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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 Syria by the end of 2010, and will start operating in early 2011 with a capital of $220 million. Mohammad Fayed, senior vice president at the commercial bank, which is Egypt’s second-largest by assets, revealed that the new bank will be named Banque Misr Syrie. The Egyptian minister of trade and industry stated that 60 percent of the new bank will be owned by Banque Misr and 10 percent by Banque Misr Liban, with 25 percent of the shares listed on the Syrian bourse and an additional stake made available to Syrian businessmen. The Central Bank of Syria raised the minimum capital requirements for conventional private banks in January from 1.5 billion Syrian pounds ($32.9 million) to $219.8 million, and capital requirements at Islamic banks from $109.9 million to $329.7 million.
Morocco signs cooperative agreements with France and AMF
In July 2010, Morocco signed 11 cooperative agreements with France, worth some $188.3 million. The funds will be allocated to the development of the nuclear energy sector and the improvement of social welfare, fisheries, water and transport sectors. In addition, Morocco signed a 2 billion dirhams ($220 million) financing agreement with The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) to expand the country’s financial and banking system. This arrangement aims to revive capital markets in the country and provide better conditions for banks to offer financial services. The AMF was established in 1976 in Rabat with the objective of supporting the economic and financial system in the Arab states in order to encourage trade between them.
