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Qatar Central Bank Announces Launch of Digital Currency Project

The Qatar Central Bank in Doha. (Reuters)
The Qatar Central Bank in Doha. (Reuters)
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Qatar Central Bank Announces Launch of Digital Currency Project

The Qatar Central Bank in Doha. (Reuters)
The Qatar Central Bank in Doha. (Reuters)

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) launched on Sunday its Digital Currency Project (CBDC), which aims to settle large payments with a group of local and international banks, the bank said in a statement carried by the Qatari state news agency, QNA.

The CBDC was launched after successfully completing the comprehensive study of the project.

It will serve as a proactive step to keep pace with the rapid global developments in this field.

The Central Bank explained that after successfully completing the comprehensive study conducted in this field, it will proceed with testing and developing selected applications for the CBDC to settle large payments with a group of local and international banks in a trial environment designed according to the latest advanced technologies.

The project will focus on the applications of the CBDC to increase access to capital markets for operating banks in the country, enhance domestic settlement, and improve the efficiency of securities transactions, the Bank’s statement noted.

This project, which will enter its first experimental phase extending to October 2024, aims to also achieve a set of primary objectives, including leveraging artificial intelligence technologies, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and emerging technologies and establish a strong foundation to enhance liquidity by expanding participation in financial market facilities, considering the aspects related to information security during project implementation.

The start of the CBDC project represents an important milestone and a strategic step towards building a digital economy in the country, QCB said.

It then reaffirmed its continuous commitment to introducing distinguished and valuable initiatives that will help create a conducive environment for the growth of the financial sector, stimulate the widespread adoption of emerging technologies, and promote technological innovations across various fields.

Last April, the United Arab Emirates prepared to complete the first phase of its central bank digital currency strategy. The Digital Dirham aims to address the obstructions of domestic and cross-border payments, enhance financial inclusion and the move towards a cashless society.

In 2019, Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) announced a joint digital currency initiative named Project Aber.

The two banks said Aber will be used as a settlement unit for domestic as well as cross-border commercial bank transactions between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The joint digital currency plan is only for the use of banks participating in “Aber” project, and will not be available for individuals.

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Business

Under Trump Pressure, EU Eyes Deal to End Trade Standoff

US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen sealed the deal in Turnberry, Scotland last year. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen sealed the deal in Turnberry, Scotland last year. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
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Under Trump Pressure, EU Eyes Deal to End Trade Standoff

US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen sealed the deal in Turnberry, Scotland last year. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File
US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen sealed the deal in Turnberry, Scotland last year. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP/File

The EU hopes Tuesday to strike a deal towards implementing its nearly year-old trade pact with the United States -- with an increasingly impatient Donald Trump threatening steep new tariffs unless it is done by July 4.

The 27-nation bloc struck an accord with Washington last July setting levies on most European goods at 15 percent, but to the US president's frustration a final version of the text still needs nailing down on the EU side, AFP said.

"A deal is a deal," the US mission to the EU posted on X Monday, saying the bloc "must live up" to the agreement sealed in Turnberry, Scotland, between Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Negotiators from the EU's parliament and capitals will meet Tuesday night in Strasbourg to push for a compromise that would allow the bloc to meet Trump's deadline and hopefully turn the page on more than a year of transatlantic trade battles.

Short of that, Trump has warned the EU should expect "much higher" tariffs -- and has already vowed to raise duties on European cars and trucks from 15 to 25 percent.

The tariff blitz unleashed by Trump before the Turnberry accord, including hefty levies on steel, aluminium and car parts, jolted the bloc into cultivating trade ties around the world.

But the EU cannot afford to neglect the 1.6-trillion-euro ($1.9-trillion) relationship with the United States, its largest trade partner.

Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said its goal "remains, the swift implementation of the EU-US joint statement".

To reach a compromise with member states, parliament is under pressure to renege on several amendments it added to the text in March which the Americans consider unacceptable.

The head of parliament's trade committee, Bernd Lange, struck an optimistic note, saying the sides had "already made a lot of progress".

"I hope we can reach a compromise, including new propositions," Lange said.

But first, he needs to hammer out a common stance between the parliament's different factions, which looked set to keep haggling until the last moment.

- 'Sunrise' to 'sunset' -

The EU parliament's conditional green light came after months of delay caused by Trump's designs on Greenland and a US Supreme Court ruling striking down many of the president's levies.

The assembly's largest force, the conservative European People's Party to which von der Leyen belongs, is now pushing hard to implement an accord it says is vital to ending a period of damaging uncertainty for EU businesses.

EPP lawmaker Zeljana Zovko told AFP she was "confident that we will get it done".

The EPP has firm support from the hard-right ECR party, whose shadow rapporteur on the file, Kris Van Dijck, also said he was "cautiously optimistic".

But several political groups had yet to make their position public as of Monday night, and it remained unclear how far the majority would compromise to get a deal.

Lawmaker Kathleen Van Brempt of the Socialists and Democrats, parliament's second-biggest group, said they would "engage constructively" but fight for safeguards "to guarantee stability, predictability and protection for European businesses and workers".

One bone of contention is a suspension clause toughened by parliament that would scrap favorable tariff conditions for US exporters, should the United States later breach the terms of the deal.

Another concerns so-called "sunrise" and "sunset" clauses under which the EU side of the accord would kick in once the United States makes fully good on its pledges, and would expire unless renewed in 2028.

Green lawmaker Anna Cavazzini said "the odds are good" but warned member states would need to "budge" on parliament's main priorities.

"These past weeks have shown time and again that Trump is not to be trusted, so the EU needs stronger tools at hand," she said.

Business

US Extends Sanctions Waiver on Russian at-Sea Oil by 30 Days

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent arrives at meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in preparation for the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 18, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent arrives at meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in preparation for the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 18, 2026. (AFP)
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US Extends Sanctions Waiver on Russian at-Sea Oil by 30 Days

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent arrives at meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in preparation for the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 18, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent arrives at meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in preparation for the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June 2026 in Evian, in Paris on May 18, 2026. (AFP)

The US Treasury secretary on Monday said Washington was extending by 30 days its sanctions waiver for Russian oil cargoes already at sea, as global energy prices continue to surge due to the Iran war.

The latest "temporary 30-day general license" will "provide the most vulnerable nations with the ability to temporarily access Russian oil currently stranded at sea," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post.

Monday's announcement is the second time US authorities have extended the temporary measure, which is meant to address oil supply shortages sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran.

Iran's retaliatory action has targeted US regional allies and virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies normally pass.

The previous waiver for Russian at-sea oil expired on May 16.

Global oil prices have spiked since the start of the war, with US consumers feeling the pinch of gasoline costs that are more than 50 percent higher than when the war began.

The United States first issued a sanctions waiver on Russian oil cargoes that were at sea in March.

The moves have been criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been locked in war with Russia since its 2022 invasion.

Bessent said the extension would "provide additional flexibility" and "will help stabilize the physical crude market and ensure oil reaches the most energy-vulnerable countries.

Business

IEA Chief Warns Commercial Oil Inventories Are Depleting Rapidly, Only Weeks Left

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol talk on the day of a G7 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting in Paris, France, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol talk on the day of a G7 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting in Paris, France, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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IEA Chief Warns Commercial Oil Inventories Are Depleting Rapidly, Only Weeks Left

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol talk on the day of a G7 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting in Paris, France, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol talk on the day of a G7 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting in Paris, France, May 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, said on Monday that commercial oil inventories were depleting rapidly with only a few weeks' worth left due to the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

Birol, who is participating in the Group of Seven finance leaders meeting in Paris, told reporters that the release of strategic oil reserves had added 2.5 million barrels of oil per day to the market, but said these reserves "are ‌not endless".

The ‌onset of the spring planting and summer ‌travel ⁠seasons in the northern ⁠hemisphere will drain inventories more quickly as demand for diesel, fertilizer, jet fuel and gasoline increases, Birol added.

Asked about his comments in the G7 meeting, he said he described "a perception gap in the markets between the physical markets and the financial markets" for oil.

Birol said that before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at ⁠the end of February, there was a major ‌surplus in the oil markets, and ‌commercial inventories were very high. But the situation has rapidly shifted due to ‌the war.

He said commercial inventories would last "several weeks, but we ‌should be aware of the fact that it is declining rapidly".

Last week, the IEA said global oil supply will fall short of total demand this year as the Iran conflict wreaks havoc on Middle East oil ‌production, and inventories were being drained at an unprecedented pace. The IEA had previously forecast a surplus this ⁠year.

Global observed ⁠oil inventories fell at a record pace in March and April, dropping by 246 million barrels, the IEA said in its latest monthly oil market report.

The 32-member IEA coordinated the largest-ever release of stocks from strategic reserves in March, agreeing to withdraw 400 million barrels in a bid to calm markets.

Around 164 million barrels had been released by May 8, it said.

Overall global oil supply will fall by around 3.9 million barrels per day across 2026 due to the war, the agency said, slashing its previous forecast, which had projected a 1.5 million bpd drop.