Issue  No.44
19 October 2015

This report is designed to give you a snapshot about the MENA region tackling multiple issues:


 



        49.7 USD        1,176 USD

 
/USD
/EUR
EGP
7.93
9.13
AED
3.67
4.16
QAR
3.64
4.14  
SAR
3.75 
4.26
BHD 
0.38
0.43
OMR 
0.39  
0.44

 
    Economic Outlook
  • The Egyptian central bank sold 37.5 MM USD at 7.9301 EGP/USD, 0.10 pounds weaker than its last dollar sale. On the parallel market the pound weakened further as it reached 8.40 EGP.
  • According to official figures, the increase in education expenses, higher rents and costlier tobacco and transport led Qatar to report a 1.5% increase year-on-year (y-o-y) in cost of living, based on the consumer price index (CPI), in September 2015.
  • Egyptian National Railways Authority targets to attract investments of 90 BN EGP (11.3 BN USD) till 2030. The investments will be directed to have an emergency plan which is estimated at 7.170 BN EGP, medium plan that is worth 14.413 BN EGP and long-term plan for FY2015-16 until FY 2029-30 estimated at 68.41 EGP.
  • According to KPMG Global Construction Project Owners' Survey in Bahrain, the results reflect that excellent progress has been made by project owners in planning, risk management and execution in recent years which led the construction sector to climb the maturity curve.
  • According to the latest figures issued by GCC-Stat, Inflation rates recorded in August across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries ranged from a low of 0.07% in the Sultanate of Oman to a high of 4.94% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
  • Bahrain's Gulf Air is in final talks to order up to 50 aircrafts to meet the airline's needs over the next decade. Negotiations with manufacturers were expected to finish by Q1 2016, but did not disclose yet which manufacturer was preferred.
  • Qatar's tourism promotion agency expects tourist arrivals in the country to cross the three million-mark by the end of 2015 as the country's calendar of events and conferences reaches its peak in Q4 2015.
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