Regional News

  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 …

  Reuters A version of Shamoon, the destructive computer virus that four years ago crippled tens of thousands of computers at Middle Eastern energy companies, was used two weeks ago to attack computers in Saudi Arabia, according to U.S. security firms. CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks Inc and Symantec Corp. warned of the new attacks on Wednesday. They did not name …

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power is expected to offer a hefty spread on its planned $1 billion bond offer, partly because of market volatility since the US elections and a narrowing issuance window, bankers and investors said. ACWA, in which Saudi sovereign entities hold a combined 16.3 percent stake, is set to be the first international bond from the kingdom …

  Reuters Morocco’s Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), one of the world’s biggest phosphate producers, plans to issue 5 billion dirhams ($495 million) of domestic perpetual bonds, the stock exchange regulator said. State run OCP, a major earner of foreign currency for Morocco, has been increasing output to help offset a slide in prices and aims to produce 47 million tonnes …

  Bloomberg Tunisia’s prime minister said it’s time the government delivered on the long-ignored demands of protesters whose 2010 revolt swept an autocratic ruler from office and sparked the Arab Spring. Unemployment, pay and inequality were the main drivers of the Jasmine Revolution, and six years later unrest is again festering after previous administrations focused on cementing the nation’s transition …

  Tunis / AFP Qatar and France promised more than a billion dollars in financial support for Tunisia at an investment conference on Tuesday aimed at reviving the country’s struggling economy. Nearly six years after its Arab Spring revolution, Tunisia hopes the meeting will help it confront challenges including high unemployment, low growth and a tourism sector hammered by jihadist …