Business Extra
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As one of the world‘s most influential business hubs, the Middle East requires expert attention. Business Extra provides those experts, as well as news and insights from The National‘s esteemed team of business editors and reporters, who are on top of the markets, technology, the energy sector and more.
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US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza peace promises investment corridors and special economic zones. But without sovereign control, how can the Palestinian economy survive?
In Palestine, everything from the movement of goods to collecting taxes depends on approval from the Israeli government. The result is an economy that functions but is fundamentally constrained. It grows, but only within parameters set by an external power.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid delves into one of the world’s most complex economic realities, examining what doing business looks like under constraint, how aid and donor priorities are often misaligned, and why real growth requires more than money.
Joining the conversation is Raja Khalidi, director general of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute and a veteran of more than 30 years at the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
Together they explore the broader question of whether any international economic plan can succeed if it does not address the underlying structures of occupation.
As TikTok faces a high-stakes restructuring to divest from its Chinese ownership, a new deal is emerging.
Major US players including Oracle and Silver Lake are in the mix, along with MGX, a UAE-based company that could become one of the few overseas owners of the platform’s American operations.
This is more than a business deal. It determines who will shape the minds of users on one of the most viewed social media platforms in the world.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid looks at the size of the deal, the level of control shareholders have over content and what TikTok might look like if influenced by a Gulf-based owner.
The episode also examines how algorithm access, content moderation and ownership dynamics tie into global soft power, and how much that influence really matters.
The announcement that Carrefour has shut stores in Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries made headlines across the region. But behind the immediate news lies a bigger story that international retail giants are struggling to keep Middle East consumers interested.
Consumers are increasingly turning their backs on big-name internationals and favouring local brands, home-grown experiences and practices that resonate with their regional identity. This is not necessarily a rejection of global brands but instead it is to meet customers' needs and values.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid digs into the shift, which is seeing global names starting to fade from store shelves, and asks how far it goes.
We hear insights from Aarti Nagraj, deputy business editor at The National, and John E Katsos, professor of management, strategy and entrepreneurship at the American University of Sharjah.
It’s a big week for global economies tied to the dollar with the US Federal Reserve widely expected to cut interest rates at its meeting.
Interest rates are a signal of how the Fed views the health of the economy and where it thinks things are heading. The decision heavily affects the economies of Gulf countries such as the Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, whose currencies are tied to the dollar.
It also directly affects consumers. For example, a cut could make it cheaper to borrow to buy a car or a home, and to use your credit card, but may also lower returns on your savings.
In this week's Business Extra, host Salim Essaid is joined by James Swanston, a senior Middle East and North Africa economist at Capital Economics, to explain how the Fed's decision on interest rates could ripple through the region’s economies.
People across the UAE and the region have noticed web pages loading more slowly, shows taking longer to stream and Wi-Fi going in and out.
This is because the undersea cables that support all those things have been damaged.
In this case, we’re looking at cuts to cables that lie at the bottom of the Red Sea. Around the globe, such cables run along seabeds and are the very foundation of internet connectivity.
Depending on where in the world you are, you might have a different set of these cables to thank for your ability to go online.
On this episode of Business Extra, host Salim A Essaid discusses what exactly makes this incident so critical, what’s next, and how it all comes back to the web user.
Despite billions being spent over the past few years on artificial intelligence investments, a recent MIT Media Lab report found 95 per cent of organisations have produced zero returns so far.
But is that really the case for companies who are offering AI solutions? How are those in the Middle East performing?
In this episode of the Business Extra podcast, host Salim Essaid is joined by Mohammad Abu Sheikh, founder and chief executive of CNTXT AI, a UAE-based data and AI solutions company.
Later, he is joined by Amit Joshi, a professor of AI, analytics and marketing at the IMD Business School to look at the bigger picture and the disconnect between implementing AI and profit.
And to explore the impact of this on hiring AI specialists and attracting talent, Dana Alomar, The National's future editor, joins the conversation.
Syria’s central bank has announced plans for a currency overhaul that will involve eliminating two zeros from its pound and printing new banknotes.
The Syrian pound has lost more than 99 per cent of its value since the start of the civil war in 2011, and economists are warning that a new currency means little without real policy reform.
In this week’s episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid looks at Syria's move, considers what it means for the economy and questions whether it will work.
He is joined by Hani Abuagla, senior market analyst at XTB Mena in the UAE, and The National’s Senior Business Reporter Fareed Rahman.
Nuclear energy can be a flashpoint for tension in the Middle East.
Now, though, it's taking new light.
A handful of Gulf countries, including the UAE, have signed new agreements with the US in the past few months – each nation with its own advantages and goals in the sector.
These agreements focus heavily on civilian nuclear energy. But they are also part of a broader goal to futureproof Gulf economies.
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Company, or ENEC, is the body responsible for all things nuclear in the UAE.
In July, it expanded an agreement with US nuclear power company Westinghouse. It designs and sells the AP1000 – an advanced reactor known for its good economics.
This partnership, according to a statement from ENEC, will entail: “Efforts to accelerate the deployment of that AP1000 reactor, exploration of opportunities in US nuclear projects and quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050.”
On this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid hears from Noam Raydan of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy to explore why momentum in the area of nuclear partnerships is building.
New US tariffs are coming into effect this week. US President Donald Trump's newest deadline of August 1 is his latest attempt to secure trade agreements with vital global economies – and bring in more revenue for the US.
Take Monday’s deal between the US and the EU. They avoided a trade war by agreeing that the EU would pay 15 per cent tariffs on most goods – half the rate that Mr Trump had threatened.
But other big shifts are also taking place. US tariffs are pushing international exporters to find more reliable trade partners, and countries in the Middle East are stepping up to the plate.
On this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid hears from Simon Evennet, a professor of geopolitics and strategy at the IMD business school in Stockholm, to understand what this means for the region.
Editor’s note: We want to hear from you! Help us improve our podcasts by taking our two-minute listener survey. Click here.
Crypto has reached a critical moment in its history.
The US released a slew of game-changing bills for cryptocurrency last week, signalling a long-anticipated seal of approval of crypto from the world’s largest economy.
Those bills are the Clarity Act, something called the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and – the Genius Act, which is what we are focusing on today.
It is all expected to have major implications for the Middle East, which has already established its own level of crypto adoption.
On this episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid hears from two experts; Naeem Aslam, CIO at Zaye Capital Markets in London, and Ola Doudin, CEO of UAE-based cryptocurrency exchange BitOasis.
Editor’s note: We want to hear from you! Help us improve our podcasts by taking our two-minute listener survey. Click here.
A whole new property market is to open up to international buyers and it is from the Middle East’s largest economy.
Starting in January 2026, Saudi Arabia will allow foreign investors to buy property in the kingdom. It has left global investors eager to find out how they can tap into Saudi Arabia’s fast growing real estate market, which is expected to reach more than $94 billion by 2028.
But how easy will it be for a foreign investor to buy property in the kingdom? Will there be a language barrier? Are the kingdom’s regulatory systems able to work with foreign buyers yet?
We explore these questions and more on this episode of Business Extra, where host Salim A Essaid hears from Faisal Durrani, a partner and head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank Middle East.
The absence of income tax has helped to attract people from around the world to move to the Gulf. But one country is set to change direction.
Oman recently announced it will be the first country in the region to introduce personal income tax.
While some countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have other types of taxes, such as VAT, on most goods and services, Oman is making history with a levy on personal income.
The tax is not set to take effect until 2028, but it has already raised questions about whether other Gulf states will follow suit.
Deepthi Nair, Assistant Business Editor, discusses the subject with David Daly, a partner at the Gulf Tax Accounting Group in the UAE.
For decades, most Emiratis have worked in government roles. But now, thousands are joining private companies as part of a nationwide plan to balance the workforce.
Early iterations of Emiratisation began in the 1990s, with programmes formalised in the early 2000s.
About three years ago, the UAE gradually implemented quotas for hiring Emiratis and gave private-sector companies deadlines to meet them. Now, those deadlines continue to come up.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Salim hears from our own Ali Al Shouk and Ben Crompton of Crompton Partners on Emiratisation, how it’s affecting companies, and what it means for the future of work in the UAE.
Gulf leaders have been on alert for triggers on several fronts: for one, potential damage to nuclear sites, such as the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, just across the pond that is the Arabian Gulf.
The Gulf has also kept close watch on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway in the Gulf where about a fifth of the world's oil flows through to power the globe, and which Iran had threatened to close.
Despite the announcement of a ceasefire, all of these are still major factors in the Gulf's economic well-being and stability.
On this week's episode of Business Extra, host Salim Essaid hears from Safaa Al-Kogali, World Bank county director for GCC countries. Let's get into what happened, what's next and what we're on the lookout for.
In the days since Israel started its offensive against Iran, oil prices have shot up and global markets dipped. Israel has struck nuclear sites and oil fields, and the aggression has left global markets wary of what’s to come.
Markets are holding out for the possibility of major supply chain disruptions that could have global impact.
To understand what this war means for the global economy, Business Extra host Salim Essaid hears from The National's Geo-Economics Editor Manus Cranny, and Colby Connelly, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute.
“New” is the theme in the Middle East’s growing aviation sphere: new cities, new aircraft and new markets.
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) says carriers in the region are expected to post the highest net profit margin in the world this year, at 8.7 per cent.
These are strong numbers from the Middle East. But they are coming at a volatile time.
Host Salim Essaid hears from The National's own Deena Kamel and StrategicAero Research's Saj Ahmad on what to expect from air travel in the region.
In the UAE, where development is the name of the game, real estate is a big deal. There's a lot of growth in the UAE, and that means questions about property.
The real estate sector in Dubai has been booming since Covid, while there is also rapid development in Abu Dhabi.
A report from the credit rating agency Fitch says Dubai property prices are expected to fall by up to 15 per cent in the second half of 2025 and into next year. But some experts say that might not be the case.
So how do these new changes in developments factor into the real estate market? We hear from Haider Tuaima, managing director and head of real estate research at ValuStrat, Cherif Sleiman, Chief Revenue Officer at Property Finder, and our own Senior Business Reporter Fareed Rahman.
Editor’s note: We want to hear from you! Help us improve our podcasts by taking our two-minute listener survey. Click here.
Last week, some of the biggest names in tech announced a partnership with Abu Dhabi’s leading AI entity, G42 – a project called Stargate UAE.
It’s part of a massive new AI campus set to come online in 2026 – a Gulf iteration of OpenAI’s US-based project of the same name, which was launched earlier this year.
Also happening at the same time will be a partnership between Nvidia and the UAE’s AI investment bank, MGX, on a data centre in Europe, and another G42 partnership focused on building data centres on US soil.
All of this comes after US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf in May.
It’s arguably the dawn of a new era, not just in tech, but in the global economic and political relationships that are keeping tech at the helm.
On this episode of Business Extra, we revisit the question of AI and the Gulf, because a lot has changed in just the last few months.
The UAE is in a race with itself to raise its manufacturing game.
From machine parts to pasta, there is one goal: Make it in the Emirates.
That also happens to be the name of an event taking place in Abu Dhabi this week, showing what UAE manufacturing has to offer.
It’s part of a larger push by the country to be less reliant on international trade, aiming to expand and diversify the UAE economy and make manufacturing as one of its strongest pillars.
On this episode of Business Extra, we're hearing from an expert and an innovator to learn more about the UAE’s national push, what it offers and how entrepreneurs can benefit from it.
US President Donald Trump’s historic trip to the Gulf has come to an end – but the business deals announced during it will have a lasting impact.
Mr Trump’s tour was a whirlwind of mega-announcements, including $200 billion in commercial deals with the UAE, a $600 billion package with Saudi Arabia and a record aircraft order from Qatar Airways.
In this episode of Business Extra, host Sarah Forster is joined by The National’s Geo-Economics Editor Manus Cranny to break down what it all means for the future of US-Gulf relations and tech ambitions, and look at how economic interests are now shaping diplomacy between the US and the Middle East.
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