Sharjah Identifies 7 High-Potential Sectors

The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
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Sharjah Identifies 7 High-Potential Sectors

The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)
The report stressed that the specialized vocational academies and future upskilling and innovation labs are investment opportunities in the Human Capital and Innovation sector in Sharjah. (WAM)

A new economic report has identified seven high-potential sectors in Sharjah that are powering qualitative and sustainable strategic investments into the emirate and strengthening its competitiveness on the global economic and investment landscape.

The Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah)’s report named the sectors as health and wellbeing, mobility and logistics, culture and tourism, agri-food technology, greentech, human capital and innovation, and advanced manufacturing.

The report, titled Future Trends and Sector Potential, was developed in collaboration with numerous government departments and private sector entities in the emirate and in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Middle East.

Sharjah and the UAE’s business-friendly environment backed by modern legislation, future-ready infrastructure, a highly talented workforce and more than 60,000 SMEs and startups have been stated by the report as key factors that boost their FDI attractiveness.

It pointed to the six specialized free zones and 33 industrial zones in Sharjah, as well as strategic location and global connectivity via sea and air routes and ports on both Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf that have yet again proved the emirate’s appeal as a gateway to the GCC and the wider region with a GDP of $1.6 trillion (AED5.88 trillion).

The report also underlined that the UAE is one of the world’s most open and investor-friendly economies which has attracted high volumes of foreign investments in the past few years, noting that Sharjah leverages UAE’s global reputation to build on its status as a go-to FDI destination in the region.

Against the backdrop of a devastating pandemic that swept the world, the report showed that Sharjah minimized its financial impact on its economy by successfully attracting FDI worth $220 million (AED808 million), including a 60 percent growth in FDI projects in Q3 and Q4 compared to 2019, which led to the creation of 1,117 new jobs.

“This strong trajectory of growth during the pandemic is a reflection of the high performance of the ICT sector which recorded 55.6 percent growth, followed by Food and Agriculture Industries at 49.7 percent, and Life Sciences sector, which grew by 47 percent, and finally, Logistics and Distribution, which registered a 46.2 percent growth.”

Ahmed Obaid al-Qaseer, Acting CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, said: “Today, Sharjah is home to many investment opportunities in various fields, especially in the new economy sectors, advanced industries, tourism, agriculture, innovation and others, with advanced infrastructure and agile legislation.”

For his part, Mohamed al-Musharrkh, CEO of Sharjah FDI Office, said that in the post-COVID world, investments in technology have outpaced all other sectors.

He added that Sharjah’s unveiling of the first 3D printing house in the region signals its competitiveness in advanced manufacturing.

“Invest in Sharjah is keen on attracting and facilitating investments seeking growth in the emirate’s secure and stable environment,” Musharrkh noted.



Lebanon Hopes to Meet Foreign Bondholders in Coming Year, Finance Minister Says

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Hopes to Meet Foreign Bondholders in Coming Year, Finance Minister Says

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Lebanese officials hope to meet international bondholders to talk about restructuring debt in the next 12 months but are not planning any meetings at the World Bank/IMF Spring meetings next week, finance minister Yassin Jaber said on Tuesday.

Jaber spoke to Reuters just days before travelling to Washington for the Spring meetings - one of the biggest gatherings for financial policy makers and investors - where Lebanon will seek to show it has made progress on economic reforms to address the underlying causes of its financial crash.

Lebanon's economy began unravelling in 2019 after years of corruption and profligate spending by the country's ruling elite, and tipped into a sovereign default on its $31 billion of outstanding international bonds in March 2020.

Asked whether he planned to meet international bondholders in the next year, Jaber said, "definitely, definitely, this is as they say the elephant in the room."

"You can't escape it in the end. Lebanon is keen to resolve this issue, God willing," he said.

But the country needed to make progress on reforms - including reforming the banking sector and boosting government revenues through reforms to tax systems and customs collection - before it could start talks, Jaber said.

"We wanted, first of all, to do our homework, to put the whole reform process on the right track to get started. You can't have a house in total disorder and then say, 'I want to negotiate,'" he said.

The Lebanese delegation to the spring meetings will be the first outing at an IMF/World Bank meeting for Lebanon's new government, which took the reins in February and pledged to seek a new IMF programme. Jaber said it would be the first time a Lebanese finance minister attends in more than a decade.

Economy Minister Amer Bisat is scheduled to give an outlook on Lebanon's economy at a JPMorgan investor conference held on the sidelines, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The creditor group - which includes the heavyweight funds Amundi, Ashmore, BlackRock, BlueBay, Fidelity and T-Rowe Price as well as a group of smaller hedge funds - has recently appointed a financial advisor in preparation for debt talks.

Shortly after the bondholder group originally formed in 2021, it said it held a "blocking stake" of more than 25% across a number of Lebanon's bonds, making it a critical player in any debt restructuring.

The chunk of the bonds are also held by domestic commercial banks or the Lebanese central bank, which bought $3 billion of debt directly from a previous government in 2019.

Lebanon's bonds trade at deeply distressed levels of around 15-16 cents in the dollar. However, that is a sharp uptick from the single digits they traded in before Israel's military campaign badly weakened Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, long viewed as an obstacle to overcoming Lebanon's political paralysis.

In January, Lebanon's cabinet extended the statute of limitations on legal action over Eurobonds for another three years. Jaber said the move "reassured the bondholders".