Qatar's QIA plans to double annual US investments over next decade
Saudi Arabia ready for multiple oil price scenarios: Alibrahim
DOHA: Qatar's sovereign wealth fund (QIA) is planning to at least double its annual US investments in the next decade, its CEO said on Tuesday, after the fund has already pledged to invest $500 billion in the US economy over the next 10 years. President Donald Trump visited Doha last week during his high-profile Gulf tour that focused on major business deals and leveraged rehabilitated relations with a key US ally for investment commitments.
He signed agreements with Qatar's Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that the White House said would generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion, and included a $96 billion sale to Qatar Airways. But it did not offer a comprehensive breakdown.
When asked on how the fund's annual investment into the US would change since previous years, CEO Mohammed Al-Sowaidi said: 'It increased the pace for sure. So I think some years probably increased by double, some years probably buying more than double what we've been doing for the past five to six years.' Trump helped isolate Doha in 2017, when he lent support to a trade and diplomatic embargo imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, accusing the small but wealthy gas producer of backing terrorism among other charges.
Saudi Arabia's Economy Minister Faisal F Alibrahim speaks
Doha has since rehabilitated itself in Washington's eyes, leveraging its deep pockets, and Trump's visit was the first by a US president in 23 years.
Saudi Arabia is always ready for multiple oil price scenarios, and budgets are driven by priorities, the kingdom's economy minister said on Tuesday. 'We're always ready for scenarios - multiple scenarios, and we have buffers,' Faisal Alibrahim told an audience at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
'We have the long-term fiscal planning and medium-term frameworks that help us adjust depending on what scenario actually plays out,' he said. The International Monetary Fund and economists estimate Riyadh needs oil prices of over $90 a barrel to balance its budget. Benchmark Brent prices have been trading in the mid-$60s this month.
While Saudi Arabia funds its Vision 2030 reform program off budget, the government needs to spend on mammoth infrastructure projects linked to the program, which aims to wean the economy off its self-declared 'oil addiction'. It is also hosting the Expo in 2030 and the World Cup in 2034. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, was among the largest emerging market debt issuers last year and the government has already raised $14.4 billion in bonds this year. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Pakistan boosts defense budget by 20%; slashes overall spending
KARACHI: Laborers unload sacks of pulses from a truck at a market in Karachi on June 10, 2025. Pakistan unveiled the federal budget for fiscal year 2025–26 in the Parliament House at the country capital Islamabad on June 10. - AFP ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will raise defense spending by a steep 20 percent after a deadly conflict with its old enemy India last month, but will slash overall federal expenditure for fiscal 2025-26 by a hefty 7 percent to 17.57 trillion rupees ($62 billion). The budget presented on Tuesday by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government allocated 2.55 trillion rupees ($9 billion) to defense in July-June 2025-26, up from 2.12 trillion. It projected a deficit of 3.9 percent of GDP against the 5.9 percent targeted for 2024-25. Inflation was projected at 7.5 percent and growth at 4.2 percent. The South Asian nation wants to kickstart growth while boosting its defenses after the worst fighting with its neighbor in nearly three decades - which it has cast as a victory - and meeting the strictures of an International Monetary Fund finance program. 'After defeating India in a conventional war, now we have to surpass it in the economic field,' Sharif said in a statement. Pakistan must also contend with the uncertainty of new import tariffs being imposed by the United States, its biggest export market. The clash with India was sparked in April by Islamists who killed 26 men in an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir. Islamabad denied New Delhi's allegation that the militants were backed by Pakistan. Four days of fighting featured jets, missiles, drones and artillery. Boost military spending Pakistan's allocation of 2.12 trillion rupees ($7.45 billion) for defence in 2024-25 included $2 billion for equipment and other assets, and excluded a further 563 billion rupees for military pensions. India's defense spending in its 2025–26 (April-March) fiscal year was set at $78.7 billion, up 9.5 percent, including pensions and $21 billion earmarked for equipment. It has indicated that it too will boost defense spending further. Sharif's government has projected 4.2 percent economic growth in 2025-26, saying it has steadied the economy, which looked at risk of defaulting on its debts as recently as 2023. Growth this fiscal year is likely to be 2.7 percent, against the budgeted target of 3.6 percent. Pakistan's growth lags far behind the region. In 2024, South Asian countries grew by an average of 5.8 percent and the Asian Development Bankexpects 6.0 percent in 2025. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government intended to complete the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines, a request of the IMF. Growth should be aided by a sharp drop in the cost of borrowing, the government says, after a succession of interest rate cuts. But economists warn that monetary policy alone may not be enough, with fiscal constraints and IMF-mandated reforms still weighing on investment. Aurangzeb said on Monday that he wanted to avoid the boom and bust cycles of the past. 'The macroeconomic stability that we have achieved - we want to absolutely stay the course,' he said. 'This time around, we are very, very clear that we do not want to squander the opportunity.'- Reuters
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Global alarm as China's critical mineral export curbs take hold
Automakers warn of production halts; executives, diplomats scrambling to meet BEIJING: Alarm over China's stranglehold on critical minerals grows as global automakers joined their US counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution. German automakers became the latest to warn that China's export restrictions threaten to shut down production and rattle their local economies, following a similar complaint from an Indian EV maker last week. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China's dominance of the critical mineral industry and is seen as leverage by China in its ongoing trade war with US President Donald Trump. Trump has sought to redefine the trading relationship with the US' top economic rival China by imposing steep tariffs on billions of dollars of imported goods in hopes of narrowing a wide trade deficit and bringing back lost manufacturing. Trump imposed tariffs as high as 145 percent against China only to scale them back after stock, bond and currency markets revolted over the sweeping nature of the levies. China has responded with its own tariffs and is leveraging its dominance in key supply chains to persuade Trump to back down. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk this week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, and the export curbs are expected to be high on the agenda. 'I can assure you that the administration is actively monitoring China's compliance with the Geneva trade agreement,' she said. 'Our administration officials continue to be engaged in correspondence with their Chinese counterparts.' Trump has previously signaled that China's slow pace of easing the critical mineral export controls represents a violation of the agreement reached last month in Geneva. Magnets held up at Chinese ports Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while license applications make their way through the Chinese regulatory system. The restrictions have triggered anxiety in corporate boardrooms and nations' capitals - from Tokyo to Washington - as officials scrambled to identify limited alternative options amid fears that production of new automobiles and other items could grind to a halt by summer's end. 'If the situation is not changed quickly, production delays and even production outages can no longer be ruled out,' Hildegard Mueller, head of Germany's auto lobby, told Reuters on Tuesday. Chinese state media reported last week that China was considering relaxing the curbs for European semiconductor firms while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it would strengthen cooperation with other countries over its controls. However, rare-earth magnet exports from China halved in April as exporters grappled with the opaque licensing scheme. Frank Fannon, a minerals industry consultant and former US assistant secretary of state for energy resources during Trump's first term, said the global disruptions are not shocking to those paying attention. 'I don't think anyone should be surprised how this is playing out. We have a production challenge (in the US) and we need to leverage our whole of government approach to secure resources and ramp up domestic capability as soon as possible. The time horizon to do this was yesterday,' Fannon said. Diplomats, automakers and other executives from India, Japan and Europe were urgently seeking meetings with Beijing officials to push for faster approval of rare earth magnet exports, sources told Reuters, as shortages threatened to halt global supply chains. A business delegation from Japan will visit Beijing in early June to meet the Ministry of Commerce over the curbs, and European diplomats from countries with big auto industries have also sought 'emergency' meetings with Chinese officials in recent weeks, Reuters reported. India, where Bajaj Auto warned that any further delays in securing the supply of rare earth magnets from China could 'seriously impact' electric vehicle production, is organizing a trip for auto executives in the next two to three weeks. In May, the head of the trade group representing General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other major automakers raised similar concerns in a letter to the Trump administration. 'Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,' the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote in the letter. — Reuters
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Trump flexes strongman instincts over LA protests
Trump flexes strongman instincts over LA protests WASHINGTON: Donald Trump likes to show off his strongman credentials at cage fights and military parades - and over the weekend, the US president did it by sending troops into Los Angeles (LA). The move once again showed Trump pushing presidential power to its limits, at the start of a second term that has begun with what critics say is a distinctly authoritarian edge. Trump deployed the National Guard after clashes sparked by immigration raids, marking the first time since 1965 that a president has done so without a request by a state governor. His administration said Monday it was also sending 700 active-duty Marines to America's second largest city. The Republican has warned that troops could be sent 'everywhere' - sparking fears that he will send the military out into the streets across America to crack down on protests and dissent. 'It's a slippery slope,' William Banks, a law professor at Syracuse University, told AFP. 'If the president tries to do more, he's cutting against the grain in the United States of a long history of leaving law enforcement to civilians.' The protests in Los Angeles are in many ways the showdown that Trump has been waiting for. Trump has been spoiling for a fight against California's Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, and he is now doing so on his signature issue of immigration. Newsom has bitterly accused the 'dictatorial' president of manufacturing the crisis for political gain - while Trump suggested the governor, a potential 2028 presidential contender, could be arrested. Democratic California senator Alex Padilla slammed what he called 'the behavior of an authoritarian government.' Rights groups have also opposed it. Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement that Trump's response was 'unnecessary, inflammatory, and an abuse of power.' 'Civil war' Trump said Monday that he does not 'want a civil war' - but the situation is a golden opportunity to appear tough to his base. Indeed, Trump has long cultivated a strongman image and has previously expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping. This weekend, Trump will spend his 79th birthday watching tanks rumble through Washington at a parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the US army. And the order to send the National Guard into Los Angeles came shortly before Trump attended a UFC fight in New Jersey - a sport he has used frequently to appeal to macho voters. Critics however fear that Trump's actions in Los Angeles are not just for show. Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of presidential power to target the US bureaucracy, universities, law firms, cultural institutions and anywhere else he believes liberal ideologies linger. Trump seemed to hint at what could come next when he pinned the blame for the Los Angeles unrest - without evidence - on 'insurrectionists.' It appeared to be a clear reference to the Insurrection Act, which would allow the military to be used as a domestic police force. 'Look strong' 'Trump is pretty free and loose when it comes to the use of force,' Todd Belt, a political science professor at George Washington University, told AFP. 'He knows it is popular with his base, and he always likes to look strong in their eyes.' Trump has talked for years about using the military against protests. Although he did not do so during his first term, his former defense secretary Mark Esper said Trump asked why Black Lives Matter protesters could not be shot in the legs. Conversely, Trump made no move to bring in the military when his own supporters attacked the US Capitol in a bid to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Trump would not say if he would invoke the Insurrection Act when asked by reporters on Monday, but he and his advisors have been framing the issue in increasingly apocalyptic terms. His top migration advisor Stephen Miller has explicitly framed the Los Angeles protests as a battle for the future of Western civilization against an 'invasion' of migrants. 'The 'war' and 'invasion' framing have helped the administration make the case for the domestic use of these laws that are normally used to put down rebellions or invasions,' said Belt. — AFP
