Saudi Arabia's ample borrowing capacity

Saudi Arabia has replaced China as?the dominant sovereign issuer?in the global emerging debt market league table, according to our columnist Matein (Matt) Khalid . The kingdom and its Gulf neighbours offer international investors dollar exposure with a bit of a kick. Saudi Arabia has ample room to borrow more.

The Kuwait Investment Authority’s?taking over a planned Entertainment City development?in the nation’s capital is the latest sign of an upturn in its commercial real estate sector, Valentina Pasquali wrote. You heard it here first. The words entertainment and Kuwait are rarely heard together. But these are different times.

Gavin Gibbon reported on the curious case of the falling first-half revenues and lower profits at?Majid Al Futtaim, the UAE retail and real estate giant that operates Carrefour stores. The company blamed geopolitics, frugal shoppers and devaluations in Egypt and Kenya. Frugal? Dubai?

Suspicions of tax evasion, capital control breaches and money laundering. Nothing to see here, according to Megha Merani . A?special economic zone in Gujarat, Prime Minister?Narendra Modi’s Indian home state, has halted approvals to set up family offices, citing the above. Dubai, here we come.

Shares in e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – which has operations in 32 countries, have?fallen by more than half from a 2022 peak, Matt Smith found. Exposure to Morocco and the UK among others have hit sentiment. But analysts believe the worst should be over for the stock. Matt also looked at the?dividend attractions of companies?in which the hyperactive PIF of Saudi Arabia has a stake.

First it was gold,?now it is diamonds. Indian polishers are unhappy with what they say is unfair competition in gems re-exported from Dubai. Cut and polished diamonds with only a bit of value addition in the UAE benefit from duty-free entry into India, wrote Megha Merani. Where is the WTO when you need it?

Despite a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies for payments, the?Turkish lira is the most traded currency?on the blockchain platform Tether, Shruthi Nair revealed. Investors see Tether as an “escape point”, according to a crypto expert. I bet they do. Anything that offers protection against 70 percent inflation.

Coming up: Shruthi Nair and Megha Merani were at a Saudi esports event in Riyadh where they spoke to Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan , the president of the Saudi Esports Federation .

Question:?Egypt’s Khalda Petroleum Company has made a new oil discovery in the the Western Desert. How much is it expected to produce? Read on to find out.

James M L Drummond

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