According to a report by the FAO, the world food import bill is forecast to touch a new record this year, although it is estimated to grow at a much slower pace compared to last year. This at a time when surging world prices fueled by higher quotations for fruits,...

The UK government said it would scrap a windfall tax on the energy sector should oil and gas prices drop to historically-normal levels for a sustained period. The Energy Profits Levy, introduced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices surging, increased tax on profits from North Sea...

Consumer prices rose by 39.6 percent on an annual basis and were almost stable, at 0.04 percent, compared to the previous month, according to the country's statistics agency. However, these official figures -- the first since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected on May 28 -- are challenged by independent...

PARIS, FRANCE - Renewable power capacity is expected to jump by a third this year globally as growing policy momentum, higher fossil fuel prices and energy security concerns drive expansion of solar and wind power, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. The growth is set to continue next year with...

PARIS, FRANCE -  Renewable power capacity will grow by a record number this year as high fossil fuel prices and energy security concerns fueled the deployment of solar and wind systems, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. Global additions of renewable energy capacity are expected to rise by 107 gigawatts...

Cairo, Egypt--Egypt's annual urban consumer inflation in April dipped to 30.6% from 32.7% in March, data from the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Wednesday Month-on-month, urban inflation slowed to 1.7% from 2.7% in March and 6.5% in February. Inflation had steadily crept up over the last year after a...

Its net profit fell 7 percent to US$50 million in Q1 of 2023.

Tehran, Iran--Iran has reported a large increase in its purchases of domestically-grown wheat in the months of April and May. Saeid Raad, CEO of Government Trading Corporation (GTC) of Iran, said on Saturday that wheat purchases in seven provinces with warm climate in south and southeastern Iran had reached some...

MIYAZAKI, JAPAN  -  With hunger levels rising and food prices soaring in most of the world, collective actions are necessary for immediate and long-term global food security objectives, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Sunday. Director-General of FAO Qu Dongyu made the remarks at the G7 Ministers of Agriculture...

Signaling its resolve to keep fighting price rises, the US central bank has said that interest rates may need to increase further, and remain high, to control inflation. The Fed has raised its benchmark lending rate nine times in a row to tackle inflation, which remains well above its long-term...

Stock markets traded mixed as last week's optimism gave way to worries that central banks may wait longer than expected to end their policy of raising interest rates. After the Paris CAC 40 reached a fresh record-high at 7,552 points, profit-taking set in and the French index was flat in...

Berlin, Germany--Inflation in Germany eased to 7.4 percent in March, mainly thanks to government measures to bring down energy prices, final figures showed on Thursday. The data from federal statistics agency Destatis confirm a downward trend since annual inflation peaked at 10.4 percent in Europe's biggest economy in October -- revised...

US consumer inflation slowed in March lessening the pressure on the Federal Reserve to maintain its aggressive posture to cool the economy. The rate of inflation year-over-year fell to 5.0 percent last month from 6.0 percent in February, the smallest 12-month increase since May 2021, as per the Bureau of...

In the wake of the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, the US Federal Reserve should be cautious in setting interest-rate policy. Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee said at a conference in Chicago that caution should be exercised until "we see how much work the headwinds are doing for us in...

World food prices are still high but have fallen by a fifth compared to a year ago when prices soared to a monthly record high after Russia invaded agricultural powerhouse Ukraine, UN data showed. Prices have fallen 20.5 percent since March 2022 after a 12th straight monthly drop, the Food...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM  - The EU trade in goods registered a large deficit of US$469 billion (€432 billion) in 2022, reaching its lowest level since the start of the time series in 2002. The deficit was due, in particular, to a steep rise in the value of energy imports, which started...

Doha, Qatar - The Producer Price Index (PPI) of the industrial sector in Qatar for February. 2023 declined 3.42 percent from the previous month and 7.23 percent year-over-year, official data showed Friday. Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the new monthly PPI of the Industrial sector for February 2023,...

Officially pegged at 15,000 to the dollar, the pound was trading at 100,000 against the greenback, dealers said -- a dizzying plunge from 1,507 before the economic crisis hit in 2019. The currency's market value was at around 60,000 to the dollar in late January.

Norway earned 1.5 trillion kroner ($140 billion) in revenues from oil and gas, according to estimates by Statistics Norway (SSB). It was "by far the highest ever recorded in the statistics" and almost three times the 498 billion kroner earned in 2021, according to SSB.

The GCC countries are likely to benefit from the relative stability in their financial covers due to high oil prices and strong energy exports in 2022, reports suggest.

It will also close down several units in Ludwigshafen.

With Lebanon's political and economic crisis showing no signs of abating, its currency on Wednesday hit a record low against the dollar on the black market. The pound has lost more than 95 percent of its value against the greenback since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2019.

Amman, Jordan--Jordanians are increasingly adopting electric cars in a push towards abandoning the fuel-guzzling cars that have become so hard to run in the face of high fuel prices. Speaking at a workshop on the future of eco-friendly vehicles in Jordan, Khalaf Humeisat, Chairman of the Board of Directors of...

The oil company's profits during Q4 stood at $12.8bn.

Results reflect higher production of oil, natural gas.

Shored up by healthcare, financial services, banking sector, and raw material companies, the Saudi equities posted gains throughout the weeks.

Dubai, UAE-- Oil prices fell in early trade on Monday, but held on to most of last week's gains on the prospect of an economic recovery in top oil importer China this year. Brent crude futures retreated by 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $87.17 at 0031 GMT, while U.S. West...

With activity in China unlikely to pick up in earnest until after the Lunar New Year holiday, the prospect of a lull in activity could be the trigger for a pause in the current rally – especially across industrial metals where copper has started the year with an 11% gain,...

Inflation slows and China reopens to the world, give a boost to markets.

London, United Kingdom--British retailers won a boost from higher prices over the key Christmas trading period but the volume of goods sold slumped as sky-high inflation hits broader buying, data revealed Tuesday. Revenue jumped almost seven percent in December from a year earlier largely thanks to surging food prices, according to...

Food prices soared to a monthly record high in March after Russia invaded agricultural powerhouse Ukraine, a major supplier of wheat and cooking oil to the world. A Russian naval blockade that prevented Ukrainian grain exports was lifted following a deal in July that was brokered by Turkey and the...

Cairo, Egypt--Public anger has been growing for months in Egypt over a severe dollar crunch and soaring food prices. But for many a money-saving tip from a state body has been the last straw. As families have struggled to purchase household staples, an Egyptian government agency praised an alternative, cheap protein...

A mild winter has enabled countries to tap less gas from stocks that were built up in anticipation of cuts in supplies from Russia, which was Europe's main supplier before the war.

New York, US--Russia on Tuesday banned oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a price cap agreed by Western nations, briefly helping to lift crude prices. "The supply of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and individuals is prohibited if the contracts for these supplies...

In order to achieve the Vision 2030 goals, the PIF and its portfolio companies seek to help the kingdom grow its annual non-oil GDP by about seven percent.

A key indicator of US inflation edged down from a year ago in November, according to government data, in welcome news to households grappling with soaring costs while spending slowed. This extends a downward inflation trend in recent months, though it is unlikely to bring quick relief from an aggressive...

The November figure is well below the sky-high levels that have sparked concern in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, but far exceeds the Bank of Japan's long-term goal of 2.0 percent. Even excluding fresh food and energy, the index was up 2.8 percent. "Although low by international standards, Japanese...

BENGALURU, INDIA - The UAE participated in the first Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting within the G20 Finance Track, which was held on December 16-17 2022. Held for the first time under India’s G20 presidency in Bengaluru, the meeting sought to discuss the work plan for FWG in 2023, which...

AMMAN, JORDAN - Jordan has arrested dozens of people accused of involvement in protests against rising fuel prices in which a senior police officer was gunned down, the country's security agency said Saturday. Colonel Abdul Razzaq Dalabeh, the deputy police chief of Maan province, died of a gunshot to the head...

Saudi and the UAE equities beat sluggishness of the past few weeks, recording gains across many sectors, with Abu Dhabi index posting gains not seen since last October.

After a healthy rally in recent weeks fuelled by signs that price rises were slowing, the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England this week crushed any Christmas spirit by hiking borrowing costs again by sizeable amounts and warning of more pain.

Colonel Abdul Razzaq Dalabeh, the deputy police chief of Maan province, was shot in the head on Thursday while police tried to "calm down riots" in the southern town of Al-Husseiniya, the Public Security Directorate said in a statement.

But the half-point jump analysts expect to see in the Fed's benchmark lending rate will still be a steep rise, as it struggles to cool demand in the United States to bring consumer costs down. Households in the world's biggest economy have been contending with red-hot prices.

Thanks to high oil prices, Saudi Arabia has recorded its first annual budget surplus in almost a decade, beating its own projections. The kingdom's finance ministry said that the surplus for 2022 touched $27 billion, representing 2.6 percent of GDP.

Vienna, Austria— Major oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia look set to maintain their current output levels at a meeting Sunday, ahead of fresh sanctions against Moscow coming into force. The 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is due to consult with 10 other oil-producing nations, including...

Propelled by First Abu Dhabi Bank, the Abu Dhabi index shot up 1.5 percent, reversing losses of three consecutive days even as Saudi index shed it gains on concerns about decline in crude oil prices.

PARIS, FRANCE - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven countries across the world to boost energy efficiency, creating "huge potential" to tackle high prices, security and climate change, the IEA said on Friday. Governments have scaled up fossil fuel subsidies to cushion the impact of rising energy costs on households...

Global stocks rose as Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell flagged a moderation in interest rate hikes, while China signaled a softer approach to fighting Covid. Asian and European equities tacked higher as investors eyed news that eurozone unemployment fell to a record 6.5 percent in October. Oil prices climbed before...

The World Bank estimates that cash transfers to low income countries eased this year as high prices ate up migrants' incomes. The bank said in a report that remittances to lower-income countries went up around five percent to $626 billion, lower than the 10.2 percent jump in 2021.

With its revenues buoyed by high hydrocarbon prices over the past year, Algeria intends to double its defense budget to $23 billion next year. Africa's top natural gas producer has seen a spike in tensions with its neighbor Morocco over the disputed Western Sahara.