Global
Rupee Rouble Roulette: India buys oil from Russia and pays back in dirhams
Published
2 years agoon
Russia is banking, no pun intended, on its friends – UAE and India – to brace itself from the tightening noose of sanctions from Western countries in the trail of its continued war on Ukraine.
While India has continued to do oil imports and trade with Russia, the latter has started to route payments through the UAE dirham, according to a Reuters report.
Russia is seeking payment in dirhams for oil exports to some Indian customers, three sources said and a document showed, as Moscow moves away from the US dollar to insulate itself from sanctions by America and its allies since the invasion of Ukraine began in late February.
An invoice seen by Reuters shows the bill for supplying oil to one refiner is calculated in dollars while payment is requested in dirhams.
Russian oil major Rosneft is pushing crude through trading firms including Everest Energy and Coral Energy into India, now its second biggest oil buyer after China.
Western sanctions have prompted many oil importers to shun Moscow, pushing spot prices for Russian crude to record discounts against other grades.
That provided Indian refiners, which rarely bought Russian oil due to high freight costs, an opportunity to snap up exports at hefty discounts to Brent and Middle East staples. Moscow replaced Saudi Arabia as the second biggest oil supplier to India after Iraq for the second month in a row in June.
![Rupee-rouble](http://headline.ae/wp-content/uploads/RsRouble-300x206.png)
Payments in rupees from India is being funneled to Russia through the UAE exchange route.
The few Indian businesses and banks are taking a leaf from an old trade playbook they had relied upon during the US embargo on Iran. At least two Indian refiners have already settled some payments in dirhams, the sources said, adding more would make such payments in coming days.
India, also maintaining a neutral position, recognises insurance cover by Russian companies and has offered classification to ships managed by a Dubai-based subsidiary of Moscow’s top shipping group to enable trade.
India’s central bank last week introduced a new mechanism for international trade settlements in rupees, which many experts see as a way to promote trade with countries that are under Western sanctions, such as Russia and Iran. The invoice showed payments to be made to Gazprombank via Mashreq Bank, its correspondent bank in Dubai.
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The UAE has maintained a neutral position with Russia and is not part of the sanctions on Moscow. Many Russians have also even lapped up property in Dubai and are driving a momentum in the real estate market in the UAE.
Russia wants to increase its use of non-Western currencies for trade with countries such as India, its foreign minister Sergi Lavrov said in April.
The country’s finance minister last month also said Moscow may start buying currencies of “friendly” countries, using such holdings to influence the exchange rate of the dollar and euro as a means of countering sharp gains in the rouble.
The Moscow currency exchange is preparing to launch trading in the Uzbek sum and the dirham.
Russia’s state oil producer is also explored the idea of creating a trading venture in Dubai just like others who have a direct connection and are trying to work around the sanctions.
In June, Bloomberg cited a S&P Global Commodity Insight report that Litasco SA, a trading unit of Russia’s Lukoil PJSC, is looking at Dubai for a new head office. Litasco declined to comment at the time but said it would ensure it complied with all applicable sanctions.
Journalist for 25 years with leading publications in India and UAE such as The National, Mumbai Mirror, DNA, Indian Express and former Sports Editor of eIndia.com. Now managing editor of Headline.ae, part of MEMc (https://www.memc.co)
Announcements
UAE Passport Ranks Among World’s Top 10 for the First Time
Published
1 month agoon
July 27, 2024By
SudhashreeThe UAE passport has moved into the top 10 of the Henley Passport Index for the first time. The country is ranked ninth with visa-free access to 185 countries, marking an increase of 152 countries since the index began in 2006.
“[This] is the result of deliberate and concerted efforts by the Emirati government to position the UAE as a global hub for business, tourism, and investment,” says Juerg Steffen, chief executive of Henley & Partners, the London global citizenship and residence advisory firm, which compiles the index. “Our research has consistently shown a strong correlation between a country’s visa-free score and its economic prosperity. Nations with higher visa-free scores tend to enjoy greater GDP per capita, increased foreign direct investment and more robust international trade relationships.”
Meanwhile, Singapore reclaimed the top spot with access to 195 destinations, the only country to do so. It is followed by France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain, which all tie for second with 192 countries. Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden are in third with 191 destinations.
The UK hangs onto fourth place, along with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland with access to 190 countries. Australia and Portugal round out the fifth spot with 189 destinations.
Meanwhile, the US continues its descent, dropping to eighth with 186 destinations. The UK and US jointly held the top spot on the index a decade ago in 2014. Afghanistan remains at the bottom with access to only 26 countries – the lowest score recorded in the history of the Index.
“The general trend over the past two decades has been towards greater travel freedom, with the global average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024,” says Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners. “However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access a record-breaking 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.”
The Most Powerful Passports For 2024
1-Singapore (195 destinations)
2-France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain (192)
3-Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden (191)
4-Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190)
5-Australia, Portugal (189)
6-Greece, Poland (188)
7-Canada, Czechia, Hungary, Malta (187)
8-United States (186)
9-Estonia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates (185)
10-Iceland, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (184)
For the past 19 years, the Henley Passport Index has been tracking global freedoms in 227 countries and territories around the world, using data from the International Air Transport Association (known as Iata).
Alongside the passport data, the company released the results of several other studies, such as the world’s ‘most open’ countries and rise of global millionaires.
The World’s ‘Most Open’ Countries
Additionally, the Henley Openness Index ranks 199 countries according to the number of nationalities they allow entry to without a prior visa. The top 20 “most open” countries are all small island nations or African states, except for Cambodia. There are 13 completely open countries in the world that offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to all 198 passports in the world (not counting their own): Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu.
At the bottom of the index, three countries score zero, permitting no visa-free access for any passport: Afghanistan, North Korea and Turkmenistan.
Sharjah and Dubai’s Rise of The Millionaire
The company also released several other studies, including the 20 fastest-growing cities in the world for millionaires. Sharjah recorded a growth rate of 95 per cent, coming ninth on the list, while Dubai is 18th. They are the only cities in the Middle East to make it. The study says Sharjah has 4,100 millionaires and 11 people with a net worth of more than $100 million. While Dubai has 72,500 millionaires, 212 people with more than $100 million and 15 billionaires.
The research by global data intelligence firm New World Wealth ranks Shenzhen and Hangzhou in China first and second, with growth rates of 140 per cent and 125 per cent, respectively.
Bengaluru, which recorded a 110 per cent growth in millionaires between 2013 and 2023, is third; Austin and Guangzhou are joint fourth with a 110 per cent increase.
According to the data, the region with the most billionaires is, unsurprisingly, the Bay Area with 68, which is home to the US’s tech epicentre Silicon Valley.
Announcements
Dubai set to have world’s largest airport with 400 gates and 5 parallel runways
Published
4 months agoon
April 28, 2024Dubai announced on Sunday that work had begun on a new terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport, which Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai said will become “the world’s largest” at a cost of almost $35 billion.
“We approved the designs for the new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport, and (are) commencing construction of the building at a cost of AED 128 billion ($34.85 billion),” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, said on X.
Today, we approved the designs for the new passenger terminals at Al Maktoum International Airport, and commencing construction of the building at a cost of AED 128 billion as part of Dubai Aviation Corporation's strategy.
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) April 28, 2024
Al Maktoum International Airport will enjoy the… pic.twitter.com/oG973DGRYX
Once fully operational, the airport will “handle a passenger capacity of 260 million annually”, the government said in a statement.
Sheikh Mohammed said it will have “the world’s largest capacity” and be “five times the size of the current Dubai International Airport”, which is one of the world’s busiest air hubs.
According to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and CEO of flag carrier Emirates, “the first phase of the project will be ready within a period of 10 years, with a capacity to accommodate 150 million passengers annually.”
Built on the city’s outskirts, Al Maktoum airport has received a relatively small share of the Gulf financial hub’s air traffic since 2010.
Authorities want it to replace Dubai International Airport, which has a capacity of up to 120 million passengers annually and whose city-centre location prevents expansion.
Announcements
King Charles to deliver opening address at COP28 in Dubai
Published
10 months agoon
November 2, 2023King Charles III is to make an opening speech at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday. The monarch will address world leaders at the opening ceremony on December 1. After his speech, he will “take the opportunity to have meetings with regional leaders”, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said. The king, who is widely known for his environmental activism, was invited to Cop28 by President Sheikh Mohamed.
King Charles III is famous for his love of the environment, and he has been an advocate for organic farming and preventing climate change. He will attend the COP28 Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum, which runs alongside the event. He will also speak at COP28 on 1 December and is expected to share his vision for the future. He is no stranger to sharing these views with world leaders, as he previously spoke at Glasgow’s COP26 in 2021 and COP21 in Paris in 2025.
In 1989, the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana undertook their first trip to the UAE. The nine-day tour included visits to Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The pair met Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father of the UAE, at his majlis in Al Ain.