Finance Minister Joins Regional Fiscal Discussions in Dubai
Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy, took part in the 9th Arab Fiscal Forum held in Dubai. The high-profile event convened leading regional and international financial experts to discuss pressing economic and fiscal challenges.
The forum was inaugurated by Mohammed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs, in collaboration with the Arab Monetary Fund and the International Monetary Fund. Distinguished attendees included Dr. Fahd bin Mohammed Al Turki, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, and Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
Discussions centered on key economic developments and their impact on public finance, fiscal policy measures to enhance climate resilience, and strategies for formulating more effective future fiscal policies. Participants explored innovative approaches to address emerging financial challenges in the region.
The forum also aimed to strengthen the role of the Council of Arab Finance Ministers by fostering the exchange of expertise and best practices. It provided a platform for comprehensive discussions on enhancing economic and financial stability in Arab nations, promoting regional financial cooperation, and aligning fiscal policy priorities with global economic trends. The event was held as part of the broader World Government Summit, underscoring its significance in shaping economic policies in the Arab world.
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Biz Bahrain
6 days ago
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SICO Signs a Letter of Intent with The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) to Boost Agricultural Investment and Food Security
SICO BSC (c), a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank, with direct presence in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent with the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID). SICO will act as the financial advisor to support AAAID's strategic initiatives by identifying and sourcing direct investment opportunities within the agricultural and food security sectors. The primary objective of signing this Letter of Intent is to support AAAID's goals within the Arab and GCC region, with a particular emphasis on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This will be achieved by collaborating on projects for AAAID, facilitating investment through equity and/or debt financing opportunities, and engaging in business development activities. Najla Al Shirawi, Group CEO of SICO, said, 'We are thrilled to announce our strategic collaboration with AAAID. By leveraging our expertise in investment sourcing, acquisition advisory, capital-raising, and joint ventures, we aim to drive value and promote sustainable growth within the agriculture sector. Together, we are committed to making a significant impact on the agricultural industry and ensuring a secure and sustainable future.' HE. Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi, Chairman of AAAID, stated, 'This collaboration aligns with our strategic vision to enhance our capabilities, enabling us to equip our projects with the necessary tools and information to achieve our ambitious goals and aspirations. By capitalizing on SICO's extensive expertise in the industry, we are well-positioned to identify and execute high-impact projects that will drive sustainable growth. Our collaboration will focus on innovative solutions and strategic investments that address the unique challenges of our region.' Through this collaboration, SICO will provide acquisition advisory services, including due diligence, valuations, and transaction structuring and execution support. Additionally, SICO will assist in capital-raising activities for AAAID's invested companies and explore joint venture opportunities. The partnership will emphasize promoting sustainable agricultural practices and enhancing food security resilience across the region.
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US & China's Combined GDP Equals 184 Countries
The U.S. and China are in the midst of their second trade war in seven years. Earlier this year President Trump announced an initial 34% 'reciprocal' tariff rate on China, leading to a swift Chinese retaliation. For a brief period, both crossed into 100% territory (i.e., more than the entire cost of the goods itself). Experts cautioned that the resulting chaos could wipe off hundreds of billions from both economies and financial markets saw a swift downturn in response. Since then, tariff rates have come down: varying between 40โ50% on Chinese goods entering the U.S. and 10โ30% on U.S. products entering China. In this chart, Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao compares the combined GDP of the U.S. and China versus everyone else, using April 2025 data from the International Monetary Fund. The latest estimates for 2025 have America's and China's combined GDP at roughly $50 trillion. Of the two, the U.S. is much larger, at about $31 trillion, with China at $19 trillion. Rank Countries 2025 GDP(in Millions) 1 ๐บ๐ธ U.S. $30,507 2 ๐จ๐ณ China $19,232 3 ๐ฉ๐ช Germany $4,745 4 ๐ฎ๐ณ India $4,187 5 ๐ฏ๐ต Japan $4,186 6 ๐ฌ๐ง UK $3,839 7 ๐ซ๐ท France $3,211 8 ๐ฎ๐น Italy $2,423 9 ๐จ๐ฆ Canada $2,225 10 ๐ง๐ท Brazil $2,126 11 ๐ท๐บ Russia $2,076 12 ๐ช๐ธ Spain $1,800 13 ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea $1,790 14 ๐ฆ๐บ Australia $1,772 15 ๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico $1,693 16 ๐น๐ท Tรผrkiye $1,437 17 ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia $1,430 18 ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands $1,272 19 ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia $1,084 20 ๐ต๐ฑ Poland $980 21 ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland $947 22 ๐น๐ผ Taiwan $805 23 ๐ง๐ช Belgium $685 24 ๐ฆ๐ท Argentina $684 25 ๐ธ๐ช Sweden $620 26 ๐ฎ๐ช Ireland $599 27 ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel $583 28 ๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore $565 29 ๐ฆ๐ช UAE $549 30 ๐น๐ญ Thailand $546 31 ๐ฆ๐น Austria $534 32 ๐ณ๐ด Norway $504 33 ๐ต๐ญ Philippines $497 34 ๐ป๐ณ Vietnam $491 35 ๐ง๐ฉ Bangladesh $467 36 ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark $450 37 ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia $445 38 ๐จ๐ด Colombia $428 39 ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong $424 40 ๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa $410 41 ๐ท๐ด Romania $403 42 ๐จ๐ฟ Czech Republic $360 43 ๐ช๐ฌ Egypt $347 44 ๐จ๐ฑ Chile $344 45 ๐ฎ๐ท Iran $341 46 ๐ต๐น Portugal $321 47 ๐ซ๐ฎ Finland $304 48 ๐ต๐ช Peru $303 49 ๐ฐ๐ฟ Kazakhstan $301 50 ๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria $269 51 ๐ฌ๐ท Greece $267 52 ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraq $258 53 ๐ณ๐ฟ New Zealand $249 54 ๐ญ๐บ Hungary $237 55 ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar $223 56 ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine $206 57 ๐ณ๐ฌ Nigeria $188 58 ๐ฒ๐ฆ Morocco $166 59 ๐ฐ๐ผ Kuwait $153 60 ๐ธ๐ฐ Slovak Republic $147 61 ๐บ๐ฟ Uzbekistan $132 62 ๐ฐ๐ช Kenya $132 63 ๐ฉ๐ด Dominican Republic $128 64 ๐ช๐จ Ecuador $126 65 ๐ต๐ท Puerto Rico $123 66 ๐ฌ๐น Guatemala $121 67 ๐ช๐น Ethiopia $117 68 ๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria $117 69 ๐ฆ๐ด Angola $113 70 ๐ป๐ช Venezuela $109 71 ๐ด๐ฒ Oman $104 72 ๐จ๐ท Costa Rica $103 73 ๐ญ๐ท Croatia $99 74 ๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg $97 75 ๐จ๐ฎ Cรดte d'Ivoire $94 76 ๐ท๐ธ Serbia $93 77 ๐ต๐ฆ Panama $92 78 ๐ฑ๐น Lithuania $89 79 ๐น๐ฒ Turkmenistan $89 80 ๐ฌ๐ญ Ghana $88 81 ๐น๐ฟ Tanzania $86 82 ๐บ๐พ Uruguay $80 83 ๐จ๐ฉ DRC $79 84 ๐ฆ๐ฟ Azerbaijan $79 85 ๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia $75 86 ๐ง๐พ Belarus $72 87 ๐ฒ๐ฒ Myanmar $65 88 ๐บ๐ฌ Uganda $64 89 ๐ง๐ด Bolivia $56 90 ๐น๐ณ Tunisia $56 91 ๐ฏ๐ด Jordan $56 92 ๐จ๐ฒ Cameroon $56 93 ๐ฒ๐ด Macao $53 94 ๐ฐ๐ญ Cambodia $50 95 ๐ง๐ญ Bahrain $48 96 ๐ฑ๐พ Libya $47 97 ๐ณ๐ต Nepal $46 98 ๐ฑ๐ป Latvia $46 99 ๐ต๐พ Paraguay $45 100 ๐ช๐ช Estonia $45 101 ๐จ๐พ Cyprus $39 102 ๐ญ๐ณ Honduras $38 103 ๐ฟ๐ผ Zimbabwe $38 104 ๐ธ๐ป El Salvador $37 105 ๐ฌ๐ช Georgia $35 106 ๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland $35 107 ๐ธ๐ณ Senegal $35 108 ๐ญ๐น Haiti $34 109 ๐ต๐ฌ Papua NewGuinea $33 110 ๐ธ๐ฉ Sudan $32 111 ๐ฌ๐ณ Guinea $30 112 ๐ฟ๐ฒ Zambia $29 113 ๐ง๐ฆ Bosnia &Herzegovina $29 114 ๐ฆ๐ฑ Albania $28 115 ๐ง๐ซ Burkina Faso $27 116 ๐น๐น Trinidad& Tobago $26 117 ๐ฆ๐ฒ Armenia $26 118 ๐ฌ๐พ Guyana $26 119 ๐ฒ๐ณ Mongolia $26 120 ๐ฒ๐น Malta $26 121 ๐ฒ๐ฟ Mozambique $24 122 ๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali $23 123 ๐ง๐ฏ Benin $22 124 ๐ณ๐ช Niger $22 125 ๐ฏ๐ฒ Jamaica $21 126 ๐ณ๐ฎ Nicaragua $21 127 ๐ฌ๐ฆ Gabon $20 128 ๐ฐ๐ฌ KyrgyzRepublic $20 129 ๐ฒ๐ฉ Moldova $19 130 ๐ง๐ผ Botswana $19 131 ๐น๐ฉ Chad $19 132 ๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar $19 133 ๐ฒ๐ฐ North Macedonia $18 134 ๐พ๐ช Yemen $17 135 ๐ฑ๐ฆ Laos $16 136 ๐ง๐ณ Brunei $16 137 ๐ฒ๐บ Mauritius $15 138 ๐จ๐ฌ Congo $15 139 ๐ง๐ธ The Bahamas $15 140 ๐น๐ฏ Tajikistan $15 141 ๐ท๐ผ Rwanda $15 142 ๐ณ๐ฆ Namibia $14 143 ๐ฒ๐ผ Malawi $14 144 ๐ธ๐ด Somalia $13 145 ๐ฌ๐ถ EquatorialGuinea $13 146 ๐ฒ๐ท Mauritania $11 147 ๐ฝ๐ฐ Kosovo $11 148 ๐น๐ฌ Togo $10 149 ๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro $9 150 ๐ธ๐ฑ Sierra Leone $8 151 ๐ง๐ง Barbados $8 152 ๐ฒ๐ป Maldives $7 153 ๐ง๐ฎ Burundi $7 154 ๐ซ๐ฏ Fiji $6 155 ๐ธ๐ฟ Eswatini $5 156 ๐ฑ๐ท Liberia $5 157 ๐ฉ๐ฏ Djibouti $5 158 ๐ธ๐ท Suriname $5 159 ๐ฆ๐ผ Aruba $4 160 ๐ฆ๐ฉ Andorra $4 161 ๐ธ๐ธ South Sudan $4 162 ๐ง๐ฟ Belize $4 163 ๐ง๐น Bhutan $3 164 ๐จ๐ซ Central AfricanRepublic $3 165 ๐จ๐ป Cabo Verde $3 166 ๐ฌ๐ฒ The Gambia $3 167 ๐ฑ๐จ Saint Lucia $3 168 ๐ฑ๐ธ Lesotho $2 169 ๐ฆ๐ฌ Antigua& Barbuda $2 170 ๐ฌ๐ผ Guinea-Bissau $2 171 ๐ธ๐จ Seychelles $2 172 ๐น๐ฑ Timor-Leste $2 173 ๐ธ๐ฒ San Marino $2 174 ๐ธ๐ง Solomon Islands $2 175 ๐ฐ๐ฒ Comoros $2 176 ๐ฌ๐ฉ Grenada $1 177 ๐ป๐บ Vanuatu $1 178 ๐ป๐จ Saint Vincent& the Grenadines $1 179 ๐ผ๐ธ Samoa $1 180 ๐ฐ๐ณ Saint Kitts& Nevis $1 181 ๐ธ๐น Sรฃo Tomรฉ& Prรญncipe $1 182 ๐ฉ๐ฒ Dominica $1 183 ๐น๐ด Tonga $1 184 ๐ซ๐ฒ Micronesia $1 185 ๐ต๐ผ Palau $0.3 186 ๐ฐ๐ฎ Kiribati $0.3 187 ๐ฒ๐ญ Marshall Islands $0.3 188 ๐ณ๐ท Nauru $0.2 189 ๐น๐ป Tuvalu $0.1 Note: Data missing for Afghanistan, Eritrea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Palestine. If we skip the next three economiesโGermany, India, and Japanโthen the entire rest of the world (184 countries), also has an economic output of around $50 trillion. Which means that despite the rise of regional trade, there is no escaping one of the two economic giants. Groups 2025 GDP(in Millions) ๐บ๐ธ U.S. & ๐จ๐ณ China $49,739 ๐ 184 Countries $50,381 ๐ฉ๐ช Germany, ๐ฎ๐ณ India, ๐ฏ๐ต Japan $13,118 Note: Figures are rounded to the closest trillion in the visualization. China's figures do not include Hong Kong or Macao. The U.S. is the world's largest importer of consumer goods, and China is the largest exporter. Most of the world picks one of these two as their largest trading partner. So even when countries might not enjoy the geopolitics of both countries, their economic might effectively makes them the loudest voice in the room. Want more fun comparison maps? Check out: Germany's Economy Equals 22 Other European Countries Combined for regional-specific breakdowns.
Syyaha
6 days ago
- Syyaha
SICO Signs a Letter of Intent with The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) to Boost Agricultural Investment and Food Security
SICO BSC (c), a leading regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank, with direct presence in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, announced today the signing of a Letter of Intent with the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID). SICO will act as the financial advisor to support AAAID's strategic initiatives by identifying and sourcing direct investment opportunities within the agricultural and food security sectors. The primary objective of signing this Letter of Intent is to support AAAID's goals within the Arab and GCC region, with a particular emphasis on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This will be achieved by collaborating on projects for AAAID, facilitating investment through equity and/or debt financing opportunities, and engaging in business development activities. SICO's wholly-owned subsidiary, SICO Capital , will provide the agreed upon services in Saudi Arabia. Najla Al Shirawi, Group CEO of SICO, said, 'We are thrilled to announce our strategic collaboration with AAAID. By leveraging our expertise in investment sourcing, acquisition advisory, capital-raising, and joint ventures, we aim to drive value and promote sustainable growth within the agriculture sector. Together, we are committed to making a significant impact on the agricultural industry and ensuring a secure and sustainable future.' HE. Dr. Obaid Al Zaabi, Chairman of AAAID, stated, 'This collaboration aligns with our strategic vision to enhance our capabilities, enabling us to equip our projects with the necessary tools and information to achieve our ambitious goals and aspirations. By capitalizing on SICO's extensive expertise in the industry, we are well-positioned to identify and execute high-impact projects that will drive sustainable growth. Our collaboration will focus on innovative solutions and strategic investments that address the unique challenges of our region.' Through this collaboration, SICO will provide acquisition advisory services, including due diligence, valuations, and transaction structuring and execution support. Additionally, SICO will assist in capital-raising activities for AAAID's invested companies and explore joint venture opportunities. The partnership will emphasize promoting sustainable agricultural practices and enhancing food security resilience across the region.
