Lebanese debt-to-GDP ratio improves

By Hamdan Al-Muhairi in Dubai
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-06-18

[JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images] Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said his country's average economic growth is 8%.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that for the fourth consecutive year, the average growth of the Lebanese economy reached 8%. Bank deposits are now worth three times the GDP.

He spoke Wednesday (June 16th) during a workshop on the securities market in Beirut.

The rapid economic growth helped lower the debt-to-GDP ratio to 147% in 2009, dropping from 180% in 2008. However, the increase in spending will raise the public budget deficit to $3.7 billion, or 10.7% of the GDP for 2010, from $3.25 billion, or 8.6% of the GDP in 2009. It is likely that the nominal debt will reach $55 billion, up from $51 billion for 2009.

Moody's Investors Service raised the sovereign debt rating of Lebanon in April to B-1, based on the gradual improvement in foreign currency liquidity.

New business in Abu Dhabi attracts foreign investment

A report titled "The Anticipated Investments by the Private Sector in Abu Dhabi for 2010" published Sunday (June 13th) revealed that the emirate will attract investments and new capital from the private sector of up to 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) in 2010.

The report stated that the number of new business opened in the first half of 2010 reached 5,700, among which 4,334 are commercial, 1,035 in handicrafts, 288 in the vocational sector and 63 in the industrial sector.

The report stated that the amount of capital invested in Abu Dhabi is 840 billion dirhams ($228.7 billion) spread across more than 76,000 businesses. It anticipated Abu Dhabi will attain GDP growth of about 4.8% for 2010, which makes the emirate one of the region's best in terms of economic growth.

Qatar investors make overseas acquisitions

A report published Sunday (June 13th) by the real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle in Doha stated that Qatar will become the largest source of cross-border capital in the global real estate market in 2010.

Qatar's revenues allowed it to create investment arms, including the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar Holding and the companies Barwa and Diyar. These state-owned companies were established to diversify the investment of the country's wealth by acquiring new assets throughout the world. Real estate investments constitute the principal element of the investments.

Qatari government companies purchased the famous Harrods stores in London in a deal estimated at £1.5 billion. In April, the Qatari company Diyar acquired Raffles Hotel in Singapore for $275 million and a 50% share in the MAIA Resorts in Seychelles. It purchased the London building in Grosvenor Square that houses the US embassy for $664 million.

Jordan tourism revenues increase

Maha Al-Khatib, the Jordanian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, announced that tourism revenue through April 2010 reached 700 million dinars ($986.6 million), a 32% increase compared with the same period in 2009, which was 531 million dinars ($748.4 million).

Al-Khatib said the number of visitors to Jordan during the first quarter of 2010 increased by 26.2% compared to 2009. The number of visitors for this period in 2010 reached 1.53 million, compared with 1.22 million during the same period in 2009.

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