DUBAI/ DOHA: Thomson Reuters yesterday launched an Islamic Finance Development Indicator in collaboration with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector development arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), a press statement said yesterday. The indicator is a numerical measure representing the overall health and growth of the Islamic financ

  DUBAI: Arabtec, Dubai’s largest construction firm, said yesterday the delivery of projects was unaffected by what it called a partial labour stoppage, adding it was working with authorities in the United Arab Emirates to resolve the issue.    Thousands of Arabtec workers have been on strike since Saturday demanding better wages, a rare labour protest in the Gulf A

DUBAI: Egypt’s worsening fiscal gap is a concern but the International Monetary Fund is still ready to continue talks on a $4.8bn loan once Cairo completes a review of its economic programme, a senior IMF official said.  “We are ready to engage with them on reviewing and finalising the programme as soon as they completed it,” Masood Ahmed, IMF Director for the Middle

    DUBA: Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and US GlassPoint Solar have commissioned the Middle East’s first solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project, the project partners said yesterday. State-run PDO’s first full-scale EOR project to extract more oil from low pressure reservoirs opened in 2010 and it has since employed several new techniques to boost product

DUBAI: Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf Arab region are raising their allocations to private equity investments at a faster rate than other types of investment, US fund manager Invesco says in a new study. “Contrary to popular perceptions these vast state funds are not piling into global property and global infrastructure projects,” Nick Tolchard, head of Invesco Middle East s

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi private equity firm Gulf Capital is close to signing a Dh1.32bn ($359.38m) Islamic loan for its company Gulf Marine Services, some of which will be paid out to investors as dividends. Gulf Marine, the largest operator and owner of jack-up barges in the Middle East, said yesterday it was due to sign the syndicated Islamic loan with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. “The fund

DUBAI: Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan  could raise around $300m through its first global debt issue in more than three years, aiming to secure funding to capitalise on opportunities in Saudi’s real estate sector. The company plans to raise a five-year Islamic bond and began marketing it to investors yesterday, ahead of pricing later this week, banks arranging the deal said in a sta

SINGAPORE/DUBAI: Saudi Arabia will import near record high diesel volumes this summer, as it gears up to beat the sweltering heat and meet rising travel needs during Ramadan, trade sources said. State oil giant Saudi Aramco will import up to 8.9 million barrels of diesel in June, up from an estimated 6.7 to 7.5 million barrels in May, according to the sources, who expect at least the same v

  DUBAI: Yemen’s oil export volumes rose 14 percent in the first quarter of 2013, earning the government $35m more than in the same period of 2012, according to data published by Yemen’s central bank yesterday. Attacks on Yemen’s oil pipelines since 2011 cut the government’s oil exports from 6.4 million barrels in the first quarter of 2011 to 5.69 million ba

DUBAI: Economic growth in the United Arab Emirates accelerated to 4.4 percent in inflation-adjusted terms in 2012, the fastest clip since 2006, as activity picked up across all sectors, its statistics office said yesterday. Robust oil prices as well as trade and tourism booms in Dubai, which is recovering from a 2008 burst property bubble, helped lift 2012 gross domestic product growth in l

KUWAIT: State-run Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) appointed a new chief executive and suspended other top officials after the country paid $2.2bn in damages to Dow Chemical Co over a scrapped plastics joint venture. Nizar Mohammad Al Asani replaced Farouk Zanki as CEO at the oil firm and the cabinet approved the nomination of six board members, a statement on state news agency Kuna said. New

DUBAI: Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai’s biggest lender, plans to tap global debt markets for its first capital-boosting bond issue, as Gulf banks take advantage of tight pricing and high investor demand to shore up capital ratios. ENBD, which has already raised Tier 2, or supplementary capital, this year, has hired six banks, including its own investment banking unit, to arrange a Tier 1

DUBAI: Iran will more than double its diesel exports to Iraq thanks to higher capacity at its refineries, a leading oil official said. Trade relations between the two former enemies have improved markedly over the last few years, with bilateral trade amounting to around $12bn and Iranian officials hoping to double commerce within two years. Tehran will supply up to 5 million litres a da

DUBAI: Dubai’s inflation remained muted in April compared to the previous month despite a jump in rents, data showed yesterday. Consumer price growth in Dubai started picking up in 2013 after a year of deflation as the property sector recovers from a 2008 price collapse. On the month, however, inflation remained at an anaemic 0.1 percent in April for the second month in a row, data fr

DUBAI: When Turkey’s central bank cut interest rates last month, its decision aroused a mixture of approval, criticism and sheer confusion about exactly what the decision aimed to achieve. Some economists suggested the bank was trying to ease pressure for the lira currency to strengthen; others that it was worried about slow economic growth. Some argued it should have raised rate

DUBAI: Dubai-based investment bank Arqaam Capital plans to expand into sub-Saharan Africa by the fourth quarter this year and may look at acquisitions in Saudi Arabia as part of its push into fast-growing emerging markets, its chief executive said. Gulf investors, flush with petrodollars and facing limited growth options at home, are stepping into other frontier and emerging markets in Afri

DUBAI: Markets in the UAE hit new multi-year highs yesterday, delaying an expected bout of profit-taking as upbeat earnings added fuel to the bullish sentiment, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt fell. In Dubai, banks rallied. Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) rose 5.8 percent, extending year-to-date gains to 54.7 percent. The bank completed a share swap acquisition of mortgage lender Tamweel in which it

DUBAI: Dubai’s non-oil trade jumped 16 percent in the first quarter and recovery in the emirate’s property sector will help keep the pace up this year despite a plunge in trade with Iran and global economic weakness, the Dubai customs head said yesterday. “This year up to this quarter, we reached an approximately 16 percent growth in trade,” Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Direct

DUBAI: Five companies have submitted applications for virtual telecom licences in Saudi Arabia including Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA). VMMEA — part-owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group — is up against Dubai-based Axiom, plus consortiums headed by local companies FastNet and Safari and another that includes London-based Lebara, the Communication and Inf

RIYADH: The Saudi Capital Market Authority has begun consultations that could change how closing share prices are calculated and how long-listed firms can trade with large accumulated losses, part of a drive to tighten standards in the market. Saudi Arabia, home to the Gulf Arab region’s largest stock exchange, has been slowly amending its regulatory framework to bring it closer to in