UAE approved a Federal Law on the Insolvency of Natural Persons …

UAE News:
UAE approved a Federal Law on the Insolvency of Natural Persons, to allow debtors to either settle their financial obligations through a court-approved payment plan or Insolvency and the liquidation of their assets. Creditors can request a debtor be declared insolvent if they owe more than AED 200k.
Money supply (M2) in the UAE increased by 0.8% mom to AED 1.373trn in October; bank deposits added AED 17.8bn last month while total foreign assets of the Central Bank rose by 13.45% yoy to AED 370.73bn.
Tourists into Dubai grew by 4.2% yoy to 12.08mn international overnight visitors in January-September 2019, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing. In September, the Emirate welcomed 1.23mn visitors, up 7.3% yoy. India (1.39mn visitors in January-September), Saudi Arabia (1.25mn, 2% yoy), UK (851k), Oman (778k, 28% yoy) and China (14% rise to 729k) remained the largest source markets.
Billionaires wealth in the UAE decreased to USD 19.6bn last year from USD 24bn the year before, according to annual UBS and PWC Billionaires Insights report

MENA News:
Expatriates in Bahrain with a minimum BHD 50k (USD 132,629)stake in any financial, trade, tourism, industrial projects or other businesses can apply for self-sponsorship residence visas. This amount is now half the previous requirement of BHD 100k.
Crude oil production in Egypt declined by 2.97% yoy to 170.9mn barrels in January-September 2019, as per data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative.
Egypt plans to lower the prices of subsidized food staples from December, stated the Supply Minister. A bottle of cooking oil will cost EGP 8.5 (USD 0.53) instead of 9.5, the price of sugar will decrease to EGP 8.5 per kilo from 9, and rice will be reduced to 8 per kilo from 9. No reasons were given for the price cuts.
Jordan will not impose new taxes in its proposed 2020 budget, revealed the Finance Minister, though measures would be put in place to reduce tax evasion and boost revenues.
Kuwait’s non-oil exports grew by 11% yoy to KWD 16.9mn (USD 55mn) in October. Iraq topped the list of Kuwaiti exports, followed by Jordan and Algeria while the UAE ranking first among the GCC nations followed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
China’s Sinopec, which plans to launch a new USD 5.7bn refining and petrochemical complex in Q2 2020, is seeking to finalise a crude oil supply deal with Kuwait to use it as key feedstock.
After the resignation of the Government and refusal of the Caretaker PM to be re-appointed as Premier, Kuwait’s Emir appointed the previous Foreign Minister as the new PM.
Lebanon’s House Speaker scheduled a session of parliament for this Wednesday to discuss draft legislation on banking secrecy and returning stolen state funds. November 28 will be critical for the country: Eurobonds worth USD 1.5bn are set to mature with questions around whether it would be paid on the schedule this time.
The Central Bank of Oman, in its 2019 Financial Stability report, revealed that it does not endorse crypto-currencies or other fintech-based assets that have weak governance or are speculative in natureand given this approach crypto-currencies lack the volume to pose any risk to the Omani financial sector.
Saudi Aramco’s order book reached SAR 73bn (USD 19.5bn) during the first 5 days of the offering, divulged Samba (one of the banks managing the deal): some 1.8mn retail subscribers injected more than SAR 14bn riyals into the IPO while institutional subscriptions amounted to SAR 58.4bn. It was reported that banks were permitted to give leverage to retail customers at a ratio of 2 to 1 for every riyal they put toward buying Aramco shares, up from the normal limit of 1 to 1. Meetings are being planned in Dubai and Abu Dhabi this week though roadshows in London and New York were shelved with offering focus being largely domestic. Aramco plans to sell 1.5% of its shares or about 3bn shares, at an indicative price range of SAR 30-32, and implying the value of the company at up to 1.7trn.
Saudi Arabia plans to launch an instant work-visa service next month to support small businesses.

Global News:
Stock markets in US and Europe applied brakes on the multi-week gains last week on trade concerns (December 15 is the next deadline for US tariff hikes), though towards the end of the week cordial messages from both Presidents Xi and Trump soothed tensions. Even as Chinese shares hit a 3-month low, the comments supported Asian stock markets to recover. Most regional markets declined last week, dragged down by financial stocks. The Pound fell to a 9-day low vs the Euro after flash PMIs showed businesses in the UK slipping to the lowest levels since mid-2016. Oil pulled back from 2-month highs on concerns about OPEC+ production cuts and delays in a US-China trade deal; gold price also declined. Trade tensions drag on with mixed messages, and concerns remain as Trump is expected to sign legislation backing pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the ten-year US government borrowing costs are just 15bps away from tumbling below two-year yields i.e. curve inversion or a dependable predictor of recession.

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SOURCE:
Nasser Saidi & Associates