Regional News

  Reuters A $16.5 billion mass transit project planned for Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca has been delayed so that its financing can be restructured, the head of the implementing body said. The kingdom has been slowing infrastructure projects and paring back state spending as it grapples with the economic fall-out of two years of depressed oil prices, which ...

  Bloomberg Doha Bank QSC plans to expand its foreign operations to compensate for slower growth in Qatar, where a drop in oil prices is causing liquidity to dry up, according to Chief Executive Officer Raghavan Seetharaman. “We have scope for expansion,” he said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Doha last week. “It’s not like everything is ...

  Emirates Business Four films supported by the Doha Film Institute have won top honours in key sections of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, including the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards for The Salesman, co-financed by the Institute, in the Festival’s official competition. DFI grantee film Divines, the debut feature by Houda Benyamina scooped the coveted Camera d’Or prize ...

  Reuters Energy giant Saudi Aramco is ready to supply up to 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to a refinery it will jointly upgrade with Indonesia’s Pertamina, chief executive of the Southeast Asia state-owned energy company said on Monday. Forecasting growing crude oil demand, Saudi Aramco is seeking to invest further in Indonesia’s refining and petrochemicals sector, ...

  Reuters Saudi Arabia has joined Turkey, Indonesia and the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as a prospective founder member of a new Islamic finance infrastructure bank, according to Indonesia’s finance minister. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the annual IDB meeting of governors in Jakarta recently, Bambang Brodjonegoro said the four could contribute around $300 million each for ...

  Emirates Business As the Middle East’s construction and infrastructural expansion continues apace, resulting in driving demand for quality hardware, tools and machinery, international brands continue to use Hardware+Tools Middle East as a regional launch platform for new and innovative products. At the upcoming edition of the region’s premier trade show for hardware, tools, materials and machinery, a series of ...

  Emirates Business Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and Bayer Pearl have unveiled new spray foam insulation technology solutions that can improve energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With 1.5 million new homes needed to keep up with local population growth, energy demand in the country is anticipated to double by 2030. In anticipation of ...

  Reuters The International Monetary Fund backed Saudi Arabia’s sweeping economic reform plan on Thursday and said the kingdom was cutting spending at the right speed to cope with a huge state budget deficit caused by low oil prices. Late last month, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced steps to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil exports over the ...

  Bloomberg OPEC’s strategy to defend market share over prices is working as oil approaches $50 a barrel amid rising demand and declining output from producers including U.S. shale companies, Kuwait’s acting oil minister said. Oil will end the year at $50 a barrel and the market will rebalance in the third or fourth quarter of the year, Anas Al-Saleh, ...

  Bloomberg More than half of global companies interested in doing business with Iran are holding back for fear of running afoul of sanctions that remain in place even after its nuclear deal with world powers, a new survey shows. Fifty-eight of 100 executives of U.K.-based international firms said they aren’t confident they know what precautions need to be taken ...