Lesha Bank acquires an indirect stake in Edinburgh airport
This acquisition is also a key step forward in Lesha Bank's aviation strategy, following its recent successful acquisition of several aircraft leased to a leading airline. It further reinforces the Bank's commitment to expanding its aviation and infrastructure portfolio, with the investment being structured by way of a Shari'a-compliant financing arrangement.
Lesha Bank CEO, Mr. Mohammed Ismail Al Emadi, commented: 'This marks a significant milestone for us as we enter the global infrastructure investment market through investing in Edinburgh airport. As part of our infrastructure investment portfolio, we seek attractive investment opportunities that may drive long-term value. Our recent focus on aviation investments has been met with strong demand from our clients, given the sector's robust growth potential. This strategic collaboration with our business partners reinforces our commitment to delivering value for all stakeholders involved.'
Lesha Bank LLC (Public) is the first independent Shari'a-compliant Bank authorized by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) and a listed entity on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE: QFBQ).
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Khaleej Times
11 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
BOJ gears up to hike rates again but leaves free hand on timing
The Bank of Japan laid the groundwork last week for resuming interest rate hikes by spelling out explicitly for the first time the risks that persistent food price rises fan broad-based inflation. While markets took a dovish reading of BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's commentary after Thursday's policy meeting, much of his guidance suggests the bank is inching back towards action after a period of waiting and watching, analysts say. A shift in the board's inflation bias and its less gloomy view on the impact of U.S. tariffs also underscore the BOJ's resolve to pull the trigger once it is convinced the damage from higher levies will be within its expectations. Such hawkish signals in the BOJ's quarterly report, which represents the board's consensus view on the policy outlook, were qualified by Ueda's comments suggesting he was in no rush to raise interest rates. Still, Ueda said Japan was making some progress towards durably hitting the BOJ's 2% inflation target and stressed that its policy rate - at 0.5% - remains very low. "It's not as if we will wait until underlying inflation is firmly at 2%. Our decision is dependent on how likely underlying inflation will reach that level," Ueda told a news conference on Thursday when asked about the next rate-hike timing. All in all, the signals show the BOJ is preparing for another rate hike, while leaving all options open on the exact timing, analysts say. "The outlook report clearly shows the BOJ is starting to lay the groundwork for a rate hike," said Naomi Muguruma, chief bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "The BOJ seems confident about prospects for durably hitting its inflation target," she said. "It may not be in a rush, but signaling that every policy meeting from now will be live." The BOJ holds its next policy meeting in September and another in October, when the board conducts a quarterly review of growth and price forecasts. It holds its final meeting for this year in December. A Reuters poll last month showed a majority of economists expect another rate hike by year-end. Swap rates indicate a 54% chance the BOJ will raise rates to 0.75% in October and a 71% chance in December. Second round effects When the BOJ compiled its previous outlook report on May 1, Ueda signalled a pause in its rate-hike cycle as President Donald Trump's April announcement of sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs jolted markets and stoked fears of global recession. Thursday's report showed signs the BOJ has ended that pause, as markets restored some calm and Japan's trade agreement with the U.S. in July reduced some uncertainty. For one, the BOJ removed the word "extremely" in describing uncertainty over U.S. trade policy. While Ueda stressed the need to await more data on the impact from U.S. tariffs, he said the risk of the economy "falling off the cliff" has diminished. The board also revised up its inflation forecast and said risks to the price outlook were balanced - a more neutral stance from that of May 1 describing risks as skewed to the downside. Furthermore, the BOJ report for the first time included a detailed assessment of how rising food costs - once seen as transitory - may lead to broad-based price rises. "It is possible that price rises will persist for longer than expected" as companies are passing on not just raw material but labour and distribution costs, the report said. A steady rise in the price of items like food, which consumers buy frequently, may induce "second-round effects" on underlying inflation, the BOJ said in the strongest warning to date on mounting price pressure. To be sure, food prices are among several factors the BOJ looks at in judging whether underlying inflation - or price rises driven by domestic demand - will durably hit its 2% target and justify raising rates. Other measures show underlying inflation remains short of 2%, Ueda said, brushing aside the view the BOJ may be behind the curve in addressing the risk of too-high inflation. But he said the BOJ must keep an eye out on how food prices and headline consumer inflation, which has remained above its target for well over three years, could affect inflation expectations. In exiting a decade-long stimulus last year and raising rates to 0.5% in January, the BOJ pointed to growing signs companies were shedding their long-held aversion to price hikes. Such change in corporate behaviour may be accelerating. A total of 1,010 food and beverage items saw prices rise in August with more than 3,000 items likely to see higher prices in October, think tank Teikoku Databank said on Thursday. "Food inflation will undoubtedly persist, which is probably why the BOJ highlighted the risk so clearly in the report," said veteran BOJ watcher Mari Iwashita. "Once there's more clarity that wage hikes will continue, the BOJ might go ahead and raise rates."
Zawya
15 hours ago
- Zawya
Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Receives Report on the Implementation Status of Projects of Information Infrastructure Center for Egyptian Planning System
Development of 380 technology centers in local municipalities, villages, cities, and new urban communities has been completed. 156 government services are available through the fixed "Khadamat Masr" centers in Sharm El Sheikh, Mokattam, Aswan, and Alexandria; citizens have completed over 300,000 transactions as of the end of June 2025. The development and delivery of 276 centers within the Mobile Technology Centers project for providing government services to citizens has been completed. H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, received a report on the implementation status of projects for the Ministry's Information Infrastructure Center for the Egyptian Planning System. The center is executing several projects, including the integration of spatial information infrastructure to develop the Egyptian planning system, projects for developing health services and initiatives (sustainability of births, deaths, and vaccinations), the project for developing financial and banking information systems at the National Investment Bank, and improving government performance in cooperation with the Administrative Prosecution Authority. Other projects include the development of technology centers in districts, cities, and new urban communities, improving the operational efficiency of real estate registry offices, as well as the mobile technology centers and fixed "Misr Services" centers. H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat emphasized the pivotal role of the Information Infrastructure Center for the Egyptian Planning System, in light of the significant importance the state places on digital transformation and developing services provided to citizens. This is aimed at the comprehensive development of government policies and performance, to keep pace with the aspirations and challenges of the next phase, and to continue the path of structural and institutional reform. H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat noted that the Ministry is working to advance economic development efforts and close sectoral development gaps by relying on data-driven policies, which reflects the importance of digital transformation in the state's vision. _*Technology Centers in Local Municipalities*_ The report highlighted the project to develop technology centers in local municipalities and new city authorities. This project aims to provide citizens and investors with civilized, fast, accurate, and integrated services by coordinating with governorates to establish technology centers. These centers provide services to citizens and send them through a smart system to back-end departments, linking them with participating government bodies. This enhances performance efficiency, tightens control, and improves monitoring methods using information technology at the level of governorate general offices, centers, cities, districts, rural units (Haya Karima), and new city authorities. The development of service delivery locations in local municipalities (general offices, cities and centers, districts, and new city authorities) for 380 centers has been completed. This includes 316 centers in cities and districts, 30 centers in rural units, and 34 centers in the New Urban Communities Authority to improve the level of services provided to citizens. Moreover, development efforts have contributed to reducing the time for service delivery to citizens by 60% and decreasing crowding rates at fixed technology centers by supporting governorates with 37 mobile technology center vehicles, which had a positive impact on increasing citizen satisfaction. _*"Khadamat Masr" Center Project*_ The report highlighted the "Khadamat Masr" project, which aims to enhance financial and digital inclusion, reduce the time and effort required to obtain government services, and provide a package of government services from a single location. Fixed "Khadamat Masr" branches have been opened in Sharm El Sheikh, Alexandria, Aswan, and Mokattam in Cairo, with a number of other branches in other governorates nearing completion for opening. According to the report, new services have been added, bringing the total number of government services provided in "Khadamat Masr" centers to around 156 by the end of the fourth quarter of the 2024-2025 fiscal year. It is expected that these services will reach about 200 in the next fiscal year, ranging from real estate registration and notarization services, civil affairs, the Egyptian Public Prosecution, social solidarity services, the General Department for Passports, Immigration and Nationality, the General Department of Traffic, social insurance, and electronic payment, among other services. The report revealed that the number of transactions citizens have completed at "Khadamat Masr" centers reached over 300,000 by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024-2025, with an average service time of 30 minutes. The goal is to reduce this average service time to about 20 minutes. The report mentioned that the project for integrating the spatial information infrastructure to develop the Egyptian planning system is a comprehensive national project aimed at improving the efficiency of developmental investment decisions, increasing the efficiency of government spending, optimizing resource utilization, and directing state investments in an efficient and effective manner. This is achieved by using the latest technologies and advanced satellite and aerial imaging to produce unified base maps for the state and all spatial reports. _*Mobile Technology Service Centers*_ The report reviewed the progress of the Mobile Technology Centers project, which aims to provide government services to citizens in a civilized and dignified manner, reduce crowding at government service offices, and improve the business environment. This is achieved by providing digitized services that ensure citizen satisfaction. It was noted that 276 mobile technology centers were delivered by the end of last March, out of a total target of 326 centers, comprising 198 centers for government agencies and 78 mobile centers as part of the "Khadamat Masr" project, in cooperation between the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation and various government entities. _*Health Projects Information Infrastructure Project*_ Regarding the Health Projects Information Infrastructure Project (sustainability of birth and death systems and development of the vaccination systems' information infrastructure), it aims to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the health system and improve the quality of healthcare services. This is done by developing an integrated information infrastructure that supports the accurate and efficient registration of vital statistics. The project also contributes to enhancing the state's capacity for sustainable health planning, rationalizing spending, and improving vaccination registration mechanisms. The number of health offices linked electronically is 4,666, and the operational capacity of 2,000 health offices has been increased (providing devices and equipment). All vaccination offices have also been linked and are operating on the electronic system. The number of electronically linked vaccination offices has reached 5,434, and the number of vaccination offices supported with devices as part of the 2024/2025 plan has reached 2,000. _*Government Performance Improvement Project*_ The report also covered the project to improve government performance in cooperation with the Administrative Prosecution. This project aims to improve the performance of public facilities nationwide and enhance the quality of life for Egyptian citizens by evaluating and measuring government performance. It also supports decision-makers with accurate data that contributes to improving the performance of public employees and government entities. The project aims to link 273 administrative prosecution offices to the complaints system, and by the end of June 2025, 22,946 complaints had been registered through the system. _*Electronic Voting Project*_ The report outlined the electronic voting project, which aims to establish the first electronic voting system in the Arab Republic of Egypt, in cooperation with the Administrative Prosecution Authority, and to create an integrated digital platform for managing and operating the electoral system electronically. _*Supporting the Operational Capacity of Real Estate Registry Offices*_ The report referred to the project to support the operational capacity of the Real Estate and Notarization Authority's offices. This project contributes to the rapid entry of data for registration and publicity requests for properties in accordance with Law No. 9 of 2022, and the quick completion of property registration procedures for citizens. This leads to an increase in the state's public treasury revenues due to the rise in accepted registration requests and collected fees. The operational capacity of 28 offices, 293 sub-offices, and one main office of the Real Estate and Notarization Authority has been improved. _*Supporting the Operational Capacity of Public Prosecution Offices*_ Regarding the project to support the operational capacity of Public Prosecution offices, it aims to facilitate litigation procedures and ensure that stakeholders can obtain their rights without hardship, within a framework of constitutional and procedural legitimacy. This is achieved by automating 640 offices over four years from the start of the project and converting 50 million documents into digital documents that are easy to access and store. The number of offices targeted for the first year, 2024-2025, is 123 public prosecution offices (19% of the total number of offices), and the number of digitally converted documents has reached 2,375,000. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation - Egypt.
Zawya
3 days ago
- Zawya
Qatar's QSE index gains 6.53% since start of 2025
Doha: The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) ended this week on a positive note, rising by 0.360 percent, or 40.86 points, to close at 11,261 points - up from last week's closing- supported by gains across five sectors, led by the telecommunications sector, which recorded the highest increase at 3.620 percent. Commenting on the market's performance this week, financial market analyst Youssef Bouhlaiqa told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that QSE index held steady above its key support level of 11,200 points throughout the week. He noted that the index gained approximately 6.53 percent since the beginning of the year. Bouhlaiqa highlighted strong performance of the banking sector, which saw a 1.4 percent rise in net profits during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, reaching QR15.1bn. Eight out of nine banks listed on QSE reported profit growth in the first six months of the year. Notably, Lesha Bank posted an impressive 52.29 percent increase in net profit. Qatar National Bank (QNB) accounted for the largest share of the sector's net profits, contributing 54 percent, with net profits reaching around QR8.4bn, a 2.93 percent year-on-year increase. Bouhlaiqa emphasized that the sector's positive performance underscores the resilience and strength of Qatar's banking industry, and its ability to adapt swiftly to changing local market conditions. Total trading value over the past week stood at approximately QR1.979bn, with a daily average of around QR396m, while the total number of transactions across all sectors reached 89,525. Qatar Stock Exchange general index closed yesterday's trading higher by 112.16 points, or 1.01 percent, to close at 11,261.62 points. During the session, 193,609,425 shares, valued at QR621,549,135.910, were traded in 21,682 transactions across all sectors. The session saw shares of 25 companies rise, 24 companies decline in their share price, and 3 companies maintain their previous closing price. Market capitalization at the end of the trading session amounted to QR668,298,298,297, compared to QR662,441,971,650 in the previous session. © Dar Al Sharq Press, Printing and Distribution. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
