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In the project finance market, signals have been mixed. On the one hand, the Saudi market has been through a dour time, not least in its cancellation of the $5.5bn-$6bn Ras Al-Zour independent water and power project (IWPP) as a private sector development after the original bid winner, Malaysia’s Malakoff, failed to come up with financing and decided to withdraw.

Rarely do GCC disputes get more public, and it will take more than warm words from Riyadh to win back the Al-Nahyan into the currency union fold. For Abu Dhabi, bank location is the deal-breaker

While the Middle East has weathered the global recession better than most regions, the regional dynamics have altered, with the more highly leveraged economies such as Dubai losing ground to more conservative and resource-rich players, led by Saudi Arabia.

Nasser Al-Shaikh, head of the Dubai government's finance department, has been removed from his post, reportedly after a dispute with a senior

Kuwait’s largest telecoms operator has gained a majority stake in the Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel) as part of an expansion plan. Showing the depressed mood in the Gulf, even large family businesses are looking away from their traditional home markets. International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on the development and financing of a large scale specialist healthcare project in Muharraq.

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.

Saudi Arabia, after all, is to house the planned Gulf Co-operation Council central bank. Following the 11th GCC consultative summit, held in the Kingdom on 5 May, the GCC’s outgoing secretary-general Abdelrahman Al-Attiyah announced that Riyadh would be the new joint monetary council’s base; this institution will eventually evolve into the GCC central bank.

Successful new sovereign bond issues by Qatar and Abu Dhabi have improved the sentiment toward the region, even though impacts of the global recession continue to be felt – not least in the credit profile of Gulf banks, which will deteriorate this year amid tighter liquidity and slumping stock markets, as Standard & Poor’s predicted recently.

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. Withanage's partner Prince Abdul Ali Yil-Kabier

Reports that Dubai-based private equity house Abraaj Capital Ltd was to buy up to 15% of global marine terminal operator DP World’s equity remained unconfirmed as GSN went to press. But another round of fund-raising is under way among Dubai-based giants, with another Dubai World subsidiary, property developer Nakheel, resorting to a bail out from the emirate’s Department of Finance to help settle its debts.

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 $2.6bn of commercial bank commitments for the Dolphin refinancing included some very large chunks of single bank finance,

Aabar invests in European subsidiary of AIG, Mubadala posts Dh11.8bn loss for 2008, Brunei investment fund, German automotive industry attracts Qatar,

After eight months in the doldrums triggered by the global credit crisis, Middle East project finance has bounced back to life with the stunning commitment of $3bn from commercial banks to refinance the Dolphin pipeline. With liquidity still very tight, a boost was necessary to bring banks back into the international syndications market.

The Jubail export refinery is scheduled to hit the financing market in June, “but will probably come a little later,” a leading regional project finance banker, who wished not to be identified, told GSN. The Jubail facility was estimated initially to cost a massive $12bn, but Saudi Aramco is seeking a reduction to below $10bn for the proposed