Regional stock market indices
Regional currency rates
Dubai Properties Plans $200B Worth of Projects
Dubai Properties, a member of Dubai Holding, consolidated its activities under a new holding company: Dubai Properties Group (DBG). The new group structure consists of six divisions that include real estate verticals, hospitality, property services, international investments, engineering and real estate development. The new group aims at increasing its global real estate investments up to $200 billion in the next three years. In 2008, DBG plans on handing out 5,000 commercial, residential and retail units across the region. The group has already invited bids for the $15 billion Mudon development in Dubailand. This project involves the building of 12 four-floor residential buildings with 8,000 square meters each.
Tehran Holds Talks on $90 Billion Listing
Iran’s Privatization Organization (IPO) is planning on listing $90 billion worth of energy related holding company shares on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), in addition to similar listings in Frankfurt, Singapore and Hong Kong. The IPO’s preferred location for listing is Dubai with Bahrain as the backup option. If approved, Bourse Dubai that owns DIFX will face a conflict of interest with the US treasury authorities due to the ongoing plans to create NASDAQ-DIFX. On the other hand, Deutsche Börse that operates the Frankfurt exchange has welcomed the idea. If the listing goes ahead, the energy holding company will be the second largest publicly listed firm in the region after Saudi SABIC that has a market capitalization of $111 billion.
Jordanian Economy Slows in the First Nine Months of 2007
Latest figures released on the Jordanian economy revealed a slowdown in the country’s growth rates which reached 5.8% in September 2007 compared to 6.3% in the same period a year earlier. This deceleration was driven by a slowed performance in Jordan’s main sectors, primarily the financial sector that grew by 6.8% in 2007 compared to 9.3% in 2006. The manufacturing sector grew 7.4% compared to 9.8% in 2006. Finally, the agriculture and mining sectors both decreased 4.9% and 1.4% respectively. Despite this slowed performance in September of 2007, Jordan’s Department of Statistics revealed that average rates in the first two months of 2008 increased 9.1% from those of 2007. This was largely driven by rising international oil prices, in addition to an increase in prices of dairy products and cereals. According to the Economist, the country will continue to focus on the ongoing privatization program, in addition to increasing foreign and local investments in the hopes of raising GDP growth rates. These are expected to rise at a lower rate of 4.8% by the end of 2008. Finally, inflation rates in 2008 are expected to rise sharply, driven by the elimination of fuel subsidies and increased international food prices.
