News

Alkesh Sharma / Emirates Business In 2014-15, the UAE registered its best economic performance in 44 years by growing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to AED1.47 trillion, thanks to 60 percent contribution from the SME sector. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have clearly emerged as the lifeline of UAE economy. Giving a major boost to this sector, Emirates’ financial institutions, ...

Dubai / Emirates Business A leading network of CEOs and entrepreneurs, the Young Presidents’ Organization contributes much to the growth of the Dubai as an innovation hub, according to a recent report. The December 2015 report by Wamda Research Lab also states that UAE continues to outperform all other MENA countries in global competitiveness and entrepreneurship. Recently, YPO members Muna ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business For the first time in the capital, Marina Mall – Abu Dhabi, the leading shopping destination, hosted prize-winning quilts from the International Quilt Show, Dubai. In parallel, and as part of Her Highness Sheikha Shamma Bint Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan’s ‘Quilts Are Art’ competition for school children, the mall displayed all the paper quilt ...

RIYADH / WAM Members of the Cooperation Council for Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) have declared their full backing for Saudi Arabia’s decision to conduct a comprehensive review of its relations with Lebanon and halt its US$4 billion arms deals for the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces. “The members of the GCC back the decision which the ...

Hong Kong / Bloomberg Hong Kong’s developers, who are throwing in enticements from iPhones to wine coupons in response to the slowest home sales in 25 years, might be running out of gimmicks to stoke demand. Most buyers aren’t biting as property analysts predict prices will fall as much as 25 percent this year after declining 11 percent since September. ...

Bloomberg Online grocer Fresh Direct LLC sold its longtime home in the Long Island City section of Queens to a developer, drawing an outsized price for a property in a rapidly gentrifying area, even though it can’t be converted into residences. The 276,705-square-foot warehouse at 23-30 Borden Ave. was sold for $48 million, according to a person with knowledge of ...

NEW YORK / Bloomberg Fairway Group Holdings Corp., the New York gourmet grocery chain that once had ambitions of a nationwide expansion, is approaching default after years of red ink. After gorging on debt to finance its growth plans, the company is now at risk of breaching its credit covenants when its fiscal quarter ends on April 3, according to ...

Bloomberg Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage company, will pay the U.S. Treasury Department $2.9 billion after reporting net income of $2.5 billion for the fourth quarter. The company, which was placed under conservatorship along with smaller rival Freddie Mac during the 2008 financial crisis, will have returned $147.6 billion in dividends to the federal government, according to a regulatory filing ...

Las Vegas / Bloomberg The scars of the housing collapse in Nevada are deep and still fresh, making the state a proving ground for the power of Bernie Sanders’s anti-Wall Street message to drive voters to the polls. Sanders has surged in what had been considered a stronghold state for Hillary Clinton heading into Saturday’s Democratic presidential caucus, adding staff ...

ALMATY / Emirates Business Majid Al Futtaim Retail, the retail arm of Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has announced the opening of its first Carrefour hypermarket in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in line with the company’s rapid expansion across the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Russia. The ...