Bahrain has posted a budget surplus of $88 million in the first half of 2022, from a deficit of $1.38 billion a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance and National Economy said in its Mid-year Financial Report for 2022. Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National...

Net profit for H1 2022 reaches $60 million.

Jordan Senate's Finance and Economic Committee hosted an expert in economic affairs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), to look into the draft law regulating the investment environment.

UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Emirates Development Bank sign a Memorandum of Understanding to finance agricultural SMEs to contribute to the country's sustainable economic development and food security.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has decided to increase the debt burden ratio of the beneficiaries of home finance of the Sheikh Zayed Housing Program (SZHP) from 50% to 60%.

China's banking regulator has urged lenders to extend more credit to real estate developers, as a growing number of homebuyers withhold mortgage payments on unfinished housing projects across 50 cities.

Other issues to be tackled by the ministers include digital financial inclusion –- with more than a billion of the world's population still without access to a bank account -– and the deadline for an international tax rules overhaul.

Common Reporting Standards is a global methodology for the automatic exchange of financial accounts and tax-related information with other financial regulatory organizations across the world through secure channels.

Global trade hit a record high of $28.5 trillion in 2021, with more growth expected in 2022. The future also promises growth due to a new era of multilateralism, supported by regionalization, trade in services, innovation and sustainable trade, which would counter global recession, according to 'The Future of Trade 2022'...

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic downturn since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.

Britain's new finance minister, Iraqi-born Nadhim Zahawi, has inherited a cost-of-living crisis that risks pushing the UK economy into recession. The former education minister was parachuted into the Treasury late Tuesday after predecessor Rishi Sunak's shock resignation over the culture of scandal plaguing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson also lost...

An IMF team said in March that the country faced "major structural challenges", with low growth and investment, along with high unemployment and gaping inequality.

Asian and European stock markets nursed losses Wednesday on resurgent fears that sharp interest rate hikes aimed at tackling runaway inflation could spark recession.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment will host a high-level Italian business delegation on Monday to explore mutually beneficial investment opportunities. The Italian delegation would be led by Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio. The forum will focus on finance, infrastructure and mobility, tourism and culture,...

Saudi Arabia and Italy will jointly explore investment opportunities in sectors as wide as finance, infrastructure and mobility, tourism and culture, and renewable energy.

Payment on metaverse will take place through cryptocurrencies. NFTs and virtual goods will become popular once metaverse becomes mainstream. Therefore, it is curcial for the metaverse that NFTs and virtual property be implemented. Additionally, banks will need to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for these products.

QFB will finance the purchasing consortiums investment vehicle by providing 20 million Euro.

Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Development Bank (EDB), has called on the local and regional banking community to increase access to corporate finance and accelerate the UAE’s economic recovery. Speaking on the opening day of Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East 2022, which took place at...

The UAE wants to boost cooperation with Egypt and Jordan in the financial sector in order to achieve sustainable growth in the region, according to Khaled Mohamed Balama, the Governor of the CBUAE.

The study stresses the need for digitally delivered financial inclusion; and for using this as a platform to distribute health and education services to the masses.

The Ooredoo subsidiary said it will pay $9.3 million on June 22.

Saudi Arabia's finance companies have provided a whopping $18.96 billion in personal finance loans to the kingdom's citizens during the first three months of the current year, posting a 4.4 percent jump over the previous quarter.

It was a week of mixed fortunes for various stock exchanges of the GCC, with TASI remaining flat through the week, even as Abu Dhabi's index began posting gains on Frdiay.

Two billion dollars are allocated in the budget for Baghdad Metro project, Iraq’s Minister of Transport Nasser Hussein Al-Shibli said on Saturday. "The project was included in the budget for the year 2022, and an amount of two billion dollars was allocated by the Ministry of Finance and the ministry...

Ajman’s Department of Finance (DoF) signed a cooperation agreement with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Magnati to support the launch of new payment channels and services through the AjmanPay application. This agreement is in line with Ajman government’s strategy of fostering strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors,...

More countries are experimenting with CBDCs and some are beginning to bring them to market, potentially offering lessons for the rest of the world.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who took power with a coalition that removed Khan in a no-confidence vote last month, has vowed to jumpstart the moribund economy

In a week truncated by the Eid holidays across the Middle East, stocks on the UAE exchanges shed gains, while there was no trading in Saudi Arabia because of Eid al-Fitr.

If there is one country in the GCC where the idea of sustainable shopping can take off, it is the UAE. Yet, there is a lot for it to do in order to make the concept work.

Saudi Arabia's real estate sector continues to show promising signs, with increasing tourist numbers, consumers returning to retail stores, and more demand for office space.

Cybercrime has risen to the forefront of physical security concerns. And big firms are acutely aware of the problem, says Ephrem Tesfai from Genetec tells TRENDS.

The main Saudi index had a variable week, the Abu Dhabi exchange suffered a slight decline, while, the main index in Dubai closed unchanged.

Against the backdrop of mounting concerns about the supply of crude oil, the stock markets in Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained subdued this week.

Al Seer Marine and BGN International sign the $134 million financial transaction.

The UAE Central Bank announced that the money supply aggregate M1 increased to AED 701.9 billion at the end of December 2021.

The move comes as an extension of the Kingdom’s continuous support for the people and government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

From the UAE to Saudi Arabia, the main indexes made up for their losses as the week came to a close.

Credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings on Saturday downgraded Russia's foreign currency payments rating to "selective default" after Moscow paid a dollar-denominated debt in rubles this week.

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has announced the launch of Studio Launchpad, saying it is the world’s first venture studio platform exclusively focused on ubiquitous finance and digital asset technologies. DIFC said the Launchpad is a key part of it’s efforts to achieve the goals of its 2030 strategy by...

The Saudi Finance Ministry has forecast the kingdom's real gross domestic product to grow by 7.4 percent.

The MoU places an emphasis on technologies pertinent to financial services, regulation and supervision.

Regional players eye big share as Metaverse is expected to become a US$800 billion market. Some analysts believe it will hit $30 trillion by 2030.

ChequeScore is an app released by the UAE government-owned Al Etihad Credit Bureau, and can predict the possibility of a cheque bouncing.

Al Rajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia will start providing a digital guarantee service through the electronic financial services platform called Etimad.

Saudi Arabia’s National Debt Management Center has closed the March 2022 issuance of Saudi riyal-denominated sukuk, valued at SR10.3 billion ($2.75 billion).

The Federal Reserve will have to walk a tightrope to ensure its efforts don't derail the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Oil prices rose by more than 20 percent this week, due to ongoing concerns about supply disruptions and Russian output.

It would still be a dollar issued by the US Federal Reserve central bank, like all US bills and coins used now, but in a digital form.

Moody’s has depicted a bleak outlook for sukuks in the current year because of a spike in oil prices and lower financing needs in the GCC.

The Project Finance Committee of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Foundation (Ruwad) has approved AED300,000 finance for a project that will work in the field of health fitness services by providing an integrated environment with advanced specifications for exercise and sports. Ruwad said the approval was granted at the meeting, the second...