UAE's Mubadala surpasses PIF to become top wealth fund spender, while Meituan’s Keeta rolls out food delivery services in Jeddah
Here’s a look at today's biggest tech stories in the MENA+:
- Mubadala surpasses PIF to become top wealth fund spender
- Govt to pursue more CEPA deals in 2025
- Key legislation including 15% MNCs tax, Emiratization targets take effect
- Industrial sector's GDP contribution rises 57%
- Abu Dhabi sees 4.5% GDP growth in Q3 driven by non-oil sector
- Meituan’s Keeta rolls out food delivery services in Jeddah
- Kingdom mandates USB Type-C charging ports
- Entrepreneurial intent surges amid Vision 2030 drive
- PIF’s global, local assets up 37% to reach $42.6B
- 5 sites allocated for new mining complexes to attract investments
- Private investments rise 30%, make up 63.5% of total investments in Q1
- SCZone set to get $120M pharmaceutical industrial hub
- New taxes on imported mobile phones take effect this year
- Population up 1.3% to exceed 107M by end-2024
- ACWA Power gets $703M financing for major wind power plant
- National Economic Plan eyes $10B investments annually
- Annual inflation eases to 4.1% in Dec, reaching 6.5-year low
- Poverty rate hits 25.3% in 2024 as 13M people added
- Pakistan breaks ground on $3.5B Chinese-designed nuclear power plant
- Punjab, UAE establish working group to enhance ties
Other MENA+ Developments
- Kuwait sees economic boost from new 15% tax on MNCs
- Export Bahrain hits $1B national exports milestone
- Qatar-KSA bilateral trade up more than 335% in 2 years
- Oman names new central bank chairman, governor
- Morocco’s tax amnesty program boosts transparency ahead of World Cup
Southeast Asia Developments
- SEA’s cloud and AI drive faces challenges despite Big Tech funding
- Indonesia backtracks on VAT hike, narrowing range of luxury goods, services
- Indonesia eyes genAI with focus on local culture, languages
- Vietnam bolsters capital markets to drive economic growth
- Google, Musk’s X fail to register for Malaysia’s social media license
