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- Qatar Open to 1,800 Afghans; UAE+Sudan=Modern Banking; AED 185 Million for Dubai's Lamcy Plaza
Qatar Open to 1,800 Afghans; UAE+Sudan=Modern Banking; AED 185 Million for Dubai's Lamcy Plaza
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Sunday, August 17, 2025
Happy Sunday everyone!
The Gulf region is seeing major developments in jobs, finance, and real estate. Qatar has expanded its work program, drawing 8,000 Afghans competing for just 1,800 positions aimed at those recently returning from Iran and Pakistan. In finance, the UAE and South Sudan signed an MoU to modernize South Sudan’s banking sector, including secure banknote printing and a two-phase national payment card system, alongside technical training for staff. In Dubai, the once-popular Lamcy Plaza mall is back on the auction block with a reduced base price of AED 185 million, marking another chapter in the city’s legacy property sales.
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Qatar Expands Work Scheme As 8,000 Afghans Rush To Apply For 1,800 Openings
🔹 What Is It About
Around 8,000 recently returned Afghans have applied for just 1,800 jobs in Qatar, Afghanistan’s labour ministry said, following an expansion of a bilateral employment deal. The roles — from management and engineering to hospitality and mechanics — are reserved for those forced to leave Iran or Pakistan in the past two years. Registration is open in four major provinces and costs 100 Afghanis ($1.45).
🔹 Why It Matters
More than four million Afghans have been deported or pressured to leave neighbouring countries since September 2023, according to the UN. Many return to high unemployment, with the World Bank estimating over 13% joblessness and nearly one in four young people out of work. The new jobs in Qatar offer rare opportunities to earn and send money home.
🔹 What’s Next
The expanded agreement builds on a July deal for 3,100 Qatari jobs that drew over 15,500 Afghan applicants. UN agencies warn that the surge in returns — up to 2.1 million this year — will deepen poverty in a country already facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises after decades of conflict.
Learn from this investor’s $100m mistake
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Markets
EGX 30 | 35,576.42 | Closed |
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UAE To Support South Sudan In Building Secure Banknote Printing And Card Payments
🔹 What Is It About
South Sudan is modernizing its financial sector with help from the UAE, after the two nations’ central banks signed an MoU covering secure banknote printing through the UAE’s Oumolat and the rollout of a two-phase national payment card system via Al Etihad Payments. The agreement also includes knowledge exchange, technical assistance, and training for South Sudanese banking staff.
🔹 Why It Matters
The partnership aims to strengthen South Sudan’s financial infrastructure, improve payment security, and align the country’s banking systems with global standards. By leveraging the UAE’s expertise in fintech, banking supervision, and monetary operations, South Sudan can accelerate digital transformation and foster economic growth.
🔹 What’s Next
Phase one will establish secure switching and processing for card transactions within South Sudan, while phase two will build local infrastructure to process them domestically. Technical training programs delivered through the Emirates Institute of Finance will help Bank of South Sudan staff implement and maintain these systems, supporting long-term modernization of the country’s financial services.
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Dubai’s Lamcy Plaza Back On Auction Block With Price Cut To AED 185 Million
🔹 What Is It About
Lamcy Plaza, once one of Dubai’s busiest community malls before a 2017 fire forced its closure, is up for auction again with a reduced base price of AED 185 million. The deadline for bids is August 20. The property was last offered in April 2024 at AED 210 million but attracted no bidders.
🔹 Why It Matters
Lamcy Plaza was a retail landmark, known for its high weekend traffic and a pioneering mid-budget food court model. Its sale would mark one of Dubai’s high-profile legacy asset disposals, following similar auctions for the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel and the unfinished Pentominium Tower. However, repeated failures to find a buyer highlight challenges in monetizing such properties.
🔹 What’s Next
If no bids are received by the deadline, the mall may face further price cuts or alternative sale structures. Industry watchers say the surrounding location remains in high demand for residential, office, and F&B spaces, raising the possibility of redevelopment by any future buyer.
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Dubai-based CEO Alex Bendiouis has reimagined one of the city’s most iconic archival images into an AI video.
🔍In other news…
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UAE ranked second most preferred destination for FDI globally
Aramco signs $11bn gas deal with BlackRock-led group
Saudi Arabia to resume poultry imports from Brazil, memo says
Abu Dhabi seeks proposals for carbon-capture power project
How Syrian Immigrants Are Boosting Germany’s Economy: Bloomberg
AGBI Opinion: Wizz Air’s Gulf gamble ends – is Saudi next?
🏦 Crypto Corner
Michael Saylor — Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy and one of Bitcoin’s most vocal corporate advocates — will make his first-ever appearance in the UAE at Bitcoin MENA in Abu Dhabi.
Hut 8, part of a American BTC which is partially owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, Gets Approval to Operate in Dubai Financial Hub.
Abu Dhabi Judicial Department now accept AE Coin.
We are launching a Smashi Crypto newsletter in September 2025! Subscribe to it here to get the weekly updates from the world of digital assets.
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