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Saudi Aramco announced late April that a first shipment of low-carbon ammonia had arrived in Japan, where it will be used for power generation. The ammonia was produced by Sabic Agri-Nutrients, with feedstock from Aramco, and was sold to Fuji Oil Company for use at its Sodegaura refinery in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

The High Court in London has issued a summary judgement against Prince Fahd Bin Sultan Bin Abdelaziz in his dispute with Credit Suisse over a loan for his yacht Sarafsa. Mr Justice Bright ruled in favour of the Swiss bank on 31 March and set out his reasoning in a full statement on 5 April, saying the prince had no real prospect of succeeding in defending his position if the case went to trial.

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan, one of the lower-profile sons of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ), was due to list his company Ethmar International Holding on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) as GSN was going to press.

UAE relations with South Africa have soured after a Dubai court rejected a request from Pretoria to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta to face charges of money laundering, fraud and corruption.

New government, further elections=political risk downgrade: Kuwaiti politics and government remain in flux after Crown Prince Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah announced the dissolution of the National Assembly (parliament) on 17 April, setting the scene for a third general election in as many years.

Ratings boost: Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on Oman’s rating to positive from stable on 11 April, while affirming it at BB. S&P Global Ratings had announced the same move on 31 March. Fitch said the change reflected the improvements made in the government debt to gross domestic product ratio, with high oil prices and spending restraint reducing the external liquidity risk. Debt/GDP fell from 61% at end-2021 to 40% a year later and Fitch said it should reach 37% by end-2024.

Manama is offering a 'golden licence' to companies that invest in large projects and create hundreds of jobs for locals, in the latest sign of increasingly stiff competition among Gulf economies for international capital

Doha-based Urbacon Trading & Contracting (UCC) has signed a contract to build a 1GW power plant in Libya, as it looks abroad to make up for the post-Fifa World Cup lull in construction activity in its home market.

A leak of top secret US intelligence reports included allegations that UAE intelligence agents have been cooperating with their Russian counterparts to act against western interests. Abu Dhabi has denied there is any substance to these allegations, but they have come at a time of heightened concern in Washington about commercial and military ties between the UAE and Moscow.

Sheikh Abdulla Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa is to take over as chief executive of Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat from 1 May, replacing Khalid Al-Rumaihi who has been in the post since September 2019.

In a so far unusual move against a Russian entity, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) cancelled MTS Bank’s licence to operate in Abu Dhabi in late March, citing the "sanctions risks associated with the bank".

Election law: Iraq’s parliament voted on 20 March to maintain the number of seats in the chamber at 329 for the next election. Five seats will be reserved for Christians, with one seat each reserved for the Sabean-Mandaean, Shabak, Faily Kurd and Yazidi minorities.

Baghdad deal: Federal Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said on 13 March that Baghdad and Erbil had reached “a comprehensive agreement” on their outstanding differences, including oil revenues. He said a deal had been reached for all Kurdish oil revenues to be placed in a bank account “without any deductions”. Those funds could be spent by the Kurdistan authorities, subject to supervision by the federal government.

While America and Europe continue to present a united front in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the UAE’s more ambivalent stance continues to cause concern in western capitals – and has the potential to undermine, or at least complicate, the country’s diplomatic and commercial relations with the United States and its allies.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is preparing to launch a new body to oversee shipbuilding and ship maintenance and repair services in the kingdom in the near future, in its latest effort to diversify the economy and develop new industrial sectors.