The short-term economic outlook has improved on higher oil prices, but persistent deficits and a faltering recovery from Covid-19 will be a drag on growth. Saudi Arabia's strong support for Bahrain provides a backstop to the economy. A giant oil and gas find off the west coast offers the promise of considerable wealth if it proves commercially viable to extract.
MARKET OVERVIEW
No UAE income tax for now, minister says in the wake of corporate tax move
(Source: Arabian Business)
The UAE will not introduce an income tax for the time being, a senior official said, weeks after the nation unveiled a new company levy. “It is not at the table at all now,” Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, the minister of state for foreign trade, told Bloomberg TV in an interview Monday.The UAE announced earlier this year it would impose a 9 percent corporate tax starting in 2023 as it seeks to align itself with new international standards, particularly the move toward a global minimum tax on multinational corporations endorsed by the Group of 20 major economies....
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Bitcoin extends dip below $40,000 as gold surges further
(Source: Gulf Business)
Bitcoin dropped to a more than two-week low, tumbling along with equities as escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine weighed on risk appetite. The largest cryptocurrency dropped as low as $36,831 on Tuesday morning in Asia after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he’s recognising two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine.Bitcoin dipped below $40,000 level over the weekend and kept weakening as the Ukraine crisis deepened,....
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Dubai International Financial Centre achieves record company registrations in 2021
(Source: Gulf Business)
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) recorded 996 company registrations in 2021, the highest ever in a single year since its inception 17 years ago.The company registrations were up 36 per cent year-on-year.DIFC said on Wednesday that it had achieved its 2024 strategy growth targets three years ahead of schedule during the first half of 2021. The total number of active registered firms operating in DIFC increased by 25 per cent to 3,644 entities...
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Credit Suisse on the defensive after dirty money data leak
(source: Khaleej Times)
Credit Suisse was plunged into a dirty money scandal on Monday after media outlets reported the Swiss bank had managed accounts for human rights abusers, fraudsters and businessmen who had been placed under sanctions.One person leaked information on the accounts, which were held in decades ranging from the 1940s to 2010s, to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The German daily then shared it with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project...
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