January First Week Newsletter of Middle East Business News.
Highlights:
– Dubai kicked off the new year by scrapping a 30% tax on alcohol sales and making liquor licenses free.
– Dubai’s latest initiative will last for a one-year trial period and the government will likely monitor how effectively the lower prices are passed on to consumers.
– While taxes from alcohol sales have been an important source of revenue for Dubai’s government, the impact of reducing them could be offset by a 9% federal corporate tax that’s set to start in from June.
Highlights:
– The private equity firm is in advanced talks to complete two private equity deals in the next 12 months, and is focusing on consumer and health care industries, Tariq Al-Sudairy, managing director and chief executive officer.
– Saudi Arabia’s Jadwa Investment Co. plans to invest about two billion riyals ($532 million) in new private equity deals and to list stakes in three of its portfolio companies by 2025.
Highlights:
– UK’s Sun newspaper said the 37-year-old Portugal striker would earn more than $200 million a year. He reportedly made about ￡26 million ($31 million) a year at Manchester United, his previous team.
– The nation’s deep pockets have financed LIV Golf in a bid to upend the staid world of professional golf, while its sovereign wealth fund bought Newcastle United, a Premier League club.
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Highlights:
– Egypt’s central bank revoked a requirement for importers to secure letters of credit, a rule that had been blamed for a massive backlog at ports.
– The requirement of the letters of credit meant that importers either couldn’t bring their goods to market or were forced to source the currency on the black market. In either case, the end result was spiking inflation.
– Analysts have said clearing the import backlog was crucial to ensure a stable supply of foreign exchange.
– As Turkey prepares for the polls, Erdogan’s been accelerating public spending, including raising the minimum wage by over 50% and providing cheap government-backed loans.
– The early retirement decision has imposed the most permanent burden on the budget among the decisions taken in recent years,” said Hakan Kara, the Turkish central bank’s former chief economist and a professor at Bilkent University in Ankara. “This will have a negative impact on the country’s risk premium and inflation.”
Highlights:
– The Monetary Policy and Liraization Strategy for 2023 shows regulators will pursue a policy mix that encourages residents to save in liras and banks to hold longer-term government bonds denominated in the local currency.
– Turkey will boost the share of lira deposits in its banking system with policies intended to diversify savings away from foreign currencies such as the US dollar, the central bank said.