UAE Non-Oil Business Activity Surges to Nine-Month High in December

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 The United Arab Emirates' non-oil private sector recorded its fastest expansion in nine months in December 2024, buoyed by strong domestic demand and increased business activity, according to the latest S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report. PMI Highlights Robust Growth The seasonally adjusted UAE PMI climbed to 55.4 in December from 54.2 in November, signaling robust growth well above the 50.0 threshold that separates expansion from contraction. This marked the third consecutive monthly increase, underscoring sustained recovery in the non-oil sector. Key drivers of growth included a notable rise in new business activity. The new orders subindex rose sharply to 59.3 in December from 58.0 in the previous month, reflecting strong domestic demand. Challenges Amid the Growth While domestic demand flourished, export growth slowed, with the export orders subindex dropping to a seven-month low. Additionally, businesses faced mounting backlogs due to capacity constraints,...

US to withdraw from South Korea 4,000 soldiers if Seoul refusesto pay more

The United States is considering reducing its 28,000th military contingent in the Republic of Korea by 4,000 if Seoul refuses to significantly increase payments for its maintenance.  This was reported on Thursday.

"As far as we know, the Pentagon is preparing to withdraw one brigade from South Korea if the negotiations do not go as President Donald Trump would like," the source quoted the publication as saying.

The Republic of Korea currently has 28,500 US troops.  One team numbers from 3 to 4 thousand people.

Last year, the US side announced the need for a significant increase in South Korea’s spending, as maintaining a 28,000-strong military contingent costs Washington about $ 5 billion a year.  Seoul's spending on maintaining the US contingent in 2019 was increased by 8.2%, to 1.04 trillion won ($ 915 million).

The five-year agreement on financing the stay of 28.5 thousand US troops in the Republic of Korea expired on December 31 of last year.  According to him, the annual expenses of the Seoul administration for these purposes amounted to about 960 billion won ($ 860 million).  The new agreement was concluded for a period of one year.

The head of the parliamentary committee for the unification of the Republic of Korea, Yoon San Hyun, said that Washington had demanded that Seoul increase its share of South Korea’s defense contributions by almost five times to $ 4.7 billion.

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