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Qatar fast tracking policies to tap more fdis
Qatar has begun fast-tracking the implementation of “progressive policies” to further attract foreign direct investments (FDIs), HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari has said.
FDIs increased by 4% ($7.8bn) to $186bn at the end of the first quarter of 2018 from $178bn in end-2017, al-Kuwari said at a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
This increase is driven by Qatar’s “revised legislations and regulations” to provide further incentives to foreign investors and allow up to 100% ownership in all sectors, which benefit from income tax exemptions as well as exemptions from customs duties on the import of goods for production.
Qatar is also allocating lands by way of rent for up to 50 years to foreign investors to establish their projects while allowing foreign companies to transfer their investment returns to their home countries in any convertible currency and investors to transfer the ownership of their companies to a Qatari or foreign investor in accordance with applicable laws.
Qatar now allows investors up to 100% ownership in free zones and offers tax exemptions for up to 20 years without restrictions on the repatriation of capital, the minister said.
Investors in these areas can export to local markets, tap investment funds and enter into joint ventures with local state-backed companies.
Al-Kuwari said Qatar was also in the process of drafting a public and private partnership law to pave the way for the launch of major new projects as the government bolstered spending on state-of-the-art infrastructure and logistics conforming to the highest international standards.
atar’s 2018 annual budget allocated $25.5bn for spending on major projects, the minister said, noting that these include projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup as well as sustainable development projects implemented within the framework of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
These projects will further promote Qatar’s tourism sector and realise plans to attract 5.6mn visitors annually by 2023 - double the number the country welcomed in 2016.
Al-Kuwari noted Qatar’s GDP increased to $222bn in 2017 compared to $218bn in 2016, growing at an annual rate of 1.6%, and expanding by over 5% in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period in the previous year.
Quoting the World Bank, the minister said growth was estimated at 2.3% in 2018 and expected to increase to 2.7% in 2019 and 3% in 2020, mainly driven by Qatar’s “attractive” business-friendly environment.
This is evident in the ranking of Qatar on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018, he said.
Globally, Qatar ranks first in terms of low inflation rates, sixth in terms of the effect of taxes on competition, eighth in terms of venture capital availability, ninth in terms of financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and tenth for growth of innovative companies while regionally the country ranks first on the Global Entrepreneurship Index, al-Kuwari added.
Source: gulf times
Buy Dubai house, get free trade licence
You can now buy a home in Dubai and get a trade licence free with it.Emaar in partnership with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre has launched 184 units in an under-construction building in Dubai Hills Estate. Those who pay 20 per cent of the apartment price at Executive Residences will receive a free three-year renewable business licence (estimated to be worth Dh130,000), a free three-year renewable family residency visa and 100 per cent business ownership. The owner can also apply for an employee visa with every trade licence.
This is a product targeted at entrepreneurs and SMEs and is touted to be a game-changer in the UAE real estate industry. Entrepreneurs can now do away with the need to rent office premises.
"It will give buyers the freedom to work flexible hours and perhaps set up a business they can run from home. The offer is exceedingly attractive to families with young children as it will give parents the option to spend more time at home and be flexible with child care," said Lewis Allsopp, CEO of Allsopp & Allsopp.
A one-bedroom apartment is priced below Dh1 million while two-beds range from Dh1.3 million to Dh1.6 million. The building is slated to be ready by 2021.
"It helps you to achieve cost savings. The product is targeted at SMEs, who contribute 80 per cent of the economy," said Kunal Puri, founder and managing director of La Capitale Real Estate.
Earlier, business owners had to show their office tenancy contract as proof to get a trade licence. In this project, they can do so with their house Ejari certificate.
"People are already waiting in queue to buy with credit card authorisation. This kind of freedom has never existed in the market before. It is a master stroke by the developer," added Puri.
With the Executive Residences, entrepreneurs and startup owners have a chance to run a home-based business legally.
Source:khaleej times
The Dubai Land Department (DLD) recently organised the "Dubai Real Estate Sector Profile" forum to announce the performance report of the real estate sector over the past years, and the role of data in enhancing the transparency of the sector.
The forum included the launch of the "Deraya" report and the annual performance report of the real estate sector 2018.
The "Deraya" report was initiated by the Department of Real Estates Studies and Research of the Real Estate Promotion and Investment Management Sector at the DLD, in collaboration with Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) and Cavendish Maxwell, and the annual report of the real estate sector performance 2018.
These reports contribute to enhancing Dubai's real estate market, positioning it as the world's leading real estate market.
According to the JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2018, Dubai was among the top three global cities regarding real estate market transparency.
DLD director-general Sultan Butti bin Mejren said these reports provided a key database for media, investors and international classification agencies to access insights on the performance of Dubai’s real estate market with complete transparency.
"We seek to achieve some key objectives through these reports and highlight the role of the real estate sector and its close ties with other economic sectors. The reports underline the importance of the real estate sector as a productive element that supports all other economic sectors, reflecting positively on the real estate sector’s growing contributions to Dubai’s GDP," stated Bin Mejren.
"The current real estate sector enjoys several positive indicators that predict growth across many of its segments, supported by the annual report of the real estate sector and the 2018 Deraya report, which represents integrated strategic cooperation between the public and private sectors," he added.
The reports are also a testament to Dubai’s status as one of the world’s top attractive investment destinations that ensures investors future high yields, said the top official.
"The reports offer a deeper insight into the performance of Dubai’s real estate sector in 2017, furthering the transparency level across the sector. They are aimed at increasing professionalism across Dubai’s real estate environment, consolidating the real estate information sources, and elevating DLD to become the leading real estate reference," remarked Bin Mejren.
"The reports also work towards bolstering the attractiveness of Dubai’s real estate market, identifying market trends and needs, and providing real estate studies companies and real estate experts access to relevant data," he noted.
Majida Ali Rashid, CEO of the Real Estate Promotion and Investment Management Sector at the DLD, said: "We are proud to have cooperated with two of the world's leading companies, in line with our commitment to engage our partners and customers."
"The launch of Deraya, our joint research initiative, is part of our collaborations with real estate consultancy companies and experts in the field of real estate studies," she added.
Source: Trade ArabiaArabia
Bahrain Development Bank Closes US$100 Million Al Waha Fund To Support MENA Startups
01 Jan 2019 Written by Admin AdminIndicating a boost for the ecosystem, Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) has successfully closed its US$100 million venture capital “fund of funds” to support startups in Bahrain and across the MENA region. The Al Waha "fund of funds" is a definite mark for the growth of entrepreneurship in the region as it aims to support by providing capital to Bahraini startups, as well as attracting new funds in the region.
Last week, the Limited Partners (LPs) Advisory Committee met to strategize the fund’s direction and allocation of $35 million into a series of venture funds. Its LP's include Mumtalakat, National Bank of Bahrain, Batelco Group, Tamkeen and Bahrain Development Bank, among others, with BDB as the General Partner (GP) managing the fund.
Following the closure of the fund, H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Al Waha Fund of Funds Advisory Committee commented on the progress made in the allocation of the capital raised. “One of the key constraints on the development of the startup and technology ecosystem in the region is lack of access to capital. This fund can help to make a significant difference to that challenge, enabling entrepreneurs to realize the potential of their ideas.”
With the Al Waha Fund of Funds along with the opening of fintech co-working space FinTech Bay and regulatory sandbox for fintech ventures to test out their concepts, entrepreneurs, the time is ripe to leverage initiatives enabling entrepreneurship.
Source: Entrepreneurship Middle East
Dubai engineering solutions giant ARJ Holding Ltd is investing €100 million in the Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel project, tunnel designer Peter Vesterbacka announced at a press conference on Monday.
Mr Vesterbacka, chief of FinEst Bay Area, the group behind the tunnel project, pointed out the total cost of the tunnel stands at €15 billion, with an investment period of 30 years; the tunnel itself has a projected life span of 120 years, he said.
Finest Bay Area Leader Vesterbacka said the total cost of the project is estimated at €15 billion. The investment period is 30 years and the tunnel should last 120 years.
Project already over two years old
The project has been underway for two and a half years already, Mr Vesterbacka said, and Finest Bay Area has invested between two and three million of its own and investors funds.
Of the remainder, a loan is earmarked for 70% of funding, plus equal volumes of investments of European and Asian origin.
Mr Vesterback also swatted back media claims that there were two different tunnel projects in existence. He said in fact that the project comprises two tunnels, one passenger and one freight.
Tickets already one sale
FinEst Bay Area and Mr Westerbacka envisage the tunnel project being completed in 2024. Confidence in the project is such that travel tickets are already available. A return ticket costs €100 at present (half of that for one-way travel), and an annual ticket, with guaranteed unlimited travel through the tunnel for a year, costs €1,000.
Travel time through the tunnel between the two capitals is estimated at 20 minutes.
By comparison, return tickets via the three main car ferry operators, Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö, cost between €20 and €50 at short notice and without offers. The journey takes between two and three hours in normal conditions.
Now-defunct fast catamaran service Lindaline, when it ran, was closer to this price for a one-way ticket on a journey of around 45 minutes. It is not clear yet whether the company, which had gone into receivership earlier this year, will reopen in 2019 with new vessels, or what ticket prices are likely to be.
Former helicopter service Copterline, which had planned to reopen services between the two cities in recent years, having discontinued them after a fatal accident involving one of its aircraft in 2005, has yet to do so. Ticket prices when it did operate were considerably higher even than those quoted for the proposed tunnel, though the journey time was approximately the same.
Peter Vesterbacka is the former CEO of Finnish game developer Rovio. According his plan, the tunnel's route and its feeder tracks would have four stops, one of which in Tallinn, the second some 15 km from Helsinki, the third near the Aalto University campus in Otaniemi, and the fourth at Helsinki Airport.
Last Friday, Mr Vesterbacka filed a request for initiating the procedure for a national designated spatial plan for the tunnel with the finance ministry.
Helsinki and Tallinn lie approximately 86 km apart at their nearest points, and are separated by the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea. The gulf has an average depth of a little over 40 m and is over 100 m deep at its deepest points (not necessarily along the route between the two cities). The underlying bedrock is principally limestone.
Western tourists trickle into Saudi Arabia as it tries to open up
21 Dec 2018 Written by Admin AdminWestern tourists, a rarity in Saudi Arabia, visited this weekend under a new visa system, as one of the world’s most inaccessible countries tries to open up its society and diversify its economy away from oil.
Thousands of fans flocked to Riyadh’s historic Diriyah district for Formula E, a motor sports tournament using electric vehicles, and concerts including by David Guetta and Black Eyed Peas.
Most were Saudis still unaccustomed to such entertainment in their own country, where cinemas and public concerts were banned until changes by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the past two years.
Despite an international outcry over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led war in Yemen, some Westerners also seized the opportunity to visit a country that still largely restricts foreigners to resident workers and their dependents, business visitors, and Muslim pilgrims.
An American named Jason is spending a week here with his German wife, riding quad bikes in the desert and visiting heritage sites in Ushaiger, 200 km (120 miles) northwest of the capital.
“The race sounds interesting but to be honest it was a means to see the country. We’re happy to be here,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to come for many, many years... I’m so happy to be here and that they’re letting us be here.”
Aaron, a 40-year-old software engineer, travelled from New York for two days. He and a few dozen other adventure travellers seeking to visit every country in the world checked the desert kingdom off their list this weekend.
“Saudi Arabia’s always been an exotic place... and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to come here,” he said as circus performers entertained guests in between races.
Some 1,000 foreigners from 80 countries received the new “sharek” visa, which is linked to a specific entertainment event, the authorities said.
That is a fraction of what they eventually hope to attract.
“Hopefully we will learn from this and see what we need to do for the future, but I can tell you from now that there is a lot of demand...” said Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, vice chairman of the General Sports Authority.
TOURISM TARGETS
Whizzing electric racecars wound through the ruins of Diriyah, the capital of the first Saudi state built by the ruling Al Saud family three centuries ago.
The UNESCO world heritage site is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation, celebrating a telling of national history that puts the dynasty and its clerical allies front and centre.
Plans to admit significant numbers of tourists from abroad have been discussed for years, only to be blocked by conservative opinion and bureaucracy.
Now the crown prince is seeking to develop new industries to wean the world’s top oil exporter off petro-dollars.
Tourism is high on the agenda, despite a shortage of infrastructure. Reforms aim to lift total spending - by locals and foreigners - to $46.6 billion in 2020 from $27.9 billion in 2015.
Such efforts have been overshadowed recently by the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, with the U.S. Senate blaming Prince Mohammed and insisting that Saudi Arabia hold accountable anyone responsible.
Saudi officials have denied Prince Mohammed ordered the hit, but their changing accounts and ties between him and some of the suspects have complicated Riyadh’s efforts to move on.
James, another American tourist, said the visit corrected some of his preconceived notions, but he bristled at the idea that visiting a country implied endorsing its government.
“Just forget the politics and you can relate to people all over the world,” he said. “That applies to Saudi Arabia, too.”
Source: Reuters
Kuwait loosens ownership rules: Foreigners to be allowed to own more local bank shares
21 Dec 2018 Written by Admin AdminKuwait has loosened its capital market rules, allowing foreign investors to own a bigger stake of its local banks, according to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Saturday, another step in the Gulf state’s bid to encourage more overseas investment into the country.
Foreign ownership was previously not allowed to exceed more than 49 percent of a bank’s capital, but the new resolution removes this upper limit, according to a statement in Arabic issued by the ministry on Saturday.
It is not yet clear whether shares owned by foreign investors will be allowed to represent 100 percent of a bank’s capital, or how these rules will impact local investors. However, a report by the state news agency KUNA said investors will be required to gain approval from the Central Bank of Kuwait if the shares they want to buy represent more than 5 percent of a bank’s total capital.
The decision comes in accordance with Resolution No. 694 of 2018, which stipulates that "Article 3 of Ministerial Resolution No. 205 shall be replaced by a provision that allows the non-Kuwaiti investor to own and trade the shares of Kuwaiti banks".
The resolution affirmed that each person or group of people who are bound by a legal or economic connection either through joint ownership or mutual interests shall be considered as a single investor.
The decision to loosen the rules related to foreign ownership follows a recommendation by the Capital Markets Authority, which had recently been on a promotional tour of overseas markets to assess what concerns or challenges international investors face when investing in the Kuwaiti market.
The country’s capital markets are currently undergoing a series of reforms to make it more attractive to outside investors.
On April 1 this year, Kuwait divided its stock market into three segments as part of a reform programme aimed at improving the attractiveness of the exchange to investors.
In late June, global index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) announced that it will include the Kuwait index in its 2019 Annual Market Classification Review for a potential reclassification from frontier to emerging market status. Analysts foresee an increasing probability of Kuwait joining its peer GCC stock markets in Saudi, UAE and Qatar in gaining the upgrade
Last year, the governance board of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Russell index compiler added Kuwait to its Secondary Emerging Market Index.
In Saudi Arabia, foreign investors will be allowed to own up to 49 percent of listed stocks on the local bourse. MSCI also decided it will reclassify Saudi Arabia as an emerging market from the middle of 2019
This year, the UAE announced allowing 100 percent foreign ownership in companies in a move to further encourage foreign investment in the country.
In a recent paper, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that financial systems in the Gulf region have developed significantly over the last couple of decades, but there is room for more progress.
“Financial systems have deepened and, overall, the level of financial development compares well with emerging markets. However, it still lags advanced economies and, other than for Saudi Arabia, appears to be lower than would be expected given economic fundamentals, such as income levels," the report noted.
Morocco plans to sell the five-star La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech and the Tahaddart power plant in a privatisation push Morocco plans to sell the five-star La Mamounia hotel in Marrakech and the Tahaddart power plant in a privatisation push to rein in the budget deficit in 2019, the government spokesman said on Thursday. The government approved a draft law allowing the sale of the two companies, Mustapha El Khalfi told a news conference. Morocco's 2019 draft budget aims to raise 5 billion to 6 billion dirhams ($527 million-$633 million) from selling state assets to cut the deficit to 3.3 percent of gross domestic product next year. (read more)
SoftBank has hired Deutsche Bank to advise on its power investment plans in Saudi Arabia, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The Japanese firm, which is planning to invest in a giant solar power plant in the kingdom, has also shown interest in electricity distribution in the world’s top oil exporter, they said.
One source said SoftBank could consider purchasing a minority stake in Saudi Electricity from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) sovereign wealth fund.
“They want to become a minority shareholder of influence,” the source told Reuters.
PIF owns a 74 percent stake in Saudi Electricity. The other major shareholder is state oil giant Aramco, which owns a nearly 7 percent stake.
A SoftBank spokeswoman declined to comment. PIF and Deutsche Bank also declined comment. Saudi Electricity did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. (read more)
Qatar Investment Authority, to buy London's most famous hotels, the Grosvenor House
04 Dec 2018 Written by Admin SAEQatar has agreed to buy one of London's most famous hotels, the Grosvenor House, as energy revenue enables the wealthy Gulf state to go on a buying spree despite a blockade by its neighbors.
A source with knowledge of the deal said the acquisition of Grosvenor House - located on Park Lane in London's swanky Mayfair district - had been agreed on Tuesday with the vendor, private U.S. real estate investment firm Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. The price was not disclosed.
Ashkenazy Acquisition did not respond to a request for comment and nor did the Qatar Investment Authority, which is buying the hotel via its Katara Hospitality holding.
Qatar has already bought of one of New York’s most iconic buildings, the Plaza Hotel, for around $600 million.
"There is another hotel acquisition in the works in Europe coming soon as well," the source said.
Qatar has been buying top hotels and luxury properties in the West over the past decade as part of a drive by its $300 billion-plus sovereign wealth fund to diversify the wealth it accumulates from gas and oil exports. (read more)
