July, 2016

• 19 July

  Exodus of workers reshapes Qatar

  

    Doha / Reuters Five years ago Samer Habib moved to Qatar where he opened a restaurant that turned a profit serving Lebanese salads and sandwiches to expats. In June, the business folded. The European lawyers and Indian clerks who for years frequented Habib’s restaurant have been leaving the country in recent months, he said, many laid off in sweeping ...

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• 19 July

  Algeria boosts oil output

  

    Reuters Algeria has boosted output in recent months at two major oil fields, including the Hassi Messaoud field, an oil official said, as the OPEC member strives to maximise production to make up for lost revenue. Production at Hassi Messaoud, 800 km (500 miles) southeast of the capital Algiers, has risen to 470,000 barrels from 420,000 barrels, the official ...

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• 19 July

  200 SMEs face closure threat in Bahrain

  

    Manama / TNS Around 200 small businesses are facing major financial difficulties that could force them to close down and let go of thousands of employees. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which have been struggling to stay afloat since last year, have called for urgent measures to be taken, including new legislation, to protect them from going bankrupt. The SMEs ...

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• 19 July

  Saudi’s Ma’aden beats estimates despite Q2 net profit halving

    REUTERS Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden), the Gulf’s largest miner, beat analysts’ forecasts despite posting a 50.95 percent fall in second-quarter net profit on Monday, as sales revenues declined on low commodity prices. The firm made a net profit of 132.5 million riyals ($35.3 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement. This ...

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• 19 July

  Saudi’s Al Rajhi Bank registers Q2 net profit gains 5.7 pc

    REUTERS Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest lender by assets, reported a 5.7 percent rise in its second-quarter net profit on Monday, broadly in line with analyst forecasts. The bank made 2.05 billion riyals ($546.7 million) in the three months to June 30, up from 1.94 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a ...

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• 19 July

  Qatari bank Masraf Al Rayan posts 5.4 pc Q2 net profit gain

    REUTERS Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar’s second-largest bank by market value, reported a 5.4 percent increase in second-quarter net profit on Monday, according to Reuters calculations, broadly in line with analysts’ expectations. Net profit for the three months to June 30 was 514 million riyals ($141.2 million) compared to 487.6 million riyals in the same period a year ago, Reuters ...

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• 19 July

  Egyptian dairy company Domty to invest $27mn to boost production

    REUTERS Egyptian dairy company Arabian Food Industries Co (Domty) is planning to invest 240 million Egyptian pounds ($27 million) in 2016-17 to fund expansion and increase production capacity, Vice-Chairman Mohamed Damaty told Reuters on Monday. Domty, which raised a combined 1.13 billion pounds in private and public share offerings in March, has two factories in the 6th of October ...

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• 19 July

  Colors of Saudi Arabia Forum in December

  

    Riyadh / TNS The Colors of Saudi Arabia Forum, the largest event in the Kingdom for photography, short films in tourism, culture and heritage to encourage professional and amateur photographers, will witness in its fifth edition this year, greater diversity. Started in 2012, the forum is annually organized under the patronage of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage ...

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• 19 July

  What will Duterte mean for Philippine foreign policy?

  

  Given his fearsome rhetoric and blunt speaking it is not surprising that many fear that the new populist president of the Philippines could have a destabilizing impact on the region. Some worry his “Dirty Harry” persona could tip the republic into conflict with China and, through the Philippines’ alliance with the United States, drag the region into a major conflagration. ...

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• 19 July

  China’s urbanisation is finally reaching its limit

  

    Adam Minter The skylines of some of China’s biggest cities sprout from land that was farmed less than a generation ago. For the government, they’re a soaring testament to the country’s transformation into an urbanized superpower. And despite China’s economic slump, there are plenty of bureaucrats who’d like to see the process continue. According to a report last week, ...

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