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ABU DHABI / WAM The Board of Directors of the Emirates Development Bank (EDB) approved AED1.45 billion worth of housing finance for UAE nationals, during its meeting on Wednesday. The bank’s financing solutions provide up to AED5 million for home buyers and up to AED3 million towards construction, enabling Emiratis to maintain a good standard of living. The meeting was ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia started the year with a quarterly budget surplus for the first time since the 2014 collapse in oil prices. The biggest Arab economy posted a surplus of 27.8 billion riyals ($7.4 billion) in the first quarter, helped by an increase in non-oil revenue as well as income from crude exports, Finance Minister Mohammed Al- Jadaan told an ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The total assets of Central Bank of UAE hiked to a four-decade-time high of AED432.6 billion by the end of March, a growth of 3.5 percent from AED417.7 billion by end of 2018, CBUAE statistics showed. The significant growth is driven by a rally in deposits to AED133.5 billion by March-end, up 25 percent from AED106.8 ...

Bloomberg Trade negotiators led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing next week, the White House said, as both sides work to reach a draft agreement by next month. Talks starting next Tuesday “will cover trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agr- iculture, services, purchases and enforcement,” the ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Etihad Cargo on Wednesday celebrated its position as a market leader in the air cargo digitalisation and innovation community, six months after migrating to a new technology platform. Last year, the carrier saw the introduction of several transformative programmes across its fleet and network, commercial and operational processes, and its physical and digital infrastructure. This culminated ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis, an integrated free zone technology park, announced its participation in a four-day roadshow in India during last week of April. Organised by DSOA, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the high-level promotional event will serve as a platform for DSOA to ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), the leading national entity for development aid, signed a $10 million concessionary loan agreement with the Government of Burkina Faso to fund that country’s Rural Electrification Project. In the presence of His Excellency Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, Burkina Faso president, Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of ADFD, and ...

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Adnoc Distribution, the UAE’s leading fuel and convenience retailer, in association with Etihad Airways, revealed the 14 lucky week two winners of its ‘Fuel Up and Fly Off’ initiative during an event held at the Etihad Innovation Centre on Wednesday. The ‘Fuel Up and Fly Off’ campaign is a joint partnership between Adnoc Distribution and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM One of the key areas of focus during the UAE’s ‘Year of Tolerance’ is “the need for legislative and policy development in the areas of religious and cultural tolerance,” Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Minister of Tolerance, said here on Wednesday. He was inaugurating a two-day conference on ‘Tolerance in the Context of Legislative ...

DUBAI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurated the headquarters of the Federal Youth Authority (FYA), at the Emirates Towers, Dubai. His Highness also approved FYA’s operational plan and initiatives that aim to utilise the youth’s capabilities and creativity so that they can become ...