The Most Highlighted News
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Egyptians’ remittances
, especially from the GCC, have
increased
recently despite the policies applied by the governments in the region to decrease foreign employment and promote nationalization. Egyptians’ remittances increased by
8%
reaching 21.4 BN USD in the first ten months of 2018, compared to 19.8 BN USD in the same period of 2017. This increase was due to the implementation of
new fees on expats’ companions
which is
100 SAR for every companion
and it will be increased gradually to reach
400 SAR
in 2020, have resulted in the return of many companions to Egypt and, consequently, the increase in remittances.
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Egypt Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities
reported that the average price of reinforced steel increased in December 2018 by
4.4%
y-o-y and
2%
m-o-m. The average price per ton registered
12,50 EGP
in December 2018 compared to 11,97 EGP in December 2017 and compared to 12,25 EGP per ton in November 2018. The highest price logged in 2018 was in March at 12,50 EGP per ton.
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Egypt annual inflation
rate
declined
in November 2018, unexpectedly dropping back within the
central bank target range
as prices of core goods and services increased at their slowest rate in more than two years. Urban consumer price inflation declined to
15.7%
in November 2018 compared to
17.7%
in October 2018. The rate had been increasing steadily since August 2018, reflecting the impact of fuel and power subsidy cuts as well as supply problems in the domestic fruit and vegetable market. But fruit and vegetable prices fell sharply in November 2018, when prices overall fell by an average of
0.8 %
.
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President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
announced that
Egypt
is looking to enter the list of the
best
countries
in the world in the
field of agriculture.
During the inauguration of a national development project on greenhouses at the 10
th
of Ramadan city, Sisi added that the largest farm to produce
dates
in the world is currently being established and is set to include
2.5 million palm trees
.
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Wamda Capital recently invested
in t
wo Egyptian tech startups which are
Aqarmap; an online real estate marketplace based in Egypt that helped sell more than
15,000 properties
in 2017 and Crowd Analyzer. Wamda stresses that the pipeline potential in the MENA region’s most populous country looks promising with the Egyptian startups getting bigger. Wamda Capital became
one of three Series A investors
in Aqarmap,. Wamda Capital also participated in a
1.1 MM USD funding
round for Crowd Analyzer – an Arabic focused social media monitoring platform founded and developed in Egypt in 2013, with headquarters in Dubai.
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King Salman of Saudi Arabia reported that the 2019 budget is the largest in the kingdom's history. The Saudi budget includes a total expenditure projected at
1.106 TR SAR (294.8 BN USD)
, with revenue expected at
975 BN SAR (259.9 BN USD)
. This means that the
budget deficit
will reach 131 BN SAR or
4.2%
of the
GDP
, with
public debt
amounting to 678 BN SAR or
21.7%
of GDP. Meanwhile, oil revenues are estimated at 662 BN SAR, considering the financial impact of correcting energy prices, compared to 607 BN SAR in 2018. The Saudi government also expects non-oil revenue to increase by 9% reaching
313 BN SAR
in 2019 compared to 287 BN SAR in 2018.
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Saudi Arabia first robot employee
has started work at one of Saudi Arabia government entities. The Minister of Education Ahmed Al-Issa has handed over the
robot’s job ID
under which it will begin work as a
technician
at the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (
TVTC
). This comes within the framework of the corporation’s strategy in bolstering robots and artificial intelligence (AI).
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The
Saudi Human Resources Development Fund
reported that the number of employees joining the private sector reached
30,310
from January to November 2018. About
860 disabled persons
received their jobs in the eleven-month period ended November 2018. The state-owned fund is providing support for the Saudi job seekers and contributing to implementing Saudization. Saudi minister of labor and social development Ahmed bin Suleiman Al Rajhi called on companies operating in the kingdom’s
private sector
to
raise
employees’
salaries
and
wages
.
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Two female citizens
have become the
first certified female firefighters
in
Saudi Arabia
, meeting the National Fire Protection Association’s (
NFPA
) rigorous professional qualifications standards. The two women are
Abeer O. Aljab
r, an industrial engineering and engineering management graduate from the University of Sharjah; and
Jazyah E. Aldossary,
a chemical engineering graduate from the University of Missouri in the US.
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The Central Bank of the UAE (
CBUAE
) revealed that it has provided credit facilities worth
791 BN AED
(215.3 BN USD) to the
industrial
and
business sectors
during the first eleven months of 2018. The central bank’s lending to the two sectors in Q1 and Q2-2018 recorded
15.3 BN AED
(4.16 BN USD). As for Q3-2018, the two sectors have obtained credit facilities worth
2.3 BN AED
(626 MM USD).
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The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization (
MoHRE
) has started the
activation of Article 14
of the
labor law
that gives
Emiratis priority
over expats when it comes to
employment.
The article states that non-UAE citizens are not allowed to be employed in case of having an unemployed Emirati. The enforcement of the law will boost job opportunities for qualified Emirati job-seekers and serve the interests of employers. The labor permit system will be connected to the ministry's database, which will help activate the provision of the law that grants qualified Emiratis priority.
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Emaar Properties
announced that it has sold some of its
hospitality assets
at a total value of
2.19 BN AED
(596 MM USD). The Dubai-based and listed developer will use the proceeds of the sales to
finance commercial properties
which generate a higher return on investment.
In November 2018, Emaar announced a
28%
y-o-y growth in
net profits
reaching
5.26 BN AED
(1.43 BN USD) compared to 4.10 BN AED (1.12 BN USD). Meanwhile,
revenues
registered
30%
amounted to
17.39 BN AED
(4.7 BN USD) between January and September 2018 compared to 13.35 BN AED (4.1 BN USD) in the same period of 2017.
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UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
has issued a
new decree
for the establishment of
Emirates Water
and
Electricity Company (Ewec)
as a public shareholding company replacing the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (
Adwec
). Ewec, which will be under the umbrella of Abu Dhabi Power Corporation, will pave the way for the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (
Fewa
) to join the new company, with the objective of
unifying water production
and
power generation
efforts in Abu Dhabi and the emirates that are currently served by Few.
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Qatar domestic debt instruments
declined
22.2%
y-o-y in 2018, issuing domestic debts worth
36.2 BN QAR
(9.9 BN USD) in 2018, compared to 46.5 BN QAR (12.8 BN USD) in 2017. The total number of the Qatar Central Bank (
QCB
) issues also declined to
45
in 2018, versus
48
in 2017, including treasury bonds, bills and sukuk. This drop was due to many factors, including the issuance of
12 BN USD bonds
by the Ministry of Finance in April 2018, higher oil prices, and budget surplus versus a deficit of 28.1 BN USD in 2017.
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Qatar has opened a
permanent shipping line
with its GCC neighbors Oman and Kuwait on Monday, 24
th
of December 2018. In a 20-minute journey, the shipping operations will take place through
Doha Hamad Port
,
Oman Sohar port
and
Shuwaikh port in Kuwait
. With a capacity of
250 passenger rooms
, the ship will transport both goods and passengers. The ship also features cinema hall, a games hall, a free market, restaurants and cafes. The new vessel can transport more than
700 cars
.
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Qatar non-oil exports
surged 24.7% y-o-y in November 2018 amounted to 2.24 BN QAR (615 MM USD), compared to 1.8 BN QAR (494.5 MM USD).
Oman
ranked
first
with
23.4%
of Qatar total exports in November 2018 at a value of
525.97 MM QAR
(144.46 MM USD).
Netherlands
ranked
second
with 15.3% at a value of 342.8 MM QAR (94.15 MM USD), while the
UK
came
third
with
211.8 MM QAR
(58.17 MM USD). Qatar exports levelled up
13.3%
in November 2018 compared to 1.98 BN QAR (543.8 MM USD) in October 2018. During the first eleven months of 2018, the total value of
Qatar non-oil exports
reached 22.25 BN QAR (6.1 BN USD).
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Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company
(
QIMC
) announced that its subsidiary,
Gulf Glass Factory
, has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction (
EPC
)
contract
with the
Italian company Falorni Gianfranco
to build the
first glass containers project
in Qatar.
- The project aims to produce glass containers used in the packaging of water, soft drinks, dairy products and various foodstuffs as well as medicines and perfumes.
- The project first phase is set to produce 200 tons per day with a total cost of 238 MM QAR, while the second phase cost worth 300 MM QAR raising the production capacity to about 450 tons per day.
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Office No. N 415, North Tower, Emirates Financial Towers, DIFC, P.O Box 506726, Dubai, UAE.
Tel: +97142820301
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Cairo Office:
Z
epter Office Building
S5-6 ,
Area 5, District 1, 5th Settlement, New Cairo, Egypt. P.O. Box: 1147
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