By IANS
Dubai : Qatar is all poised to announce its biggest ever budget for the financial year 2008-09 which starts April 1.
According to the Arabic daily Al Sharq, the budgetary estimates are likely to be based on an oil price ranging between $45 and $55.
More money would be allocated to public projects, while health and education would continue to receive priority, according to the report.
Infrastructure development projects like electricity and water, sewage, new ports, Doha’s new international airport and establishment of industrial areas would continue to get increased attention.
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Saudi Arabia assures world oil market adequate supply
Saudi Arabia has reiterated its commitment to stabilize the international oil market by ensuring adequate supply.
This comes after a meeting of the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Mineral Affairs, chaired by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, according to a report in the Arab News.
The council referred to a resolution passed at the last summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Riyadh, in which leaders said they would manage petroleum resources to ensure sustained development and achieve progress and prosperity of future generations.
“The summit also emphasized OPEC’s role in stabilizing the world energy market and realizing global progress and prosperity,” state Minister Matlab Al-Nafeesa, who is also secretary-general of the council, was quoted as saying.
“The council also emphasized the kingdom’s desire for oil market stability, and ensuring supplies to different regions at all times to maintain world economic growth,” he said.
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UAE firm unveils $500-mn worth of projects in Yemen
The United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Emirates Investment Group (EIG) has announced 1.8 billion dirhams ($500 million) worth of projects in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
The projects, which fall within a series of signature projects that EIG plans to launch in Yemen, will be in prime locations, the company said in a statement.
Strategically located 10 km from the new airport expansion, 2.5 km to the east of Old Sana’a City, the plush Sana’a Terraces overlooks the Movenpick Hotel Sana’a, one of the most exclusive hotels in the Yemeni capital.
It will cover an area of 140 million square metres comprising neatly designed residential and commercial units, while Sana’a East will consist of residential and commercial units, and hotel apartments.
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Dubai’s per capita insurance spend fifth highest
Per capita insurance spend in Dubai is the fifth highest in the emerging markets at 2,146 dirhams ($585).
“The average expenditure per person (spending) in Dubai on some kind of insurance reached $585 at the end of 2006,” the Gulf News quoted a spokesman of Swiss Re as saying.
“This is the fifth highest figure in emerging markets and higher than some European countries.”
According to the Emirates Insurance Association, the insurance density in the country, which was $456 in 2005, increased by 21.5 percent in the year that followed.
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$10.9 million FBO facility coming up at Dubai aviation city
Dubai World Central (DWC) Aviation City, planned as the largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in the world, has signed a deal with Palm Aviation to set up the project’s first fixed-base operation (FBO) ground handling facility.
Palm Aviation will provide extension of its global flight support operations centre from Dubai Airport Free Zone to DWC Aviation City.
The 40-million dirham ($10.9 million), 80,000 square foot facility to cater to the flight support services industry will be built within DWC, set to become the world’s largest airport, at Jebel Ali near here, according to media reports.
“DWC Aviation City will be home to the world’s largest MRO providers, largely due to the strategic aviation services offerings to third parties setting up their regional operations within our project,” Abdullah Al Quraishi, chief executive of DWC Aviation City, said.
Under the agreement, Palm Aviation will extend its existing global flight support operations centre to DWC Aviation City from its existing Dubai Airport Free Zone office as part of their expansion strategy, set to see the company grow by 35 percent annually over the next five years across the region.