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Roundup: UAE firms score lucrative deals amid sluggish global growth

Xinhua, July 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have scored lucrative deals over the week-long post-Ramadan period, despite the ongoing slump in the oil price and sluggish global economic growth.

In a filing to Dubai's stock exchange Dubai Financial Market (DFM), local real estate maintenance firm Drake and Scull International said it has won an engineering contract worth 226 million dirhams (61.60 million U.S. dollars) to help develop Zubair oilfield in southern Iraq.

Shayne Nelson, chief executive officer of the UAE's largest bank Emirates NBD, said on Monday the bank will invest 500 million dirhams (136.23 million U.S. dollars) in digital innovation over the next three years as it looks to launch the country's first digital bank.

Emirates NBD launched a partnership with the world's biggest professional network portal LinkedIn early in July, aiming to use the website's network for social selling and to lure new customers.

Emaar Properties, the UAE's biggest real estate developer and DFM's bellwether stock, announced on Tuesday its Egyptian subsidiary Emaar Misr is launching a villa and townhouse development project at the country's Sidi Abdel Rahman Bay on the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria, which covers 6.5 million square meters, Middle East Construction News reported.

Meanwhile, Dubai-based Emirates Airline, the world's fastest growing airline, said in an e-mailed statement that it will upgrade its direct flight services to Milan, Italy's northern industry and fashion metropolis, by introducing a second daily Airbus A380 "Superjumbo" flight.

The airline will also add Vietnam's capital Hanoi and Myanmar's largest city Yangoon to its network since August 3, expanding its network in Southeast Asia to 12 destinations.

Meanwhile, the UAE's second largest financial center Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) signed an agreement with the China Securities Regulatory Commission on market and regulatory collaboration.

Nevertheless, persistent lower oil prices, retreating to 44 dollars per barrel after doubling from 26 dollars to 52 dollars between February and June, continue to pose challenges to the UAE, the International Monetary Fund said in an e-mailed assessment on Thursday.

The assessement underscores the need for the country to introduce sustained and sound macroeconomic policies to reduce fiscal vulnerabilities, safeguard financial stability and promote long-term growth.

The IMF expects the UAE's economy to grow 2.4 percent in 2016, down from 3.4 percent in 2015. Endit