Author: admin

Dubai Media Office UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum chaired the cabinet meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi on Monday The UAE is seeking to double annual flows of foreign direct investment in six years and to triple its total FDI stock, vice president and prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has said, according to the Dubai Media Office. The Dubai ruler and prime minister of the seven-member UAE said that the cabinet wanted to see annual flows rise to AED240 billion ($65 billion) by 2031, compared to AED112 billion…

The standout quote from day one of CERAWeek in Houston came from Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco. “There is more chance of Elvis speaking next than the current plan working,” he told delegates at a packed plenary session, to general amusement all round. “The current plan” was a reference to the trillions of dollars that have already been spent on the transition away from hydrocarbons, and the many more trillions that environmentalists say have to be spent to save us from man-made global warming. Given that the King of Rock and Roll has been dead since 1977,…

Mena crypto trade worth $338bn Stablecoin makes up 52% Highest adoption in Turkey Cryptocurrency traders in the Middle East and North Africa prefer stablecoins over single crypto currencies like Bitcoin, data show. Stablecoins made up 52 percent of all cryptocurrency transactions carried out in the Mena region in the year to June 2024, according to New York-based blockchain analysis company Chainalysis.  That is more than the 17 percent traded in Bitcoin, and higher than any other region. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies, the value of which is linked to other assets, such as traditional fiat currencies or commodities such as gold. A…

Alamy The joint venture, based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, is 80 percent owned by Mubadala, with Alpha Dhabi owning the rest A joint venture between Mubadala Investment Company, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, and the holding company Alpha Dhabi Holding has raised its target for deploying funds into private credit by 150 percent. The joint venture said it wanted to invest up to $2.5 billion in credit by 2028, after reaching $1 billion since inception in 2023. The joint venture, which is based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, a financial free zone in the UAE…

$14trn business in US No Saudi regulation yet UAE growth expected Asset securitisation, a $14 trillion business in the United States, seems to be finally gaining ground in the Gulf. Last week the UAE lender Deem Finance sealed a $400 million asset securitisation deal with JP Morgan. Emirates NBD of Dubai and Rasmal Ventures in Qatar have also co-invested $7.6 million in the Turkish startup TeamSec, whose technology makes it potentially less costly and quicker for companies to securitise their assets. Securitising assets frees up capital for so-called originators, usually banks and other financial services companies, enabling them to expand…

Unsplash+/Getty Images Derayah Financial CEO Mohammed AlShammas believes its listing will encourage other local and regional players to do the same Brokerage’s stock rises 30% Maximum for new listings Could encourage other brokerages Shares in the online brokerage Derayah Financial rose by 30 percent on their first day of trading, the maximum allowed for newly listed companies, the Saudi stock exchange said. Derayah, the third-largest broker in Saudi Arabia, floated 20 percent of its shares on the Tadawul, the main market of the Saudi Stock Exchange, in a SAR 1.5 billion ($400 million) initial public offering.  The shares started the…

Pexels/Centre for Ageing Better Mubadala says Calisen has an installed base of 16 million smart meters Deal values Calisen at $5.1bn UK’s leading smart meter company Europe “clean” tech deals hit $24bn last year Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company has completed the sale of its indirect stake in Calisen, a UK supplier of energy smart meters. Private equity infrastructure investors EQT and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC will buy Calisen in a deal that values the company at around $5 billion. Mubadala, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Alternatives took Manchester-based Calisen private in 2021 through a $1.8 billion…

Dubai Airports The number of seats on offer between Dubai and Riyadh is expected to be 5% down on last summer, which will make the rush for Thursday evening travel even more competitive The world’s airlines will switch from their winter to summer schedules in a few weeks, as the clocks jump forward across Europe.  It’s always a symbolic moment for the industry, as new routes are launched and staff adjust to the latest schedules.  Unfortunately the supply chain and aircraft delivery issues which have plagued the global industry for the past two years are unlikely to disappear as we…

Reuters/Muath Freij Tourism contributes an estimated 15 percent to Jordan’s GDP, about three-quarters of which comes from Arab visitors Jordan’s economy is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent in 2025 as tourism recovers and trade with Syria and Iraq starts to rise gradually, S&P Global said. Tourism contributes an estimated 15 percent to Jordan’s GDP, with about three-quarters of it sourced from Arab visitors, including Jordanians living abroad. “We expect the number of Arab tourists to remain relatively stable, but if the security situation in the region improves compared with 2024, the number of non-Arab tourists could rise,” the rating…

Reuters/Abdel Hadi Ramahi The Cepa will create further growth and business opportunities in the UAE and Central African Republic, said minister of state for foreign trade Ahmed Al Zeyoudi Trade between the UAE and the Central African Republic is estimated to surpass AED3.7 billion ($1 billion) following the signing of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) last week. Cepa will create further growth and business opportunities in both countries, boosting bilateral trade over the next five to seven years, UAE minister of state for foreign trade Ahmed Al Zeyoudi told the state-run Wam news agency. Non-oil trade between the UAE…