Regional News

  Bloomberg Egypt’s urban consumer prices rose the fastest in eight years in November, driven by a 21.5 percent increase in food costs after the government floated the currency and raised fuel prices. Annual urban inflation accelerated to 19.4 percent, while monthly inflation climbed to 4.8 percent, according to the state-run statistics agency CAPMAS. The annual rate was the highest ...

  Cairo/ AFP Egypt has an ambitious three-year reform plan that, with foreign help, can revive its struggling economy, the minister of international cooperation said. In an interview, Sahar Nasr said the “three-year strategy” will lead to a return of investments, boost industrial production and create jobs. It comes as Egypt faces not only falling growth and a currency crisis ...

  Bloomberg Oman, the largest Arab oil producer that’s not an OPEC member, plans to sell between $1.5 billion to $2 billion of bonds internationally in 2017 to plug a deficit caused by low crude prices. “There’s an appetite still and I think even when interest rates are raised there will still be appetite,” Ali Hamdan Al-Raisi, vice president for ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s net foreign reserves rose to the highest level in more than five years in November, as the country started receiving money from the International Monetary Fund and global lenders. Reserves reached $23.1 billion, up from $19 billion in October, according to data posted on the central bank’s website. Egypt got the first $2.75 billion installment of a $12 ...

Reuters GFH Financial Group hopes to largely complete the acquisition of Bahrain’s Bank Al Khair in the first quarter of next year and is at an advanced stage of exploring a merger with another Bahraini bank, its chief executive said on Tuesday. “The recent merger we announced was Bank Al Khair – we hope during the first quarter of 2017 ...

  Reuters Oman’s Finance Ministry is looking at cutting expenditure again in the state budget for next year to reduce a deficit caused by low oil prices, sources briefed on the ministry’s thinking told Reuters on Tuesday. A draft budget for 2017 foresees a 5 percent cut in spending from this year’s budget, and no increase in revenues, the sources ...

  Bloomberg OPEC’s mission to implement last week’s historic deal to curb production for the first time in eight years just got a little bit harder after three of its African members increased output in November. Crude production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to a record 34.16 million barrels a day in November with gains led by ...

Tehran / AFP Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani presented his budget on Sunday, with OPEC’s decision to cut production helping to boost its expected oil revenues. Rouhani’s 2017-2018 budget is based on oil prices of $50 per barrel, up from $40 last year, with a focus on unemployment, water resources, railways and the environment. The sums look realistic after last week’s ...

  Cairo / AFP Egypt is raising tariffs on some imported goods to up to 60 percent following a decree by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the finance ministry said. The ministry said the measure was introduced to “reduce imports”, which have seen Egypt’s trade deficit soar to more than $49 billion (46 billion euros). Sisi’s list of hundreds of imported ...

  Bloomberg The Japanese company poised to become one of the world’s largest LNG buyers says it shouldn’t need to pay producers to lift restrictions on where it can resell cargoes and that the removal would benefit the whole market, including sellers. Jera Co., a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co. that ...