UAE not as affected by inflationary pressures as some developed economies — www.thenationalnews.com
Highlights:
– The main drivers of inflation in the developed markets last year were energy prices, supply chain disruptions, reopening frictions and food prices.
– It was only in August 2021 that the UAE’s annual inflation rate returned to positive territory, and rose to 2.5 per cent by the end of last year. This is still around half the inflation seen in Europe and around a third of the US inflation rate.
– Last year, housing and utility costs in the CPI declined by 3.5 per cent from 2020, which helped to offset some price increases in other components of the index.
– UAE petrol prices had increased almost 48 per cent year-on-year by the end of last year, reflecting the higher price of crude oil in 2021.
– The biggest increase in the UAE’s CPI in 2021 was in the transport component of the index, which reached 18 per cent year-on-year by December and averaged a 9 per cent increase over the whole of last year.
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Highlights:
– In its simplest form, fractional ownership allows multiple investors to acquire an apartment, villa or other property types, and with each of them having ownership rights through the title deeds.
– Under the current rules, “A maximum of four investors can acquire property together in the emirate,” said Sameer Lakhani, Managing Director at Global Capital Partners.
– If one of the fractional title deed owners want to exit, he can just sell his stake and transfer the deed to another buyer. The processes are smooth enough. In fact, there was a recent auction that called for bids on a fractional ownership deed.
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Can Saudi Arabia become the world’s biggest hydrogen producer?
Highlights:
– If the new plant meets its daily production target of 650 tonnes of environmentally friendly ‘green’ hydrogen, it will become the world’s largest. Large scale construction of the plant has not yet started at the site of the planned city of Neom on the Red Sea coast. Production would begin in 2026, an official told the Financial Times.
– But with Russia and the UAE among the many countries also angling for a share of the market, sceptics question whether the Red Sea plant will deliver all that Riyadh is hoping for.
– Roland Kaeppner – Head of the hydrogen project at Neom, says Saudi Arabia has “excellent solar and wind resource, available land, well-sited to export to Europe. So (the) fundamentals are good,” he added. “I’m not saying KSA doesn’t have the capabilities, just that they now need to demonstrate them.”
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China Targets Billionaires for Detentions in Rough Justice, Communist-Style – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– In 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping justified sweeping new powers for detentions, citing a desire to “improve the party’s ability to purify itself.” In a social media post at the time, China’s anti-corruption watchdog said the party must control the justice system to avoid “the trap of law” and “the trap of democracy.” In January the agency reinforced its pledge to “show no mercy” in breaking the ties between money and power.
– What the United Nations calls “enforced disappearances” have surged 10-fold under Xi, who came to power in 2012, compared with the previous decade.
– Investigations have intensified under Xi’s “common prosperity” campaign, which seeks to alleviate wealth inequality.
– By removing certain billionaires from public view, the party is sending a clear message, says Steve Tsang, director of SOAS University of London’s China Institute: “Making profit is a privilege, not a right. Big tycoons can continue at the grace of the party.”
– George Soros, the billionaire financier, has called investing in China “a tragic mistake.” Meanwhile, Wall Street’s BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are doubling down. In their view, investors can’t afford to miss out on the rewards of doing business in the world’s second-largest economy.
– As of year-end, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest 500 people, included 79 from China, second only to the number from the U.S. China accounts for 1 in 6 of the world’s billionaires, up from 1 in 20 in 2016.
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The U.S. Is Exporting Every Molecule of LNG Possible – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– Once Calcasieu Pass LNG is in full service, the seven U.S. LNG export terminals will be able to draw as much as 13.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, solidifying America’s lead over Qatar and Australia as the world’s top supplier of the superchilled power plant fuel, figures from U.S. Energy Information Administration show.
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Lithium Supply for EV Batteries Vary From Deficit to Surplus in Forecasts – Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com
Highlights:
– The metal’s price has surged fivefold in the past year, reflecting mounting worries about the availability.
– The stakes are high for carmakers that are spending billions of dollars betting on a battery-powered future. Mining companies and governments are responding with ambitious plans to boost production. But demand is growing at such a breathtaking pace that it’s not clear whether it will be enough.
– In a further sign of how quickly the surge in EV sales is reshaping the lithium landscape, Citigroup Inc. on Wednesday almost doubled its price forecast for 2022.
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