|
|
Research
and exclusives on alwikala.com requires a subscription
to
our services -
Professional News and Reports
Filing; Online Media Monitoring, Company Watch, Press Releases
Dissemination; News Aggregation & Syndication Services
Today is :
Friday, January 15, 2010 10:40:28 AM
powered by
DataandInvestmentConsult-Lebanon
you have reached
Alwikala.com
-
the Arab World Ecomonitor & Online Research
مركز الوكالة الأخبارية للأبحاث
و المعلومات
Access The News Monitor Website - The Arabic NewsWebsites -
Detailed
Services and Subscriptions -
Terms of
Service and Subscriptions
-
Insert Your Press Release
click here to
reach
Alwikala.net
- the Arab
Financial broadcast services
Alwikala.com
Commentaries
|
|
Connecting Country Risk with Industry Analysis
the Alwikala.Net
Online's Global Country Risk & Industry
Analysis Service
provides unparalleled coverage of
country markets across Asia, Latin
America, Europe, the Middle East &
Africa, featuring intra-daily news
analysis; political and economic risk
assessment; strategic views on currency
and debt developments; systematic
macroeconomic forecasts over a 10-year
horizon; country-comparative risk
ratings, and rigorous benchmarking of
the business environment. This can be
viewed alongside our analysis and
forecasts for 24 industry sectors (you
select which countries and sectors) for
each country market, delivering an
extraordinary level of breadth and
depth.
Alwikala offers more
than 20 areas of expertise — see the
links to the service options on the
left-hand side. The service enables
analysts, economists, strategists,
country managers and researchers working
in corporations, banking, government or
academia to evaluate and manage the
political, economic, financial and
sector risks of doing business in Asian,
Latin American, European, Middle Eastern
& African markets.
Subscribers include more
than 400 of the Global Fortune 500
companies.
|
|
Detailed Services
- Terms of
Service and Subscriptions
- Insert Your Press Release
Our knowledge base of articles and publications
offers thought leadership and analysis across a spectrum
of issues and challenges faced by businesses worldwide.
read our
Terms of
Service and Subscriptions -
Read our Privacy policy
Special Coverage
A New Currency
Profile for the GCC- Union Delayed but Rerisking after Dubai will mean The End
of 'Quasi-Sovereigns?'
( 1/2)29-Nov-09 By Maan Barazy
GCC currencies have long-standing links to the U.S. dollar. Kuwait exited its
dollar peg in 2007, pegging instead to a basket in which the dollar dominates
but the other countries maintain the pegs. While granting some macroeconomic
stability, these pegs limit monetary autonomy as it implies that the real
interest rates in the region are linked to U.S. rates. GCC countries have
planned to create a monetary union loosely modelled on that of the EMU, but two
of the six countries (Oman and UAE) have demurred from the process and the
others have sought a deferral. Yet, officials have placed revaluation against
the U.S. dollar off the table for the forseeable future.
Moreover the pegs constrain the regions asset allocation as declines in the
dollar tend to put pressure on local exchange rates. In 2007, GCC central banks
purchased a significant sum of U.S. dollars to maintain their pegs in the face
of revaluation pressures.
READ all of our wires on the Dubai
debt debacle clickhere
30 December 2008: Year-end Newsletter – Closing Out
2009
| |
Figures released by the Beirut stock
Exchange indicate that total trading volume reached
102.6 million shares in 2009, a decrease of 3 % from
the previous year, while aggregate to $1bn ,down
39%from a turnover of $1.7 in 2008. Market
capitalization increased by 34 % to $12.8bn
year-on-year, of which 66.7% was in banking stocks,
30.7% in Solidere stocks, 2,06%in industrial stocks,
0.28% in funds, and 0.27% in trading stocks. More…
Byblos Bank Syria (BBS), the Syrian
affiliate of the Byblos Bank Group, listed all of
its shares on December 17th on
the Damascus S ecurities Exchange (DSE). BBS became
the 7th bank
and the 12th institution
to be listed on the DSE. Other banks listed on the
DSE include the Syrian affiliates of BLOM bank ,
Bank Audi and Banque BEMO, as well as the Arab Bank
Syria, the International Bank for Trade & Finance
and the Syria International Islamic Bank.The DSE
officially started trading last March, with trading
taking place two days a week . More…
The Beirut stock exchange (BSE)
approved the listing, trading and pricing of Bank of
Beirut’s 2,400,000 Preferred Shares Series E ,
which contributed to increase the capital of the
bank . The nominal value of each of the new
preferred shares is $0.8. As a result , the Bank’s
capital is distributed between 44,849,375 Common
Shares , 2,920,000 Preferred Shares Series C,
4,000,000 Preferred Shares Series D, 2,400,000
Preferred Shares Series E and 3,000,000 Preferred
shares Series F. Bank of Beirut sal posted net
profits of $50.9m in the first 9 months of 2009, up
4 % from the same period of the previous year. More…
Standard & Poors raised its long-term
counterparty credit ratings on BLOM Bank , Bank Med
and Bank Audi to ‘B’ from ‘B-‘, AND revised the
ratings outlook to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ . It
also raised its short-term counterparty credit
rating on Bank Med and Bank Audi to ‘B’ from ‘C’ .
Standard & Poor’s does not rate Byblos Bank sal. The
agency attributed the upgrades to its earlier
upgrade of Lebanon’s long-and short-term sovereign
credit ratings. More…
Moody’s Investors Service revised to
‘positive’ from ‘stable’ the outlook on Byblos
Bank’s ‘B2’ long-term foreign currency deposit
ratings and the outlook on Byblos Bank’s ‘B1’ senior
unsecured debt rating.It also changed the outlook to
‘positive’ from ‘stable’ on the ‘B2’ long-term
foreign currency deposit ratings of BLOM Bank, Bank
Audi and Bank of Beirut.It added that Byblos Bank’s
‘B1’ subordinated debt rating carries a ‘stable’
outlook as it is not constrained at Lebanon’s ‘B1’
sovereign debt ceiling. More…
Standard & poor’s raised Lebanon’s
long- term sovereign credit rating to ‘B’ from ‘B’-
and its short-term sovereign rating to ‘B’ from ‘C’,
and revised the outlook to ‘positive’. It also
raised its transfer and convertibility assessment on
Lebanon to ‘BB’- from ‘B+’,and affirmed the ‘4’
recovery rating on lebanon’s foreign currency senior
unsecured debt that carries an average recovery of
30%/-50%. More…
Lebanon has been ranked the world’s
second most improved democracy in an annual study
despite several incidences of sectarian tensions
over the past year.The Global Democracy Ranking, an
annual Austrian-based initiative, assesses the
quality of democracy in 97 countries across the
globe. The study uses data on political freedoms,
gender equality, economic opportunities, social
divisions and the quality of health and education. More…
President Obama is judged on various
subjects for his first year in office, he has
already made history in the way that neither his
predecessor nor any other leader has ever managed.On
January 3, 2010, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) issued new security directives
to all United States and international air carriers
with inbound flights to the U.S. effective January
4, 2010. The TSA press release sought to assure the
traveling public: “The new directive includes
long-term sustainable security measures developed in
consultation with law enforcement officials and our
domestic and international partners.” More…
ebanon’s government may sell
Eurobonds next year or carry out a debt swap as it
seeks to benefit from low international interest
rates, Finance Minister Raya
Haffar el-Hassan said.The
Middle Eastern country has $2.15 billion in
Eurobonds maturing in March and November of 2010 and
about 12.5 trillion Lebanese pounds ($8.3 billion)
in maturing treasury bills throughout the year.“We
have maturities kicking in in 2010 so obviously we
have to consider the options,” Hassan, 43, said in
an interview at her office in
Beirut on Dec. 12. “We are benefiting from very low
interest rates now. Whatever option we take we are
going to take advantage of reducing the debt burden
on the treasury. We will decide by January.” More…
|
Connect with Us
FULL
Coverage on Dubai's Debacle -
click here
|
|
|
Advertisements

Latest
Research and Reports


|
Connect with Us
FULL Coverage on Dubai's Debacle - click here