Regional News

  Reuters Iraq’s oil ministry is postponing a bidding round for 12 small and medium-sized oil fields across three provinces from Nov. 30 to the middle of next year, the ministry said on its website on Thursday. The ministry’s statement said there are “essential changes” to the previous announcement, including plans for the oil ministry to develop some of the …

  Reuters Construction giant Saudi Oger has asked banks to agree to a freeze in repayments on at least 13 billion riyals ($3.5 billion) of debt, sources aware of the matter said, as it seeks more time to collect money owed by the kingdom’s government. The request opens the way for the company, owned by the family of Lebanese Prime …

  Reuters Saudi Arabia will settle all delayed payments to private businesses by the end of the year as it concludes a review of government projects that has saved tens of billions of riyals. The Council of Economic and Development Affairs approved the plan at a meeting late on Monday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The council authorized payments …

  Emirates Business Saudi Arabia’s largest fleet customers recently visited the FUSO factory in Chennai with Al Habtoor Motors. The event was a great opportunity for Saudi fleet operators to meet, interact and share their ideas with other industry colleagues and learn best practice. The customers saw the outstanding build quality of FUSO trucks in this brand new manufacturing facility. …

  Reuters Edita Food Industries, one of Egypt’s largest food producers, will raise the prices of some of its products and also increase workers’ pay after the massive devaluation of the Egyptian pound, its chairman said. The company’s decisions point to challenges faced by firms around the country in the wake of the devaluation, which is expected to trigger a …

  Bloomberg Egypt will ask the International Monetary Fund’s executive board within a day or two to consider its $12 billion loan request, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said, after the central bank freed the pound’s exchange rate to help spur investments and ease a dollar crunch. The push to finalize the loan comes as Egyptian banks began freely trading foreign …

  Bloomberg Mobile Telecommunication Co. is considering introducing new services such as fiber-optic internet access in Saudi Arabia after winning an upgrade to its license, a move that would bring the scope of its offerings nearer to larger Saudi Telecom Co. Saudi Arabia’s third-largest phone operator “has the most to gain” from a licensing change by the government because it …

  Reuters Gulf investment firm Adeptio has chosen Kuwait’s National Investment Company (NIC) to manage a mandatory tender offer to remaining Kuwait Food Co (Americana) shareholders, the advisor said in a bourse filing on Sunday. NIC did not provide a timeframe for when the offer process would happen. The disclosure comes after Adeptio, led by prominent Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar, …

  Bloomberg Egypt’s prime minister tried to reassure an anxious public as Egyptians expressed alarm and anger over prices that swiftly soared a day after the nation’s currency was floated, sending its value tumbling as fuel subsidies were cut. In the capital’s working class district of Imbaba, residents spoke of a sudden spike in transportation and food prices, mainly because …

  AFP Kuwait will issue billions of dollars worth of bonds in international markets to finance a budget deficit resulting from low oil prices, a report said Saturday. Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh said Kuwait will issue US dollar-denominated sovereign bonds of up to $9.6 billion during the 2016/2017 fiscal year which ends March 31, Al-Qabas newspaper reported. This comes on …