Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced on Thursday the launch of “Alat” – a PIF company that will make Saudi Arabia a global hub for sustainable development. technological manufacturing.
Qatar Energy estimates that the Northern Compartment is home to around 10 of the world’s known plant fuel reserves.
Morocco’s annual industrial deficit of 7. 3% to 286 billion dirhams ($28. 6 billion) in 2023 was helped by a drop in energy imports and a surge in tourism revenues, the currency regulator said in a monthly report.
Imports fell 2.5% from a year earlier to 715 billion dirhams, while exports increased by 0.2% to 429 billion dirhams, the regulator said, adding that remittances from Moroccans abroad and automotive industry exports also helped to improve the trade deficit.
Morocco’s energy imports dropped 20.4% to 122 billion dirhams after a drop both in demand and prices in the international market.
Wheat imports stood at DH 19. 3 billion, up 25. 3%, while imports of ammonia, key to fertilizer production, fell by 58% to DH 8. 8 billion.
Morocco, which has the world’s largest phosphate reserves, reported a 34% drop in its exports of minerals and derivatives, fertilizers, to 76 billion dirhams.
Morocco, home to Stellantis and Renault production plants, saw exports from the automotive sector increase by more than 27% to a record 141 billion dirhams.
Tourism revenue also scaled new peaks, jumping 11.7% to 104 billion dirhams from a record 14.5 million visitors to the country last year.
Key to Morocco’s inflow of hard currency, remittances from Moroccans abroad reached a record 115 billion dirhams, up 4% from 2022.
Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, on Saturday unveiled its first flight to AlUla International Airport, from where the airline will operate direct Bahrain-AlUla flights twice a week, from February 3 to March 6 and from April 10 to 27. aboard the Gulf Air A320neo aircraft.
The AlUla Royal Commission (RCU) aims to expand air connectivity to local and foreign destinations and transform AlUla into a global logistics hub in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Vice President of RCU’s Office of Marketing and Destination Management, Rami Almoallim, said: “We are pleased to welcome new travellers on their adventure to AlUla, which provides a cultural and tourist experience. “
He added that AlUla’s inclusion among Gulf Air’s most sensible seasonal destinations for the current year is a testament to the tourist appeal of this historic site.
“It also contributes to our efforts to facilitate access to AlUla as a destination for direct foreign flights from nearby foreign air hubs,” he added.
In recent years, several projects have been carried out at AlUla International Airport for its services. The airport joined the list of foreign airports in March 2021. The airport’s total domain has expanded to approximately 2. 4 million square meters, and the airport’s flying deck can accommodate up to 15 aircraft at a time.
The improvement of flight operations and the progression of the airport’s infrastructure align with AlUla’s goals of welcoming two million visitors annually until 2035, a pioneering style of practical and sustainable tourism strategy.
Saudi airlines have expanded the reach of their flights to AlUla International Airport, connecting it to Europe through operational flights to Paris and adding destinations, from Dubai, Doha and Cairo.
The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority reported that January 2024 profits saw a large drop of 46% from the same period in 2023, from $804 million to $428 million.
The authority’s chairman, Osama Rabie, said in televised remarks that 1,362 ships passed through the canal in January 2024, up from 2,155 ships in January 2023, a low of 36%.
Rabie noted that this is the first time the Suez Canal has gone through a crisis, adding that the Authority held many meetings with shipping bodies and companies to reach a solution.
He said there was consensus that the Suez Canal direction is the best, shortest and safest maritime direction and that the Cape of Good Hope is an unsustainable maritime direction.
Rabie noted that ships are delayed by between 12 and 15 days, depending on the ship’s speed and weather conditions, due to the use of select routes to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which disrupts global chains.
The official said the Suez Canal challenge affects the whole world, only Egypt.
He expects traffic through the channel to increase once the existing crisis is over to compensate for source chains.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently warned of escalating tensions in the Red Sea region and its effects on industry and shipping costs.
The Fund said in a report adding an update on regional economic prospects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that after ships came under drone attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, many major shipping companies moved their shipments. other sea routes, with possible implications for global supply chains and commodity trade, as well as higher insurance costs.
He warned that shipping costs could rise if tensions persist after some shipping companies moved more of their industry to longer choice routes, driving up fuel and operating costs.
Lebanon’s Central Bank opened for monthly withdrawals of money a segment of deposits that were “not eligible” for full collection, according to the existing government’s description.
This was accompanied by a resolution obliging operating banks to adopt the exchange rate announced on the electronic platform when preparing periodic budget statements and moving financial assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency.
The two measures were announced in circulars signed by Acting Governor Wassim Mansouri, numbered 166 and 167 respectively, and published combined over the weekend.
According to sources close to the matter, this is a double preventive measure that requires new projects in the Ministry of Finance after the recent approval of the general budget.
A senior banking official contacted via Asharq Al-Awsat said the features of the executive and legislative roadmap for the desired rescue and recovery plan may continue to take shape after five years of persistent currency and banking crises.
The circular, which was published on Saturday, allows monthly withdrawals of $150 from some accounts opened by depositors after Oct. 31, 2019 to convert Lebanese pound savings into dollars.
According to the bank official, this resolution will make it possible to achieve relative equality among depositors.
Mansouri insisted on beginning the circular with the phrase: “Without prejudice to the right of depositors to their deposits. “The circular will be in force from February until mid-2024, with an option for renewal.
Unlike previous decisions, both measures were approved after consultations with the Association of Banks.
The World Bank has warned of a global supply chain crisis if attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militias on ships in the Red Sea continue for another three months, saying it will be a crisis similar to what the world has experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. .
In its report on the diversion of ships from the Suez Canal and fears of a new supply chain crisis, the World Bank showed that the global container shipping industry is most likely to absorb the capacity surprise caused by the attacks, as demand is weak in January and February.
However, if attacks persist in March and April, when the global industry reports a seasonal uptick, capacity constraints may cause a chain-of-origin crisis like the one in 2021-2022.
The crisis happened when container shipping proved unable to support the rebound of international trade starting in late 2020.
The World Bank recalled that COVID-19 closures and a lack of staff at ports have forced ships to wait days or even weeks to unload their cargo, leading to a reduction in the number of ships available to move goods.
The report claims that the festival for places on ships sent there has skyrocketed; accumulation increased 8-fold on routes between Asia and Europe or North America compared to 2019.
The source of tensions in the chain of origin differs today, but the end results may be similar.
Longer distances and higher fares
According to the World Bank, major carriers, including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have suspended operations through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea and are diverting their ships around the Cape of Good Hope, adding 3,000 to 3,500 nautical miles and seven to 10 days for a typical adventure between Europe and Asia.
The additional distance can have an estimated shipping capacity of between 700,000 and 1. 9 million popular boxes.
This higher figure is comparable to the locked capacity of 2021 at the height of the COVID crisis, as measured through the World Bank’s Global Supply Chain Stress Index.
The additional prices of circular trips around the Cape of Good Hope, which add up to a million dollars in fuel for a circular trip, result in higher shipping rates.
Maersk a $200 “transit interruption surcharge” consistent with TEU on the books (contractual and one-time) for voyages between East Asia, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the U. S. East Coast. This is in addition to a “peak season surcharge” of $300 and $1,000 per TEU.
According to the report, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), another global container shipping company, announced it would impose a “contingency adjustment charge” of $500 per TEU on shipments from Europe to Asia and the Middle East.
Spot rates have risen even more. The rate for a journey from Asia to Europe has jumped to over $3,000 per 40-foot container, a threefold increase over the lowest rate in 2023 (about $1,000).
The World Bank said this could simply mean that Asian exporters are again competing for shipping slots in anticipation of significant disruptions in the origin chain.
Fortunately, he added that January and February are quiet seasons for freight, so existing capacity may be enough to serve longer routes in the coming weeks.
But naval attacks that would continue into March could have a significant impact on global industry and global value chains.
Gold rose as the dollar retreated and Treasury yields fell, even as the costs of other metals remained broadly combined.
Valuable safe-haven steel rose 0. 1% to $2,073. 0 a troy ounce and is on track to consolidate its weekly gains after the Federal Reserve said rate cuts would not come soon, which would cause yields to fall, analysts said, AFP reported.
That said, “in our view, gold is too nervous,” RBC analysts noted.
Battered by both positive and negative macroeconomic pressures, it’s no surprise that gold can’t attract steady flows of investors, given its expectation-based prices, analysts said.
Three-month copper fell 0. 3% to $8,615. 5 a tonne, while aluminum rose 0. 6% to $2,285. 0 a tonne.
The U. N. food agency’s global value index fell in January to its lowest point in just three years, due to falling grain and meat prices.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) stock index, which tracks the world’s most traded food products, averaged 118. 0 points in January, up from 119. 1 last month, the company said on Friday.
January’s figure is the lowest since February 2021.
“Global wheat export costs declined in January due to the strong party among exporters and the arrival of recently harvested materials in southern hemisphere countries,” FAO said in its monthly update.
FAO also said maize prices fell sharply, reflecting an advance in development conditions and the start of harvest in Argentina and better materials in the United States.
The meat value index fell for the seventh straight month as an abundance of materials from major exporting countries reduced the foreign value of poultry, beef and pork, FAO said.
In a separate report, FAO said global cereal production in 2023 is on track to reach a record 2. 836 billion tonnes, up 1. 2 percent from 2022. World coarse grains production was set at a record 1,523 million tonnes, following an upward adjustment of 12 million tonnes. tons this month.
“Most of the revision reflects new official knowledge from Canada, (mainland) China, Turkey and the United States, where a combination of higher yields and higher-than-expected harvested acreage led to higher maize production estimates,” he added. .