15 times oversubscribed.
News Analysis: Industrial zone to plug US$2 billion China trade deficit
Egypt plans to narrow its trade deficit with China, currently estimated at over US$2 billion a year and climbing fast, by establishing an industrial zone in the Suez province. By generating US$2.5 billion in direct investment from China and creating 20,000 jobs in Egypt, Egyptian trade minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid hopes to allay fears that the country is being swamped with Chinese goods.
Saudi state fund could invest abroad
Saudi Arabia could use a public investment fund to buy foreign assets but has no immediate plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund, the kingdom's central bank governor said. Unlike its Gulf Arab neighbours, Saudi Arabia has never set up a sovereign wealth fund. The finance ministry could use an existing public investment fund, set up in 1971, to buy foreign assets.
Finance taking over from oil as the fuel that drives the engine of economic growth in the Gulf region
This time the Gulf oil boom is different. As oil prices break through the US$80 per barrel barrier and nudge towards US$90 p/b and as the six GCC states have recorded balance of payments surpluses in excess of US$500 billion over the past five years, the Gulf has learned the lessons of previous booms.
Although huge amounts of money are still channelled abroad into often low-yielding assets, today's strategy clearly acknowledges the huge investment opportunities at home and the natural desire to seek better returns from investments overseas.
South Korea to start free trade talks with Gulf Cooperation Council
South Korea plans to conduct formal free trade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in April and May of next year, the government said. The ministry for trade said the schedule was agreed to at preliminary talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Gulf's GDP likely to reach US$1,045 billion in 2008
US investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates that gross domestic product in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), along with Egypt and Jordan, will reach US$957 billion in 2007. The figure is expected to reach US$1,045 billion in 2008, more than twice the 2002 figure of US$484 billion.
Arab imports from US bolstered by mega aircraft deals
Commitments from a number of Arab airlines to purchase Boeing aircraft during the Dubai AirShow 2007 gave a strong boost to Arab-US commercial exchange, particularly Arab imports, which grew by between 20 and 67 percent during the first nine months of this year, according to statistics disclosed by the US Trade Department.
Abu Dhabi: Seeing clearly
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the UAE have been the topic of much discussion and some scrutiny in past weeks. During a recent trip to Abu Dhabi, David McCormick, the US undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, encouraged governments to utilise international best practices and increase transparency.
"A little more clarity on the funds will be useful for all parties - for those who are trying to invest sovereign wealth and those who are receiving it," McCormick told local press.
Bahrain financial minister says no plan to change dollar peg
Bahrain has no plans to change its policy of pegging its dinar currency to the U.S. dollar, the Gulf state's finance minister was quoted as saying. In a report, Citigroup said Bahrain may choose to fix its dinar to the Saudi Arabian currency if there is a shift from fixed exchange rates in the region. However, Bahrain's central bank governor said there was no change to Bahrain's policy of pegging its currency to the dollar.
