Search Results for: UAE

Islamic finance is flourishing across parts of the Middle East and south-east Asia. Assets are increasing, there is a greater diversification in product offerings, and Islamic fintech is starting to take off.

Islamic finance assets were estimated at USD2.88 trillion globally in 2020, and are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5% to 2024, to reach USD3.69 trillion, according to New York-based research firm DinarStandard’s State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) 2020-21 report.…

The Saudi Arabian paint market is rebounding after a sluggish 2020, when sales declined due to an economic downturn caused by lower oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well the trebling of value added tax (VAT) across the kingdom. The World Bank has projected that this will cause a 5.4% contraction in national GDP, a highly unusual recession in a fossil-fuel rich country used to robust growth.…

The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is kicking off 2021 with the grand opening of its new airport passenger terminal, a 210,000 square metre (sqm) building that is four times the size of the existing facility. Following its official opening on January 28, the terminal will be capable of processing 130,000 air traffic movements a year, up from 95,500 in 2019, and will have a handling capacity of 4,700 bags an hour. …

ARAB COUNTRIES MUST JOIN WEST IN DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SYRIA TO FORGE NEW PEACE

After a 10-year-old civil war in which an estimated 400,000 people have died, calls for restoring diplomatic relations with the ruthless government of Bashar al-Assad, now controlling around 75% of the country, sound like bitter medicine.…

The international gold trade is worth over USD6 trillion a year, according to the World Gold Council (WGC), but oversight of the supply chain is considered weak by many critics, relying on self-regulation, making it vulnerable to money laundering.

Gold remains scarce and hence valuable: from antiquity until 2019, just 197,576 tonnes has been mined – equivalent to a 21.7 metre cube, according to the World Gold Council.…

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in paint and coatings products and ingredients contains significant variations in prices that some experts warn maybe too good to be true and could indicate that certain trade flows are being exploited by money launderers.

Such criminals seeking to move illicit proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…

ACCA members Danish Sange and Amina Rafi reveal how their marriage has accelerated their professional growth and advanced their careers.

It is tough to separate work and home when you are married to someone with a similar profession.

But setting these boundaries has helped Danish Sange, manager at PwC Middle East, and his wife Amina Rafi, audit senior at Deloitte Middle East, make the most of their relationship.…

Mavi, the Turkish denim giant, sold 9.7 million pairs of jeans worldwide in 2019, and, its chief executive has told just-style, has rebounded from the shuttering of the garment sector earlier this year with e-commerce sales doubling in its major markets.…

TRADE-based money laundering (TBML) is often hard to spot – that is why criminal networks use this typology. But a careful analysis of detailed trade data can reveal anomalous pricing flagging the possible presence of TBML. This is the key goal of a trade database created by a business professor at the USA’s Florida International University.…

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in tobacco products and inputs contains significant variations in prices that might indicate the presence of trade-based money laundering – of TBML – a specialist database indicates. Certain trade flows are exploited by money launderers seeking to move criminal proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…