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Featured UAE
More than 80% of the Middle East businesses polled in a survey expect steady or aggressive growth in the next five years, according to a global PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC)
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Featured Islamic Finance
Rushdi Siddiqui: For the first column in 2013, I did not want a me-too article about sukuk issuance for year ahead, central bank authorisation of a mega Islamic
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Featured Islamic Finance
Shaikh Mohammed’s announcement included the reference to the $640 billion Halal industry, ‘Dubai also seeks to develop Islamic quality standards for Halal food approval. This will encourage the
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Markets
From 2005 to date, crude oil and the S&P; GCC Index have had a correlation of only 12%, a relatively low figure
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Markets
They all survived the index (“Nifty”) for a decade or more. Not a small feat by any means!
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Featured Islamic Finance
Rusdhi Siddiqui: At the recently concluded 19th World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), I spoke on ‘Global Strategies for Global Markets.’ For this niche market to have mainstream acceptance,
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Egypt
Countries hit by the promising but disruptive Arab Spring will need financing to the tune of USD43-billion next year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Macroeconomic Data
Among Gulf cities, only Sharjah and Dubai are in the top 10.
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Macroeconomic Data
Tough 2013
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Featured Islamic Finance
There were three recent major Islamic finance conferences in Malaysia: Global Islamic Finance Forum (GIFF), Islamic Finance News (IFN), and Kuala Lumpur Islamic finance forum (KLIFF), and headline
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Macroeconomic Data
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance at Thomson Reuters President Barack “Peace” — as no new wars in last four years — Obama may be less
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Featured Islamic Finance
The forty-year old, $1.2 trillion Islamic finance industry needs to take stock and look in the mirror and examine the reflection holistically. Have we arrived at the ‘reset’
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Featured Islamic Finance
Let me start off with a loaded question, what one word in Islamic finance is as important as Shari’ah, tax, accounting, regulation, and standardisation (STARS)?
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Featured Islamic Finance
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with one of the leading experts in Malaysia on bond/sukuk valuations, Meor Amri Meor Ayob, chief executive officer of Bond
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Macroeconomic Data
What one word in Islamic finance is as important as Shari’ah, tax, accounting, regulation, and standardisation (STARS)?
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Featured Islamic Finance
In the last instalment of a three-part interview, Mushtak Parker, the leading journalistic voice on Islamic finance, shares his views on the International
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Featured Qatar
More than USD76-billion of bond and sukuk debt is expected to mature by 2014, according to Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz ) research.
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Macroeconomic Data
The last time food prices started shooting up, it led to riots in some countries which ultimately ended up disposing a few regimes in the region.
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Hot Topics
The Middle East's entertainment and media industry is set to grow by more than 10% and emerge as the sixth fastest growing market over the next five years,
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Featured Islamic Finance
Will the "truth" set Islamic banking free from the "cheer-leading reins" that may be holding it back from authenticity-cum-innovation?
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Featured Islamic Finance
Leading journalist on Islamic finance tells why he is often ‘harsh’ on the industry and his other views
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Featured Islamic Finance
The Goal: The central issue is about the industry controlling its own destiny
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Islamic Finance
The prohibitive interest rates charged by Brazilian banks make Islamic financial instruments ideal financing tools. There are two areas where Islamic financial institutions can use Islamic financial instruments
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Featured Islamic Finance
Excerpts from an interview between the columnist and Dr Mohamad Akram Laldin, the executive director of the International Shari'ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA):
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Featured Islamic Finance
There were two important announcements last week concerning Islamic equity index
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Featured Islamic Finance
Emirates Airline could serve as a great role model for the Islamic finance industry, writes Rushdi Siddiqui
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Featured Islamic Finance
IF ISLAMIC finance (IF) is about business, then, logically, the product offering must primarily be about business and syariah compliance second, correct?
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Featured Islamic Finance
Islamic finance is usually described as an infant market with domestic focus and supported by the government, hence, much like a baby reliant upon it parents in a
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Featured Qatar
TweetQatar has ruled the liquefied natural gas (LNG) world for the past few years, but it will see the market flooded with new rivals eager to sign up
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Kuwait
Here's a list Qatar would not want to top: The World Wild Life Fund (WWF) has ranked Qatar as the country with the largest ecological footprint per capita
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Featured Islamic Finance
A Sharia-compliant equivalent of the popular UK and US reality show The Apprentice has recently been announced by a UK-based organisation
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Featured Saudi Arabia
"Perhaps the modern technology, satellite TV and new media, are appropriate environment for the (marginalized)," tweeted Salman Al-Oudah on Tuesday.
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Featured Islamic Finance
To grow, Islamic banks must compete with conventional lenders
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiquim, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters The retirement of Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar as chairman of Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) was a defining moment
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Featured Islamic Finance
Today, it seems to an outsider, the burning issues for Muslims on Wall Street include prayer breaks, fasting and productivity, bonding after-office drinks, shaking a woman's hand wearing
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Featured Saudi Arabia
A Jadwa Investment press statement notes that Saudi Arabia's net foreign assets rose by a little more than $100-billion to reach $600-billion by the end of 2011, according
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Macroeconomic Data
Dubai's retail sector could grow by 5.1% annually till 2015 to reach AED174.8-billion (USD47.6 billion), according to Oryx Business Intelligence.
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Oil
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn an estimated USD1,171 billion of net oil export revenues in 2012 and USD1,133-billion in 2013, according
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters Dear Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group: Asalaam Alaikum: The Islamic finance world welcomes
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Featured Islamic Finance
Daud Vicary Abdullah is an authority on Islamic banking and has contributed to a number of books on the subject.
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Featured Islamic Finance
Tweet“We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.” - Sonia
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Featured Islamic Finance
We already know about displaced commercial risk, credit, liquidity, operational, Shariah non-compliant, and markets risks in Islamic finance. What about ‘key-person’ risk in Islamic finance?
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Featured Islamic Finance
“Interest equals disinterest because the lender has nothing to do with the borrower and his business. Islamic finance aims at creating an economy in which one financial dollar
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Featured Islamic Finance
"A conventional bank, with the exception of multilateral development banks like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, should not be allowed to issue sukuk," said Badlisyah
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Featured Islamic Finance
Dr Mohammad Daud Bakr, president and CEO of Amanie Advisors, has the distinction of being both a globally-renowned Sharia scholar as well as an acclaimed entrepreneur
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Featured Islamic Finance
The industry has alphabet bodies that deal with various issues but when it comes to public relations and marketing, there seems to be a gaping hole that is
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Featured Qatar
It's a crisis that won't go away. While the region is no stranger to Israelis and Iranians trading insults and threats, Tel Aviv's latest hue and cry over
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters There are only two ways to conquer and enslave a nation, one is by sword, the other is
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetFeb 17, 2012 By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters Shiekh Yusuf Talal Delorenzo In an exclusive interview with Shiekh Yusuf Talal Delorenzo (YTD), one
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Macroeconomic Data
Tweet Ellie Brewster /Foter Booz & Company addresses ways in which the GCC’s private sector can address nationalization and unemploymentby hiring the region’s highly educated female population
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Featured Islamic Finance
Let's take a break from sukuk structuring and stock screening, and talk about the children of parents in Islamic finance. They may well be the industry’s future. I
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Markets
The year 2012 may not appear to be any better than 2011 as many businesses had hoped. A new update of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic
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Featured Saudi Arabia
While publicly Saudi Arabia may not like Iran's warning that the Kingdom should not make up for lost Tehran oil production, privately the Kingdom won't mind as that
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Featured Islamic Finance
The year 2011 was the year for [Malaysia] Shariah compliant index out-performance against all conventional developed and emerging market country indicies and almost all frontier countries.
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Iraq
Iraq has disclosed detailed information about the US$ 41 billion in revenue it received from oil and gas exports in 2009.
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Featured Saudi Arabia
Spending by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2012 will likely be higher than budgeted, but the country will still run a fiscal surplus of 4% of GDP,
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Macroeconomic Data
Tunisia's travails over the past year paid off as it shot up in the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index 2011.
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Libya
While the international community saw Libyans collectively rise up against the rule of Moammar Gaddafi and saw the emergence of the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the unifying
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Featured Islamic Finance
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves, said Bill Vaughn. Islamic finance
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Macroeconomic Data
Kuwait-based KAMCO sheds light on the future economic outlook of the GCC based on 2011 and 2012 GDP growth expectations
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Featured Islamic Finance
Will 2012 be the year of “come together” consolidation for Islamic banks?
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Iraq
Iran may not be able to maintain its oil output by 2016 due to sustained international sanctions, but Iraq should be able to step into the breach, says
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Egypt
In October this year, $16.9bn of projects were awarded across MENA. On a cumulative basis, just over $82bn of projects have been awarded across the region in the
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Africa
Due to a host of common denominators in the Arab world including the lack of traditional liberalism, the tribes' power, the elites' control of business, the hold on
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Featured Islamic Finance
The time has arrived to take a deeper dive on better understanding of Shariah compliant companies in an Islamic (or Shariah compliant) equity indexes. To many informed and
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Featured Islamic Finance
On November 22, 2011, the world’s first Islamic interbank benchmark rate (IIBR) was launched. It is the result of a collaborative approach taken by many Islamic financial institution,
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Iraq
In the wake of the Arab Spring and Prime Minister Erdogan's championing of political reforms throughout the Arab world, it has now become more urgent than ever before
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Featured Qatar
Qatar had the highest nominal GDP (US$) per capita at PPP in 2010 among the 25 RGMs and has also been the fastest growing economy over the last
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The Levant
Alarm bells are ringing in Damascus as western and Arab governments are looking to put pressure on the Assad regime.
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The Levant
The Arab Spring is changing the political and strategic map of the Middle East as we know it in ways that will persist for decades to come. Notwithstanding
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Featured Islamic Finance
How many Malaysian Islamic bankers work in senior positions at Islamic financial institutions in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Pakistan and the UK? Conversely, how many non-Malaysians work
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Featured Islamic Finance
In recent months I have frequented the asset management units at numerous banks, family offices, takaful insurers and asset managers, interviewing and questioning the status of Islamic asset
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Featured Qatar
Tweet whsaito /Foter Muscat-based United Securities has turned cautiously optimistic on the recent developments by global markets to contain the debt crises and on the back of better than
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Bahrain
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face rising refinancing risks over the next three years because the amount
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The Levant
The current status quo, which Netanyahu holds dear, is extremely dangerous for Israel. Violent conflict, whether with the Palestinians or Iran, could substantially change the equation to Israel's
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Featured Gold
Although gold finished the week up, there was speculation more than once that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) would again target the gold futures markets by hiking customer
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Bahrain
The Arab uprising must be seen as an integral part of a world in transformation. The technological and informational revolutions that have spurred (and continue to spur) globalization
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Featured Islamic Finance
Is Islamic finance capturing the imagination of the Generation Y and Z (the youth) as employees and customers? What has Islamic finance financed to build?
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Featured Islamic Finance
Tweet“GOD gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?” — Author unknown I want to thank NST. Islamic Finance 2.0
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Markets
A new report by Markaz, or Kuwait Financial Centre, offers an excellent insight into the dreadful year Gulf-listed stocks have had in the year
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Macroeconomic Data
Maura Connelly, the US Ambassador to Lebanon, warned of "serious consequences" if the Lebanese government fails to cooperate with and fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
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Markets
Assets managed by the world’s largest 500 fund managers rose by over 4% in 2010 to around US$65
trillion, continuing a trend from 2009 when assets rose 16% on
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Feaured Egypt
Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded the local-currency (LC) deposit ratings of five Egyptian banks
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Featured Saudi Arabia
Saudi Prince Nayef has to contend with a number of challenges as he takes over as the Crown Prince of the Kingdom, from trouble on his eastern and
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Featured Islamic Finance
Turkey has been building capital market bridges to GCC and South East Asia, and chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Hussain Erkan, has been a leading architect in
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Iraq
The withdrawal from Iraq creates enormous strategic complexities rather than closure. While the complexities in Libya are real but hardly strategic, the two events share certain characteristics and
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Featured Islamic Finance
Malaysia has raised the profile of Islamic finance, Takaful and Halal industry, and, now, she must do the same to venture capital (VC). VC is an important emerging
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Macroeconomic Data
With Libya's civil war over for all practical purposes after the death of Colonel Muammr Gaddafi - at least for now.. all eyes have turned back to Syria
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Egypt & MENA
Ratings agency Moody says that political instability in Egypt (Ba3 negative), epitomized in the recent, tendered resignation of its interim government on 11 October
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Macroeconomic Data
The October 2011 edition of Barclays Wealth Compass, entitled “Perspectives on Markets: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” reflects upon the past two decades of market volatility with an eye
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiqui, Head Of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters 2011 A conference on the future and expansion of takaful, called Takaful Rendezvous 2011, took place in Malaysia under
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Featured Islamic Finance
TweetBy Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters Failure is a mark of success in venture capital, hence, it is an option with beneficial learning consequences.
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Macroeconomic Data
"As per the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), the U.S. economy has already entered a new recession and it is going to get a lot worse."
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Egypt
TweetAn excellent CBS 60 Minutes report on political life in Egypt eight months after Hosni Mubarak’s departure (Dated Oct 8), especially in light of recent sectarian clashes:
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Macroeconomic Data
Something is amiss when US Treasuries become the frontier investor’s instrument of choice
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UAE
The survey revealed that 62% feel that the current salary is not in line with the cost of living, with 33% stating buying consumer durables is not practical
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Macroeconomic Data
Bill Gross in a speedo? PASS. PIMCO’s Bill Gross has released his monthly Investment Outlook for October, devoting a few paragraphs to his physique before comparing the today’s
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Featured Qatar
The regional stock markets may be sending negative signals, but the Middle East listed companies are expected to see a 38% rise in earnings in the third compared
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Oil
The Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp) expects MENA energy capital investment to reach $525-billion over the next five years
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Iraq
Oil services and drilling in Iraq may only be currently a $600 million to $800 million market but there is a good likelihood that it could develop
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