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UAE President Okays Board of ADNOC Global Investment Arm

FILE PHOTO: General view of the ADNOC headquarters is seen in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 23, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: General view of the ADNOC headquarters is seen in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 23, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed//File Photo
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UAE President Okays Board of ADNOC Global Investment Arm

FILE PHOTO: General view of the ADNOC headquarters is seen in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 23, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: General view of the ADNOC headquarters is seen in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, December 23, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed//File Photo

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan approved a board of directors for XRG, state oil giant ADNOC's new international investment arm, including Blackstone's Jon Gray and former BP boss Bernard Looney, ADNOC said on Thursday.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company announced last month it was setting up XRG, saying it was worth over $80 billion and would focus on lower-carbon energy, including gas, and chemicals.

Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC's chief executive, was appointed XRG's executive chairman.

Along with Gray and Looney, the board also included Egyptian

Nassef Sawiris, UAE Investment Minister and CEO of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, Chairman of the UAE president's office for strategic affairs Ahmed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, and Jasem Al Zaabi, chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Finance and telecoms conglomerate e&.

ADNOC has done a string of deals in gas, LNG and chemicals, which it considers pillars for its future growth alongside renewables. UAE state-owned renewables firm Masdar, in which ADNOC has a 24% stake, has also made several acquisitions.

ADNOC struck a deal in October to buy German chemicals maker Covestro for $16.3 billion, including debt. Covestro last month said its management and supervisory boards supported the takeover offer, which will be one of the largest foreign acquisitions by a Gulf state and ADNOC's largest.

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Egypt Approves $91 Billion Budget for 2025/26

The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Egypt Approves $91 Billion Budget for 2025/26

The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Egypt's cabinet approved a 4.6 trillion Egyptian pound ($91 billion) draft state budget for the financial year that will begin in July, a government statement said on Wednesday, as it continues to tighten its finances under an IMF program.

Expenditures will rise by 18% and revenue by 19% over the current 2024/25 budget. Revenue is expected to hit 3.1 trillion pounds, working out to a deficit of about 1.5 trillion pounds ($30 billion).

The increased expenditure partly reflects elevated headline inflation, which was running at an annual 12.8% in February.

Financial reforms under an $8 billion financial reform program signed in March 2024 with the International Monetary Fund have helped Egypt bring inflation down from a peak of 38% in September 2023.

The IMF this month approved the disbursement of $1.2 billion to Egypt after its fourth review of the program.

The new budget targets a primary surplus of 795 billion pounds, equal to 4% of GDP, up from the 3.5% primary surplus originally targeted in the 2024/25 budget.

The IMF granted the government a waiver in the fourth review after the surplus came in 0.5% of GDP lower than Egypt's earlier commitment.

In its third review in June, the IMF praised Egypt for its "strict control of spending".

The new budget also lowers public debt to 82.9% of GDP from an expected 92% in 2024/25, the cabinet statement said.

The cabinet said 732.6 billion pounds in spending in the new budget would be allocated for subsidies, grants and social benefits, an increase of 15.2%.

The budget increases commodities and bread subsidies by 20% to 160 billion pounds. It will also include 75 billion pounds to subsidize petroleum products, 75 billion pounds to subsidize electricity and 3.5 billion pounds to subsidize natural gas deliveries to households, the statement added.