Dubai Real Estate: Secondary Market Sales Topped $20.8bn in H1…
The Dubai real estate is thriving, with secondary sales of properties reaching AED76.34bn ($20.8bn) in the first half of the year.
UAE News:
Real GDP in the UAE expanded by 3.4% YoY in Q1 2024 (Q4 2023: 4.3%), with non-oil sector activity driving growth (4.0% in Q1 following Q4 2023’s 6.7% gain). The contribution of the non-oil sector crossed three-quarters of the total in Q1 (75.2%), with finance & insurance and transportation sectors growing the fastest. The oil sector rebounded in Q1, up by 1.4% YoY, following three consecutive quarters of decline. Wholesale & retail trade grew by 2.2% and manufacturing edged up by 1.9% – both at slower paces compared to the previous quarter’s gains. During a UAE delegation visit to India, several agreements and initiatives were launched including collaboration to develop a virtual trade corridor, aircraft maintenance services and integration of advanced technologies into India’s infrastructure among others. It was also disclosed that bilateral non-oil trade between UAE and India climbed by 10% YoY in H1 2024. Indian investments in the UAE exceeded USD 2bn while UAE investments in India. India and Abu Dhabi signed 5 MoUs covering nuclear cooperation, food parks development in India, agreement for long-term LNG supply & other energy deals.
The Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority revealed a 18% growth in new profit, 12% jump in total revenue and 5% uptick in operating profit in H1 2024 compared to end-2023 results.
MENA News:
A new EGP 50bn tourism initiative was launched by Egypt’s Finance Ministry to encourage the construction of hotel rooms to support a higher expected inflow of tourists.
Egypt’s first hybrid solar power and battery storage project will be initiated in H1 2025: the 1GW solar power plant and 100MW battery storage project will be helmed by Norway’s renewable energy producer Scatec.
Oman’s OQ plans for a 25% stake sale in its OQEP exploration and production business could raise USD 2bn. This will be Oman’s first IPO and the biggest in the GCC this year; OQ will retain a stake of at least 75%. The Oman Investment Authority confirmed plans to launch key IPOs between 2024 and 2028.
In a bid to grow the cruise tourism sector, Oman introduced 10-day and one-month visas free of charge – these are available from cruise-ship agents. Last year, 229 cruise ships hit Oman’s tourism ports, carrying 599k passengers.
UNCTAD report finds Gaza’s economy “in ruins” after 11 months of war, having shrunk to less than 1/6-th its size by mid-2024; unemployment in the occupied West Bank nearly tripled to 32% during this period. International donor support fell to its lowest level at USD 358mn in 2023 (or 2% of GDP), down from USD 2bn or 27% of GDP in 2008.
A BlackRock-managed fund bought a minority stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Company from Bapco Energies(Bahrain’s state oil company).
Private equity investments MENA reached USD 5.9bn across 49 deals in H1 2024, according to the report by PitchBook. In comparison, USD 15.4bn was deployed across 159 deals in 2023. PIF and ADQ were the most active investors. Exit activity also declined in H1, with only USD 1.6bn generated from 25 exits.
Saudi Arabia expects AI to account for 12% of GDP by 2030, according to the Saudi Data and AI Authority’s State of AI paper. No details were however provided as to how this will be achieved.
The Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issued 37,730 certificates of origin in August, underscoring the strength of the export sector as this is the 16th consecutive month of 30k+ certificates of origin.
The e-commerce sector in Saudi Arabia constitutes 8% of the total trade, revealed the Minister of Commerce, supported by the rise in fintech companies (up to 170+ currently from 10 in 2018).
Saudi Arabia plans to introduce a tourist tax refund scheme: a public consultation was opened in end-August on changes to the tax regulation.
S&P revised Saudi Arabia’s outlook to positive citing reforms, acceleration of investments and diversification away from the oil sector. Ratings were affirmed at “A/A-1”.
Global News:
Equities markets mostly gained last week, with expectations high for a more aggressive Fed rate cut of 50bps on Wednesday – supported upticks in equities (S&P and Nasdaq posted their biggest weekly gains in 2024), gold price and Treasury prices. Regional markets were mostly down on the week, though posted gains towards Thursday-Friday on rate cut hopes. Among currencies, the dollar index fell to the lowest in nearly 9 months while both Brent & WTI posted weekly gains (in spite of hitting lower levels of USD 68.68 and USD 65.27 respectively on slowdown concerns). Gold price rallied to a new record-high of USD 2550+.
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SOURCE:
Nasser Saidi & Associates