Arabian Countries with recent economic Activity:

Bahrain | Kuwait | Oman | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | UAE | Other Arab Countries

Egypt
 
The country is gradually emerging out of its historical significance and attempting to expand in every area. There was moderate activity in all the industries in the month of February.
 
BP Egypt announced gas discovery in the offshore West Nile Delta while Nile Exploration Corporation signed management agreement to strengthen the partnership with Movenpick Hotels & Resorts.
 
Suez Cement Company's 7.6% stake was acquired by The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority while Orascom Construction Industries filed application to CMB for a voluntary tender offer to acquire 100% of Baticim Cimento. Orascom will also be among the bidders for a third mobile phone license in Saudi Arabia.
 
GPX Global Systems Inc. and Internet Systems Consortium announced the installation of a new mirror of the F-root server in Cairo.
 
To sum up, Egypt’s steady efforts by all the industries will see an appreciable growth in the coming months.
 
Jordan
 
The various industries of Jordan engaged themselves enough in February to show a sustained growth overall.
 
The spotlight was on Aqaba Development Corporation which received five international bids for the USD3b relocation of Aqaba's port.
 
The banking sector initiated some negotiations; Arab Banking Group is negotiating with UAE's Emaar Properties to buy a 10% stake while it managed a USD 400m syndicated  loan in favour of the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) to be used for purchasing crude oil; Bank of Jordan PLC plans to set up a bank in Syria under the name Bank of Jordan-Syria with a capital of USD30m; Foursan Group is to partner the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to form a USD150m private equity fund focused on Jordan.
 
Successful financial results were announced; Housing Bank for Trade and Finance announced that its net profit rose 28% in 2006 to 94.7m dinars (USD133.5m).; Jordan Kuwait Bank's net profit increased by 53.4% to DN39m (USD55m) in 2006 with strong growth in its core business; Arab Orient Insurance Company reported an increase of 29% in net profit from DH52.4m in 2005 to DH67.4m in 2006.
 
In the aerospace industry The Aircraft Maintenance Ltd. (JorAMCo) announced maintenance deal with Vueling Airlines of Spain and Royal Jordanian Airline is planning to have a code-sharing cooperation with the American Airlines.
 
At the telecom front; Umniah Mobile Communications has won fixed broadband wireless access license awarded by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) in Jordan.; Jordan Telecom plans to expand its internet and data operations to other Middle Eastern countries.
 
An award news; National Arab Motors received the Best Maintenance Award during the 7th Board of Excellence event in Singapore.
 
In a nutshell, Jordan had a satisfactory February with the expected level of developments.
 
Lebanon
 
The battle-strife country’s industry sector did not perform much. Nevertheless, what is appreciable is the few company news that came out of the country.
 
Banque Audi SAL opened a new branch in Lattakia while Swicorp Intaj Capital plans to invest nearly USD100m in Uniceramic SAL.
 
Interestingly, Societe Libanaise pour le Developpement et la Reconstruction (The Lebanese Co for the Dev't & Reconstruction of Beirut) invested USD6.8b in UAE real estate project.
 
Bank Audi SAL - Audi Saradar Group announced that its 2006 full-year net profit was 453,000 Syrian pounds (USD8,000) due to high expenses while Middle East Airlines announced that its projected profits in 2006 fell from USD55m to USD15-USD20m following the July-August war in Lebanon.
 
Banque du Liban predicted that the interest rate of the bank will fall slightly this year.
 
It is unfair to compare Lebanon with the rest of the countries in the Arabic world as the conditions here are not very favourable. But still, the country’s industries have been able to sustain themselves fairly well.
 
Morocco
Moroccan Exports announced a 13.1% increase in its first eleven month revenues to USD 11.9bn, compared to export revenues of the same period of last year.
 
And, Maroc Telecom wins privatisation of Gabon Telecom for EUR60m.