SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017
business
Global carrier sets new standard in business travel
Qatar Airways unveils revolutionary business class experience
BERLIN: Qatar Airways yesterday hosted a
packed press conference to unveil its highly
anticipated and revolutionary new Business
Class experience to the world’s media and
travel trade leaders. Ushering in a neverbefore-seen standard in Business Class travel,
the customisable private suites, named
QSuite, introduce a host of firsts to Premium
Class travel, reshaping expectations for global business travellers.
The new seat design was first unveiled by
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar
Al-Baker, moments before the airline’s annual
press conference at a spectacular reveal ceremony, on the opening day of the ITB Berlin
exhibition, at the Qatar Air ways stand.
Attended by an audience of notable VIPs,
including Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman AlThani, Ambassador of the State of Qatar in
Germany, with the Mayor of Berlin Michael
Muller, as special guest of honour, guests
were captivated as a life-size cross-section of
a Qatar Airways aircraft featuring the new
QSuite was unveiled to rapturous applause.
L a u n c h e d a t I T B B e r l i n , t h e wo r l d ’s
largest travel trade show, the unique and
patented seat has been two years in the
making. Its highly anticipated unveiling
drew media from around the world and up
until the reveal had kept industry experts
guessing as to what features and developments it would include.
QSuite features the industry’s first-ever
double bed available in Business Class, with
privacy panels that stow away, allowing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own
private room. Adjustable panels and movable
TV monitors on the centre four seats allow
colleagues, friends or families travelling
together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and
socialise together. These new features provide
the ultimate customisable travel experience
that enables passengers to create an environment that suits their own unique needs.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive,
Akbar Al-Baker, said: “Today I am proud to
unveil the future of Premium travel with our
new QSuite Business Class. Our unique and
patented design is a world first in many ways
and challenges industry norms by offering
passengers more privacy, more choice and
more personalization. With these innovations, Qatar Airways has revolutionized the
way we serve our Business Class travellers,
enabling our passengers to enjoy a First Class
experience in Business Class. This is truly
Business Class as never seen before and is
entirely in keeping with our Premium product
and service philosophy. On Qatar Airways,
you choose when you dine, and the menu
options are varied, with something for everyone. You choose when you rest, and when
you want enter tainment; we offer more
choices than any other airline. It only makes
sense to give you the choice to make your
own cabin-within-a-cabin, creating double
QSuites or quadrants.”
Kuwait must reform policies on subsidies
AL-SHALL WEEKLY ECONOMIC REPORT
KUWAIT: According to the Undersecretary of the Ministry
of Electricity and Water, annual subsidies cost for electricity
and water is KD 2.250 billion. This is called negative tax
which means selling the service unit at less than its production cost, or supporting the individual income by discount
from the public income. More dangerous still is that local oil
consumption will reach one million barrels per day by 2035
if consumption of electricity and water continues at their
present level. As a result, the oil available for export will be
less than the minimum limit adequate to meet the basic
necessities of people even if we assume that oil will continue to be an important energy component, which is doubtful. What applies to electricity and water services applies
also to the subsidized gasoline. It is part of human nature to
over consume what is cheap. Although rising prices support public revenues, their bigger significance lies in limiting consumption. If continuing the consumption of the
services and commodities at the current price level were
sustainable, then it could be ignored. But continuing it is
impossible; therefore, it is not the senior officials of the state
who will pay for fixing the prices but common people in
their jobs, food and basic services.
We mention this on the occasion of stopping the
increase in the prices of those commodities and services.
We emphasize that all the excuses about government corruption and its waste are correct and that marketing these
policies requires an exemplary government which is currently non-existing. In fact, financial reform begins by
strongly confronting corruption and corruptors, fierce combat of waste in public expenditures, thirdly by positive taxes
in par with the ability of each party’s endurance, and finally
by bridging the gap of negative tax, or, by adopting all the
above simultaneously.
Solution is not by rejecting the reforming of subsidized
services and commodities but by accepting their gradual
and conditioned rise by practical start of other steps within
a specific time. General responsibility is promoted when the
citizen feels his/her contribution to its remedy.
Then he/she can elevate the level of political questioning similar to tax payers’ democracies. We emphasize that
the government, through the control by its fixed members,
will succumb to any pressures, halt decisions of adjusting
prices or make them without any real effect, and some serious ministers may resign, but the core ministers of the gov-
GCC region than from the inside of the GCC region in which
an overtrading of individuals is a dominant factor.
Number of active accounts between the end of December
2016 and the end of February 2017 rose by 18 percent (compared to a decrease by -5.3 percent between the end of
December 2015 and the end of February 2016). Number of
active accounts in the end of February 2017 scored 18,416
accounts, 4.9 percent of total accounts, versus 17,920
accounts in the end of January 2017, 4.8 percent of total
accounts, with a rise by 2.8 percent during February 2017.
ernment will not pay the cost of what would happen to the
citizen and the country in the future. Most of them will live
comfortably anywhere on earth, but the real cost will be
paid by those who are truly believed to defend its interests,
i.e. the majority of the simple public. What we stress is the
necessity for a moment’s of thinking; reform is no longer an
option. Kuwait is at a crossroads and its only option is to
transform all policies to what guarantees sustainability.
Otherwise, the alternative, ie, loss, is increasing the number
of failing states in the geographic neighborhood which will
not save except those states with prudent policies. The
quality and efficiency of reform, is in its good timing, i.e.
adopting this reform at the earliest.
Trading at Boursa Kuwait
Kuwait Clearing Company issued its report titled
“Trading Volume According to Nationality and Category”
from 01/01/2017 to 28/02/2017 published on Boursa
Kuwait official website. The report indicated that individuals are still the largest group, their share started to
increase and they captured 54.2 percent of total value of
purchased shares (42.3 percent in January and February
2016) and 53.3 percent of total value of sold shares (47.1
percent in Januar y and Februar y 2016). Individual
investors purchased shares worth KD 1.117 billion and
sold shares worth KD 1.098 billion with a net trading, more
purchasing, by KD 18.279 million.
The second largest contributor to market liquidity is the
clients’ accounts (portfolios) which captured 22.4 percent
of total value of sold shares (18.5 percent in the same period of 2016) and 21.4 percent of total value of purchased
shares (16.9 percent in the same period of 2016). The sector sold shares worth KD 460.529 million and purchased
shares worth KD 439.741 million, thus making its net trading, wore selling, by KD 20.788 million.
The third sector, is the corporations and companies sector which captured 18.2 percent of total value of purchased shares (34 percent in the same period of 2016) and
17.5 percent of total value of sold shares (24.2 percent in
the same period of 2016). The sector purchased shares
worth KD 375.402 million and sold shares worth KD
360.321 million with a net trading, purchasing, by KD
15.081 million.
The last contributor to liquidity is the investment funds
sector which captured 6.8 percent of total value of sold
shares (10.2 percent in the same period of 2016) and 6.2
percent of total value of purchased shares (6.8 percent in
the same period of 2016). This sector sold shares worth KD
139.564 million and purchased shares worth KD 126.992
million, with a net trading, selling, by KD 12.572 million.
Boursa Kuwait continues to be a domestic Boursa with
the Kuwaiti investors forming the biggest trading group
and sold shares worth KD 1.869 billion capturing 90.8 percent of total value of sold shares (83.3 percent in the same
period of 2016) and purchased shares worth KD 1.836 billion, capturing 89.2 percent of total value of purchased
shares (86.6 percent in the same period of 2016). Thus, their
net trading, the only one selling, scored KD 32.234 million.
Other investors’ share, out of total value of purchased
shares, scored 7.7 percent (9.9 percent in the same period
of 2016), and purchased shares worth KD 159.323 million,
while their value of sold shares worth KD 137.717 million,
6.7 percent of total value of sold shares (12.8 percent in the
same period of 2016). As a result, their net trading, more
purchasing, scored KD 21.606 million.
Share of GCC investors, out of total value of purchased
shares, formed 3.1 percent (3.5 percent in the same period
of 2016), worth KD 63.045 million, while value of sold
shares formed 2.5 percent (3.9 percent in the same period
of 2016), worth KD 52.417 million, their net trading, purchasing, by about KD 10.628 million.
Relative distribution among nationalities changed from
its previous one and became as follows: 90 percent for
Kuwaitis, 7.2 percent for traders from other nationalities,
and 2.8 percent for GCC traders vis-‡-vis 84.9 percent, 11.4
percent and 3.7 percent for Kuwaitis, other nationalities and
GCC traders respectively in the same period of 2016. This
means that Boursa Kuwait remained a local one with the
rise in the share of its investors from local traders. However,
the turnout is still higher from investors mainly outside the
Boursa Kuwait Liquidity
To complete our previous reports on liquidity trends,
Boursa liquidity totaled in 48 working days, since the beginning of the current year and until the end of last week,
scored about KD 2.240 billion, or about 78 percent of total
2016 liquidity. The daily average trading value scored about
KD 46.7 million, less by about 6.7 percent than the daily
average trading value in 41 working days. It dropped by 13.4 percent below the daily average for January 2017 (22
working days) while it rose by about 4 times compared with
the daily trading average value for 2016 and about 2.9
times compared to the daily trading average value for 2015.
But liquidity during the last days was declining significantly.
Liquidity trends since the beginning of the year indicate
that half of listed companies got only 3.3 percent only of
that liquidity, including 50 companies there from which got
about 0.2 percent only of that liquidity and 6 companies
remained without any trading. As for liquid companies, 14
companies of them whose market value is equal to 1.5 percent only of the value of listed companies, got 20.8 percent
of the Boursa liquidity.
The share of the highest market capitalization of the
Boursa that the high liquidity activity still deprives about
half of the listed companies from it. On the contrary, it
strongly goes to valueless companies, which is an
unhealthy condition.
Liquidity of Boursa sectors
There are 5 active sectors in the Boursa that contribute
by 86.9 percent to its value; they obtained 91 percent of liquidity suggesting consistency between liquidity and the
weight of those sectors in the Boursa value. But there was
deviation within those sectors in the direction of liquidity.
The financial services sector obtained 26.8 percent of
Boursa liquidity, equivalent to about 2.7 times its contribution to its value. The real estate sector got 20.8 percent of
Boursa liquidity which equals 2.6 times its contribution to
its value. (The two sectors are speculative ones). The banking sector got 22.4 percent of Boursa liquidity which
accounts for 46.3 percent only of its contribution to its value. This means its share of liquidity is less than half of its
contribution to value. The banking sector is the more disciplined, the more solvent, and the more beneficiary from rising assets prices. The remaining seven sectors, liquid and
illiquid, all acquired liquidity ratios close to their contribution to the Boursa value.
The weekly performance of Boursa Kuwait
The performance of Boursa Kuwait for last week was
mixed compared to the previous one, where the traded volume index and the number of transactions index, showed
an increase, while the traded value index and the general
index showed a decrease, AlShall Index (value weighted)
closed at 405.2 points at the closing of last Thursday, showing a decrease of about 2.5 points or about 0.6 percent compared with its level last week and it increased by 42.2 points
or about 11.6 percent compared with the end of 2016.