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The world witnessed economic activities in '19

Standard and Poor's fixed Kuwait's sovereign credit rating at AA
Standard and Poor's fixed Kuwait's sovereign credit rating at AA

KUWAIT, Dec 27 (KUNA) -- There have been numerous economic developments at the domestic, regional and international scenes whether they were gains or losses.
Following are major economic events that took place throughout 2019

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Jan. 7: The European Union announced the expected funding humanitarian aid for refugees in Turkey in 2019 hit 640 million euros.


Jan. 8: President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim declared his resignation at the end of January after six years in office.


Jan. 16: The European Union adopted a biggest annual humanitarian budget at all estimated at USD 1.6 billion euros in 2019.


Jan. 19: The Saudi-Emirati coordination council declared the launch of seven strategic initiatives to embody bilateral integration between the two countries that included services, financial markets, tourism, aviation, entrepreneurship, customs and security.


Jan. 19: Standard and Poor's fixed Kuwait's sovereign credit rating at AA with stable economic outlook.

Jan. 21: China's economy posted a growth rate of 6.6 percent, the slowest rate since 1990.


Jan. 21: The Directorate-General of the European Commission, Eurostat, said the EU 28 governments' deficit-to-GDP posted 0.6 percent in 2018.


Jan. 22: France imposed a 50-million-euro fine on Google for violating the protection of data in the European Union.


Feb. 1: Japan's government said its comprehensive deal with the European Union came into effect.


Feb. 4: General Motors cut some 4,000 salaried jobs in North America.


Feb. 5: German airline (Germania) filed for bankruptcy due to financial sanctions.


Feb. 14: Emirates and Airbus signed a contract worth USD 21.4 billion to purchase 70 new planes.


Feb. 14: Airbus declared stopping production of A380 as of 2021.


Feb. 18: The 129th session of the Council of the Union of Arab Chambers was hosted by Muscat.


Feb. 20: Saudi Arabia and India signed five deals to boost bilateral cooperation on investment, infrastructure, tourism, radio transmission, housing fields.


Feb. 22: European Union trade ministers concluded their meeting in Bucharest that discussed the development of the World Trade Organization and commercial ties between the EU and the US.


Feb. 22: China and Saudi Arabia inked deals on promoting bilateral cooperation in different fields including politics, finance, energy and shipping.


Feb. 23: Central Bank of Turkey declared a net profit of USD 10.7 billion in 2018.


March 3: The French automobiles company (Bugatti) revealed the richest car in the world estimated at USD 11 million.


March 13: Boeing halted delivering 737 Max planes to customer in wake of preventing this kind from hovering in some countries including the US.


March 26: Uber Technologies, Inc., an American multinational transportation network company, bought its counterpart (Kreem) in a deal evaluated at USD 3.1 billion.


April 5: Senior official at the US Treasury and US President Donald Trump's nominee David Malpass was elected as President of the World Bank Group.


April 20: Kuwait's Ministry of Finance signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing the "Belt and Road" initiative forum for taxation cooperation.

The signing was made with the participation of 80 countries during the first forum held in China.


May 31: US President Donald Trump imposed five percent tariff on all Mexican imports in the US.


June 3: The UK's INEOS company announced investing USD two billion in the chemicals' field in Saudi Arabia.


June 8: The US suspends tariff on Mexican imports in the US, after Mexico pledged to cut the number of people migrating to the US.


June 15: Oman started imposing excise tax of 50 to 100 percent on selected items.


June 25: The US' conference on encouraging investments in the West Bank kicked off in Bahrain. The US said the Conference aims to encourage investments in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in what is referred to as the "deal of the century." June 26: Morgan Stanley Capital International for Europe, Australia and Far East markets announced upgrading Boursa Kuwait to the level of "emerging markets" as of May 2020. 

 Oct. 3: The US decided to impose USD 7.5 billion in custom duties on European imports after the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of Boeing against Airbus over illegal subsidies to the European manufacturer.


Oct. 6: The Libyan government allocated 1.5 billion Libyan dinars to the national oil company to maintain production in 2019-20.


Oct. 7: US President Donald Trump signed two trade agreements with Japan, according to which custom tariffs on USD 7.2 billion worth of American agricultural products would be either cancelled or reduced.


Oct. 8: US Trade Department put 28 Chinese government and commercial entities on its black list on alleged violations against the Uyghur Muslim minority.
Oct. 9: Kuwait advanced eight places to rank 46 in the international competition index in terms of economic stability.


Oct. 14: Russian investment fund signed 14 agreements over USD three billion with Saudi Arabia, on sidelines of President Vladimir Putin's visit to the Kingdom.


Oct. 18: European Council appointed former IMF Director General Christine Lagarde as President of European Central Bank for an eight-year term.


Oct. 23: The World Bank said Kuwait advanced from 97 to 83 to be part of the world's 10 best countries in terms of improvement of business environment.
Nov. 1: The US' Alphabet Inc. bought smart watch company (Fitbit) for USD 2.1 billion.


Nov. 3: Saudi's Capital Market Authority approved the request of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) to place two percent of its shares into initial public offering (IPO), considered to be the highest share placing process in the world.


Nov. 6: Turkey announced the arrival of the first cargo train from China's Xi'an city to Ankara, to transfer goods to Europe through Marmara Sea in Istanbul.


Nov. 9: US President Donald Trump opposed fully cancelling tariffs on Chinses exports to America, despite Beijing's announcement on reaching an agreement with the US on gradually removing tariffs.


Nov. 11: Moody's Corporation changed its future view on global government debt for 2020 from stable to negative, due to the international political developments that could lead to global economic shocks.


Nov. 11: Uber American founder Travis Kalanick sold about 20 percent of his shares in the company for USD 547 million.


Nov. 12: China's Alibaba online shopping broke the record of sales operations in the "Singles Day" occurring on 11 November every year, exceeding USD 39 billion.


Nov. 15: Iran announced raising fuel prices by 50 percent, in an attempt to face the impact of the US-imposed sanctions.


Nov. 16: Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC won a deal to store documents of the US Department of Defense for USD 10 billion, leading the company's founder Bill Gates to regain his title as the richest in the world, as his fortune rose to USD 110 billion.


Nov. 17: Saudi's Aramco announced primary placing of its shares for individuals with a cost between SAR 30 to 32 per share (USD 8-8.5), giving the priority to Saudi investors.


Nov. 18: Air Arabia signed an agreement to buy 120 airplanes from Airbus with a cost exceeding USD 14 billion.


Nov. 19: The US' Boeing aerospace company signed an agreement with Air Astana Kazakhstan to buy 30 airplanes (Boeing 737) worth USD 3.6 billion. The company also signed another agreement with Turkey's Sun Express airlines to buy 10 airplanes (Boeing 737 Max 8) worth USD 1.2 billion.


Nov. 26: Fitch Ratings Inc said in a report that Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund is the best among the GCC countries, estimating the fund's assets at over USD 560 billion.


Nov. 27: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US' Boeing company signed an agreement worth USD one billion, to provide NATO with new (AWACS) surveillance planes.


Nov. 29: Samba Financial Group, who runs Aramco's initial public offering (IPO), announced that the number of individual subscribers reached 4.9 million people, worth SAR 47.4 billion (USD 12.64 billion).


Dec. 5: Samba said total Aramco subscription - individuals and companies - amounted to USD 119 billion, the largest in history.


Dec. 5: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced allocation of USD 239 billion to stimulate economy.


Dec. 6: Aramco said it garnered USD 25.6 billion out of its IPO, with the share worth SAR 32.


Dec. 7: US Justice Department said Ericsson agreed to pay USD one billion settlement over a case where the Swedish company accused of paying bribes in Asian and Middle Eastern countries.


Dec. 8: Boubyan Bank announced takeover of Bank of London and Middle East by USD 158 million.


Dec. 9: Chinese customs said trade surplus between China and the US in January-November reached USD 272.5 billion.


Dec. 10: Saudi Arabia announced its 2020 budget with projected spending at SAR 1.020 billion (USD 272 billion).


Dec. 11: Aramco enlisted in Saudi stock market and the share rose 10 percent at beginning of trading, boosting the company's market value to USD 1.88 trillion.


Dec. 13: European Council extended economic sanctions on Russia for six months due to the conflict in Ukraine.


Dec. 14: New Kuwait conference held under "Kuwait towards better future" with participation of around 30 countries, and over 400 local, regional and international companies.


Dec. 15: Kuwait said total appropriations for the 2019-20 development plan were KD 3.3 billion (USD 10.9 billion).


Dec. 18: Saudi Arabia launched "Fund of Funds" company with a capital of SAR four billion (USD 1.7 trillion) to support SMEs.


Dec. 19: Morgan Stanly upgraded Boursa Kuwait to an emerging market as of May 2020.

Dec. 19: Aramco stocks listed in FTSE for emerging markets.


Dec. 23: Boeing announced resignation of CEO Dennis Muilenburg after the company's shares retreated by 22 percent since March due to a deadly incident involving a Boeing 737 crash, which led to the death of 346.

(end) eng