CAIRO: Egypt will refund taxes collected from Qatar National Bank’s acquisition of National Societe Generale Bank to shareholders today, an official from a  clearing company told Reuters yesterday. The clearing company will return 10.2m Egyptian pounds ($1.5m) total in taxes it collected from NSGB shareholders, said Tariq Abdel Bari, Managing Director of Misr for Central Clearing

RIYADH: A subsidiary of Dubai-based contractor Arabtec Holding has won a SR404m ($107.7m) contract to build a hospital in Saudi Arabia, the company said in a statement yesterday. The Aldara Hospital and Medical Centre is scheduled for completion in early 2015 and will house a 105-bed, six-storey hospital and two medical centres in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The client is Aldara Medical Corp

Dead Sea, Jordan: UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF) — the sole franchise of hypermarket chain Carrefour in the Gulf — said that it foresaw capital investments of up to $1 billion this year as it steadily expanded its foothold in the region. This did not include a $680m purchase of a 25 percent minority share from Carrefour Groupe in the company announced last week that

  Workers check parts for Egypt’s first tablet computer “Inar” at a factory in Benha yesterday. Egypt has produced its very first tablet computer, part of a national project to distribute the device to students in schools. 

ABU DHABI: State-owned Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) plans to expand its domestic presence as well as open branches in Lebanon and Turkey to tap growing trade between the countries, the bank’s top executive said yesterday. The bank, set up in 2003, operates as a commercial bank with a virtual monopoly on letters of credit, which are used in international trade to guarantee government purch

CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank kept the price of the country’s currency steady against the dollar at a special $800m foreign exchange auction yesterday, called to help importers pay for wheat, meat, cooking oil and other essential imports.  It did not say how much currency it actually sold. Egypt has used up its foreign currency reserves, reducing them to critical levels t

SHANGHAI/LONDON: Iran’s government is negotiating a tax of up to 40 percent on iron ore exports to take advantage of a surge in sales to China, aiming to replace revenue from oil and other sources eroded by sanctions. Iran’s iron ore exports to top steel producer China jumped 48 percent in the first quarter from a year ago to a level that would generate annual revenue of about $

  DUBAI: Bahrain Telecommunications Co  (Batelco), which has suffered a sustained profit slump, said Sheikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa had quit as chief executive and his predecessor would temporarily re-take the helm. Sheikh Mohamed became CEO in October 2011, having previously served as deputy chairman. He replaced long-serving Peter Kaliaropoulos, who became Group Chief Exe

ISTANBUL: Turkey hailed its second investment grade rating yesterday, seeing it as a seal of approval from international markets for a decade of economic reform. Investors joined in, driving sovereign bond yields to record lows. Government enthusiasm was tempered, however, by some concern that the move, coinciding with a visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Washington, might

CAIRO/MOSCOW: Emerging markets telecoms group Vimpelcom wants to delist Cairo-based subsidiary Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) from the Egyptian and London stock exchanges so it can manage it directly, two sources said yesterday. The move will also allow Vimpelcom to cut costs associated with running the Egyptian office and avoid regulatory and political risks, a source familiar with Vimpelco

DUBAI: Egypt’s Orascom Telecom  (OT) helped lift Cairo’s bourse yesterday after the company’s management urged shareholders to reject a buyout offer, raising investor hopes the bidder might propose improved terms.    OT’s board said the offer of $0.70 a share from a subsidiary of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Altimo was below the stock&rs

    Tunis: CEO of Qatar Exchange Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori, highlighted QE’s support to the efforts made by the General Secretariat of the Arab Federation of Exchanges (AFE) aiming at promoting joint efforts of the Arab exchanges and financial institutions and thus contributing to support the Arab economies. On arrival to Tunisia to participate in the meetings of th

Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn with South Sudan's Central Bank Governor Kornelio Mayik during the opening of National Credit Bank in the capital Juba yesterday. JUBA, South Sudan: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn opened a bank in South Sudan yesterday, a rare public return to the financial world since a dramatic fall from grace after a sex scan

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s annual inflation rate eased to 41.4 percent in April from 47.9 percent in March as food price inflation fell, official data showed yesterday. Prices have jumped since South Sudan seceded in 2011, taking three-quarters of Sudan’s oil output — the main source of budget revenues and dollars needed to pay for imports.  Annual inflation was 15 percent

ISTANBUL: Egypt’s new planning minister said yesterday he was confident the country would reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $4.8bn loan programme, although the timing of its next visit to Cairo was unclear. The IMF said on Thursday it was not currently planning a new visit to Egypt to discuss the programme as it was awaiting new economic data and reform plan

BEIRUT: Preliminary surveys of Lebanese offshore fields show reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 660 million barrels of oil, Lebanon’s energy minister said, adding that production could begin within four years. Speaking at the Arab Economic Forum, Gebrane Bassil said scanning was now complete on 70 percent of the country’s territorial waters — an area of

BEIRUT: The economic devastation of Syria’s war could drive the economies of neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan into reverse, Syria’s former deputy prime minister said yesterday. Pointing to the sharp slowdown in Lebanon’s economic growth since the start of Syria’s conflict in 2011, from 7 percent to barely 2 percent, Abdallah Al Dardari said there was a direct link to

An Emirates Airline’s Airbus A380 superjumbo plane at Dubai World Central or Al Maktoum International Airport. DUBAI: Dubai’s Emirates airline defied aviation gloom by lifting 2012 net profit by over a half, reaping the benefit of enhancing its fleet and attracting extra passengers through its home hub in the Gulf. Like other state-backed Gulf carriers Etihad Airways and

DUBAI: Oman’s central bank has stipulated that commercial banks’ loans to small and medium-sized firms must account for at least 5 percent of their total loans, in a new rule aimed at easing unemployment, a circular showed yesterday. Supporting small firms is a key part of the government’s policy for tackling high unemployment, which has been the trigger for unrest in othe

TUNIS: Tunisia is struggling with rising inflation, a big external deficit and an uncertain political outlook. These obstacles did not deter local businessman Mohamed Frikha from launching an initial public offer of shares in his fledgling carrier Syphax Airlines last week.  Syphax, founded in 2011, operates three planes, competing with state-owned flag carrier Tunisair. The IPO, which