Today's 4...Farewells, barrels, relocations & booze

Yemen's new President Hadi

Al-Jazeera (amongst others) reported that voting had concluded in Yemen's uncontested presidential elections. I suppose there are benefits to only having one candidate, one of which is no need for laborious vote counting and subsequent delay to announcing the results. Congratulations President Hadi on your resounding victory.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that Oman (the largest Oil producer not  in OPEC) will signed contracts with 4 companies (not mentioned in the article) in a move which will see further increases in its oil output. In 2011, the number of barrels produced increased by 4.4% from 2010. It seems that the sultanate has bold ambitions to continue this growth.


The Financial Times Blog commented that the Arab Spring has been great for Dubai's financial district, which has seen new arrivals from financial houses previously located in trouble-struck places such as Bahrain. ABN Amro Asset Management and Nomura are two of the new faces in Dubai. As more and more countries in the region pass their “Arab Spring 1st Anniversary” marker, it seems the real winners and losers are starting to emerge. Watch this space for a more detailed commentary later on this week. 

And finally...
 
The Guardian reported that the recent ban on alcoholic beverage consumption on Doha’s Riviera has severely impacted the most affluent area of Qatar’s capital. Restaurants and hotels have been the hardest hit, with one waitress (perhaps a little melodramatically) declaring the ban “the end of the world”. Armageddon it is not, but bad for business it certainly is. Managers at high end restaurants and boutiques are reporting a circa 50% drop in sales since the ban. If this continues, I suspect the ban may be revoked as suddenly as it was implemented.