Regional News

  BLOOMBERG Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will follow up on his palace-hopping trek through east Africa with financing and regulatory help for some of the business deals his entourage of Israeli executives discussed along the way. The diplomatic fruit of last week’s five-day trip will ripen only further down the road, said Netanyahu, who hopes stronger alliances with African and ...

  Tehran / Reuters Iran’s oil exports in July are set to fall from June levels as the country battles Saudi Arabia and Iraq for market share but are about 70 percent higher than a year ago, according to a source with knowledge of the country’s crude lifting plans. Exports will be about 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd) in ...

  RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s L’azurde Company for Jewellery, which surged on its trading debut in Riyadh on Wednesday, plans to almost double the number of its branches in the MENA by 2018. Chief Executive Selim Chidiac told Reuters that market conditions in Saudi Arabia were very challenging as consumers have been hit by the slide in oil prices, ...

  Jeddah / Emirates Business The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has moved up the rankings to finish in the ‘Semi-Transparent’ category for the first time in the JLL and LaSalle Investment Management’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI). Strong advances over the past two years have seen Saudi Arabia (63rd) and Egypt (65th) move into the dynamic ‘Semi-Transparent’ ...

  Jeddah / TNS Young Saudis who recently joined the sale and maintenance of mobile phone market are raving about their experience and high financial returns, which they attribute to the decision to nationalize the sector and allow many young Saudis access to job opportunities and ownership of such shops. Seller Abdullah Ani, who works at a mobile shop, says ...

  Jordan / TNS Plans are in place to set up new stations to monitor air pollution in industrial areas in Jordan, officials at the Ministry of Environment said. The ministry will also enhance the performance of the 14 stations currently set up in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa, which are electronically linked to the ministry to test air pollution levels, ...

  TNS Women’s wages are higher than men in the private sector, according to figures released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). Their monthly salary average is SR3,497 whereas for men it is SR2,417, while the gross average for both is SR2,417. However the percentage of average wage growth for men in 2015 was higher than women, increasing by ...

  Muscat / Reuters Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the country’s top oil and gas exploration and production company, has obtained a $4 billion loan from international banks, part of a rush of foreign borrowing by Oman as low oil prices strain state finances. The five-year pre-export facility is the company’s first international loan and was priced at 160 basis points ...

  Riyadh / TNS The new Balanced Nitaqat program will help reduce unemployment, improve market performance, raise the quality of employment and generate good jobs for Saudis, create a safe and attractive work environment, and eliminate the presence of non-product nationalization practices, confirmed Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Humaidan during a press conference on Sunday. “The labor ...

  TNS Five cities will compete for the title of Jordan’s “distinctive destination” in a competition launched recently by the Tourism Ministry and USAID. “Through the Distinctive Destinations Programme we seek to encourage Jordanian towns to capitalise on their core strengths, unique characteristics and assets to improve their tourism offerings,” Tourism Minister Lina Annab said. Speaking at the launch of ...