CGI Gulf Insights of the Week 23 Apr 2017 (191)

ByCGI Gulf Insights of the Week
Sunday, 23 April 2017
Published inApril 2017

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CRIF – Dun & Bradstreet is pleased to bring to you the latest edition of our newsletter ‘CRIF Gulf Insights’ (CGI). CGI will keep you informed about the current trends in the GCC markets and highlight key events in the regional and global economy.

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CRIF Dun & Bradstreet Communications Team

CGI | Issue 66 | April 2017

Country Risk Update - Qatar

The fall in export earnings was primarily due to a slump in oil and gas export revenues, which dropped by 38.1% y/y to QAR79.6bn. Petrochemicals, which are Qatar’s second largest export item, also declined by more than a quarter as their prices are also linked to the oil price. Conversely, imports rose over the same period, albeit only marginally. Total imports rose by 2.2% y/y to QAR59.9bn, although in the second quarter, they contracted by 1.7%. The contraction in hydrocarbons revenues has also had a negative impact on overall growth. On a positive note, growth picked up considerably from the previous quarter, when overall real GDP growth registered just 1.1% y/y. Also, The government is starting to address the lack of innovation by encouraging R&D.

Business, Finance and Commodity News

Ras Al Khaimah launches economic zone to oversee its two main free zones

The government of Ras Al Khaimah has launched the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), an authority established to oversee and regulate its two main free zones – Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) and RAK Investment Authority (RAKIA). The two free zones combined their boards and management teams last year. This was followed by the unification of the back-office functions of both entities to streamline their activities.

GCC media advertising down 22% in Q1

Gulf Cooperation Council regional media advertising declined 22 per cent in the first quarter of 2017. Advertising network TBWA Worldwide said, regional ad sales totalled $1.7bn in the first three months of the year from $2.1bn in the same period in 2016. UAE led the region during the quarter with $408m of ads followed by Saudi Arabia with $220m, Kuwait with $191m, Qatar with $70m, Oman with $35m and Bahrain with $29m.

Abu Dhabi’s mega Dhs3.3bn Zayed City project eyes 2020 completion

A mega AED3.3bn project – Zayed City – is set to come up in Abu Dhabi by 2020, it was revealed by the emirate’s Urban Planning Council (UPC). Named in honour of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed, the mixed-use project located between Abu Dhabi International Airport and Mohammed bin Zayed City forms a key aspect of the Abu Dhabi Plan. Once complete, the development spread across 45sqkm will house an estimated 370,000 residents.

Dubai bank Emirates NBD posts 4% rise in Q1 net profit

Emirates NBD (ENBD), Dubai’s largest lender, posted a 4 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit
The bank made a net profit of AED1.87bn ($509m) in the three months to March 31, compared to Dhs1.81bn in the corresponding period of 2016. The bank, 55.6 per cent owned by state fund Investment Corp. of Dubai, said the results were ‘underpinned by a control on expenses and an improved cost of risk.’

Commodity Tracker

D&B Article of the Week

The Tipping Point for B2B Programmatic Advertising

The past year has been a defining moment for B2B’s adoption of programmatic ad buying. B2B companies have become more knowledgeable about programmatic as data-driven targeting has moved into the marketing mainstream. At the same time, programmatic tools are now more capable of delivering the kinds of lead-generation and content-focused campaigns that are essential to B2B success. Indeed, almost two-thirds of B2B marketers in the survey said their organizations were currently using programmatic (Fig. 1). That was an increase of more than 10 percentage points over Dun & Bradstreet’s prior survey, in which 54 percent said their companies were buying ads programmatically. Read more

CRIF D&B Highlights

CRIF strengthens its positioning in Jamaica by acquiring all shares in CRIF NM Credit Assure Ltd.

CRIF NM Credit Assure was established in 2011 with the objective of providing a world-class credit bureau and related added-value services in Jamaica and the Caribbean. After obtaining the license in 2012 from the Ministry of Finance to operate a full file (positive and negative data) credit bureau in Jamaica, it began operations in September 2013, benefiting from the experience and commitment of both CRIF and Massy Technologies InfoCom Jamaica (MTIJ). MTIJ is part of the Massy Group, a world-class corporation operating across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Dun & Bradstreet acquires Avention
Dun & Bradstreet acquired Avention, which provides company, contact, and market data through its OneSource® solutions.This acquisition combines Dun & Bradstreet’s best-in-class content with Avention’s intuitive, user-friendly platform to provide sales and marketing professionals with actionable market and company information.

CRIF Gulf Introduces iPulse
iPulse is a new state of the art business application that supports end-to-end field due diligence process. For more information, send an email to [email protected]

Upcoming Events this Week

Arabian Travel Market
Apr 24 - Apr 27
Dubai Int'l Exhibition and Convention Centre

MENA New Energy 2017
Apr 25 - Apr 27
Hyatt Regency Dubai

StocExpo Middle East Africa
Apr 26 - Apr 27
DWTC

Reading Recommendation of the Week

How Successful People Think

A Wall Street Journal bestseller, is the perfect, compact read for today's fast-paced world. America's leadership expert John C. Maxwell will teach you how to be more creative and when to question popular thinking.