The London benchmark index rose 81.31 points, while sterling was up almost half a per cent following Thursday’s political activities in the UK
Politics & Economics
Bahrain economy
Bahrain property deals jump to $2.6bn but prices remain subdued in 2021
Savills research says government initiatives helped drive an increase in property transaction values in 2021
Bahrain tourism
Bahrain’s Gulf Air launches standalone holiday booking platform
Gulf Air Holidays aims to support Bahrain’s bid to attract 14.1 million tourists annually by 2026
Bahrain
Bahrain starts construction of United States Trade Zone as part of Covid recovery plan
Trade zone will be spread initially over 110,000 sq m, expanding to 1.11 million sq m in the future
Bahrain economy
Work starts on Bahrain initiative to better match education to jobs market
Tamkeen says Skills Bahrain initiative is being implemented in collaboration with government and private sector
Bahrain
Value of Bahrain’s real estate deals jump 46% in 2021
Official figures show the number of property transactions rose 35% to over 26,100 last year
crypto regulation
Binance gets its first gulf crypto regulatory nod in Bahrain
Bahrain, the Gulf’s smallest economy, has been one of the Middle East’s early adopters in the digital assets space
Saudi economy
Nearly 2 million Saudis enter private sector in 2021
Saudi Arabia, alongside other Gulf nations, have begun a nationalisation drive to get more locals in the private sector who have long opted for jobs in the public sector
Mastercard
Mastercard: 2022 outlook defined by digital resilience and a return to the ‘experience economy’
The Mastercard Economics Institute has released its Economy 2022, a global outlook for the coming year
Bahrain
Bahrain launches search for firms to work on ambitious metro project
Ministry of Transportation of Telecommunications launches the pre-qualification tender for phase one of rail project
Bahrain
Bahrain launches new investment platform to support Covid recovery plan
Economic Development Board announces the launch of the invest.bh platform to attract investments across sectors
digital economy
GCC countries could see $255bn windfall by adopting best digital strategy
GCC countries could add up to $255 billion to regional GDP depending on the success of their digital economies, according to new research.
A report from Strategy& Middle East indicates that according to its Digital Economy Index (DEI), the maturity of GCC digital economies could match that of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) […]
Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla
Law amendment decriminalising bounced cheques explained
Mazen Boustany, partner-head of UAE Financial Regulatory at Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla weighs in on the implications of the recently amended Decree No. 14 of 2020 decriminalising cheques with insufficient funds starting January 2, 2022.
What does this law amendment mean?
For a long time, the UAE has been relying on postdated cheques as a […]
Bahrain metro
Bahrain approves first phase of 109km metro project
Phase one will consist of an elevated corridor with two lines having an estimated length of 28.6km with 20 stations and two interchanges
Bahrain gets building as $1.7bn tenders awarded in first half of 2020
Government procurement regulator says the construction and engineering sector took the lion’s share of contracts in the first six months of the year
Bahrain-UAE bilateral trade totals $550m in Q1
Bilateral trade to Saudi Arabia stands at $819m
Bahrain to offer Covid-19 testing results on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger
Bahrain’s new result service is available in both English and Arabic