Deals & News

ARMANI HOTEL NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS (Apr 28, 2010)

Dubai After a few delays, designer Giorgio Armani yesterday formally opened the world's first Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa and said his company would, in partnership with Dubai-based
Emaar Properties, open at least 10 more such hotels over the next 10 years.

"I am thrilled to open the doors," Armani said as he unveiled 160 rooms and 144 private residences, which are now ready for occupancy.

The hotel and residences occupy space in the the world's tallest tower from the concourse to the 16th floor, as well as floors 38 and 39, and have been designed by Armani himself "in every aspect".

"It was marvellous to see how the project in Dubai came to life after five years of hard work," the designer said at the Burj Khalifa launch.

Room rates at the Armani Hotel start at Dh4,000 per night, hotel staff explained to Gulf News during a hotel tour yesterday. The priciest suite, the Armani Signature room, could cost more than Dh18,000 per night, but room rates depend on booking conditions, length of stay and the season, a hotel spokesperson explained.

The opening of the Armani Dubai hotel was originally scheduled for September 2009, which was then postponed to the end of last year. That date too was not met and April 21 was set as the new date.

The volcanic eruption in Iceland and the resultant flight disruptions forced another delay to April 27.

The hotel is a joint venture between Emaar Properties, the developer of Burj Khalifa, and Giorgio Armani and employs more than 700 staff. It will also have a nightclub called the Armani Privé, a spa, an Armani Dolci confectionery store and an Armani Galleria.

PASSENGER TRAFFIC AT DUBAI AIRPORTS UP 21.8% (Apr 28, 2010)

Dubai Airports recorded a 21.8 per cent increase in passenger traffic for March, with more than 3.9 million travellers, compared with the 3.2 million in the same period last year. Cargo continued its resurgence in March with volumes increasing 21.9 per cent to 194,100 tonnes, compared with 159,301 tonnes recorded in March 2009.


During the first quarter, Dubai International passenger traffic grew 20.4 per cent and cargo volumes rose 26.4 percent.

Passenger increases in March were attributed to a worldwide economic recovery, capacity increases by Emirates, new routes launched by flydubai, along with additional frequencies and routes offered by other airlines operating into Dubai International.

Total aircraft movements for March rose 9.6 per cent indicating that load factors and average aircraft size have increased. The strongest traffic increases were seen on routes to North America, Russia and CIS and Asia. The highest passenger volumes were generated by traffic to and from India, United Kingdom, Iran, Germany and Pakistan.

Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports, said: "The pace of the growth we're seeing is frenetic thanks to capacity
increases, gradually improving economic conditions and rising consumer confidence. Although last week's operational disruptions due to European airspace closures will have an impact on April's traffic results, the strong surge in traffic created as airlines clear backlogs will go a long way in making up the difference."

JORDAN PRIVATE BANK DEPOSITS UP 12% TO $23BN (Apr 28, 2010)

Private deposits in Jordan's banking sector rose 12 pct year-on-year to 16.538 billion dinars ($23.3 billion) at the end of March with strong inflows into local currency assets, central bank data showed on Tuesday.


Total deposits, which include public funds, rose by 11 percent in March to 20.771 billion dinars ($29.3 billion) against the same period in 2009, Central Bank of Jordan (
CBJ) data obtained by Reuters showed.

Bankers say the CBJ policy to allow a wider interest rate differential against the dollar in favor of the dinar had
encouraged banks and depositors to keep their funds in dinar-denominated assets.

A main plank of monetary policy is the defense of the dinar, which is pegged to the dollar, a policy that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says has served the Jordanian economy well.

Even Jordanian expatriates whose earnings were in foreign currencies were switching part of their savings into the dinar, attracted by interest as high as four percent, bankers say.

But deposit growth has eased substantially since the end of last year, a trend analysts attribute to a delayed reaction to the global recession last year which continues to hurt domestic demand, exports, tourism, worker remittances and foreign investments.

This is reflected in private sector deposits, mostly dinar-denominated assets that exclude public funds, which rose a marginal 1.7 percent since end-December 2009 when they stood at 16.257 billion dinars.

Total deposits, including government funds, rose 2.3 percent from 20.298 billion dinars at the end of last year, the data showed.

Last year, deposit growth was relatively resilient at 13.7 percent. In contrast, loans grew just 1.5 percent, after surging 14.2 percent in 2008.

SAQR REITERATES CALL FOR NAHHAS TO RESIGN AFTER TELECOMS MINISTRY 'SCANDAL' (Apr 28, 2010)

MP Oqab Saqr once again called on Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas on Tuesday to submit his resignation after the controversy over a report the ministry presented to the Parliament.

His words came during a telephone intervention he made on the Lebanese television station LBC in which he said “the mask has been lifted and the scandals of the Telecoms Ministry have been revealed.”

Saqr was referring to an article, published by the Ash-Sharq daily on Friday, which said Nahhas allegedly withheld a report from the Telecommunications Parliamentary Committee. The report was prepared by a committee within the ministry and upon the recommendation of the Parliament’s Telecommunications and Media committee. It aimed at studying information related to the Lebanese mobile-phone network, information the US Embassy had requested from the Internal Security Forces in April 2007.

According to Saqr, the affair was ambiguous and he suspected it had to do with smuggling.

“It’s not possible that one committee formed a draft, another committee wrote another text and then a text was issued,” he said.

Other media outlets reported that the ministry formed two committees to study the requested information. The second one was created when the parliamentary Telecommunications and Media committee asked the ministry to limit its work to technical issues and to avoid security-related matters.

However, Nahhas argued in a statement that “only one report was given to the parliamentary committee and everything else was just a draft. The parliamentary committee also followed up on all the stages of the ministry’s work.”

The information the US Embassy requested was said to be very sensitive and confidential but, according to Ash-Sharq, Nahhas said the information didn’t threaten Lebanon’s security.

FINANCIAL MARKETS ROCKED BY GREEK CRISIS (Apr 28, 2010)

European equities and the euro plunged Tuesday as financial markets were dogged by the Greek debt crisis and fears that the risk could spread to other eurozone nations, analysts said.

The London stock market dived 1.22 percent, Frankfurt fell 0.76 percent and Paris shed 1.68 percent, amid fears that the spreading Greek debt crisis may engulf other debt-laden eurozone nations like Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

Athens meanwhile plunged by more than five percent at one stage amid negotiations on a debt bailout for Greece and a dire warning from the nation's central bank over the economy.

The European single currency dived as low as 1.3278 dollars in afternoon London trade. It later stood at 1.3307, up from 1.3378 dollars in New York late on Monday.

On the bond market, the interest rate demanded by investors to hold Greek 10-year debt rose to a new record level above 9.5 percent.

And the rate for Portuguese debt was above 5.6 percent, while Irish and Spanish bond yields also stretched higher.

"It can really be summed up in one word -- contagion," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson told AFP.

Estefania Ponte, head of the economy and strategy department at BNP Paribas Fortis in Madrid, said the stock market was falling because the interest rate demanded by investors to hold Spanish 10-year debt had risen.

"There is a contagion effect from Greece. Greece, Portugal and Spain are in the line of fire," she told AFP.

Hewson added: "Spanish and Portuguese bonds are also under pressure, while (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel plays a game of political chicken with the voters in Germany who oppose a bailout by about two to one."

Greece has already asked the European Union and International Monetary Fund to activate a three-year rescue package worth up to 45 billion euros (60 billion dollars) in the first year.

KASSAR CALLS ON ARAB COUNTRIES TO IMPROVE EXPORTS, IMPORTS RECORD (Apr 28, 2010)

Minister of State Adnan Kassar urged Arab countries on Tuesday to work harder on their exports which amount to only 15 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in the region.

“The commodities that are being exported by Arab countries differ in their quality and suffer from a lack in diversity with a weak technological content,” he said.

His remarks came during the opening of a forum held at the Adnan Kassar center in Beirut. Dubbed “Encouraging investments and increasing exports in the Arab world,” the forum was organized by the Arab League in cooperation with the Arab and Foreign Chambers of Commerce. It aimed at studying the conditions of investments and exports in the Arab world in the midst of the challenges imposed by the global financial crisis.

Kassar said most of the Arab countries in general were able to overcome the crisis when compared to foreign countries.

However, he added, the crisis had some effects on inter-Arab trade in addition to the trade between Arab and foreign countries.

Despite all that, Arab countries were able to record positive growth rates, he said.

“The Arab countries’ share in foreign investments increased from 4 percent in 2007 to 4.7 percent in 2008,” he said. “Moreover, the share of Arab states in international trade rose from 4.3 percent in 2007 to 4.9 percent in 2008.”

Kassar said that lots of steps need to be taken to turn Arab countries into rich economies capable of reaching a sustainable economic development.

INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN MAKKAH WITHOUT DELAY (Apr 27, 2010)

RIYADH: The Shoura Council unanimously agreed Sunday to set up an international airport outside the holy city of Makkah.

The decision was taken when the annual report of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) was tabled at the eighth ordinary session of the Shoura Council held under the chairmanship of Chairman Abdullah Al-A sheikh.

In a statement after the session, Secretary-General of the Council Mohammed Al-Ghamdi said the decision to set up an airport in Makkah was taken after detailed discussions on the comments and observations made by the council's Transport, Communications and Information Technology Committee on the annual GACA report.

Al-Ghamdi said that the house suggested that the proposed international airport in the Makkah region be located outside the Haram area to allow both Muslims and non-Muslims to travel to the region.

A large number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims are expected to benefit from the proposed facility.

The members also recommended adequate votes to finance the development of the existing domestic airports in the Kingdom with state-of-the art technology. The house also urged GACA to provide better facilities to local and international transit passengers who use the Kingdom's airports.

Recently, the council considered slapping a SR500 fine on those who smoke inside the Kingdom's airports when a draft anti-smoking law was submitted by the committee appointed to draft regulations to prevent smoking in the Kingdom. The draft law also seeks a ban on the cultivation and production of tobacco and tobacco derivatives in the Kingdom. The proposed law covers cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, hookah pipes and any other products containing tobacco.

On Sunday, the council also recommended a national plan to draw up a marine survey using digital technology. The members said the survey should cover the Kingdom's coastal areas and territorial waters.

Regarding security affairs, the council discussed a draft cooperation agreement presented by the defense authorities to introduce new measures to curtail drug trafficking between Egypt and the Kingdom. The agreement included exchange of intelligence, criminal data and documents related to drug pedaling between the two countries. A draft agreement on the transfer of convicted prisoners between the two countries was also tabled at Sunday's session.

OVER 450 FIRMS TAKING PART IN GITEX KSA 2010 (Apr 27, 2010)

Eng. Mohammed Jameel Bin Ahmad Mulla, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, will inaugurate later today GITEX KSA 2010, a premier business-to-business networking event and a leading consumer ICT exhibition at Riyadh International Exhibition Center.

Over 450 leading companies from over 17 countries are participating in GITEX KSA 2010, which runs concurrently with Saudi Communications 2010.

GITEX KSA 2010 will introduce a wide array of new technology innovations, including rapid deployment units, alternate wind and solar energy solution for powering sites, fiber optic turnkey services, GIS, signaling and telecommunications solutions, BTS monitoring devices, interactive technology services, and theater rigging systems.

Saudi Arabia is projected to increase IT spending to the tune of around SR18.1 billion by 2013. Mohammed Al-Hussaini, Deputy General Manager, Riyadh Exhibitions Company (REC), said the organizer of the event. 'The main aim of this year's fair is to provide people with innovative technology,' he was quoted as saying by Saudi Gazette.

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