The new policy will allow citizens from 66 countries to receive visas upon arrival in Bahrain, while visitors from another 36 countries will be eligible for e-visas.
The budget surplus, equivalent to around 26 per cent of gross domestic product, was up marginally from KD12.7 billion, or nearly 25 per cent of GDP, in the previous fiscal year.
Alhokair said on Thursday the facility will fund the acquisition and other expansion by the company.
While ranking highly for global competitiveness, the UAE also needs to focus on establishing the right environment for entrepreneurship and innovation.
The fund warned the Kingdom to rein in public spending, which has risen 52 per cent annually since 2010 and reached SAR994.7 billion in 2013.
The company is casting its eye over potential arrangers of the bond, though no banks have been mandated yet for the trade, sources say.
The bank said 2,900 applications for shares in the Emaar Malls IPO came via its ATM and newly launched eIPO platform.
The move was part of the Swiss bank’s plan to “optimise its local operations” in the UAE, it said.
The firm raised $75 million, 55 per cent of its capital, in April via an offer that was 36 times subscribed.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP dropped 3.1 per cent in the second quarter, the biggest fall since the quarterly data series began in 2010.
The company will use the loan to build residential and infrastructure projects in King Abdullah Economic City
Wednesday is the last day when retail investors, who dominate Dubai’s market, can subscribe for shares in Emaar’s malls unit.
The Dhs2.90 a share price would give the unit a value of Dhs37.7 billion, one of the sources said.
The issue, arranged solely by HSBC, priced at a coupon of 2.75 per cent, with a reoffer price of 99.824.
The main Saudi index fell 1.2 per cent on Monday, its biggest decline in three months.
The new market targeting secondary listings from private joint stock companies will be operational within a few months, official news agency WAM said.
Investor orders for the issue grew to over $850 million, the document showed.
The combined capital adequacy ratio of all banks was 17.8 per cent at the end of the second quarter this year, well above the eight per cent minimum specified by Basel standards.
Emaar plans to sell 15 per cent of its subsidiary Emaar Malls Group (EMG) in an initial public offer launched this month.
The lender had said in January 2013 that it was looking to buy a strategic stake in a Libyan commercial bank.
The bond with a perpetual tenor can be bought back by the lender after the fifth year.
Should it issue, NBO would become the second Omani bank to issue a bond, after Bank Muscat printed a $500 million five-year deal in March 2013.
He will succeed H. E. Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi.
New flotations on the bourse had been held back by low investor confidence after the index slumped in the wake of the global financial crisis and a local real estate crash.
“Should we decide to list shares, the market will receive it well,” said Sanjay Manchanda.
The IPO surpassed the global record set by Agricultural Bank of China in 2010 when the bank raised $22.1 billion.
The IPO is expected to be one of the largest ever in the Gulf region.
The meeting was called to inform shareholders of the details of a $2.7 billion restructuring plan.
The discussions were centred on re-negotiating the terms of the debt, the chief executive said without giving any further details.