Category: Market

Under the patronage and in the presence of Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, today the German Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) signed a €10 million agreement to support small infrastructure projects in villages, towns, communities and cities.

“This agreement is intended to support the Palestinian people through UNDP in a number of villages, towns, communities and cities to implement small infrastructure projects in various fields, whether it is in education, health, roads, environment, agricultural roads and others. In general, it is expected to meet the needs of the priorities of the targeted areas,” said Prime Minister Shtayyeh following the signing of the agreement.

Shtayyeh thanked Germany, its taxpayers, the German government, and the German Development Bank, the provider of the financial grant, and the United Nations Development Program, the implementing party, for their cooperation in meeting the needs of the Palestinian people.

“For us, these projects constitute a lever for the economy in order to strengthen the resilience of our people and provide them with a better service, on the one hand, and on the other, to achieve the political goal we aspire for related to ending the occupation and establishing our independent Palestinian state,” he said.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency

Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, discussed with Iranian Ambassador in Damascus, Mehdi Sobhani, arrangements for holding the 2nd Iranian products exhibition to be held in Damascus during the period between November 29th and December 3.

The two sides discussed activities accompanying the exhibition as the meetings of the joint commercial committee will be held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, and the joint industrial committee at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry.

They pointed out that the exhibition is the largest joint Syrian-Iranian economic event in terms of the number of participants which amounted to 164 commercial and industrial companies, in addition to 70 individuals from government agencies and the private sector and it will be an opportunity to meet Syrian and Iranian businessmen and discuss the best ways to enhance joint cooperation.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Manama, Bahrain Bourse (BHB), a self-regulated multi-asset marketplace has officially announced the kick-off of the 4th Edition of the Smart Investor Programme, aimed at elementary students as part of the curriculum for the academic year 2021-2022.

Workshops for the Smart Investor programme will be held in 70 schools. Educators and volunteers will target more than 5000 students in grade 4 elementary level during the academic year, targeting both public and private institutions.

Shaikh Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, CEO of Bahrain Bourse commented, “We are pleased to kick-off the fourth edition of the Smart Investor programme in collaboration with INJAZ Bahrain. The programme reflects Bahrain Bourse’s strategic efforts to enhance investment awareness providing a combination of financial awareness, knowledge, skills, attitude, and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions. The programme has proved, during the past 3 years, the importance of the knowledge and concepts students learned throughout the program, and hence we are glad to see the implementation of the program as part of the curriculum for the first time this year.”

Hana Sarwani, INJAZ Bahrain Executive Director, stated, “We are proud to continue our partnership with Bahrain Bourse to deliver the Smart Investor Programme to the youth of Bahrain. Teaching this programme to youngsters at school not only empowers them to make better money related financial decisions but also equips them with the knowledge they need to be economically successful in their life. Having the programme now embedded in the curriculum of public schools will provide us with the opportunity to reach even more students who would benefit from this unique offering.”

Launched in 2018, the Smart Investor programme is a national awareness programme in collaboration with INJAZ Bahrain targeting elementary students. The programme aims at equipping young students with basic concepts related to money management, savings, and smart financial planning through interactive edutainment activities in order to assist them in making sound financial decisions.

The Programme consists of seven-themed sessions designed to equip students with the following concepts: Thinking, Specifying, Planning, Execution, Saving, Progression, and Evaluation.

For the first time, the Smart Investor Programme will launch a national challenge for participants in order to increase engagement and encourage students to participate by applying what they’ve learned during the programme.

Bahrain Bourse is particularly thankful to the following institutions who have sponsored the Smart Investor Program: Gold Sponsor: Ahli United Bank. Silver Sponsors: Bank ABC and Ithmaar Holding.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Manama, With a record number of footfall in the first four days of the Jewellery Arabia, the show has emerged as an instant hit according to exhibitors in this year’s show.

Abdulwahab Al Hawaj, General Manager of Al Hawaj Group applauded His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, for supporting the Jewellery Arabia.

The leadership’s support has led to the tremendous success of the 29th edition of Jewellery Arabia held on November 16 – 20, and which has received overwhelming response from the visitors from Bahrain and the neighbouring countries.

Al Hawaj said he was extremely happy with the return of major events like Jewellery Arabia.

“I am so glad that this event is taking place this year after a break last year due to the pandemic that hit the entire world,” he said.

“I am amazed at the tremendous response of people from Bahrain and our neighboring countries. We see this show is being attended by thousands of people which is an indication of the success of this major annual event that is on the calendar of the Kingdom of Bahrain. I can say that Bahrain is blessed by the grace of Almighty God with businesses coming back to normal.

He added that participation in this year’s show from the local businesses and most of the international brands was tremendous just like every year.

Abbas Shirazi, Director of the Bahrain Jewellery Centre thanked HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister for his care and encouragement to businesses in Bahrain.

“As a Bahrain Jewellery Centre, it was among the main partners behind the idea of the creation of Jewellery Arabia in 1991,” he said.

“BJC is a family running business and now we are the fourth and fifth generation serving the people of Bahrain following the footsteps of our fathers and forefathers.”

“We are glad to see great response from the customers not only from Bahrain but also from the GCC. The footfall at the exhibition this year had been tremendous, and we are grateful to all government organizations that have come forward to make this event a huge success. We thank Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa for inaugurating this event. Bahrain has been a home to such exhibitions and we look forward to more major events in the future.”

“We are extremely happy with Jewellery Arabia 2021 once again taking place in Bahrain, thanks to the leadership and the government of Bahrain for opening to businesses again,” said Tarik Chikhi, Area Sales Manager of Chopard for GCC and Middle East Region.

“The event since its opening has received many visitors every day. We are delighted to welcome our customers from Bahrain and the GCC after one year’s hiatus. We can say overall during these days the exhibition has been very successful, our business was good too and we look forward to participating in the next edition.”

Mohammed A.R Shirazi, Director at BJC, said they were excited to be back at Jewellery Arabia 2021 as one of the events that people in Bahrain and beyond look forward to attending.

“These five-days of the event have been a festive time,” he said. “We are happy to see overwhelming response from the people from Bahrain and the neighbouring countries. We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the leadership and the government of Bahrain for their support to this event.”

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Tokyo, Japan’s government is considering releasing oil from its reserves in response to rising crude oil prices, Kyodo news agency reported on Saturday, without citing sources.

It would be the first time for Japan to release oil reserves for the sake of lowering prices, although the country in the past has tapped such reserves when it faced natural disasters and geopolitical risks overseas, Kyodo said.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.

The government of U.S. President Joe Biden, who faces falling approval ratings and higher gasoline prices, has pressed some of the world’s biggest economies to consider releasing oil from their strategic reserves to quell high energy prices.

The requests include asking China for the first time to consider releasing stocks of crude.

Japan reacted positively to the initial U.S. outreach on a possible coordinated reserve release and was considering such a step, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters previously.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno declined to comment on Thursday about the U.S. requests, first reported by Reuters.

“We will continue to closely watch how rising crude oil prices will affect global energy markets and the Japanese economy,” he told reporters. “While urging oil-producing nations to ramp up oil output, we will strive to stabilise energy markets by coordinating with major consumer nations and international organisations,” such as the International Energy Agency.

Resource-poor Japan gets the vast majority of its oil from the Middle East. Recent surging oil prices and a weakening yen are driving up the cost of imports, dealing a double blow to a trade-dependent nation.

The government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday unveiled a record $490 billion stimulus plan including measures to counter higher oil prices. It plans to subsidise oil refiners in the hope of capping wholesale gasoline and fuel prices to ease the pain to households and firms from rising oil costs.

“What’s important is to urge oil-producing countries to ramp up oil production,” Kishida said last month after discussions with cabinet ministers. “We will arrange concrete measures after confirming what industry sectors are being affected.”

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Istanbul Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus expressed his hope to expedite the opening of two border crossings with Iraq to ensure the access of Turkish transport companies to all Iraqi regions.

In a speech he delivered today during the opening of the Turkish-Iraqi Business Forum for Investment and Contracting in Istanbul, Mus said: We hope to open the Ovakoy-Fischabo and Derajik-Mercur border crossings as soon as possible to ensure the arrival of Turkish transport companies to all regions of Iraq, stressing that the increasing contacts between Turkey and Iraq in the recent period have gained bilateral relations greater momentum.

He pointed out that the close economic and trade cooperation between the two countries contributes greatly to their prosperity, and that all goals can be achieved in this framework through solidarity.

The Turkish Minister of Trade confirmed that the volume of trade exceeded the target amount during 2020, despite the effects of the Coronavirus epidemic, to rise to 20.7 billion dollars, noting that this success is due to the sacrificing businessmen of the two countries and that economic cooperation will enhance solidarity in other fields.

He revealed that Iraq ranked fourth among the countries most importing from Turkey during the past year, while Ankara ranked third for the Iraqi side.

He said that Iraq has a special place for the Turkish contracting sector, whose companies have undertaken 1,034 projects in this country worth $31 billion.

He added, “Despite a decrease in the number of new projects due to political and economic developments in recent years, we can say that we have entered a new and promising era at the commercial level in Iraq.”

Mus announced that the value of the projects undertaken by Turkish companies in Iraq since 2017 amounted to $6.5 billion, and that Turkey is looking forward to raising the number to higher levels.

He stressed the importance of implementing a project to link the two countries via railways, in a move that would transform Iraq into a trade center between Asia and Europe, and facilitate Turkey’s access to the Gulf states.

He also indicated that Turkey is waiting for the Iraqi authorities to adopt transit trade procedures and for the same rules to be applied in all customs.

He said Turkey is also asking to take all kinds of measures to jointly facilitate bilateral trade, and to take a more flexible approach instead of banning imports and imposing additional tariffs.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Baghdad Members of the Economic Contact Group for Iraq expressed their satisfaction with the continuation of dialogue with the Government of Iraq, and congratulated it, along with the Iraqi people, on the parliamentary elections that took place on October 10, 2021.

It said in a statement: The reports of independent observers encourage members of the Economic Contact Group for Iraq, which states that the electoral process has witnessed a remarkable technical and procedural improvement compared to the previous elections in Iraq.

The Iraq Economic Group called on all parties to resolve any disputes related to the elections that may arise peacefully through the existing legal channels.

The group hopes for the rapid formation of a government that maintains the priority of economic reform, and addresses the structural challenges facing Iraq.

It added that despite the current recovery in oil prices, which provides the Iraqi state and its economy with more revenue, the heavy dependence on oil exports is not sustainable in the long term, with the decline in global demand for hydrocarbons.

It indicated that economic reform, as stated in the government’s white paper, is required to ensure diversified and inclusive growth, create sustainable job opportunities for the growing youth group, enable the private sector to thrive and serve the economy, and ensure macroeconomic and financial sustainability in response to external shocks.

It noted that these basic reforms should be implemented along with policies in the interest of human capital development, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and providing basic services.

The group calls on the leaders of Iraq and the next government to give priority to reforms and to ensure that the reform process is implemented quickly.

It stressed the continuation of the white paper on the Iraqi government as an important tool in continuing to achieve those reform goals.

The Iraq Economic Contact Group reiterated its commitment to support the Iraqi government in its reform efforts, and is ready to continue its current support.

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi Economic Contact Group, launched by the Group of Seven, the European Union and the World Bank on October 22, 2020 in London, is an international alliance that supports the efforts of the Government of Iraq to advance the implementation of pivotal economic reforms.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Baghdad The Expert on the Economy, Maladh Al-Amin, warned of the continuing high rate of poverty in the country, stressing the establishment of governmental measures to limit this phenomenon.

Al-Amin said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that “the rise in the poverty rate in the country to 31.7 percent, after it was 23 percent three years ago, requires the government to take practical measures to reduce it, especially since Iraq is a country rich in resources with the increase in its financial revenues from oil exports after that the global markets witnessed a rise in the price of a barrel to above $70.”

He pointed out: “The justifications given about the reasons for the high percentage of the poor, including those that are due to the Corona virus, were not completely true, indicating that the virus caused the global and local economy to decline, but the developed countries adopted measures that would help the poor classes and provide them with the means of living, as vaccinations against the virus continue.

He stressed that “the government has taken measures to combat poverty, but these measures, according to the report of the Ministry of Planning, were not sufficient, as the poverty rate rose from 23 percent to 31.7 percent, which means that nearly 10 million citizens, who make up a third of Iraq’s population, are poor in their country, which floats on lakes of black gold.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Istanbul The Iraqi Minister of Trade, Alaa Ahmed Hassan Obaidi, announced that he had agreed with his Turkish counterpart, Muhammed Mus, to facilitate the granting of visas to businessmen of the two countries.

The Iraqi Minister of Trade said during the opening of the Turkish-Iraqi Business Forum for Investment and Contracting today in Istanbul that he met this morning with his Turkish counterpart Muhammed Mus, and they agreed to facilitate the granting of visas to businessmen in the two countries with the aim of expanding the horizons of bilateral cooperation in various fields.

He explained that he had agreed with Mus to issue multiple entry and exit visas for contractors for a period of up to 5 years, provided that this procedure would be expanded to a wider segment in the future.

He pointed out that Iraq’s areas liberated from the control of the terrorist organization “ISIS” and the government’s dedication to the reconstruction and development of those areas open broad prospects for investment and an opportunity for Turkish companies to contribute to the reconstruction of those areas, expressing his hope to sign broad partnerships and conclude agreements with the Turkish side in this direction.

The Minister of Trade stressed that the volume of monthly trade exchange between the two countries ranges between one and one and a half billion dollars, with the possibility of enhancing this exchange.

He pointed out that the economies of the world have been affected by the epidemic, and there must be regional economic blocs, which will be a major factor for economic, political and social stability in the region.

He stressed that the world suffers from difficulties in obtaining resources, and the necessity of conducting studies between countries and the private sector, indicating that the Iraqi government has taken a series of decisions in order to promote trade, praising the successful projects implemented by Turkey in Iraq.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Baghdad Oil prices stabilized today, Friday, as investors paused to catch a breath, following a day of extreme fluctuations raised by the specter of a coordinated move by the world’s major economies to withdraw from their strategic stocks of crude.

Brent crude futures rose 28 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $ 81.52 a barrel by 0145 GMT, after falling to a six-week low on Thursday, before turning the course and closing 1.2 percent higher.

The futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were not less fortunate than the previous one, as it also rose 19 cents to $ 79.20 a barrel, after it fluctuated in a range of more than two dollars before closing higher, and the two crudes are heading to a fourth week of decline.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Preliminary results of the Foreign Investment Survey of Resident Enterprises in Palestine as of end of year 2020 showed that the external investments by resident enterprises in Palestine were greater than investments by non-residents, today said a joint report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA).

The total foreign direct investment stock in resident enterprises in Palestine amounted to $1,671 million at the end of 2020, said the joint report, taking into consideration the specification of the Palestinian situation; that Palestine does not own a national currency, which is included in the other investments on the assets side.

In this regard, the total investment stock abroad of resident enterprises in Palestine (assets) amounted to $8,088 million at the end of 2020, of which 67.5% is a foreign exchange in these enterprises and their deposits in banks abroad.

In addition, the total foreign investment stock in resident enterprises in Palestine (liabilities) amounts to $3,066 million at the end of 2020, of which 54.5% is a foreign direct investment (FDI).

The total investments stock abroad of resident enterprises in Palestine (assets) at the end of 2020 was distributed as: Other investments abroad amounted to $5,624 million with a percentage of 69.5% of total assets; portfolio investments abroad amounted to $1,463 million with a percentage of 18.1% of total assets; stock of reserve assets for the PMA amounted to $697 million with a percentage of 8.6% of total assets, and the foreign direct investments (FDI) abroad amounted to $304 million with a percentage of 3.8% of total assets at the end of 2020.

While the total foreign investment stock in resident enterprises in Palestine (liabilities) was distributed as: Foreign direct investments (FDI) amounted to $1,671 million with a percentage of 54.5% of total liabilities; portfolio investments were $668 million with a percentage of 21.8% of total liabilities; while other investments totaled $727 million with a percentage of 23.7% of total liabilities at the end of 2020.

Results showed that 64.3% of foreign direct investments (FDI) in resident enterprises in Palestine are concentrated in the financial intermediation activity. Whereas investments from Jordan contributed 80.8% of the total stock of FDI in resident enterprises in Palestine.

Results also showed that 59.8% of total portfolio investments in resident enterprises in Palestine are concentrated in the financial intermediation activity. Whereas investments from Jordan contributed 46.4% of the total stock of Portfolio investments in resident enterprises in Palestine.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency