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The Middle East markets have felt the global recession, including a project finance market that was until last year the world’s strongest. International financial institutions (IFIs) are playing a role in helping to keep the wheels of commerce turning. There was a strong signal of returning confidence when on 24 April the sponsors of

The chief executive of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), Sheikh Mohammed Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, quit the company with immediate effect on 21 May. According to Reuters, Batelco has temporarily appointed Peter Kaliaropoulos – Sheikh Mohammed’s predecessor – as chief operating officer, and asked him, along with a three-person committee of members of the board, to run the company until a new chief executive is hired.

A judge at the High Court in London has ruled the UK government must disclose some previously secret material used to justify sanctions on Bank Mellat, in a partial victory for the Iranian bank. Bank Mellat’s passage through the British courts has made fitful progress since it was caught by sanctions imposed in 2009 under the Financial Restrictions (Iran) Order. This had a severe impact on the bank’s business in the UK and internationally.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed its long-and short-term foreign and local currency ratings for Sharjah emirate at A/A-1, with a stable outlook. Mining and energy (which account for around 12% of the economy) have slowed but other key sectors, including real estate and business services (about 21% of GDP), manufacturing (16%) and wholesale and retail trade (12%) have all grown. The emirate’s economy – which grew by an estimated 1.8% in 2015 – has close links to Dubai; provided its larger neighbour can sustain its economy and spending on major projects Sharjah should benefit. S&P expects growth to average 2.8% in 2016-18. GDP is estimated at $28,700 per head for 2016.

Al-Khobar-based Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) in October dropped a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in March 2011 (GSN 898/12) against former employee Glenn Stewart. AHAB had alleged that Stewart was a key player in a fraud that rocked the Al-Gosaibi family businesses in 2009. Stewart was chief executive of Bahrain-based The International Banking Corporation (TIBC), which was owned by AHAB. AHAB claimed Stewart took out nearly $10bn in loans under the bank’s name while knowing that they were being siphoned off by the Saudi businessman and Al-Gosaibi relative Maan Al-Sanea (GSN 899/12), contributing to the bank’s 2009 collapse.

A number of Gulf states pledged money for the reconstruction of Gaza during a donor conference in Cairo on 12 October. The UAE and Kuwait each said they would give $200m, while Qatari foreign minister Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah promised $1bn. Qatar’s state news agency said Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani had received telephone calls from Hamas president Khaled Mishaal and Hamas vice-president Ismail Haniyeh, thanking him. Norwegian foreign minister Borge Brende, who co-chaired the donor conference with Egypt, said pledges of $5.4bn had been promised in total – more than the target $4bn – and that half of those funds would be dedicated to the reconstruction of Gaza.

Dubai’s Emirates airline set a new record on the first day of the Dubai Airshow with the announcement it was placing orders worth an estimated $99bn. Emirates will purchase 250 Boeing 777Xs (comprising 35 Boeing 777-8Xs and 115 Boeing 777-9Xs), plus 50 purchase rights, an order valued at $76bn – making it the single largest aircraft order by value in the history of US commercial aviation. In a separate deal worth $23bn, Emirates, which is chaired by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum (uncle of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum), ordered 50 Airbus A380 aircraft.

The fallout from the dispute between two major Saudi business families continues to concern creditors, regional banks and international monetary authorities. Conventional wisdom has it that issues surrounding the Al-Gosaibi/Maan Al-Sanea defaults will be resolved by the authorities. But the Saudi system’s slow public response to the situation was undermining confidence even before international courts got involved

Muscat will be hoping for another strong year for oil prices in 2013, after setting itself big spending targets, and budgeting for a deficit of OR1.7bn ($4.4bn). Revenues for 2013 are estimated at OR11.2bn ($29bn), up 27% from the previous year (although actual revenues in 2012 were around OR14bn). Oil and gas accounts for 84% of that, based on an average of $85/bbl and production of 930,000 b/d.

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) economies are expected to suffer a further slowdown this year, in large part due to the oil production cuts agreed through The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), but most of them will at least continue to grow according to the latest forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published on 2 May. The Fund is predicting growth of just 0.9% this year across the six GCC states, compared to 3.8% in 2015 and 2% in 2016.

Cayman Islands-registered BMB Group, set up in 2004 by 31-year-old Rayo Withanage, is emerging as a player in Brunei Dar Al-Salam, until now not the most active of Islamic financial markets. BMB started by offering financial services to members of the Brunei royal family, and apparently to Gulf royals too.

Majid Al Futtaim Properties (MAF) has said it will spend Dh1bn ($0.3bn) expanding one of Dubai’s largest malls – the Mall of the Emirates. In a statement on 10 September, MAF said the mall would be redeveloped to include a new fashion district, luxury retail, and sports and leisure precinct. The mall is a major attraction because it houses the only indoor ski resort in the region, launched in 2005. Phase one of the expansion has already begun: a Dh100m district dedicated to contemporary fashion. The news – the latest of a string of mega-projects in the emirate announced since 2012 (GSN 937/13) – follows an announcement by Emaar Properties earlier this year that it planned to expand Dubai Mall, the world’s largest mall, with a view to attracting more than 100m visitors each year.

The merger of International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) and Mubadala Development Company (MDC), announced in late June, will create a $135bn sovereign wealth fund that brings together domestic and international assets across energy, aerospace, industry and other strategic sectors. It will offer a welcome opportunity for Abu Dhabi to cut costs. However, making a success of the merger will not necessarily be straightforward, given the very different strategies the two funds have pursued until now.

Wealthy investors would be well advised to take note of the growing use of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). UWOs are a power given to the NCA and a number of other bodies in January 2018, via the Criminal Finances Act 2017. London property, a favoured asset class for many Gulf nationals, is proving to be the main target of the orders so far.On 29 May, the NCA revealed it had secured High Court approval for a second tranche of UWOs, enabling it to seize £80m ($101.5m)-worth of residential properties in London held by unnamed politically exposed persons (PEPs) via offshore companies.

Standard Chartered has agreed to pay a $340m fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), for facilitating transactions of Iranian clients. On 6 August, DFS superintendent of financial services Benjamin Lawsky called the UK multinational banking and financial services company a “rogue institution”.