Posts Tagged ‘energy prices;’
JEDDAH – The Saudi Arabian insurance industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing insurance industries across the world. While the global economic crisis has severely hit other industrial sectors, the insurance industry has marinated its 30-35 percent annual growth rate on the back of compulsory insurance lines.
According to RNCOS latest report on “Saudi Arabia Insurance Market to 2012″, protection & savings and health insurance are the fastest growing insurance lines in the Kingdom, with health insurance accounted for around 50 percent of the overall insurance market at the end of 2009.
JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia would be the most attractive prospect for international insurance companies that are looking to operate in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the “Saudi Arabia Insurance Report Q3 2010″ released by Companiesandmarkets.com on Thursday said.
Virtually all other trends are favurable and the market has been opened up to foreign competition. New laws are promoting the development of health insurance, it said. Saudi Arabias economy has withstood the downturn in energy prices through 2009 well, it added.
MOSCOW – Belarus and Russia have signed a gas transit deal expected to end disagreements that led to a cut in Russias Europe-bound supplies flowing via Belarus last month, officials said on Friday.
The Russian gas giant Gazprom said it had agreed to pay Belaruss gas pipeline operator Beltransgaz a gas transit fee that Minsk had long insisted upon.
PARIS – Annual inflation eased in the worlds leading industrialized nations in May, declining to 2.0 percent from 2.1 percent in April, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Tuesday.
The OECD said the decline reflected a slowdown in the rise in energy prices, which were up 11 percent in May after 12.1 percent in April.
JEDDAH – Global food production will have to increase 70 percent for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, using scarce natural resources more efficiently and adapting to climate change, according to a paper recently published in Rome by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“FAO is cautiously optimistic about the worlds potential to feed itself by 2050,” said FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem. However, he pointed out that feeding everyone in the world by then will not be automatic and several significant challenges have to be met.
JEDDAH – Though economic prospects for the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries have improved with the resumption of capital inflows and rising crude oil prices, still stress in the banking and financial sectors along with slow credit activity are weighing on the rebound, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest Regional Economic Outlook (REO). The REO for the Middle East and North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) was presented on Monday at the Dubai International Financial Center.
“The outlook for the region has improved considerably from 2009. Growth is gathering momentum in 2010, helped by the pickup in capital inflows and resurgence in domestic consumption,” said IMF Middle East and Central Asia Director Masood Ahmed. “However, this positive perspective is clouded by some stress in the banking system and lethargic credit activity across the region,” he noted.
JEDDAH – Inflation risks in the Gulf countries are resurfacing after undergoing a sharp fall in consumer prices from a peak of 11 percent in 2009, Credit Suisse said in its latest issue of Global Investor.
Fears of possible inflationary outcome of the recent drastic monetary and fiscal policy measures taken by central banks and finance ministers in response to the global financial crisis have in many quarters kindled fears of possible inflationary consequences.
JEDDAH/ZURICH – The drastic monetary and fiscal policy measures taken by central banks and finance ministers in response to the global financial crisis have in many quarters kindled fears of possible inflationary consequences.
In the current issue of Global Investor, Credit Suisse analysts reach the conclusion that for most industrialized nations these types of risks remain moderate for now. In the emerging markets, on the other hand, the inflation risks are growing. Although the countries in question are on a considerably more robust growth footing, they eased their economic policy in unison with the countries worst affected by the crisis and are only gradually tightening again.
GAZPROM faces regular opprobrium for its bullying ways of using energy as a pressure and political tool. Seen by some, mostly Russians, as the symbol of a successful and strong Russia, others see it as a dominating juggernaut, economic right arm of the Kremlin implementing, or should we say, imposing its policies by using energy as a weapon.
Just like Louis XIV used to say LEtat cest moi (I am the State), Gazprom could say the same in light of its commercial power and the unconditional governmental backing it enjoys. However, just like Monsanto generates passionate debates with its genetically engineered seeds, Gazproms activities cannot be simply labeled as right or wrong and subject to final judgments.
DO hedge funds have an impact on energy trading?
While the answer might seem intuitive, the debate as to whether they actually do has come to resemble the medieval theological dispute about how many angels can dance on the head of the pin.
Because, like angels, many trades in energy futures are invisible, and it is often not possible to pinpoint where they take place.