#Economy

Saudi Crown Prince launches masterplan for SAR75bn Jeddah Central project

The project will include four landmarks – an opera House, museum, sports stadium and oceanarium, as well as 17,000 residential units

dirhams

UAE Central Bank extends economic support measures until June 30

Prudential relief measures regarding banks’ capital buffers and liquidity and stable funding requirements will be extended by six months

Covid-19: Bahrain to move to ‘yellow alert level’ over omicron concerns

The new alert level will be in place from Sunday, December 19, 2021, until Monday, January 31, 2022

UAE salaries to increase by an average of 3% in 2022-report

Up to 74 per cent of the respondents also confirmed that they intend to pay out bonuses in 2022, with 46 per cent looking at offering one- two months’ gross salary

UAE’s new labour law to largely align public and private sector benefits

Under the new law, employees in both sectors will get similar leaves and end-of-service benefits

Dubai’s Danube Group chairman on Covid-19 recovery, 2022 plans

The UAE’s economy has received a strong boost from Expo 2020 Dubai and is on its way back to growth, states Danube Group founder and chairman Rizwan Sajan

Abu Dhabi’s IHC approves merger of its real estate firm Al Tamouh with Al Qudra Holding

Investment holding company Al Qudra’s board has approved a new foreign ownership limit of 30 per cent of outstanding shares

Saudi Arabia sees 2022 budget surplus, first in eight years

Officials expect the economy to expand 2.9 per cent this year and grow by a further 7.4 per cent in 2022

Israeli PM Naftali Bennett arrives in the UAE on historic visit

The trip marks the first official visit by an Israeli PM after the two countries established diplomatic ties last year

Kuwait’s $33bn holding firm Kipco appoints Sheikha Dana as CEO

She will replace Faisal Al Ayyar, who will retire as the CEO after more than 30 years with the company

New UAE weekend: Private sector companies can decide whether to make a change

The UAE on Tuesday announced a new four-and-a-half-day working week for federal government entities

Saudi Crown Prince arrives in Oman on official visit

On the sidelines of the visit, Saudi Arabia and Oman signed 13 memoranda of understanding across different sectors

Dubai UAE

Dubai issues 55,194 new business licences during the first 10 months of 2021

The figure marks a 69 per cent increase over the same period in 2020 when 32,626 licenses were issued

Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE MOCCAE, Eugene Willemsen, and Aamer Sheikh

PepsiCo launches MENA edition of Greenhouse Accelerator programme

It has partnered with the UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment for the initiative

Saudi launches new service allowing investors to start a business from outside the kingdom

Under the new service, investors can complete the process of authenticating the agency and attesting the establishment contract in three steps

Dubai road-toll operator Salik to seek about $1bn in IPO

Plans unveiled to list Salik road toll system on Dubai Financial Market

There are currently eight Salik toll gates in the city, with three million vehicles registered in the system

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Bahrain Bourse sign strategic partnership agreement

The two entities will introduce products and services including exchange-traded funds, smart order routing and cross-border direct trading

Saudi economy grows at fastest rate in nearly a decade

Gross domestic product expanded by 6.8 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2020

Bahrain aims to attract 14.1 million tourists by 2026 as part of new strategy

The strategy seeks to increase the contribution of tourism to Bahrain’s GDP to reach 11.4 per cent in 2026

Covid-19: Bahrain updates alert system, temperature checks to be stopped for unvaccinated

Obligatory registration of information will no longer be required for non-vaccinated individuals when entering a facility, with waiting areas to be re-opened

Saudi Arabia

Saudi: 44 global companies shift regional HQ to Riyadh ahead of 2024 deadline

The licenses were issued at the 5th edition of the Future Investment Initiative

Kuwait eases all Covid-19 restrictions with airports at full capacity, no mask mandate for outdoor activity

Worshippers in mosques can also now pray in “stacked rows” without distancing

Emirates NBD

Dubai’s Emirates NBD nine-month profit rose an annual 29% to Dhs7.3bn

The bank reported a nine-month total income of Dhs17.3bn as compared to Dhs18.3bn in the previous year

Saudi ARabia

Saudi hoard of US Treasuries shrinks most since oil-price rout

The kingdom sold $4bn in US government debt, the most in over a year

IMF upbeat about MENA growth, warns about uneven recovery

The fund raised its economic growth projection for MENA to 4.1 per cent this year from an earlier estimate of 4 per cent

Dubai UAE

Revealed: The top 10 countries for expats to live and work

The UAE has been ranked among the top five places worldwide for expats in HSBC’s annual survey

Tunisia in talks with UAE, Saudi Arabia for funds, official says

Tunisia is battling long-running economic troubles and has been mired in fresh political upheaval since late-July

UAE foreign trade

UAE’s non-oil foreign trade up 27% to Dhs900bn in H1 2021

The value of non-oil exports alone amounted to Dhs170bn during this period

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Sheikh Mohammed approves Dhs290bn UAE general budget for 2022-2026

It includes a budget of Dhs58.931bn for 2022, of which 41.2 per cent will be allocated for the development and social benefits sector

UAE chosen as the ‘top country to live in’ by Arab youth for 10th consecutive year

Nearly half of the young Arabs said they wanted to live in the UAE