INSEAD Day 4 - 728x90

Economy

2PointZero posts profit surge

Growth driven by merger consolidation.

Mashreq Q1 profit rises

Total revenue increased 10% year-on-year.

TECOM profit climbs

High occupancy across assets boosts earnings.

Emirates Stallions Q1 revenue up 11%

The rise helped by strong demand in real estate

ADNOC Distribution 2025 dividend $700m

The company had reported EBITDA of $1.17 bn in 2025.

China’s consumer prices rose in Oct, reversing stagnation

Beijing has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery from the pandemic, as it fights a debt crisis in its...
  • The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, rose 0.2 percent year-on-year last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
  • Consumer prices were stagnant in July followed by two months of decline.

UAE company inks $22 mn deal for stake in Latakia container terminal

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - AD Ports Group of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a $22 million agreement Thursday...
  • Abu Dhabi-based firm inked the deal with French shipping giant CMA CGM for a 20 percentage stake in the Latakia International Container Terminal, AD Ports Group said in a statement
  • The Syrian government signed a 30-year contract in May with the French firm to run the Mediterranean port and modernise it, including developing the infrastructure

Qatari firm to invest $29.7 billion in Egypt coastal development

The project in the Alam al-Roum area, in Egypt's Matrouh Governorate, will span "4,900 acres... extending across a coastline of...
  • Egypt, mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, is betting big on its 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) of coastline as a revenue source
  • In 2024 the UAE said it would inject $35 billion in foreign direct investment into Egypt, including $24 billion that would go to developing the Ras al-Hikma area west of Alexandria

Bahrain: Financial pioneer of the Gulf

In the post-digital world, Bahrain’s center of activity, the city of Manama, has stiff yet healthy competition from the GCC...
  • Today, Bahrain is reinventing its economy through focusing heavily on Fintech Innovation, developing data centers with partners such as Amazon Web Services
  • The pioneer of conventional banking in the region in 1970s has been robustly supporting Shariah-compliant financial instruments amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Qatar warns will cut gas supply to Europe over EU’s green rules

Qatar's energy minister on Monday warned the Gulf state would halt its supply of liquefied natural gas to Europe over...
  • The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) requires large companies to fix the "adverse human rights and environmental impacts" of their supply chains worldwide
  • The law was backed by a broad coalition of European politicians including the left and the greens as well as centrists, including some centre-right lawmakers

OpenAI signs $38 bn infrastructure deal with cloud giant AWS

Under the seven-year agreement, OpenAI, which is partly owned by AWS's archrival Microsoft, will gain access to computing resources including...
  • The deal will also give access to tens of millions of more conventional CPUs that will be used for the everyday deployment of so-called agentic AI.
  • OpenAI will immediately begin utilizing AWS computing, with all capacity targeted to be used before the end of 2026, and the ability to expand further in the coming years.

OPEC+, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agree further hike to their oil production

The 137,000-barrels-per-day hike will apply from December and remain at that level for the following three months, signifying a "pause"...
  • The 137,000-barrels-per-day hike will apply from December and remain at that level for the following three months, signifying a "pause" in what had been regular hike since April
  • The announced increase, which tallied with analyst expectations, has been seen as a bid by the key members of OPEC+ - known as the Voluntary Eight - to gain greater market share

Social media fooled by AI video of ‘sky stadium’ for Saudi 2034 World Cup

Paris, France - An AI-generated video claiming to show one of the football stadiums for the 2034 FIFA World Cup...
  • The video of glowing arena built atop a towering skyscraper was shared by thousands of social media accounts, with millions of users believing it was the official visual
  • While Riyadh has unveiled plans to build a football area on a real estate complex in The Line – a futuristic new megacity project – the official plans bear no likeness to the clip

Backed by its sovereign wealth fund, Saudi chases AI ambitions with homegrown firm pitched to global investors

The company, launched in May, is bankrolled by Saudi's powerful Public Investment Fund, which has played a key role in...
  • The company, launched in May, is bankrolled by Saudi's powerful Public Investment Fund, which has played a key role in financing the kingdom's gigaprojects
  • But Riyadh's ambitions to become a global AI hub face fierce competition from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, which have invested in AI for years

Steady and sensible, Oman builds its future brick by brick amid the Gulf’s glittering rush

With volatile geopolitics and the resulting uncertainty, the year 2025 has been challenging for most of the countries across the...
  • With its resilience and steady march, Omani economy continues to smoothly navigate geo-economic volatility
  • If one looks at the economic performance of Oman, there are several lessons to be learned – the foremost being slow and steady win the race

G7 ministers consider oil reserves as markets face volatility

In a statement following a virtual meeting with International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol, the ministers said they...

Latest News

Gulf startup hubs: Converging strategies, diverging ambitions

Despite fierce branding as rivals, Gulf startup hubs share capital, policy, and talent structures that are quietly shaping distinct, globally...

Weaker dollar creates window for international property buyers in Dubai

Dubai faces substantial supply headwinds that may absorb currency-driven demand without triggering significant price gains. Approximately 45,000-50,000 new residential units...

Battle of the Tech Hubs

The GCC is competing to build world-class technology hubs, investing heavily in AI, infrastructure, and sovereign capital to drive digital...
INSEAD Day 4- 300x600
INSEAD Day 4- 300x600

Most Read

UAE Innovation Month: Why 2026 is the year of the agentic enterprise

The synergy between humans and AI agents is driving a ‘Great Redeployment’ where there is a structural shift in how...
  • AI adoption is surging, but enterprises are stuck in “pilot purgatory”, failing to scale isolated AI experiments into orchestrated, ROI-driven systems
  • The shift to an Agentic Enterprise requires multi-agent orchestration, shared enterprise context, and strong governance, especially as GCC regulations tighten

The great tech reset: How the gulf turned sovereign capital into a tech ecosystem

The GCC has quickly moved from passive capital allocation into active ecosystem building, spurred on by heavy sovereign capital and...
  • Heavy bets on cloud, AI infrastructure, and data centers are reshaping the region’s tech base
  • The UAE and Saudi Arabia are fast closing the infrastructure gap with global tech leaders

Jobs and investment top MENA expectations from multinational firms, Ipsos finds

As geopolitical turbulence grows, companies are increasingly at the mercy of forces beyond corporate leadership’s control.
  • American multinationals now face the strongest global skepticism, with “Brand America” increasingly linked to ethical, environmental, and economic concerns
  • A company’s country of origin has become a reputational “passport,” shaping trust as much as corporate behavior itself