Asa Fitch
Gulf oil exporters with big trade surpluses will escape major scrutiny as leading economies move to identify nations they suspect of throwing the global financial system off balance.
The Group of 20 (G20) leading and emerging economies agreed late on Friday to stress-test member states as part of a long-running push to identify policies that caused imbalances in the hope of preventing a repeat of the financial crisis.
All member countries - Saudi Arabia is the only one in the Gulf - are to undergo four tests that try to identify economic imbalances.
The IMF is also to make a closer review of seven countries - the US, China, France, Britain, Germany, Japan and India - officials said, looking at debt, budget deficits and trade balances.
Paul Gamble, an economist at Jadwa Investment in Saudi Arabia, said while Gulf countries were running large budget surpluses as oil prices hovered above US$100 a barrel, they were unlikely to be singled out in the rebalancing efforts. For the most part, Mr Gamble said, Gulf oil producers were spending large amounts of their surpluses on vast social infrastructure and funnelling back oil revenues to energy consumers in the form of imports.
"The Gulf countries are large-surplus countries but equally I think they are doing their bit for rebalancing," Mr Gamble said. "To do more would be potentially reckless."
Saudi Arabia has announced $130 billion (Dh477.5bn) in spending to raise wages, build infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of new houses.
Other countries in the region, including Kuwait and Qatar, have announced their own long-term spending plans recently.
John Sfakianakis, the chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, said Gulf countries had a role to play in the rebalancing act but argued the region was helping to restore order rather than exaggerating imbalances.
"If anything, the Gulf countries have been contributing by supporting the financial system by buying assets and depositing large amounts of money in countries that have been facing imbalances, especially the US," Mr Sfakianakis said.
But high crude prices have emerged as a key concern for oil-importing countries as they try to right the system and strengthen a fragile recovery.
The worry is that consumer demand and industrial production could suffer if prices stay at elevated levels for long periods.
"The rise of the oil price in particular is taking place at an earlier stage of the recovery than it used to be," said Nout Wellink, a European Central Bank governing council member.
Today's oil prices are already having an effect on the global economy, Mr Gamble said, but they were not yet high enough to endanger the recovery.
"At the margins it's having an impact but at the moment it's not that great," he said.
"If prices went a lot higher, up to $170 or $180 [a barrel] and stayed there for six months, that would have a very clear impact on the recovery that would cause big problems in the global economy."
afitch@thenational.ae
Keeping risks in check, b9
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
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Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The specs
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Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
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On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
On racial profiling at airports
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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more from Janine di Giovanni
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Company%20Profile
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Moon Music
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Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Watch live
The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.
You can find out more here
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Company%20Profile
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley