Economics and Policy
Gold edged up on Monday, off a two-week low hit in the previous session on better-than-expected US jobs data, as the Federal Reserve is expected to continue to prop up the economy through 2013 with monetary stimulus, giving support to gold.
Lebanese Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi has presented a revised draft budget to cabinet which sees expenditure of $14.08 billion and a deficit of $3.48 billion, the ministry has said.
Iran has agreed to supply 2 million litres of diesel a day to neighbouring Iraq, Iran's oil ministry news service Shana has said.
Egyptian inflation has leapt as a sliding local currency pushes up food prices, badly hurting the poor who are suffering most during the country's economic, political and security crisis.
But despite this, Egypt has rejected the idea of a stop-gap fund from the IMF.
Qatar has discovered a small offshore field containing about 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the country's first gas find since 1971.
Companies and business
Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, or SCTDA, released the tourism statistics for Year 2012 on the sidelines of the ITB Berlin on Saturday citing tremendous and continuous growth of Sharjah’s tourism sector.
Emirates NBD is planning to double its lending to small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, in 2013 compared to last year and expects up to 15 per cent growth in retail revenues.
Bahrain Air staff that lost their jobs when the Gulf state’s second airline folded last month are in line for a combined BHD2.2m (US$5.8m) payout.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia are moving closer to introducing a two-day weekend for the private sector, which would bring the working week in line with the kingdom’s public sector employees.