Bahraini Investment Fund Worth $100 Mn in Technical, Emerging Companies

CEO of Bahrain's EDB. Khalid al-Rumaihi. Asharq Al-Awsat
CEO of Bahrain's EDB. Khalid al-Rumaihi. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Bahraini Investment Fund Worth $100 Mn in Technical, Emerging Companies

CEO of Bahrain's EDB. Khalid al-Rumaihi. Asharq Al-Awsat
CEO of Bahrain's EDB. Khalid al-Rumaihi. Asharq Al-Awsat

CEO of Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (EDB) Khalid al-Rumaihi has unveiled a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in technical companies and in the field of emerging companies and entrepreneurship.

Rumaihi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the launching of the fund will take place before the end of 2017, and the participating investment funds with venture capitals will get the chance to find a corporate-led industry while the government will only regulate and legislate.

Meanwhile, the EDB announced the Kingdom will host the Technology Week from 24 – 28 September 2017, designed to showcase and dissect how disruptive technologies and digital trends are revolutionizing the global industry and regional economy.

The Technology Week is anchored by two major ICT and entrepreneurship events – the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit, 25 September, and the Innovation Forum, powered by MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab, 27, 28 September– alongside a range of other exhibitions, panel discussions and talks by global leaders.

As the cloud computing platform of Amazon.com, the AWS Summit will be the first of its kind in Bahrain, providing the international cloud computing community with a forum to connect and collaborate.

The summit will offer businesses the opportunity to learn about AWS technology– one of the leading models of cloud storage infrastructure currently in existence.

Sponsored by the EDB and Investcorp, the Innovation Forum expands on similar themes, bringing together global experts and high-profile business representatives to focus on cutting-edge technologies and scientific research.

In his comments on the event, Rumaihi said: “Home to the GCC’s leading ICT infrastructure, it is essential that Bahrain continues to foster the kind of innovative technologies and frameworks that have led to world-class companies choosing the Kingdom as their home for regional operations. It is events like Technology Week that allow us to ensure that Bahrain’s digital ecosystem remains world-class”.



German Central Bank Chief: US Tariffs Would Eat Up German Growth in 2025

President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
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German Central Bank Chief: US Tariffs Would Eat Up German Growth in 2025

President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

The Bundebank expects growth of 0.7% in Germany in 2026 but this could be eaten up if US tariffs of 30% threatened by President Donald Trump were implemented, the central bank's President Joachim Nagel told Reuters in an interview.

“If tariffs materialize in August, a recession in Germany in 2025 cannot be ruled out,” Nagel said in Durban, South Africa, where the meeting of G20 finance chiefs is taking place on Thursday and Friday.

The 30% tariff on European goods threatened by Trump would, if implemented, be a game-changer for Europe, wiping out whole chunks of transatlantic commerce and forcing a rethink of its export-led economic model.

“The outlook for the German economy has just improved, especially due to the fiscal program that has been announced and is now being implemented by the German federal government, which also sets the right accents: investments in infrastructure, in future technologies,” Nagel said. “But this uncertainty could significantly weaken a positive outlook.”

Also, German Finance Minister Klingbeil told Reuters on Thursday that the European Union should find solutions to its finances without using common borrowing.

Klingbeil said the EU had joint debt in the last few years, but that was in a crisis situation during the COVID pandemic, he said in an interview on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Durban, South Africa.

“Overall, we need to resolve the finances of the EU differently than through a policy of joint debt,” he said.

“Fortunately, we are not in such a crisis right now,” he added.