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RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's King Salman approved the allocation of 100 billion riyals ($26.67 billion) from the kingdom's reserves to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Wednesday, according to a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

The funds would be used to support both foreign and local investments, particularly opportunities in the local market that would help to build the private sector, the statement said.

It did not elaborate on a timeline for the investments, but said they would be phased.

Under economic reforms announced early this year, the Saudi government said it aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the country, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion by transferring assets such as ownership of state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

That would make the PIF the world's biggest sovereign fund by far on paper, though not necessarily in terms of the cash it had available for investment.

The fund will increase investments abroad — in June, it bought a stake in US ride-hailing firm Uber for $3.5 billion — but it will still focus much of its attention on local projects designed to reduce Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil exports.

On Monday, the fund announced plans to buy a major stake in Adeptio, the Gulf-based investment firm which controls Kuwait Food Co. (Americana).

It is also set to take over a stalled financial district project in Riyadh and to buy a stake in the King Abdullah Economic City north of Jeddah.

ATHENS — EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Tuesday he is optimistic about concluding an overall deal on Greece’s latest bailout programme by the end of the year including discussions on debt relief.

Moscovici spoke just days before a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers on December 5 to discuss Greece’s massive 86-million-euro bailout, its third since 2010.

“This is doable, feasible,” Moscovici told journalists at the end of a two-day visit to Athens. 

However he said that “the precondition is to have pre-agreement this weekend involving all partners.”

“Greece has made significant progress, the second review is going forward well, I’m convinced to reach a staff agreement before the December fifth Eurogroup” meeting, he said.

During the previous review of Greece’s reform programme in May, the EU and IMF agreed to start discussions on debt relief by the end of the year if Athens keeps its reform pledges.

But influential Germany firmly opposes any new gestures to Athens, especially ahead of German elections later next year in which anti-EU populists could see a significant surge.

Greece’s leftist-led government is desperate to reach agreement with the creditors on the new fiscal measures before the end of the year in order to secure a pledge of debt relief, hoping it will kickstart the ailing economy.

Athens is also hoping that a deal will persuade the European Central Bank to include Greek sovereign debt in its asset purchase programme, known as quantitative easing or QE. 

Without debt relief, the ECB will not grant Greece access to QE, and without this, the country will not be able to return to the debt markets by early 2018, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Monday.

Greece’s debt will grow to 315 billion euros ($334 billion) or around 180 per cent of output this year, according to the Greek finance ministry.

The International Monetary Fund has said it won’t join the latest bailout until it sees a concrete plan from the Europeans to substantially cut the debt burden.

Despite strong opposition by Germany, Eurogroup Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said debt measures would be discussed on Monday in the hopes of persuading the IMF to sign on to the bailout.

“I think the IMF is committed because they had already agreed in May to go to the board [for approval] before the end of the year,” Dijsselbloem told MEPs in Brussels. 

In a gesture towards the IMF, Dijsselbloem admitted that the EU’s budget demands of Greece may be too strict, putting himself in opposition to powerful German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

“The IMF has a point that running a primary surplus of 3.5 per cent of GDP for a very long time is a huge thing to ask and we need to be realistic here,” Dijsselbloem said.

DUBAI — A Saudi government investment fund is buying a big stake in a firm that controls Mideast food giant Americana, which operates nearly 1,700 outlets for regional franchises of Pizza Hut, KFC, Krispy Kreme and other Western brands.

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund said late Monday that it is acquiring a 50 per cent stake in Adeptio AD Holdings SPC Ltd. from Emirati businessman Mohamed Alabbar.

It didn’t provide financial terms for the transaction.

Alabbar is chairman of Dubai-based Emaar Properties, the developer of the world’s tallest building, the BurjKhalifa. His firm Adeptio bought a controlling stake in Americana, formally known as Kuwait Food Company, in June.

The PIF says Alabbar will keep ownership of half of Adeptio.

AMMAN — Solidarity-First Insurance has posted positive results over the past few months, according to the company’s Chairman Ashraf Bsiso. 

The company results have "exceeded expectations", Bsiso told reporters at a press conference on Sunday. 

During the first nine months of 2016, the company, created as a result of a merger between Yarmouk Insurance and First Insurance, a subsidiary of Solidarity Group Holding headquartered in Bahrain, recorded a 7 per cent growth in its profits, its Chief Executive Officer Ali Wazani indicated.

During the first three quarters, it has managed to increase its underwriting value to JD37 million from JD34 million in 2015, according to Wazani, who is also Jordan Insurance Federation chairman.

Solidarity-First Insurance will make use of the group’s expertise and practices in the areas of risk management and ICT systems, he added. 

The company is ranked fourth in terms of its market share in the insurance sector, which accommodates around 20 insurance companies.

Bsiso, who is also chief executive officer of the Bahrain-based Solidarity Group Holding, explained that the group is one of the founders of First Insurance, with an initial stake totalling 16 per cent in 2008.

"Solidarity group gradually raised its share in First Insurance until it acquired 70 per cent of its shares in 2014,” he said.

This reflects the group's confidence in the Jordanian market, he noted.

In 2015, the Investment Council agreed to offer incentives to insurance companies that are willing to merge, in a bid to salvage financially troubled companies and boost the sector’s performance.

The government offered them income tax exemptions for three years. It also relieved them from ownership transfer fees and other charges levied in the event of capital raise.

ALGIERS — Algerian police on Sunday broke up a protest in the capital against a reform to end early retirement that is to be debated in parliament, an AFP correspondent said

A drop in oil revenues prompted the draft law to end both early retirement and retirement after 32 years of contributions to a pension fund, regardless of age. 

Retirement age for all Algerians will be 60, under the reform due to come into force in January.

Protests have been banned in public places in Algeria since 2001.

Police arrested several demonstrators and tore up banners held up by trade unionists chanting the national anthem, the correspondent said.

"I was roughed up by police and wounded" above the eye, school director Abdelmalek Zegada said. 

Protesters said that many others had been held up at security checkpoints outside the capital and prevented from joining the gathering.

"Police beat up teachers, doctors and workers," said Um Abdelkader, a teacher. "We're all shocked."

Opposition lawmaker Nadia Chouitem said she was sad to see "so much violence". 

Fellow parliamentarian Smain Kouadria accused the state of sliding into the behaviour of a "totalitarian state" in the face of "legitimate" demands. 

Algeria's parliament is expected to approve the draft law as the legislature is largely dominated by parties who support President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

RIYADH — Arid Saudi Arabia could need more than $53 billion in water sector investment supported by private funds as demand grows, officials said on Sunday.

The world's largest oil exporter, whose petroleum revenues fell 51 per cent last year on declining crude prices, is pushing to diversify its economy through greater private sector investment and development of new industries.

Among government agencies targeted for privatisation is the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), which desalinates water from the Gulf and Red Sea coasts.

"Future plants will be tendered to the private sector," Ali Al Hazmi, SWCC governor, told the government-organised Water Investment Forum.

"We have everything ready for privatisation."

The desert kingdom, which has no rivers, obtains most of its water from desalination and the rest from ground sources.

"This requires a lot of money and a lot of capital investment," Mansour Al Mushaiti, a deputy minister with the ministry of environment, water and agriculture, told the forum.

"We are envisaging that the capital requirements in the next five years will reach up to 200 billion Saudi riyals [$53.3 billion]."

TEHRAN — Algeria has proposed that members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut 1.1 million barrels of daily oil production to boost prices, 

Iran’s Shana news agency reported on Sunday.

OPEC members are due to meet on Wednesday in Vienna to discuss capping production.

At an informal meeting in Algiers in September, the 14 members agreed to work towards a cut of between 500,000 and one million barrels.

“The Algerian government has proposed a 1.1 million barrel per day cut in OPEC’s total output,” Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa said after meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran. 

“We are hopeful that the next OPEC meeting will save the oil market of the current crisis,” he said, according to Shana, the official news service of Iran’s oil ministry.

Boutarfa also called for non-OPEC members such as Russia to cut their output by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) — also slightly higher than earlier proposals — saying that falling oil prices were hurting the global economy and “must be stopped”.

He said the cuts could push prices up to $60 per barrel by the end of the year. 

A global supply glut has sunk oil prices below $50 — more than half their level just two years ago — threatening the economies of major producers such as Saudi Arabia. 

There have been growing doubts among analysts on whether a deal could be finalised. 

Iran has refused to cut production until it regains its pre-sanctions levels of output, although OPEC members agreed it could be exempted from any deal, along with Libya and Nigeria.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said he was optimistic an agreement would be reached on Wednesday. 

“The course of events and talks indicates that OPEC can reach a sustainable deal regarding its output and market management,” he said, according to Shana.

BERLIN — Pilots at Lufthansa are staging a fourth consecutive day of strikes against the German airline on Saturday, with chances of an immediate resolution to the pay dispute looking slim after their union rejected a new offer from the company.

The Cockpit union targeted Lufthansa's long-haul services, prompting 137 flight cancellations and affecting some 30,000 passengers. That was fewer than on previous days, when Cockpit members also hit short-haul flights.

Cockpit said that there will be no walkout Sunday and it will give at least 24 hours' notice of any further strikes next week.

Lufthansa said it expects flights to operate largely as scheduled on Sunday. However, it cautioned that there will still be a few cancellations as a result of the previous days' disruption and urged passengers to check the status of their flights online.

Cockpit is seeking retroactive raises of 3.66 per cent a year going back 5-and-a-half years. Lufthansa, which faces increasing competition from Gulf airlines and European budget carriers, says it cannot satisfy that demand.

On Friday, Lufthansa offered to increase pay by 4.4 per cent by mid-2018, and make a one-time payment equal to 1.8 monthly salaries in lieu of past raises.

It also offered to hire about 1,000 new pilots in the coming five years and seek third-party mediation on other outstanding issues.

Cockpit, however, argued that the proposal simply reiterated one made over two months ago.

DUBAI — Iran is optimistic OPEC can reach a deal on limiting oil supplies and plans to announce its own decision about any output curbs at the group's meeting next week, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on the ministry's official website SHANA.

"The proposal of Algerian Energy Minister [Nouredine Bouterfa] on the production of each country was presented today and carefully studied," Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Saturday after meeting Bouterfa in Tehran.

Bouterfa said Algeria's proposals called for 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in cuts by OPEC members and decreases totalling 600,000 bpd by non-members, SHANA reported.

"If OPEC members... agree, oil prices will reach $50 to $55 next year and $60 by the end of the year," Bouterfa was quoted as saying.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is moving closer towards finalising its first deal to limit oil output since 2008 but Iran has been a stumbling block because it wants exemptions as it tries to regain oil market share following the easing of Western sanctions in January.

"We are to present our views about this proposal at the... November 30 OPEC meeting," Zanganeh said. "The general trend and public statements suggest that OPEC can reach a viable agreement for its production and market management."

"If we can agree, and I am optimistic, [oil] prices will increase and this is also what the world economy demands."

SHANGHAI — China’s largest online travel agency Ctrip will buy British flight search app Skyscanner for $1.7 billion.

The travel service provider will pay £1.4 billion, mainly in cash, for the Edinburgh-based firm, the companies said in separate statements late Wednesday.

NASDAQ-listed Ctrip, partly owned by Chinese search giant Baidu, provides online booking for airline and railway tickets as well as hotels, and describes itself as China’s largest travel company.

It generated more than 350 billion yuan ($51 billion) in gross merchandise value last year, the firm said on its website, referring to a measure of online sales.

Gareth Williams, Skyscanner chief executive, said: “Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from.”

The acquisition took Skyscanner “one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world”, he added.

Skyscanner provides similar services to Ctrip and has 60 million monthly active users, mainly in Europe.

Ctrip co-founder and Executive chairman Liang Jianzhang said: “This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies. Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale.”

Skyscanner will remain operationally independent with its current management team, the statements said. 

In its third-quarter results, announced Wednesday, Ctrip said it had also acquired “two large US tour operators specialised in serving Chinese travellers”, without naming them.

“The Skyscanner deal, as well as the buying of US travel agencies, is part of Ctrip’s effort to expand its overseas business,” Zhang Min, analyst with Shanghai-based consulting firm Business Connect China, told AFP. 

“Ctrip is already the leader in the domestic market in both ticket and hotel booking, so its future growth lies in overseas expansion.”

Average hotel rates were higher overseas, she added, so the deal would help improve Ctrip’s margins.

The Skyscanner purchase, already approved by boards of both firms, is still subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by the end of 2016.

Shanghai-based Ctrip merged with another major Chinese online agency Qunar last year to create the country’s biggest Internet travel service.

The deal gave Baidu, which controlled Qunar, a 25 per cent stake in Ctrip.

Ctrip shares closed down 2.1 per cent to $40.99 on Wednesday before the announcement. 

Chinese companies have been snapping up overseas assets in the tourism sector from hotels to airlines as higher incomes send more Chinese people on outbound travel. 

Conglomerate Fosun bought French holiday company Club Med last year and was also part of a part of a consortium that acquired Canadian entertainment juggernaut Cirque du Soleil. 

It also has a stake in British-based tour operator Thomas Cook.