Money matters bulletin

Regional stock market indices Regional currency rates Saudi Arabia to spend $100 billion on transport Saudi Arabia is set for a $100 billion infrastructure surge, which will see 19 transport projects developed over the next 10 years. Five ports, three airports, three railways, three major highways, five logistics centers and a number of new economic cities will be developed by The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia). Saiga also plans to raise the capacity of Saudi ports and attract new port operators; the Jeddah Islamic Port alone has the potential to increase its capacity by around 35 percent. Meanwhile, the expansion of the Jeddah and Medina airports is underway, and the North-South mineral railway, Jeddah Metro, Mecca Monorail and the $7 billion Hamarain high-speed railway are expected to be finished by the end of 2010. New Egyptian-Syrian bank Banque Misr has announced that it will open a new subsidiary in