Saudi inflation rises to 1.8% in February
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Saudi Arabia’s inflation accelerated to 1.8 percent in February compared to January 2024, according to data by the General...Business Economy
Baghdad, Tehran in talks to import gas from Turkmenistan
Tehran, Iran - Baghdad and Tehran are currently engaged in negotiations to facilitate the import of gas from Turkmenistan, with...Economy Energy
‘This year will be difficult for global economy’
Around one-third of countries are likely to go through a recession, Sir Masood Ahmed, President of the Center for Global...One-third of the world is expected to go through a recession in 2023 due to slowing economies, high inflation, and other factors
Oil-exporting countries are likely to be less impacted, while big importers of oil, gas, food, and fertilizers may face more difficulties
Li Qiang confirmed as China’s premier by parliament
Li Qiang, one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's trusted allies, was confirmed as premier, as Xi cements his influence on...Li Qiang received nearly every vote from the over 2,900 delegates at the National People's Congress.
Journalists were asked to leave the chamber as deputies, mostly dressed in dark suits, marked their ballots.
Silicon Valley Bank demise has markets jittery, analysts say no contagion risk
Officially closed and put into receivership by US authorities on Friday, SVB was at risk due to a heavy concentration...SVB's woes are the result of "idiosyncratic stresses and not one that we see as systemic that would affect the banking industry," said CFRA Research's Ken Leon
A note from analysts at Morgan Stanley put it simply, saying, "We want to be very clear here ... we do not believe there is a liquidity crunch facing the banking industry."
Meta confirms it is working on potential Twitter rival
SAN FRANCISCO, US - Facebook owner Meta is working on a new "text sharing" social media platform, it said Friday, in...Since billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter in October, the influential website has suffered outages, layoffs.
Several advertisers have left the platform over the alleged lack of content moderation in recent times.
Mohamed bin Zayed issues law to establish Abu Dhabi Transport Company
ABU DHABI, UAE - In his capacity as the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan...An affiliate of the Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs, the company will support the emirate’s integrated transport ecosystem.
It will develop transport systems, and contributing to effective and sustainable transport services for citizens and residents.
UN buys ship to remove oil from decaying tanker off Yemen coast
The 47-year-old ship has not been serviced since Yemen's devastating civil war broke out in 2015 and was left abandoned...UNDP signed a contract to purchase a crude carrier from major tanker company Euronav that will head to Yemen to remove the oil from the beleaguered FSO Safer
The United States, which has contributed $10 million, welcomed the UN announcement and called on other nations as well as private donors to fill the funding gap
Egypt inflation soars to 31.9%, highest in five and a half years
Cairo, Egypt - Egypt's official annual headline inflation rate rose in February to 31.9 percent, the highest in five and...The jump in inflation is likely to further squeeze households already struggling with high unemployment and poverty
Soaring inflation follows currency devaluations in March 2022, a prolonged foreign currency shortage, and a backlog of imports
Poor states’ summit promised just US$1.4bn, says UN
DOHA, QATAR - Just US$1.4 billion in new loans and grants were promised at a UN summit devoted to the world's...The Doha meetings saw Saudi Arabia offer $800 million in loans to Least Developed Countries.
Qatar said it would give $60 million for UN projects and Canada $59 million for vitamin supplements in LDCs.
Global stocks mixed as markets await US jobs data
Wall Street rose but European stock markets fell as investors brace for US jobs data that they fear could prompt...The US Federal Reserve raised rates by a quarter basis point in December, lower than previous decisions.
European wholesale natural gas prices dived to the lowest level since August 2021, due to high storage levels.
Mining, quarrying push Saudi Arabia’s IPI up 6.8% in Jan 2023
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's Industrial Production Index increased by 6.8 percent in Jan 2023, compared to Jan 2022,...The kingdom's General Authority for Statistics said the mining and quarrying activity increased by 3 percent year on year.
The manufacturing activity increased by 19.2 percent, while the electricity and gas supply activity decreased by 3.4 percent.
