"What Not to Miss" is a report highlighting the most important news that took place over a month within 4 main countries (Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar) covering economic, financial and political aspects that may shape your decisions.

Admiral Mohab Mamish, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), along with Mr. Tarek Sultan, Vice Chairman and CEO of Kuwait Agility, a leading global logistics provider, signed a Protocol of Cooperation, establishing a logistics center in East Port.

      • Hub will follow international standards logistics infrastructure to make East Port Said the most competitive in the region
      • Agility will also provide world-class solutions for Egyptian customs, including the modernization and automation of the customs processes.
  • The Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla announced that the gasoline prices are raised by up to 50%. This raise will help Egypt save up to 50 BN EGP (2.8 BN USD) in allocations for state subsidies in the 2018/2019 state budget. The price for 95 octane gasoline was raised to 7.75 EGP per liter from 6.60 EGP; 92 octane was raised to 6.75 EGP per liter from 5 pounds and 80 octane was raised to 5.50 EGP per liter from 3.65 pounds. This was the third fuel price raise since November 2016, when Egypt floated the local pound currency.
  • Egypt Suez Canal Authority is seeking a 300 MM EUR (350.19 MM USD) loan from Gulf banks. The loan will be used to finance the purchase of two new dredgers. Last year, the authority had signed a contract with Dutch Firm Royal IHC for the equipment but failed to secure funding from local banks.
  • Pharos Holding, announced the successful sale of 100% of the share capital of National Company for Paper Products (NPP) to Mondi Group, for a total consideration of 510 MM EGP (29 MM USD). This transaction highlights Egypt attractive local market dynamics, strong regional competitiveness, and wide geographic reach, which has culminated to its current position as a doorway to Africa and the MENA region.
  • Property prices are expected to increase 15% in Egypt following the raise in the fuel and electricity prices. However, the demand on real estate will grow, as consumers fear another raise in prices. In addition, the building costs are expected to increase 5-10%.
  • Sorouh Real Estate plans to invest around 6 BN EGP in Enterada project, located in the new administrative capital, over the coming three years. The real estate developer aims to pump 2 BN EGP into the project within 2019. The project's cornerstone will be put soon after obtaining the ministerial decision from the new capital company. In April, Sorouh had launched the first phase of Enterada in the new capital with 9 BN EGP in investments.
  • Ebtikar for Financial Investment, a B-Investments portfolio company and a leading investor in the non-banking financial services sector with a shareholder base, announced the acquisition of 33.7% of Masary in a transaction valued at 130 MM EGP. Masary is a leading company operating in the electronic payments sector in Egypt, with around 60,000 points of sale.
  • The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) forecasts to collect nearly 6 BN EGP in tax revenues by subjecting ride-sharing apps Uber and Careem to the value-added tax (VAT) for the past two years. Both firms were asked to provide the required documents on the volume of their businesses in the North African nation since the introduction of the VAT law. 
  • Egypt continues to face a growing threat from cyberattacks with malware detections in Q1-2018 reaching 253,995, the second highest figure in the North African region. The high number of threats in the region prompts the security vendor to call on government entities and business organizations to step up their cybersecurity efforts, especially with Egypt Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector.
  • Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi ratified a basic salary increase for state employees. The salary increase will cost the state 24 BN EGP and that will be allocated from the state treasury.Moreover, the Egyptian president also issued a decree raising military pensions by 15%.
  • The Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker announced new cuts to electricity subsidies, raising prices by an average of 26% for the 2018-2019 fiscal year beginning in July. He added that electricity costs for factories would rise by about 41.8% and for households by 20.9%. Egypt is committed to deep cuts to energy subsidies as part of the three-year, 12 BN USD IMF loan program.

Saudi Arabia Central Department of Statistics announced that the inflation continued to ease in the beginning of 2018 because of the imposition of the VAT and the domestic fuel price hike reaching 2.3% in May 2018. Food and beverage prices increased 5.3% compared to May 2017. On the other hand, the prices of housing and utilities decreased 0.4%.

  • Saudi Arabia plans to pump up to 11 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in July, the highest in its history, up from about 10.8 million bpd in June. The move by Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, is a clear indication for bringing oil prices down, after major consumers such as the United States, China and India raised concerns that prices were rising too high, too quickly.
  • United Yousef M. Naghi Co. Ltd., the official partner of Pirelli tyres in Saudi Arabia, recently launched its first Pirelli Performance Center in Jeddah. The center is designed to meet customer demands for integrated tire maintenance and oil services and offers a female-only lounge following the historic lifting of the ban on women driving in the Kingdom. The center is the first of its kind across the GCC with a new Pirelli Performance Center retail concept.
  • The introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) in the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year had a "significant impact" on car industry sales. Both countries introduced a 5% VAT on an array of goods and services that included food, cars and jewelry starting from January 2018. The new tax is aimed at helping to diversify the two Arab nations' sources of revenue.
  • A framework agreement between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Saudi Aramco (Aramco) and a consortium of three Indian oil companies was signed to explore a strategic partnership and co-investment in the development of a new 44 BN USD mega refinery and petrochemicals complex at Ratnagiri, on India west coast.
  • Oil giant Saudi Aramco has spare capacity of 2 million barrels per day (bpd) and can meet additional oil demand in case of any interruption in supplies. Aramco, the world's third-largest crude oil producer, is producing about 10 million bpd and has the capacity to produce 12 million bpd.

UAE is rated as the most reputable country in Middle East despite a drop in ranking compared to last year. According to the Reputation Institute's 2018 ranking of the world's most reputable countries, the UAE was ranked 36th with 55.9 points, outperforming countries such as Qatar, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Iraq among the list of 55 nations. UAE was rated 27th in 2017's ranking with 72.4 points, a drop of nine positions.

  • Foreign assets of the UAE Central Bank (CBUAE) rose to 326.6 BN AED (88.9 BN USD) in May 2018 compared to 326.4 BN AED in April 2018. Balances and deposits with banks abroad increased from 255.52 BN AED in April 2018 to 257.23 BN AED in May 2018.
  • Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are estimated to contribute 40% to Dubai GDP and employ 42% of the total workforce. The new series of policies announced by federal and emirate governments are set to transform the nation's business ecosystem by enhancing the ease of doing business, supporting new sectors and further developing SMEs.
  • The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation announced the new fees for recruiting domestic workers, via four packages provided across 11 "Tadbeer" service centers.
      • The ministry wants to provide packages at reasonable prices according to specific criteria.
      • The packages will be updated every six months, in coordination with relevant authorities.
      • The first package relates to the recruitment of domestic workers from outside the country, according to the requirements of families and employers.
  • Schneider, a premier provider of transportation and logistics services, has teamed with JAGGAER, the world's largest independent spend management company, to save shippers on spot transportation requests. Using Schneider Logistics' BidSmart® methodology and JAGGAER's Advanced Sourcing Optimizer (ASO), Schneider achieved market bench-marking results of 30% savings on customers transportation sourcing.
  • McDonald's UAE announced that its logistics fleet of bio-diesel delivery trucks have clocked a whopping 10,000,000 kilometers since the launch of the initiative seven years ago, saving 8,563 tons of carbon dioxide in the process and contributing to improving air quality in the country.
  • Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) has held its Government Innovation Lab 2018 that aimed at concluding creative ideas and suggestions to induce a positive change in Dubai Taxi services. Its objective is to make Dubai the most innovative city in the world. The Lab has explored till now 273 creative ideas.

Qatar central bank announced that total deposits amounted to 785.43 BN QAR (215.76 BN USD) in May, compared to 794.26 BN QAR (218.18 BN USD) in April 2018. The drop of deposits was attributed to a 1.35% decrease in non-residents' deposits to register 140.06 BN QAR in May compared to 141.98 BN QAR in April.

      • Qatar private sector deposits decreased 1.97% to 297.62 BN QAR in May, compared to 303.61 BN QAR in April.
      • Deposits of non-financial institutions in the gas-rich nation decreased 8.8%, reaching 25.05 BN QAR in May, compared to 27.47 BN QAR in April.
      • The banks' deposits decreased by 1.11% month-on-month, or 8.8 BN QAR, in May 2018. However, it is increased on y-o-y by 3.04% to 785.43 BN QAR in May 2018 compared to 762.21 BN QAR in May 2017.
  • Fitch Ratings has upgraded Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar leading Islamic Bank, outlook to 'stable'. This action follows the revision of the Qatari sovereign Outlook to Stable from Negative and affirmation of the country's Long-Term IDR at 'AA-' and reflects Fitch's view that:
      • Qatar has successfully managed the fallout from last year's rupture of trade, financial and diplomatic relations.
      • Public sector liquidity injections have stabilized the banking sector and stemmed the outflow of non-domestic funding.
      • The fiscal deficit has narrowed sharply and they expect it to turn into a surplus in 2019.
      • The economy has reconfigured its supply chains and continues to grow at a robust pace.
  • Several senior Arab sports figures have required urgent intervention of FIFA against Qatar beIN Sport channels for obvious politicization of sports after the opening of the World Cup matches in Russia. They called on FIFA to take penal action against beIN Sport, for committing systematic violation of the regulations relating to its monopoly to air the World Cup matches in the Middle East and North Africa.
  • Qatar Central Bank increased the deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2%. It was acting after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to raise its target range for its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to a range of 1.75% and 2%.
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