Page 17 - MEOG Week 25

MEOG n e W s in B rie F MEOG

P o L i C y mandatory annual 10% transfer of state oil refinery operations and tightening sanctions
revenues to the Fund for Future Generations, by the United States that has made it more
Fitch affirms Bahrain-based the country’s sovereign wealth fund, making difficult for Venezuela to obtain fuel on
international markets.
it conditional on budget surpluses, several
GFH’s rating at B, outlook is media sources reported. Kuwait’s typically Golsan, owned by Mosakhar Darya Shipping
The Iranian-flagged general cargo ship
substantial fiscal surpluses due to oil
stable revenues exceeding state expenditures have Co, departed on May 15 from Bandar Abbas.
Five tankers left for the Caribbean from
been challenging to maintain in the low oil
Ratings agency Fitch has affirmed Bahrain- price era, forcing the government to make the same port in March after loading fuel,
based investment bank GFh Financial adjustments to its reserves policy. Kuwait’s according to Eikon data.
Group’s long and short-term issuer default government reserves 10% of oil revenues “The Golsan will arrive carrying food
ratings at B with a stable outlook. for the sovereign wealth fund managed by to open the first Iranian supermarket in
GFh’s rating reflects the real estate the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) to Venezuela,” the Iranian Embassy wrote on
concentrations in its portfolio. The firm’s total accumulate sufficient reserves for the well- Saturday via its Twitter account. It did not
consolidated assets of $5.9bn at end-2019 being of future generations in a post-oil era. provide details.
included $1.3bn of development properties in Kuwait is expected to post a substantial Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not
UAE, Bahrain, North Africa and India, as well budget deficit in 2020 due to the plunge in immediately reply to a request for comment.
as $500mn of investments in land properties global crude prices since the beginning of Iran is expected to dispatch two to three
in UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. The major the year, with the IMF forecasting the budget monthly shipments of gasoline to its ally
real estate development projects are partially deficit to reach 4.8% of GDP. Venezuela, sources close to the matter said,
completed and represent a significant risk in The government will need parliamentary which would help offload the gasoline
the current depressed economic environment. approval to make the amendment to the inventory that Iran accumulates, while helping
GFh has shifted away from having a mandatory annual transfer rule. Parliament to alleviate the fuel shortage in Venezuela.
significant exposure to illiquid investments has been traditionally hostile to the The growing bilateral trade could lead to
in recent years, moving towards a greater government’s initiatives, and its refusal to retaliation by the United States, which has
focus on fee revenues and income-generating approve the raising of the national debt ceiling enacted extensive sanctions programs against
investments. This has been a step towards has forced the state to draw down on the the two countries.
a greater dependence on transactional General Reserve Fund, a smaller sovereign reuters
gains forming a significant element of wealth fund, to fund the budget deficit.
its profitability. It generated $67mn in Bne
consolidated profit in 2019, down 42% C om Panies
from 2018 but still respectable compared to Iran ship reaches
yesteryears in the immediate aftermath of the KBR teams up with L&T
2008 global financial crisis. Venezuelan waters with
Fitch asserted that GFh’s fast-growing to target downstream
treasury activities are supportive of enhancing cargo of food
balance sheet liquidity, but it warned that contracts
the increased scale of the company’s treasury An Iranian ship was approaching the
function requires careful management of the Venezuelan port of La Guaira on Sunday with Texas-based KBR, one of the world’s leading
maturities of the money market deposits and a cargo of food that will supply the South engineering, procurement and construction
shorter-term deposit support. American nation’s first Iranian supermarket, (EPC) contractors, has teamed up with India’s
Kuwait considers altering mandatory according to Refinitiv Eikon and Iran’s L&T hydrocarbon Engineering (LThE) to
annual transfer of 10% of oil revenues to embassy in Venezuela. bid exclusively for refining and petrochemical
sovereign wealth fund Iran supplied 1.5 million barrels of fuel projects.
Kuwait is considering altering its to Venezuela last month amid a collapse of The pair have signed a memorandum of

Week 25 24•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17