Regional News

  Riyadh / AFP Crowds are jamming the aisles of a Riyadh coffee and chocolate exhibition this week, as Saudis indulge the country’s sweet tooth and craze for caffeine. The International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and will run to Friday, is billed as the largest of its kind in the Middle East. In its third year, …

  Bloomberg BP Plc is piling up assets with more than $3 billion of deals in three days as Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley sees the company emerging from the doldrums after a two-year price slump. Since Saturday, BP has announced a $2.2 billion expansion of output in Abu Dhabi and a $916 million investment in fields in Mauritania and …

  CAIRO / Reuters The Egyptian government has increased the price it pays local farmers for sugar cane by 25 percent, the Ministry of Supplies said on Tuesday. Sugar companies belonging to the Ministry of Supplies will buy local sugar cane from farmers for 500 Egyptian pounds ($26.11) per tonne, up from 400 pounds in the last season, the statement …

  Reuters Oman’s Electricity Holding Company (EHC) has signed an agreement for a $325 million working capital loan, the state-owned company’s finance chief said on Tuesday. The company, which holds the Omani government’s stake in nine electricity firms, has raised the funds to support four of its distribution subsidiaries, Hussain Al Balushi said. Bahrain’s Bank ABC coordinated the facility, which …

  Reuters New standards for the use of precious metals in Islamic finance are encouraging the development of financial products based on gold and silver, from futures contracts to a mobile app. The Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), which sets guidelines followed in whole or in part by Islamic financial firms around the world, approved …

  Bloomberg Russia’s finance minister is counting himself among the skeptics of OPEC’s agreement to cut production, if only to beat back efforts to raid a windfall as oil rallies. “Improvements in oil prices, in our view, aren’t structural in character,” Anton Siluanov told reporters in Moscow. “Rather, it’s a reaction to the limits on oil output adopted by OPEC …

  CAIRO / Reuters Edita Food Industries, one of Egypt’s largest snack food producers, said on Wednesday it was raising prices by between 20 and 50 percent amid higher input costs due to the drop in the value of the Egyptian pound last month. Inflation surged to an eight-year high of 19.4 percent in November, propelled by a steep depreciation …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia has hired consultants to advise on plans to create top global companies in industries from petrochemicals to telecommunications as it seeks to bolster its economy and reputation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The kingdom has identified about five companies — including Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Saudi Telecom Co. …

  Tehran / AFP Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday ordered the country’s scientists to start work on nuclear-powered ships in response to the expected renewal of sanctions by the United States. In letters read out on state television, Rouhani criticised the US move as a breach of last year’s nuclear accord and told Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation to start work …

  Bloomberg Turkey’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, led by a slump in consumption, in the most significant sign yet that July’s failed coup and the political turmoil it provoked are weighing on confidence. It’s the first time in seven years that Turkey has announced a contraction. The lira weakened. Gross domestic product shrank an annual 1.8 percent …