Businessmen and “Justice” Party

The Economic Performance of the Turkish government during the last five years was the important factor, according to economists’ perspective, which contributed in their overwhelming win in the elections to the degree that the different financial indicators in Turkey started to rise a week before the elections every time economists express their relief towards the policy of this party.
Turkey recovered from a big financial crisis and its annual growth rate increased by more than 7% during the last four years, whereas individual incomes and tourism revenues doubled, and the foreign investments increased to 20 billion US$ last year.
This is what made businessmen be pleased with the government, general speaking. Although businessmen sector was, and is still, wishing to work within a European environment of business, which it believed that it would not the possible for it to do at the beginning when an Islamic Party took the power in a secular state, yet the economic reality on the ground made this sector prefers that Islamic government.

Insurance Companies in Syria Enters the Sector of “Education Insurance”

The Supervising Commission on the Syrian Insurance allowed companies insurance working in Syria to launch the service of education insurance with a monthly installment starting from 100 Syrian Pounds. Due to the absence of many insurance products in the Syrian markets, many Syrians go abroad _ to look for insurance companies that secure their demands and address their economic needs.

The Syrian Airlines Resumes its Flights to Europe and Rents Four Planes

The Syrian Airlines Establishment announced that will use Boeing “747” planes in its flights to Europe with 60 days after it has been granted the license of importing the machine which prevented that from happening.
This is because its repeated attempts to acquire the machine were faced by an embargo from Washington on importing spare parts for the planes of the Syrian airlines. According to al-Thwara newspaper the Syrian cabinet approved on renting four modern planes.

Jordan and Iraq Discuss Next Month Settling the Pending Files

An Iraqi diplomat said that Jordan and Iraq will discuss next month the settlement of all the joint economic subjects between the two countries, the most important of which is the financial file which includes the demands of both sides.

Iraq’s Parliament Adopts a Law for Foreign Investment in Refineries

The Iraqi Parliament approved the draft law that opens the door to the foreign companies to build oil refineries and their management. According to the law, the local and regional governments will be able to deal, independently, with the foreign companies. It is worth mentioning that this law is different from the law of oil and gas.

72 million Egyptian Pounds, Deposits of Cairo (Al-Qahera) Bank

The volume of Cairo Bank’s deposits reached about 72 million pounds during last June. Chairman of Cairo and Egypt Banks, Mohammad Barakat, said that all branches of Cairo Bank have enough money to cover the demands of the clients and address their needs in financing investment or granting the revenues of saving or event covering deposits.

The Establishment of “Dar Al Istithmar” in Bahrain

The Kuwaiti “Dar Al Istithmar” announced lately that it received a final approval from Bahrain Central Bank for the Establishment of an Islamic Bank in Bahrain with a capital of 1 billion US$.
The specialized company in the Islamic investments pointed out in a statement published on the web site of the Kuwaiti stock market that the name of the bank will be “Al Istithmar”, adding that its paid capital will be 200 million dollar.

The Establishment of Five Joint-Stock Corporations in Kuwait

Five Kuwaiti Joint Stock Corporations have been established with a total capital of 81 million Kuwaiti Dinars. Al-Kuwait Al-Youm (Kuwait Today) newspaper said that these companies are: “Alfa Energy, The Group of the Specialized Industries of Glass, The International Beit al-Mal for Real Estate Development, The International Medical Capital and The Fifth Company is (Intishar al Qabeda)”.

A Spanish Company Decides to Build a Cement Factory in Morocco with a Total Cost of 248 millions dollars

A statement issued by the Spanish “Lobasa” said that the company will build a cement factory near al Quneitra City by 2010 and with a total cost of 248 million dollar.
The statement said that the production capacity of the project will exceed 1 million tons annually. It is expected the project to achieve revenues estimated by 138 million dollars within 2 years.

“Sonatrach” and “Sonelgaz” Enter the Algerian Telecommunications Market

The Algerian news agency said that “Sonatrach”, the biggest Algerian Company in terms of revenues, intends to enter the sector of telecommunications with the use of the net works of optic fibers already exist in the country.
The company intends to establish a new company by the name the company of the Algerian telecommunications and energy with a capital of 2.8 million US$ for executing telecommunication projects with partners in Spain, Italy, and Nigeria.

Iran Underlines the Role of the Private Sector in the Field of Railways Transportation

The General Director of Railways Company in Iran “Hassan Zaiari”, underlined in a joint meeting with Chairmen and Representatives of 22 companies of the private sector last Monday, the continuation of strengthening investments of the private sector in the field of railway transportation according to law number 66 with regard to privatization in the country.

Istanbul Stock Market Hits Records after Erdogan’s Win

Istanbul Stock Market hit historical records following its opening after hours of the announcement of the win of the governing “Justice and Development” Party with a majority in the early legislative elections in Turkey.

The Investment Fund and the American OPEC Launch A Loaning Program for Small Projects in Palestine

The Palestinian Investment Fund and the American Private Investment Commission of overseas “OPEC” are expected to sign an agreement in the presidency headquarter in Ramallah for launching a loaning program in the Palestinian territories with a total value of 228 million US dollars and with a period of 10 years.

Western Europe Proposes (The Golden Arrow) Fearing “The Invasion of the Foreign Investors”

The German Chancellor “Angela Merkel” and the French President “Nicolas Sarkozy” discussed lately means of protecting the European Company of “European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS)” of what they called “The Invasion of the Foreign Investors”. They agreed that what is called “The Golden Arrow” can offer the required protection.

Companies Indexes

 The Kuwaiti news agency (Kuna) said that the Kuwaiti movable telecommunications company “MTC” agreed on taking the loan of 320 million dollars for financing and expansion in Africa.
 A prominent official in the Jordanian Company for Construction “Tameer” said that the company and the Saudi Group “Safola” for Food Stuff have agreed on establishing a real estate project with a capital of 1 billion dollars.
 The sellings of the giant American company “Lockheed Martin” specialized in weapons industry increased by 10.7 billion US$ during the past quarter of this year.

Small Indexes

 The Director of the Higher Studies at al Busra University in Iraq announced that 103 of the University’s Students have been awarded the P.H.D for this year.
 The Iraqi Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation revealed that the value of the Iraqi Oil imports reached 7 billion US$ annually.
 Chinese statistics said that the financial revenues of the country reached during the first half of this year about 2.6 trillion Yuan with an increase of 30.6%.

Bids & Contracts

 The Investment “Mashree al-Kuwait” company for the Management of Assets “Camko”, has bought a share in the Bahraini-Kuwaiti company for insurance in return for 1.38 million dinars (4.81) million US$.
 The American (Westing House Electric) has concluded a deal of 8 billion US$ with Chinese partners for building four nuclear reactors east of China, putting the last touches on an agreement signed between Beijing and Washington 7 months ago.

The Holding “Al-Qudra” Corporation

It is a private joint stock corporation established in May, 2005 as the first private investment company in Abu Dhabi Emirate in the U.A.E, and with an initial capital of 150 million US$.
The corporation managed after one year of its establishment to gain net profits of 59 million US$. As for the time been, the total value of the assets run by the corporation in the market are more than 817 million US$. It is worth mentioning that the establishment of the corporation came as a direct response for the big expansion and development witnessed by the economies in the region on the local and regional levels.

Indicators is a daily economic watch newsletter about the Near East, issued by New Orient News agency in Beirut, Lebanon. It is available on Voltairenet.org in Arabic and English. Also worth a read is Tendencies, the daily Near East political watch newsletter, available in Arabic, English and French languages.