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There is a strong sentiment being felt in the market right now which says that as credit markets in the West see an outflow of funds due to deepening eurozone crisis and a floor on the interest rates, more and more funds are being directed to the Asian bond markets....
The Dodd-Frank Act was a bill introduced in light of the global financial crisis in order to reign in or at least have a supervisory authority over the financial industry to keep a close eye on the activities and limit trading which could cause another crisis down the line. In...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: UAE’s First Gulf Bank inks $900m loan deal First Gulf Bank, the second-largest lender by market value in the UAE, has signed a three-year $900m loan with a group of international lenders, the bank said in a...
The technological glitch at Knight Capital Group was not the first time that technology had reared its ugly head in trading and led to massive fluctuations in different stocks. Before that it was the flash crash of May when billions were erased from the Dow Jones index that was corrected...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Dubai sees no need to recapitalise support fund Dubai sees no need to recapitalise the financial support fund which provides aid to indebted state-linked companies, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the head of the emirate’s Supreme Fiscal...
Forecasts by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Monday said the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s top oil producer by 2017. The Paris-based energy organisation predicted that Washington will come very close to achieving a previously unthinkable energy self-sufficiency. The latest report comes in stark...
One does not need to be the Fed Chairman or even have a doctorate in economics to know that the fiscal cliff is going to be bad. The simultaneous rise in taxes and the fall in government spending will have multiple effects on the economy and both will dry up...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Emirates to buy 100 777s if Boeing builds new model Emirates, the world’s largest airline by international passenger traffic, is likely to order 100 planes or more from Boeing if the plane manufacturer upgrades the design of...
The Iranian parliament’s Energy Commission is set to announce new measures that will reduce the country’s crude exports to deflect Western sanctions on the oil sector, Fars news agency reported Thursday. The directives of the bill are part of Iran’s initiatives to slash crude exports to almost 77% in the...
Last August, America faced one of the most difficult decisions it has had to make regarding its financial history. Throughout its history, America has had been to wars, faced depression and hardships but never its financial viability had been in question. This security made the country certain and secure in...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Dubai’s bullish economic growth bears new risks: Citigroup report Citigroup’s chief economist for the Middle East said in a study published on Wednesday Dubai’s exposure to world economy bears downwards risks despite outperforming Abu Dhabi and other major...
Lockheed Martin announced it has been awarded a $26 million foreign military sales contract to modernise the Royal Jordanian Air Force’s national air command, control and communications infrastructure, by the US Air Force. “Lockheed Martin will provide the Kingdom of Jordan with an integrated, real-time air picture across multiple command centers and many...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Top UAE banker says Islamic finance ethical model for global banking A top UAE banker said on Sunday Islamic finance can be an ethical and sustainable business model in the global financial landscape in order to avoid a...
A US Energy Department official said on Sunday that excluding Iran from the global oil market would increase the shortfall between worldwide supply and demand based on September and October production and consumption estimates. According to the department’s Energy Information Administration report released on Saturday, global fuel use averaged 2.4 million barrels a...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Fujairah oil port to become fully operational by year end The Abu-Dhabi – Fujairah pipeline, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year and will carry Abu Dhabi’s...
Chinese rating agency Dagong announced it is tying up with US-based Egan-Jones Ratings Co. (EJR) and Russia’s RusRating JSC to start a new rating agency. The new company called Universal Credit Rating Group will engage in producing responsible and reliable ratings. Egan-Jones Ratings Co. (EJR) was considered as a “nationally...
The phrase too big to fail did not exist in the world of finance before the 2008 financial crisis. The fact of the matter was that companies and institutions were thought of as being independent and their finances were seen as limited and restricted enough not to overflow its own...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Abu Dhabi included in the Global Cities list The fifth edition of Cities of Opportunity released by Price Waterhouse Cooper and the Partnership for New York City has ranked the city of Abu Dhabi as the 22nd...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: UAE records $9.9bn fiscal surplus in 2011 The United Arab Emirates’ finance ministry said on Monday the state recorded a budget surplus of AED36.2 billion ($9.9 billion) in 2011, as it released the data to public for...
An Iranian government official said on Monday China will come to rescue its long-term ally and help complete its $2 billion worth Tehran metro rail project which has been marred by delays due to lack of financing as a result of sanctions. Mohammad Montazeri, deputy managing director, planning & logistics,...
Despite Washington’s tightening of financial sanctions against Iran, US exports to Tehran rose by nearly a third this year, chiefly because of grain sales, a report revealed on Monday. According to Census Bureau data, US exports hit $199.5 million in the first eight months of 2012 from $150.8 million a year earlier,...
Today’s top business and economy news from the Middle East and North Africa: Abu Dhabi posts fastest economic growth in 2011 Data released by the Abu Dhabi government showed on Sunday the capital city’s economy grew 6.8% in inflation-adjusted terms last year, the fastest rate since 2004 and more than double...
Iran’s OPEC governor denied on Saturday the Islamic Republic’s oil exports have declined in recent months. The statement came as a rebuttal to a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that Tehran’s oil income is declining. The IEA report, released on Friday, estimated that Iran’s exports hit a new...
A US report due to be released next week would suggest that a reduction in natural gas exports from Iran would not have much impact on world energy markets but could hurt Turkey and part of Azerbaijan. The Obama administration is going to use the report to broaden sanctions on Iran...
Today’s top business news from the Middle East and North Africa: UAE federal budget deficit hits $762m in H1- report The United Arab Emirates’ federal budget deficit has hit AED2.8 billion ($762 million) during the first half of this year, a top finance ministry official was quoted as saying on...
The creation of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and Collateralised Mortgage and Debt Obligations (CMOs and CDOs) were lauded when they were created. They were based on the basic blueprint of a financial product. It is like having a way to package an old product into a new one so that...
The last few years have seen trading move from minds to machines, from brains to bytes and from calling out orders to typing it in. This would mean that human interaction has been minimised with trading being carried out between terminals and computers rather than people. The pit trading style...
Prices of basic foodstuffs and other consumer goods in Syria are spiralling out of control as the government is yet to find practical solutions despite repeated assurances to handle the issue. According to recent official statistics, Syria’s annual inflation hit 36% in July, triggering a price hike in almost all commodities,...
Iran opened a foreign exchange centre on Monday that provides government-subsidised US dollars to import some goods as part of its bid to stabilise its falling currency. The rial’s street value has tumbled by more than half in the last year because of US and European sanctions against Iran’s oil and banking sectors,...
In a world that has become increasingly intolerant, suspicious and viciously hateful of each other, the culmination of events at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath is a painful reminder of the fact that mindless acts of violence are observed,so passionately, when borne out of religious conviction....
Today’s top business news from the Middle East and North Africa: Dubai to build its first ‘eco-mosque’ Al Arif Contracting has been awarded the contract for the construction and maintenance of the UAE’s first eco-friendly mosque, and what will also be Dubai’s largest mosque upon completion in 18 months time....
Tunisia’s investment and international cooperation minister said on Thursday he expected the US government to guarantee around a fifth of the $2.5 billion the North African state will need to borrow next year. Reuters quoted Riadh Bettaib as saying that Washington has pledged to guarantee a loan worth more than $500...
Abraaj Capital, a leading Middle East private equity firm, announced it is going to set up a $400m fund to boost small and medium-scale business in the Middle East and North Africa region and has signed a $150m deal with the US government to partially finance the project. The Dubai-based Abraaj...
Barakah One Company of the UAE has received authorisation from the US Export Import Bank for $2 billion in direct loan, to purchase US equipment and construction services, to build one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants in Abu Dhabi. The Export-Import bank stated that it has the backing...
A senior US official said on Tuesday the Obama administration is close to a deal with Egypt’s new government for $1 billion in debt relief, part of its bid to help Cairo shore up its ailing economy. American diplomats and negotiators for Egypt’s new Islamist president Mohamed Mursi – who took...
Media reports on Monday suggested the Obama administration is taking a “range of steps short of war” that it hopes will forestall an Israeli attack on Iran, while forcing Tehran to take more seriously negotiations that are all but stalemated. The move by US comes amid Israel openly beating war...
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have shown interest in buying the most advanced Lockheed Martin Corp missile defence system to counter perceived threats, executives of the Pentagon’s top supplier said on Wednesday. The GCC is a political and economic alliance linking Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar,...
Standard Chartered Plc said on Wednesday it will pay $340 million to New York’s bank regulator over transactions linked to Iran, as part of the ‘civil penalty’ for hiding 60,000 transactions with proscribed Iranian clients worth $25 billion over ten years. The clients included the state-backed Central Bank of Iran and...
Sudan said it welcomed a Washington statement which promised mobilising international community to plug part of the country’s debt and demanded lifting of the decades-long economic sanctions imposed by the world’s most powerful nation. According to a recent Financial Times report which quoted a Western diplomat as saying that Washington...
Despite the gloomy world economy, global arms trade hit post-Cold War peak in 2012, a Russian report issued earlier this month revealed. According to the report, Russia’s Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade said global military equipment exports hit $69.84 billion this year, the highest level since the end of the Cold War. Driven by complex factors including turmoil in the Middle East and huge appetite of international arms dealers, the alarming situation is likely to have huge ramifications for world peace. The trade registered a 3.84% increase to the tune of $67.26 billion in 2011, already 20% higher compared to $56.22 billion in 2010. Increases in 2010 and 2011 were a result of weapons deals that had been delayed due to the financial crisis that started in 2008, the report revealed. Li Qinggong, deputy secretary of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, said the recent surge is due to rising security risks around the world, especially turmoil in Middle East...
