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Egypt foreign investment falls 35%
February 22, 2010--Egypt's central bank has said that foreign direct investment in the country dropped 35% in the first half of the fiscal year, making it hard for the government to meet its target of attracting $10bn by June 2010, Bloomberg has reported
'It means they need about $8bn in the second half. That's very difficult unless there is a major deal,' Mona Mansour, director at CI Capital Research in Cairo, told the news service. Foreign investment was about $2.6bn in the six months to end-December, compared with $4bn in the same period a year earlier, the central bank said.
DFM falls 0.15%
February 18, 2010--The Dubai Financial Market fell 0.15% today to close on 1,625, with 12 stocks rising and 10 falling.
Air Arabia, the day's most actively traded stock, gained 4.26% to Dhs0.98. Global Investment House had the biggest rise, climbing 8.55% to Dhs1.27.
Dubai World to offer debt restructuring plan in March
February 18, 2010--State-owned Dubai World will present a proposal to creditors in March to restructure about $22bn of debt after its advisers complete valuing the assets of the company, Bloomberg has reported, citing a person close to the Dubai government said.
The final proposal will be made after consultations with the Abu Dhabi government and the UAE' central bank, the official said. The central bank, Abu Dhabi's government and two commercial banks of the emirate lent $20bn last year to Dubai's financial support fund to help state-owned companies during the credit crisis.
Bahrain hires banks for $1bn bond sale
February 18, 2010--Bahrain has hired JPMorgan Chase Bank, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas to manage the sale of a $1bn bond, Bloomberg has reported, citing a banker familiar with the deal.
Last month, the kingdom's central bank announced plans to issue about $1bn conventional bond, with a 10-year maturity to fund its budget. Lead managers are expected to start investor meetings in late March or early in the second-quarter, the banker told the news service.
ADX sees slight gain
February 18, 2010--The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange gained 0.27% to 2,766, even though twice as many stocks fell (16) as advanced (8).
Union Cement was the day's big gainer, rising 9.46% to Dhs9.46. National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah had the day's biggest loss, falling 8.05% to Dhs4.05.
Abu Dhabi awards $700m contract to develop oilfield
February 18, 2010--Abu Dhabi Co for Onshore Oil Development has awarded a $700m contract to the Abu Dhabi Government-controlled National Petroleum Construction to develop the giant Bab oilfield, which contains more than 500 million barrels of proved oil reserves,
The National has reported. The contract is part of Adco's drive to boost output capacity by 14% within three years. Bab is one of Abu Dhabi's biggest onshore oilfields, and in 1958 was among the first to be discovered in the emirate.
Egypt to build new wind farm
February 18, 2010--Abu Dhabi's Masdar and Egypt's electricity and energy ministry are to sign an agreement today to build a 200 megawatt wind farm as part of a plan to generate 20% of the country's energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, Reuters has reported.
Egypt already has wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada in the eastern Red Sea coast and now has installed capacity of 430 megawatts of wind. The plant will be located near Suez on Egypt's east coast.
HSBC expects more sukuks in 2010
February 18, 2010--HSBC's Amanah Islamic banking division expects double-digit revenue growth and more sukuk mandates in 2010 compared to last year, Razi Fakih, deputy chief executive of Amanah told Reuters.
HSBC expects to have more than the 15 mandates it had in 2009 for sukuk, or Islamic bond issues, Fakih told the news service.
Diversity of global gold market keeps 2009 demand above $100bn mark
February 17, 2010-In 2009, total global dollar demand for gold remained above the $100bn mark for the second year in succession against the backdrop of continued turbulence in financial and commodity markets.
Total identifiable gold demand in tonnage terms fell 11% to 3385.8 tonnes(t) during 2009 when compared to the exceptional levels reached in 2008, masking a progressive recovery in jewellery and industrial demand after a weak first quarter and resilient investment demand during 2009 as a whole. This resilience in demand was achieved in the context of average gold prices 12% higher than those in 2008, at $US972.35/oz.
Saudi project finance market may hit $30bn in 2010
February 17, 2010--Saudi Arabia is on track to complete project finance deals worth about $30bn in 2010, well above the total of about $20bn completed in the whole region in 2009, MEED magazine has reported.
The figure is based on a small number of large projects which are likely to reach financial close over the course of the year, including the Jubail and Yanbu refineries planned by Saudi Aramco and an aluminium smelter being developed by Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), according to MEED.
