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Middle East Set For M&A Boost In 2017
...nk of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank. Due to be completed in Q1 2017, it will be the largest domestic Middle Eastern deal of all time, creating the largest bank in the Mena region. Many of the region’s biggest banks missed analysts’ earnings estimates in Q3 due to an increase in non-performing lo...
Volume: 59Issue: 51/52Published at Fri, 23 Dec 2016 -
Qatar Slashes 2017 Budget Deficit But Maintains Spending At High Levels
...Qatar Slashes 2017 Budget Deficit But Maintains Spending At High Levels Qatar’s budget for 2017 projects that it will post its second consecutive deficit, although it expects this to fall $8.4bn to $7.8bn. But a conservative oil price assumption means next year’s deficit may actually be as...
Volume: 59Issue: 51/52Published at Fri, 23 Dec 2016 -
Aid For Egypt, Iraq & Jordan
...facilitate access to water in Irbid and improve distribution. Jordan is also the recipient of a $250mn World Bank loan to help redress fiscal imbalances in the energy and water sectors and improve public services. Jordan expects to receive foreign grants of some JD777mn ($1,096mn) in 2017 to lo...
Volume: 59Issue: 51/52Published at Fri, 23 Dec 2016 -
Iraq Budgets For Higher Revenue In 2017 As Oil Prices Rise
...Iraq is on track to record a massive $21.5bn deficit in 2016, a modest improvement on last year’s $26bn. The recently-passed 2017 budget projects a deficit of ‘only’ $18.4bn, though a conservative oil price assumption means it may undershoot. Iraq is banking on higher oil revenues in 2017 to...
Volume: 59Issue: 50Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016 -
Oman Eyes Debt Market
...Oman is planning to issue $1.5-2bn of international bonds in 2017 to plug its budget deficit, senior central bank official Ali Hamdan al-Raisi says. Finance ministry official Muhammad Jawad bin Sleiman adds that Oman has yet to decide whether it will be a normal bond or loan, or sukuk. Om...
Volume: 59Issue: 50Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016 -
Gulf Finance: Rise Of The Renminbi
...nks for the 30-year tranche of Saudi’s $17.5bn bond issued in October – Asian investors bought 22% of the $6.5bn Saudi 30-year notes. Saudi is expected to tap the international bond markets again in 2017 as it seeks to reduce its budget deficit. Asian banks, including Chinese, have considerable ex...
Volume: 59Issue: 50Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016 -
Iran’s 2017-18 Budget Projects Higher Oil Revenue But Taxing Times Ahead
...Iran’s oil and gas revenue is projected to rise in real terms by 37% to $33bn in the 2017-18 draft budget from $25bn in the current year, President Hassan Rohani announced this week in his budget statement to parliament. The surge in revenue is due to a combination of rising oil exports fo...
Volume: 59Issue: 49Published at Fri, 09 Dec 2016 -
Saudi Cash Injection: Better Late Than Never
...pect banks’ operating environment to remain challenged by low non-oil GDP growth of 0.8% this year and 2.0% in 2017, versus the 2010-15 average of 6.2%, these developments should provide a boost to the system liquidity. This, in turn, will support banks’ funding and profitability in 2017,” Moody’s sa...
Volume: 59Issue: 48Published at Fri, 02 Dec 2016 -
Algeria Raises More Taxes In 2017 Austerity Budget
...Algeria is raising more taxes and cutting spending in its 2017 austerity budget which was approved on 22 November by parliament, in a bid to offset the fall in oil revenue from lower oil prices. The budget still needs the green light from the Algerian Senate. Only some details about the in...
Volume: 59Issue: 48Published at Fri, 02 Dec 2016 -
Tunisia Bags $10bn Aid
...is shortfall. The 2017 budget deficit is projected to fall to TD5.4bn ($2.3bn) according to the budget law. Tunisia plans to tap the international debt market with a €1bn Eurobond in January to cover the budget deficit, according to a government source. In August it raised a $500mn five-year Eu...
Volume: 59Issue: 48Published at Fri, 02 Dec 2016 -
Saudi Delayed Payments Risk Slowing Economy Further
...nth confirmed that the Petro Rabigh 2 expansion had been pushed back to the second half of 2017 due to delays in the schedule and scope changes in the work program (MEES, 7 October). A contractual dispute with South Korea's SK Engineering & Construction led to the 400,000 b/d Jazan refinery being pu...
Volume: 59Issue: 47Published at Fri, 25 Nov 2016 -
Egypt IMF Loan Brings Short-Term Relief, But Uncertainties Lie Ahead
...ans to tap the international bond market for $2.75bn by the end of the year and can expect better terms after securing the IMF loan. Mr Kojak says Egypt is targeting 4-5% growth in 2017-18, rising to 6% over the medium-term which would help to reduce unemployment, projected to fall to 11-12% in 2017...
Volume: 59Issue: 46Published at Fri, 18 Nov 2016 -
Algeria Raises $5.1bn In Bonds, Taps ADB For $1bn
...e 2017 draft budget which is being debated in parliament – with current expenditure down 9% and capital spending down 31% in real terms. The draft budget also envisages a rise in the price of subsidized gasoline and diesel (MEES, 14 October). Mr Baba Ammi says that the government has yet to de...
Volume: 59Issue: 46Published at Fri, 18 Nov 2016 -
Saudi Investment & Fundraising: What A Difference A Year Makes
...change reserves are unlikely to fall much beyond their current level in the coming years. “In terms of the fiscal position, we expect the kingdom’s budget deficit to narrow to around 7.5% of GDP in 2017. Meanwhile, the dollar revenues that the international bond sale brings will also help to finance th...
Volume: 59Issue: 45Published at Fri, 11 Nov 2016 -
IMF Poised To Approve Egypt Loan
...valued pound and to a higher Brent oil price than that assumed in the original budget. Electricity tariff rates will not increase before the beginning of the next fiscal year which starts on 1 July 2017, a spokesman of the Electricity Ministry says. But after the devaluation, the ministry will incur ad...
Volume: 59Issue: 45Published at Fri, 11 Nov 2016 -
Kuwait Bonds On Track
...Kuwait’s plans to tap the international bond market to finance the 2016-17 budget deficit are firming up. Minister of Finance Anas al-Salih says Kuwait will raise KD2.9bn ($9.6bn) in dollar-denominated bonds in Q1 2017. The issue will not only diversify the sources of government revenue, it wi...
Volume: 59Issue: 45Published at Fri, 11 Nov 2016 -
UAE Plans 3% Spending Cut For 2017
...The UAE cabinet has approved a federal budget of Dh48.7bn ($13.3bn at a fixed $1=Dh3.673) for 2017, which is part of a five-year budget of Dh 248bn ($67.5bn) for 2017-21, the Emirates News Agency WAM said on 30 October. The 2017 budget in nominal terms is virtually unchanged from the Dh...
Volume: 59Issue: 44Published at Fri, 04 Nov 2016 -
Algeria: Forex Down Again, On Track For $20bn Deficit
...w banks but said that it hopes to set up in Algeria joint ventures with large international banks. The country has sought to get to grips with declining revenue by, for the first time in years, adopting a realistic oil price assumption in its 2017 draft budget (MEES, 14 October). However, wh...
Volume: 59Issue: 44Published at Fri, 04 Nov 2016 -
Saudi: New Finance Chief
...eat confidence in the Saudi Vision 2030 “despite all the challenges.” The new finance minister’s first major task will be to put the finishing touches on the 2017 budget expected to be unveiled toward the end of the year. The Saudi government has introduced a series of austerity measures, in...
Volume: 59Issue: 44Published at Fri, 04 Nov 2016 -
Iran’s Banking Reform Bills Stalled
...d will elicit a major tussle with government. Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi head of the Majlis Economic Commission said on 22 October that he expects parliament to approve the final draft of a new banking reform bill by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2017. Although a first draft of th...
Volume: 59Issue: 43Published at Fri, 28 Oct 2016