A $230 million back-tax claim which Algeria imposed on Orascom Telecom’s Djezzy unit was not final, Algerian finance minister Karim Djoudi said on Thursday. "Djezzy has been notified of the first amount but it is not a final amount. We still need verification of the documents presented by the tax administration," Djoudi told reporters on …

DUBAI: Gulf Arab companies see growing opportunities in Iraq that should not be missed, as the war-torn nation struggles to recover from years of bloodshed, but they retain a degree of cautiousness that slows plan execution. Executives speaking at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit this week said they were keen to invest in the …

  Frontier African financial services group Imara said on Tuesday it had added Egypt and Morocco to its regional stock-broking footprint, its first foray beyond a historical sub-Saharan focus. "Expansion of our trading capability has primarily been driven by client demand for a wider trading capability," said Alun Thomas, chief executive of Imara Africa Securities, …

Egypt’s Electricity Ministry will sign a deal in days with Kuwait’s Kharafi Group to build two power plants in Egypt with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatts, a spokesman for the ministry said on Tuesday. Egypt, which has about 25,000 MW of installed capacity, suffered repeated outages this year and plans to spend $100-120 billion …

AMMAN: A Palestinian state is coming – it is just not clear whether it will result from the current peace talks. It is easy to be pessimistic, or even apathetic, about the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. History is a witness to the lack of Palestinian accomplishments in incremental negotiations. All successful efforts to …

DOHA: Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) reported a 28.9 percent jump in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations on average on increased loan activity and deposits. Qatar’s third-largest bank by market value posted a net profit of 508 million Qatari riyals ($139.5 million), up 29 percent from 394 million riyals a year earlier. …

BAGHDAD: Energy companies face tough terms, shaky security and local opposition when they fly to Baghdad this week to take part in a gas bidding round. Iraq’s plan to auction three gas fields on Wednesday has generated little interest from international energy firms eager to tap the country’s vast reserves, compared with Iraq’s two oil …

SINGAPORE: Saudi Aramco sold 50,000 tonnes of A180 naphtha for early-November loading from Ras Tanura to a Western trader at $16.00-$17.00 a tonne above Middle East quotes, free-on-board (FOB) basis, pointing to a strong recovery of export prices to high premiums, traders said on Monday. It was not immediately clear where this cargo is headed, …

JERUSALEM: Israeli President Shimon Peres has cancelled a trip to Morocco after his requests to meet King Mohammed VI were spurned, an Israeli official said on Monday. The Israeli leader was to have attended a gathering of global figures at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa in Marrakech from October …

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it will hold a high-level conference of central bank governors in Shanghai next week to discuss ways to address the global financial crisis. The IMF said the conference, scheduled for Monday, would include central bank chiefs and other officials from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South …

RIYADH: Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) on Sunday posted a 54-percent rise in third-quarter net profit, partly on higher sales volumes and prices. Sipchem’s results, which came mainly on the back of higher butanediol petrochemical product, bode well for larger rival SABIC’s results. Sipchem said third-quarter operating profit stood at 175.8 million riyals, a 456 …

TEHRAN: World powers have no option but to talk with Iran over its nuclear program, hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday in defiant comments ahead of next month’s negotiations. "We said from the start that the best way is to talk to Iran. You don’t have any other option. All other ways are blocked," …

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s investment climate is getting better but foreign investors are awaiting the passage of national industry and consumer protection laws to further improve the environment, the Iraq chief of French cement maker Lafarge said. "I think the investment environment, and generally the business environment, is in an improvement trend," Marcel Cobuz told Reuters in …

CAIRO: Egypt’s Xceed plans to double the size of its operations by 2013, the vice president of the company said. A provider of multilingual business process outsourcing (BPO) services, Xceed currently has two contact centers in Egypt and one in Morocco with 2,000 total employees. And right now, “business is booming,” said Xceed Vice President …

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti mobile telephone firm Zain, the Gulf Arab region’s third-largest operator by market value, posted a 96 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, boosted by a sharp increase in customer numbers. "In this new era of focus on our Middle East operations, we are extremely pleased with the robust 25 percent customer growth and …

Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid met with visiting Moroccan Foreign Trade Minister Abdellatif Maazouz on ways to boost trade and economic relations and increase joint investments. The ministers highlighted the importance of establishing a direct maritime line linking Egyptian and Moroccan ports. Both also witnessed the inking of an agreement to establish …

Shares in Egypt’s largest steel producer Ezz Steel posted their biggest single day gain in nearly five months, boosted by market speculation the firm may soon bid for a new production license in Egypt. Ezz Steel rose 3.5 percent, its fourth session of gains in a row, to LE 20.25 per share, its highest price …

CAIRO: Telecom Egypt (TE) is preparing to enter into an agreement with Vodafone Egypt to buy minutes at reduced prices and resell them in the market under the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) licenses that the Telecom Ministry plans to issue. According to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt’s Telecom Minister met with the CEO of …

An Egyptian court will hear a lawsuit on Nov. 9 challenging a government plan to end a row over Talaat Moustafa’s (TMG) Madinaty project, a court said on Monday — a fresh twist to a dispute that has rattled property investors. TMG’s flagship Madinaty development has been mired in a legal row since a court …

Egypt’s government will launch a tender on Wednesday for licenses to produce 3 million tons of steel, requiring investments worth 3.2 billion Egyptian pounds, newspapers reported on Saturday. The month-long tender by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) comes as the government seeks to boost steel production to meet growing demand from the construction industry and …

MOSCOW: Vimpelcom is in talks with Algerian officials over the fate of the north African nation’s top mobile phone operator Djezzy that Algiers wants to nationalize and the Russian firm wants to control. Djezzy is the most lucrative asset of Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris’ Orascom Telecom, which Vimpelcom intends to buy control of as part …

Egyptian developer Six of October Development and Investment Co. (SODIC) may start two housing projects in Syria by the end of this year, a senior executive told Bloomberg. “There is huge potential in Syria,” Ashraf Farid, the company’s operations director, said in an interview. “We are looking to launch a couple of projects towards the …

CAIRO: The changing political and economic dynamics in the world have affected Egypt’s leadership position and influence on international affairs, Middle East analyst and researcher Sophie Pommier said. On Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Centre d’Études et de Documentation Économiques, Juridiques et Sociales (Center for Social, Judical, and Economic Documentation and Study, CEDEJ) hosted a talk …

KUWAIT: The Kharafi Group, a major Zain shareholder, has received enough shares to tender to Etisalat’s offer for a 46-percent stake in the Kuwaiti telecoms firm, an executive said on Thursday. Kharafi unit National Investments Co. (NIC) had advertised for shareholders to join a consortium and tender their shares. "We have approvals from our clients …

DUBAI: Housing markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are likely to see the average vacancy rise, before it peaks in 2012, while apartment sale prices and rentals continue to erode, property consultancy Landmark Advisory said on Wednesday. The residential average vacancy will gradually increase to peak at 12 percent in 2012 from 10 percent in …

Egyptian paintmaker Pachin said on Sunday it declared a cash dividend of LE 4.5 ($0.79) for the 2009/10 period. Full-year net profit at Egypt’s largest listed paint maker jumped 70 percent to LE 154.7 million, and net sales rose to LE 703.8 million. Pachin’s chairman said in November Egypt’s paint market was growing at 2 …

  CAIRO: Syrian authorities arrested an 11-member organ trafficking ring in northern Aleppo, allegedly led by a 26-year-old Egyptian woman named Fadia, Syria-based daily independent Al-Watan reported Monday. The group is allegedly responsible for trafficking the kidneys of about 150 Syrians over the past year — some of whom are in critical condition, the report …

CAIRO: Worldwide demand for outsourcing is tilting towards Egypt as Europe now spends more on outsourcing than North America. According to Denise D’Elia, a Vodafone representative, outsourcing as an industry was valued at $13 billion last year. Egypt has the third-largest talent pool in the EMEA region. This is largely due to the country’s rich …

CAIRO: The statue of the ancient goddess Hathor will be moved to a museum in Sharm El-Sheikh after it was found in the desert five days after it went missing from Sarabit El-Khadem Temple where it originally stood. Sarabit El-Khadem Temple is located at 1100 altitude above sea level in South Sinai, only 80 km …

CAIRO: Founder of Al-Karama Party Hamdeen Sabahi called for the revival of socialist economic policies of the Nasserite era and the re-nationalization of privatized public properties. Delivering a passionate speech to workers assembled at the Egyptian Center of Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) Monday, Sabahi said that change won’t come except through the physical presence …