Business

By Bassem Aboualabass
Agence France-Presse

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — Mussa Al Nahas sat outside his fragrance and spice shop overlooking the Red Sea beaming at the sight of Russian tourists, who are beginning to flood back to Sharm El Sheikh six years after a terror attack.

"Today is much, much better than three or four months ago because the Russians are back," he told AFP.

"The return of Russian flights has spurred other countries to also open up," he added.

Nahas, 42, has spent half of his life in the idyllic, sun-drenched Red Sea resort which was badly hit economically after the 2015 downing of a Metrojet plane that killed 224 mostly Russian passengers.

The attack was claimed by the so-called Daesh group, which has a presence in the restive North Sinai region.

In the wake of the crash, Russia instituted a blanket ban on all flights to the Red Sea from 2015, and even to Cairo for a few weeks.

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was a double blow driving away the remaining tourists — the country's lifeline.

Tourism represents about 10 per cent of the GDP of Egypt where a third of the 100 million-strong population lives below the poverty line.

"We used to say that Sharm El Sheikh had become a ghost town," said Nahas.

But in August, the fortunes of Sharm — as it is affectionately known — started to look up when the first plane from Moscow touched back down at the local airport.

After years of diplomacy, the long-running ban was finally lifted.

'Like things used to be' 

Tour guide Abdelqader Abdel-Rahman, 30, who was preparing to take a group of Hungarian adventurers on a desert safari on quad bikes, was delighted to see the tourists milling around town.

"Before 2015, there were about 120-150 flights coming from Russia weekly... We hope that things go back to what they used to be," he told AFP.

Currently, there are about 20 flights from Russia landing in Sharm every week.

Capitalising on the appetite for tourism after months of global lockdowns, Egypt's tourism ministry has waived visa fees for 28 countries including many from eastern Europe.

In April, the country welcomed half a million tourists alone, twice as many as January, according to official figures.

"Since Russian planes have started coming back, the town has begun moving. Lots of people have gone back to their old jobs and have opened up their bazaars and restaurants again," Abdel-Rahman said.

Tourists are also happy to be back in the largest Arab country with plenty to explore from the pyramids in the north to the beauty of the Red Sea corals.

Sipping tea in a Bedouin tent in the desert before hitting the dunes, Hungarian Roland Juni, 41, said he had last visited a decade ago.

"I don't feel too many differences. I liked it 10 years ago and I like it now," he said.

"Now I see many, many Russians here. More than before," he added.

In 2019, before the onslaught of the pandemic, Egypt's tourism revenues reached $13 billion. But they plummeted to $4 billion last year, a huge shock for some 2 million workers in the industry.

'We've missed it a lot' 

Russian tourists have also been lining up for Sharm's marine activities from snorkelling and diving to jet-skiing.

Standing on the deck of a boat, Alexei Volnyago, 35, extolled: "We don't have seas like this in Russia... It's spectacular over here."

"We haven't been to Sharm in five years... we've missed it a lot."

At a major shopping centre, another Russian tourist named Alexei was busy picking out juicy, ripe mangoes — a delicacy to savour in hot Egyptian climes.

"Prices are pretty good... and the people are kind," he told AFP, strolling the aisles.

Shopkeeper Nahas recalled his Russian doctor friend who for 11 years spent six months annually in Sharm. "We used to call him Alexei the Sharmawi," Nahas said.

"As soon as flights were back in the air, he also came back."

AMMAN — Arab Bank Group reported net income after tax of $271.7 million as compared to $215.2 million for the same period last year, recording a growth of 26 per cent. 

Arab Bank consolidated the financial statements of Oman Arab Bank under its group accounts increasing total assets by $8.4 billion to reach $63.7 billion compared to $52.5 billion for the same period last year, according to a statement from the bank.

Customer deposits grew by 24 per cent to reach $46.6 billion, while loans grew by 28 per cent, to reach $34.1 billion. The consolidation of Oman Arab Bank has materially increased customer deposits and loans by $7 billion and $7.5 billion, respectively.

Sabih Masri, chairman of the board of directors, remarked that the solid results demonstrate the bank’s strategic directive to maintain sustainable growth despite the challenging environment and highlighted that the bank continued focus on its digital transformation strategy.

Nemeh Sabbagh, chief executive officer, commented that the bank’s robust performance confirms its effectiveness in operating in a challenging economic environment with net operating income increasing by 6 per cent to reach $856.9 million. 

He added that the group enjoys high liquidity and a strong capital base with a loan to deposit ratio of 73.1per cent, equity of $10.4 billion, and a capital adequacy ratio of 16.8 per cent. The group continues to hold credit provisions against non-performing loans in excess of 100 per cent.

Sabbagh also noted that the bank has launched Reflect, the first Neobank in Jordan, which provides a branchless experience to millennials and facilitates their daily lifestyle activities from one banking app. 

Masri highlighted Arab Bank's capacity to successfully overcome challenges and achieve strong results and stressed Arab Bank's commitment to its customers and shareholders.

By Talek Harris
Agence France-Press

RIYADH — The climate crisis does not look like good news for the oil industry, but Saudi Arabia is sniffing an opportunity that could help retain its energy dominance for decades.

Not only is the world's top oil exporter ramping up production, it is also making a major play for the trillion-dollar emerging industries touted as a route to cleaner air.

Such a move by one of the globe's biggest polluters has not gone down well with environmental campaigners, with Greenpeace complaining of "greenwashing".

But a push for the Saudi-promoted "circular carbon economy" is likely to feature at the United Nations' COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, starting on Sunday, after winning G-20 approval during the kingdom's presidency of the body last year.

The message screamed out loud and clear at this week's Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh: The Saudis are sticking with oil, and they want it to be part of the solution.

"I'm sure that people have noticed that we have been repositioning ourselves," Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman told the thousands-strong gathering dubbed "Davos in the desert", featuring superstars of the business world.

Prince Abdulaziz, who cast doubt on predictions of dwindling oil demand, was speaking after Saudi Arabia promised to go carbon-neutral by 2060 and pledged more than $1 billion for circular carbon economy initiatives and to produce "clean" fuel for 750 million of the world's poor.

'Green era'

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salmanhas called it a "green era" for the country, which is simultaneously raising oil production to 13 million barrels a day by 2027.

Prince Abdulaziz flashed up a graphic on the big screen emphasising Saudi plans for "preeminence in the global energy sector" through leadership in oil and gas, petrochemicals, renewables, hydrogen and carbon, listed in that order.

The UN has warned that even with aggressive cuts in greenhouse emissions, average world temperatures are poised to rise to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels by 2030, accelerating a devastating trend of drought, floods and extreme heat worldwide.

So circular carbon efforts — sucking carbon from the air and emissions, and repurposing it for products such as cleaner fuels and fertilisers — are needed to ease pollution further, experts say.

"The circular carbon economy may not sound great to those advocating for a hard break with hydrocarbons, but it is the logical way to produce a number of low or zero-emission fuels," Karen Young, director of the Programme on Economics and Energy at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told AFP.

The problem with carbon capture and reuse lies in implementation: the technologies are unproven, they can be costly and hard to scale, and they will need vast investment to get off the ground.

"The need is hundreds of billions [of dollars] a year," Bill Winters, group CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, told the FII.

"Without a market to facilitate that transfer from the private sector into the hands of people that can actually get the carbon out of the environment, we won't get there."

'Fossil fuel bastion'

Greenpeace cast doubt on Saudi Arabia's motives, saying environmental concerns were "at best secondary" in the switch to the new approach.

"Saudi Arabia remains the bastion of the fossil fuel era, despite their 'Green Initiatives' and renewable projects, which represent a fraction of the investment that they continue to pump into the fossil fuel industry," Greenpeace MENA Campaign Manager Ahmed Al Droubi told AFP.

"Their strategic position, as the cheapest producer of oil on the planet, is allowing them to continue to securely invest in fossil fuels, with at best secondary consideration to the impacts on the climate."

However, Saudi Arabia's strong position in the energy sector is likely to remain as the industry evolves, according to Young.

"Saudi Arabia can be dominant as we continue to use oil especially for petrochemicals and transport fuels, and more so natural gas in the next decade or two," she said.

"In renewables, Saudi Arabia has a strong stake in blue and green hydrogen production, solar production... and in solutions in carbon capture and storage. They will be in the energy business for many years to come."

On Monday John Kerry, US President Joe Biden's climate envoy, told world leaders at the Middle East Green Initiative summit in Riyadh that the shift to cleaner energy was the "biggest market opportunity the world has ever known".

"The winners are going to be the people that get into that market, and I think that is something the crown prince has understood," he said, nodding to MBS who was seated nearby.

ROME — Leaders of the world's major economies met Saturday at the G-20 summit in Rome, heading for a new deal on global taxation but still haggling on the pressing issue of climate change.

In their first in-person gathering for two years, the G-20 leaders expressed "broad and cross-party support" for a 15 per cent minimum tax rate for the biggest multinationals, according to a source close to negotiations.

The reform plan, which seeks to end the practice of big corporates such as Apple and Google parent Alphabet of sheltering profits in low-tax countries, has been backed by almost 140 countries and is expected to be formally approved in the G-20 communique on Sunday.

But no consensus had yet emerged on a collective commitment on climate change, on the eve of the crucial COP26 conference starting in Glasgow on Sunday.

Hosts Italy want the G-20 to collectively endorse the UN goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, one of the aspirations of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords.

But G-20 members, many at different stages of economic development, remain at odds over the other major goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

"We have a moment now when we can try and take some of the nebulous commitments in Paris, solidify them into hard, fast, commitments to cut emissions, to cut cars and coal and so on," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will host the Glasgow talks.

Crucial hours 

European Council President Charles Michel said the "next hours" would be crucial, adding: "I understand for some countries dependent on coal it is difficult to accept."

The stakes are high, as the G-20 — including China, the US, India, the EU and Russia — accounts for 80 per cent of global GDP and nearly 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned leaders Friday to show "more ambition and more action" and overcome mistrust in order to advance climate goals.

As the leaders huddled, hundreds of climate protesters gathered in the city centre to demand tougher action.

"We're asking G-20 leaders to stop playing games among themselves and finally listen to the people and act for the climate, as science has been asking for years," Fridays for Future activist Simone Ficicchia told AFP.

Another key topic of discussions is the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with both Xi and Putin raising the issue of the uneven distribution of vaccines in their comments to the group via video link.

Putin blamed disparities on "dishonest competition, protectionism and because some states, especially those of the G-20, are not ready for mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccination certificates", in his speech broadcast on Russian state television.

Get them vaccinated 

No new pledges are expected to address the vast gap in COVID-19 vaccine access between rich and poor countries.

But summit host Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister, said the G-20 should "do all we can" to meet a WHO goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the global population by mid-2022.

According to a source who followed the summit discussions, "all the leaders" agreed to commit to that target.

The meeting was the opportunity for a flurry of bilaterals between G-20 leaders, notably Biden, who is hoping to reassert US leadership following the tumultuous Trump years.

He met with Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks on Iran, after Tehran said it would resume discussions with world powers next month on reviving the 2015 nuclear accord.

On Friday, Biden met Pope Francis and had a one-on-one with Macron where he admitted that Washington had been "clumsy" in its handling of a submarine deal with Australia and Britain that left Paris out in the cold.

Yet, the Democrat faces a credibility test as his signature climate policy — part of a sweeping economic package — is held up amid infighting within his party in Congress.

WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator whose vote will be crucial to passing US President Joe Biden's social services plan indicated on Wednesday he had little enthusiasm for a proposed tax on the very richest Americans that his party is pushing to pay for the measure.

The Billionaires Income Tax unveiled earlier in the day by Senator Ron Wyden, who leads the chamber's finance committee, would apply to about 700 people with either $1 billion in assets or $100 million in annual income for three back-to-back years, and raise "hundreds of billions of dollars".

But Joe Manchin, a centrist senator who has objected to various earlier provisions and attempts to pay for Biden's plan — which costs about $2 trillion and enacts policies like universal pre-kindergarten and childcare subsidies — did not welcome the idea.

"I don't like it. I don't like the connotation that we're targeting different people," Manchin told reporters.

"There's people that, basically, they've contributed to society, they create a lot of jobs and invest a lot of money and give a lot to philanthropic pursuits. But it's time that we all pull together and grow together."

Billionaires have been under intensifying political fire in the United States as their wealth swelled amid the suffering of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Wyden's proposal would have made them a specific target of Washington's taxation powers.

"Working Americans like nurses and firefighters pay taxes with every paycheck, while billionaires defer paying taxes for decades, if not indefinitely," Wyden said in a statement announcing the tax idea.

"The wealthiest few who avoid taxes by indefinitely holding assets are also able to borrow against those assets to fund their lifestyles. This means they opt out of paying taxes and instead pay only low interest rates on loans from Wall Street banks."

If enacted, billionaires' assets such as stocks would be evaluated each year and taxes levied if they increased in value. If they decreased, taxpayers would take it as a write-off for potentially up to three years, according to the proposal.

This would be a change from current US law, where taxes on a stock's value are typically only paid if it is sold.

Another new tax would be levied on sales of non-tradable assets like real estate or business interests and account for interest on unpaid taxes during the years the person held it.

To address concerns that the tax could force wealthy people to sell off controlling stakes in companies, the proposal allows for an individual to designate up to $1 billion of stock in a single business as a "non-tradable asset".

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed energy giant Gazprom to increase natural gas supplies to Germany and Austria next month after allocating sufficient reserves for Russia.

Moscow has been accused in Europe of exacerbating an energy crisis on the continent that has seen gas prices surpass records in recent weeks as economies ramp up after seeing pandemic restrictions eased.

Putin told Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller Wednesday to finish filling Russian storage facilities by November 8 and to then "start to gradually increase the volume of gas in your underground storage facilities in Europe — Austria and Germany".

During a televised meeting with energy officials, Putin said this timeline would make it possible for Gazprom to "fulfil your contractual obligations to supply European partners with gas in the autumn-winter period".

The Russian leader added that the scheduled supplies would create "a more favourable situation in the energy market in Europe as a whole".

Europe is in the throes of an energy crisis with gas prices soaring to record highs as economies come back online after the end of pandemic lockdowns and renewables like solar and wind see a slowdown in supplies.

Critics in Western capitals blame Russia for the price hikes, saying Moscow is not upping deliveries to pressure Europe to agree more long-term contracts and for the certification of the recently completed controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The Kremlin said earlier Wednesday that talks with Moldova's pro-European government on gas prices are "exclusively commercial" and denied any political pressure was involved.