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SANAA – Lawmakers drafted a bill to start a securities exchange authority in Yemen, hoping to speed up the opening of a bourse and encourage investment despite its sinking economy and severe security risks.

“For us to move out of the challenges we face, we need a lot of investment in the development of Yemen, whether its domestic or foreign…a strong stock market would help that,” Jalal Yaqoub, a spokesman for the minister of finance, said.

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JEDDAH – The pace of Saudi economy slowed down as a result of laggard corporate activity during the holiday period despite a boost in consumer spending, Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment said on Tuesday. It said July data revealed that the Kingdoms economic growth has been punctuated by the start of summer holiday season and the advent of Ramadan.

Broad money supply (M3) growth fell to its lowest level in over a decade as low interest rates continued to encourage consumers to withdraw funds from savings accounts. Just under $15.5 billion has been wiped off the total value of savings accounts in the past year.

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RIYADH – Military personnel will receive pay raises this month of up to 30 percent of their basic salaries, Lt. Gen. Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Arfaj, Secretary General of Military Service Council, said Tuesday.
The plan approved Monday by the Cabinet is so structured that lower-ranking personnel will receive higher percentage of increases, said Lt. Gen Al-Arfaj, who explained that as the rank goes up, the percentage of the raise goes down.
Military staff in the rank of private, who currently receive SR2,160, will now get SR2,800. Increases, which will be provided this month, will given to all military staff including those serving in the Ministry of Defense, National Guard, Ministry of Interior, Presidency of the General Intelligence and Royal Guard, Lt. Gen. Al-Arfaj said.
Those at the rank of lieutenant general will be paid the same as those in the Excellent Grade in the civil service pay scale and those at the rank of general will receive the same pay as ministers. Those matters were resolved earlier and the Council of Military Service issued the decision that was approved by the Council of Ministers, he said.
The pay raises are not related to an anti-terrorism allowance given to military sectors involved in fighting terrorism and those embracing deviant thought, he added.
As per the King’s order, the pay raise proposal was discussed by the Council of Military Service, which reviewed the matter for eight months, and the minister of finance and chairman of the Council for Military Service were also directed to study this issue.
The wage increase would be the second for the army since 2008 when Saudi Arabia offered state employees a 15 percent wage hike spread out over a three-year period.
The rise in wages is likely to at least match the 5.1 percent inflation rate of 2009, said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi.
“Wage increases in general have not matched the rises in inflation over the past few years and barely covered inflationary rates of the past five years,” he said.
Lt. Gen. Al-Arfaj has expressed his gratitude to King Abdullah, in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of the military, for his generous gesture. – Okaz/SG

RIYADH – Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the investment firm of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, has announced the SR700 million ($186.6 million) refinancing of Kingdom Centre. The refinancing deal, which will be done through Samba Financial Group, is for expansion and investment purposes.

The agreement was signed on Saturday by Talal Al-Maiman and Zaki Al-Mousa, board member of Samba Financial Group, in the presence of Prince Alwaleed and Eisa Al-Eisa, chairman of Samba.

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JEDDAH: A number of university graduates who applied for various public sector jobs have attacked the Ministry of Civil Service after a movie clip appeared on video-sharing website YouTube accusing the government department of nepotism.

They said they were even more astonished after the ministry swiftly denied the allegations instead of investigating them.

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BEIJING – The economies of China and Japan are interdependent and their close cooperation has helped two-way trade rebound above the levels before the world financial crisis, a top Chinese economic official said Saturday.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan made the remarks to delegates from the two countries – the worlds second and third largest economies – who were meeting in Beijing to discuss ways to recover from the crisis and foster regional cooperation.

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JEDDAH – Islamic finance is a trillion dollar industry and has become a part of the global financial system. The industry represents around 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide as well as non-Muslim investors seeking to diversify their portfolio. Institutional and private investors look to tap into a market that may reach a staggering $5 trillion, according to forecasts by rating agency Moodys.

France has skilfully anchored into this dynamic terrain but the question really is – What does France need to do to tap completely into this market and become the capital markets centre for Islamic financing in the western world?

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JEDDAH/KUALA LUMPUR – The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) plans to sell $1 billion of Islamic bonds to fund development projects in its member countries, Vice President Abdul Aziz Al Hinai said on Tuesday.

The five-, seven- and 10-year Sukuk, part of the IDBs $3.5 billion Medium-Term Note program, will be issued in the fourth quarter and listed in London and Kuala Lumpur, Al Hinai told reporters in the Malaysian capital after registering a separate ringgit issuance on the local exchange. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. and four international banks will manage the sale, he said.

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JEDDAH – As the concept of Islamic banking Islamic grows, banks following the system were urged to establish “permanent fatwas” instead of temporary ones, organizers of the two-day 31st session of “Al-Baraka Symposium for Islamic Economics” that starts today (Wednesday) said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

The initiative was taken in the light of increasing number of Islamic financial institutions along with the growing volume of their assets and deposits, and the consequential interest of many international institutions supporting Islamic banking.

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JEDDAH: Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services launched its new identity on Tuesday to become Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) with its Executive Director Ibrahim M. Badawood announcing that ALJCI will create 45,000 new jobs by the years end.

“Since our inception seven years ago, we have created 135,000 jobs and we plan to create thousands of new job opportunities by 2015,” Badawood told a press conference.

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