Business Extra

Oil prices inched higher this week as big producers hinted at capacity limits and an effort to cap Russian oil prices by western governments began. Meanwhile, the global economy is “teetering on the brink of recession”, according to the International Institute of Finance, as the war in Ukraine , the continuing Covid-19 lockdowns in China and a hawkish US Federal Reserve weigh on activity.   In an...

Electric car sales have surged this year after breaking a record last year, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. The transport sector's electrification is a fast-growing trend amid the global push to net zero carbon emissions. However, for EVs, rising prices of critical minerals required for battery manufacturing and supply chain disruptions, present obstacles to meeting these...

Recent data shows strong business activity growth in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This is expected amid pandemic recovery and higher oil prices, according to Khatija Haque, chief economist and head of research at Emirates NBD. But global market forces are also at play. She joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week, sharing her outlook on how GCC economies will fair against rising...

Investment banks have faced unprecedented times before, but market dynamics and the volume of data in play in 2022 makes this a time like no other. That's according to Kim Fournais, who founded Denmark firm Saxo Bank in 1992. The CEO joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner to discuss how using technology and pushing East to new markets is helping the 30 year-old firm ride out the latest wa...

It has been more than two years since NMC Health almost collapsed, after a more than $4 billion debt pile was uncovered and the company's founder and former joint chairman, BR Shetty, fled the UAE in one of the biggest corporate scandals in the country's history. That history is receding as the new NMC Healthcare charts a different path, while maintaining its position as the biggest private health...

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos is back as an in-person event but in May instead of its usual January slot. Key discussions have been around energy security amid conflict in Ukraine and rising prices, with European nations looking for alternatives to Russian gas. High oil prices are helping Gulf economies and also adding to inflation concerns. Technology and the future of work f...

The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos is back as an in-person event following a move online during the Covid-19 pandemic. While Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President will address the forum virtually on Monday, leaders scheduled to physically attend next week include Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Ivory Coast Prime Minister Patrick Achi, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Mo...

Economic sentiment in the UK is weighed down by the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy prices as well as overall rising inflation, together with post-Brexit struggles. Recent local election results have also shaken the political landscape. Last month, the IMF downgraded its UK growth forecast for the year to 3.7 per cent, from the 4.7 per cent it projected in January. Britain's economy had reb...

Carbon can be emitted, offset, removed, stored and increasingly, traded. But how does carbon trading work and what role does it play in the energy transition?   To answer these questions, co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner are joined by William Pazos, co-founder and managing director at AirCarbon, which has teamed up with Abu Dhabi Global Market, the UAE capital's financial free zone, to cr...

On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund released its Middle East and Central Asia Regional Economic Outlook which shows a divergent picture in 2022 for the region, with oil exporters such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia expected to experience robust rates of growth thanks to higher oil prices. Uncertainty is also increasing with the duration of the war in Ukraine a significant factor on how the...

On Monday the UAE Cabinet announced one of the biggest overhauls to the UAE's visa system in years. To explain the details, co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner are joined by Haider Hussain, a partner at immigration consultancy Fragomen in the UAE. They dig into the expansion of the popular golden visa programme; what the new green visa scheme is for high-skilled workers; and why it is now ea...

The sudden shift to remote working amid the Covid-19 pandemic made video conferencing tools hugely important for companies looking to keep their operations running smoothly. It was Zoom however that became synonymous with the times, spurring a new lexicon, including ' Zoom Fatigue ' and 'Zoom bombing' as people adjusted to a new paradigm.   As the pandemic evolves to endemic in much of the world,...

This year's Edelman Trust Barometer report, titled The Cycle of Distrust, showed that governments and the media around the world are creating an atmosphere where distrust is the default setting. Only 50 per cent of people on average trusted the media, with governments faring only slightly better at 52 per cent. In the UAE, the government, business, NGOs and the media are all considered trustworthy...

"More question marks than answers." This is how Mohammed Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, described the state of the world in remarks at the World Government Summit on Tuesday, as he implored decision-makers to move faster in order to keep up with rising inflation, rapidly changing technology and disruption to status quo geopolitics. The two-day annual event, staged in the closing...

Sanctions on Russian crude over the Ukraine conflict have increased concerns about supply, sending already high energy prices rocketing. Saudi Arabia warned it will not bear any responsibility for global supply shortages following attacks on its energy infrastructure. Along with Russia, the kingdom leads the 23-member Opec+ oil producer alliance which has been working to keep markets stable. Infla...

The relationship between the UAE and the US is perhaps one of the most important for stability in the wider region. The two nations have been allies for decades, working across defence, energy, technology and investment. However, these ties are currently going through what the UAE's ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, called a “stress test". When the countries eventually move into a new ph...

Oil prices touched their highest level since 2008 — surging past $130 a barrel — after US President Joe Biden banned crude, gas and coal imports from Russia on Tuesday, in retaliation for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Wheat and other soft commodities are also rising on supply concerns, as both Russia and Ukraine are big producers. There is already a knock-on effect on food costs. Metals, including...

As the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic recede, the most critical issue faced by those leading the energy industry becomes the transition to a less carbon-intensive world after the commitments made at Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow. How will this be managed amid an evolving global landscape which also includes heightened geopolitical risk and the concern around security of energy supplies....

The future of ownership or a passing fad? NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, a digital object underpinned by the blockchain, have taken the digital art world by storm — and Sotheby's is taking note. The storied auction house credited an “influx of younger, tech-savvy collectors” interested in luxury goods and NFTs for its success in 2021, when it reported its highest sales figure since it opened in 174...

Rising geopolitical tensions, an energy crunch and the thrum of pandemic economic recovery are setting an uncertain path to net zero. But how did we get here? And what are the forces in play during a decisive decade for climate action? Alexis Crow, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council with a background in geopolitics and economics, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner to lay out what...

Amid inflation, an energy crisis, volatile stock markets and increasing scrutiny of big technology firms, there is concern over how tensions between global powers such as the US and Russia might spill over into conflict. The major crisis is around Ukraine, but there are other pain points, including North Korea's ballistic missile programme, the war in Yemen, ISIS's enduring threat and the continui...

On Monday the UAE announced it will introduce a new federal corporate tax on business profits in a landmark move that will reshape the economic landscape. Co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner answer the basics of how it will work, why now and what to expect when the tax goes into effect on June 1, 2023. Later, they are joined by Anurag Chaturvedi, chartered accountant and chief executive of t...

Web3 is the next generation of the internet. Though it is difficult to understand and seemingly easy to dismiss, the advent of a decentralised internet demands our attention as it is a fundamental shift away from how we use the web today. So says Noor Sweid, a veteran venture capitalist in Dubai who has been tracking the rise of the technology and eyeing opportunities. She joins Kelsey Warner this...

With Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and the World Future Energy Summit under way in the UAE, the path to net zero is becoming clearer with an energy mix of hydrogen, nuclear and renewables alongside innovations such as carbon capture and battery storage. Co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner discuss the latest developments and then, Kelsey interviews The National's energy contributor Robin Mill...

This is the decade of ‘talentism’ rather than capitalism, the World Economic Forum’s president said as it begins a week of high-level online meetings to address climate action, the pandemic and the economic recovery. Borge Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, tells the Business Extra podcast that the success of a business is now also being measured by its ability to recruit and develop you...