Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) is selling all of its stake in the Atrush oil field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
In a statement to the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX), the company said on Monday that the transaction is still subject to third-party approval.
The divestment will take place in its wholly owned subsidiary, TAQA International BV.
Covering an area of 269 square kilometers, the box was first discovered in 2011 and oil production began in July 2017.
It is located 85 km northwest of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.
In its first two-and-a-half years of production, the Atrush box produced more than 35. 9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day with increasing efficiency.
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 last year to 715 billion dirhams, while exports rose 0. 2% to 429 billion dirhams, the regulator said, adding that remittances from Moroccans and exports from the auto industry also contributed to improving the industry’s deficit.
Morocco’s energy imports fell by 20. 4% to 122 billion dirhams, after a drop in demand and the foreign 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 the Stellantis and Renault production plants, saw automotive exports rise 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 the influx of foreign currency to Morocco, remittances from Moroccans reached a record amount of 115 billion dirhams, up 4% compared to 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 Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) is targeting broadening air connectivity with various international and local destinations, and transforming 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 nearly 2. 4 million square meters and the airport’s flight deck can accommodate up to 15 aircraft at a time.
The improvement of flight conditions and the progress of the airport’s infrastructure aligns with AlUla’s goals of welcoming two million visitors by 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 by operating flights to Paris and adding foreign destinations, from Dubai, Doha and Cairo.
Egypt’s 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 has held meetings with shipping agencies and companies to find a solution.
He said that the meetings witnessed consensus that the Suez Canal route is the best, shortest, and safest maritime course and that the Cape of Good Hope is an unsustainable navigation route.
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 factor 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 tension in the Red Sea region and its repercussions on trade and shipping costs.
The Fund said in a report adding an update on the regional economic outlook in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that after ships arrived under drone strikes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, many large shipping companies moved their shipments. other shipping routes, with potential 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.
The Central Bank of Lebanon opened for monthly withdrawals a segment of deposits that were “not eligible” for full collection, according to the existing government description.
This was accompanied by a resolution requiring 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 issued in combination over the weekend.
According to close sources, 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 could continue to take shape after five years of persistent currency and banking crises.
The circular, issued on Saturday, allows monthly withdrawals of $150 from secure accounts opened through depositors after Oct. 31, 2019, to convert their 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, should the attacks persist into March and April, when global trade experiences a seasonal rebound, capacity constraints could trigger a supply chain crisis like the one in 2021-22.
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, resulting in fewer ships to transport 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 supply-chain stress differs today, but the outcome could 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 may be as little as 700,000 to 1. 9 million popular boxes of shipping capacity, according to the estimate.
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 costs of the trip around the Cape of Good Hope, including up to $1 million in fuel for every round trip, are reflected in higher shipping rates.
Maersk is adding a “transit disruption surcharge” of $200 per TEU to books (both contractual and spot) for trips between East Asia, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the US East Coast. That’s on top of 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 transport, so existing capacity may be sufficient 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 volatile,” 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 metric ton, while aluminum rose 0.6% at $2,285.0 a ton.
The United Nations food agency’s world price index fell in January to its lowest level in nearly three years, driven by declines in cereals and meat.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 118.0 points in January, down from 119.1 the previous month, the agency 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 progress in developing conditions and the start of harvest in Argentina and increased materials in the United States.
The meat value index fell for a 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. .
Türkiye’s central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan resigned on Friday, citing a need to protect her family amid a “reputation assassination”, and she was swiftly replaced by a deputy who is expected to carry on her tight policy stance.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who hired Erkan eight months ago to abandon years of low interest rates that fueled inflation and adopt a more orthodox policy, appointed Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan to take the reins, the Official Journal reported on Saturday, two hours after the wonderful resignation.
Karahan, a former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was appointed to the House of Representatives in July and is seen as a capable successor who played a vital role in shaping financial adjustment.
Erkan, a former head of a U. S. bank, began raising rates when she was appointed in June, launching a 180-degree turn after years of low interest rates under Erdogan that had boosted inflation and scared away foreign investors.
Since then, the central bank has raised its key interest rate from 8. 5% to 45%. Last week, after a 250 basis point increase, it said it had adjusted inflation enough to achieve disinflation, indicating a halt.
Erkan said that “our economic program has begun to bear fruit,” citing the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves and expectations that inflation would begin to cool by the middle of the year “as proof of this success. “
“Despite all these positive developments, as is known to the public, a major reputation assassination campaign has recently been organized against me,” she added on social media platform X.
“In order to prevent my family and my innocent child, who is not even one and a half years old, from being further affected by this, I have asked our President to pardon me from my duty.”
Last month, the opposition newspaper Sozcu published an article about a central bank worker who claimed to have been wrongfully dismissed through Erkan’s father.
Erkan then reacted by calling an “unfounded” article directed at her, her family and the bank “unacceptable” and vowed to exercise her legal rights against those responsible.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its expectations for economic growth in Saudi Arabia, indicating a positive outlook for the Kingdom’s economy.
The IMF now forecasts an expansion rate of 5. 5% in 2025, up from its previous estimate of 4. 5% in October 2023.
These revisions were made based on data published in the IMF’s “Global Economic Outlook Updates” report in January 2024, which highlighted the positive outlook for the functionality and strength of the Saudi economy despite the dangers and challenging situations presented by the global economic outlook. .
This outlook confirms the expansion and prosperity of the Saudi economy, driven by strong leadership both regionally and internationally.
The report also expects the economy to grow by 3. 1% in 2024 and 3. 2% in 2025.