B2
SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2015
MARKET O M A N A R A B B A N K I N I T I AT I V E
B I L AT E R A L T R A D E
Al Yusr Islamic opens branch in Nizwa Times News Service MUSCAT: To reach out to the largest number of customers in the Sultanate, Al Yusr Islamic Banking of Oman Arab Bank, has opened a new branch in Nizwa town in Al Dakhiliya Governorate. Abdul Qader Al Balushi, general manager of Al Yusr Islamic Banking said, “Our choice of opening our new branch in Nizwa coincides with Nizwa being selected as the Capital of Islamic Culture by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISECO). We are sure that Al Yusr branch in this historic city will meet the islamic banking needs of the dense population homed there.”
Full-fledged branch Al Yusr branch in Nizwa is a full fledged branch and it offers a suite of products for the retail, small and medium enterprises (SME) and corporate banking segments. All products are in compliance with the Sharia (Islamic law) and are very popular in the market. Al Yusr plans to launch several innovative products suitable to the needs of many customers in the near future. The retail products include Al Yusr current account, savings account, fixed deposit, auto finance and home finance, among others. The range of corporate and SME banking products including trade finance services, term finance and commercial real estate finance.
Energy sector offers B1 ‘huge opportunity’ < FROM
MedcoEnergi also signed a new exploration and production sharing contract for Block Oman 56 in November 2014. Under the contract, the Indonesian company holds majority participating interest in the block and becomes its operator. This is a very potential sector where Oman and Indonesia can cooperate, Bayu concluded. Economic performance With the GDP (gross domestic product) of around $1 trillion in 2014, Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Its economy grew by 5.7 per cent
Abdul Qader Al Balushi. – Supplied picture
S U P P LY C H A I N M A N A G E M E N T
Major forum to kick off on Monday MUSCAT: Supply Chain Management (SCM) forum will begin at Crowne Plaza Hotel on Monday under the patronage of Said bin Hamdoon Al Harthy, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications for Ports and Marine Affairs. The forum, which is being organised by Al Asayel Conferences, will include four seminars touching on the impact of businesses in the Middle East on rapid economic growth and shopping festivals, the necessity of integrating all operations into one ring to ensure successful, effective supply chain through practical application not by practice. A panel discussion will be held as experts and specialists of supply, whole and retail sale in various sectors, such as communications, banking, hotels, telecommunications, oil and gas, will take part. — ONA
in 2013, making it ‘The World’s Most Stable Economy in the Last Five Years’, according to a survey conducted by the Economist. GDP growth Gross domestic product growth is forecast to reach 5.5 per cent this year and six per cent in the year 2016. The Indonesian government has also continued its focus on the promotion of creative industries. At present more than eight million people work within these industries, which contribute around eight per cent to Indonesia’s gross domestic product.
Customs reforms key for petrochem industry in GCC GCC countries have significantly improved their global rankings among the leading chemicalexporting countries over the past five years, according to the GPCA research
Times News Service MUSCAT: Customs regulation reforms will be crucial for the export-oriented Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) petrochemical industry to reach the milestone of manufacturing 190 million tonnes of products by 2020, said industry leaders at the 7th Supply Chain Conference in Dubai, hosted by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA). “The GCC petrochemicals industry has been growing on a CAGR of 8 per cent over the past five years increasing from 37.2 in 2008 to 67.6 million tonnes by the year 2014,” said Dr Abdulwahab Al Sadoun, secretary general,
GPCA. “Countries in the Arabian Gulf also have varying degrees of success in terms of optimising their supply chains. Details such as export times, the number of documents required for trade or trade tariffs measure how easy it is to do business, and these are areas that need to be improved to ensure that the GCC chemical industry will maintain its competitive advantage,” he said. According to the GPCA research, the GCC countries have significantly improved their global rankings among the leading chemical-exporting countries over the past five years. The UAE is ranked 38th in the world in terms of chemicals export volumes, up six places from 2008, as per data collated from the GPCA and World Trade Organisation (WTO). According to the World Bank’s “Doing Business Report-2015”, export cost per container for petrochemicals from the Emirates averaged $656 in 2014, which is the lowest in the Arabian Gulf, with clearance times estimated at seven working days, a figure that is the lowest in the GCC. “The UAE is a leader in terms of ease of export procedures and accessibility, which is certainly a testament to the business-friendly strategy led by the government,” said Dr Al Sadoun. “However, aspects such as container costs have marginally risen in the last two years, so stakeholders must work together to ensure
that this position is maintained,” he added. Petrochemical products manufactured in the GCC amounted to 80 per cent of the region’s product portfolio in 2014, or 67.6 million tonnes of chemicals, according to GPCA estimates. As the GCC’s chemical industry is expected to add an additional 50 million tonnes in capacity by the end of this decade, the region’s petrochemicals sector clearly has potential, with exports expected to account for a sizeable percentage of this share. “As an industry with increasingly competitive worldwide players, operating agile and flexible supply chains will be essential in the development of our export portfolio,” continued Dr Al Sadoun. “In order to ensure that we are preferred partners for wide-ranging customers, introducing customs and clearance procedures reforms will be the key to ensuring global market share,” he said. Commenting on the ongoing challenge of the fluctuating oil prices, which have dropped by nearly 50 per cent since June 2014, Mohammed Husain, chairman of the GPCA Supply Chain Committee and chairman and CEO of Equate said, “We are in a volatile period where everyone in the oil and gas industry strives to win. And as everyone asks about the effect of oil prices, we face additional challenges as petrochemical producers in this region.”