When Covid-19 struck the world more than two years ago, it hit markets with one of the most severe, unexpected economic shocks in modern history. Forecasts estimate as a result of the pandemic global GDP will be 4.5 per cent smaller this year than it would have been without the crisis.
Now, just as things have tentatively started to look up in many parts of the globe, the Ukraine invasion this February has brought severe sanctions, shortages and uncertainty to an already fragile situation. The World Bank projects a 4.1 per cent contraction for Europe and Central Asia's economies, caused by the invasion.
Whether for those managing household finances or those overseeing multi-billion dollar sovereign wealth funds, these two events, along with a series of other background trends, have made current market conditions some of the toughest in decades.
It is, therefore, notable when a financial institution performs well. Earlier this week, it was announced that the income of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company surged by almost 70 per cent in 2021, a record in its 20-year history.
This is good news for the UAE. In remarks to The National, the group's chief executive, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, said: "It's the progress we've made in the last 20 years that makes me enthusiastic for the decades ahead." And it has been quite some progress. The assets under the company's management climbed beyond the trillion dirham mark, reaching Dh1.04tn at the end of 2021.
More widely, it forms part of a sometimes counter-intuitive lesson in how investors should navigate the tough currents of global markets at their worst . While the instinct in adverse times might tend towards caution, it would go against what many of the most skilled investors in history have advised. American entrepreneur Robert Arnott once said, "In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." Mubadala has clearly learnt the value of that approach. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, it invested more than $11 billion, an almost 50 per cent increase from 2019.
John Bogle, another American investor, counselled: "Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!" Lightheartedly, he advocated a trend increasingly prevalent in venture capital today: widely funding new ideas and startups in the hope that while many might fizzle out, one will excel.
In this analogy, Mubadala has bought a big haystack, but this time with many needles. It has invested heavily in the UK and France, with major new partnerships announced last year for both countries respectively. This week, during Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s official state visit to the UAE, it extended its €400 million co-investment partnership with Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, which had been established in 2018.
Closer to home, the firm is focusing on sectors that are both crucial to the economy and future of the region, particularly healthcare and sustainable energy. Because of it, the UAE has new healthcare infrastructure and a future where increasingly clean, cheap and reliable electricity is remarkably close for a country so long built on oil revenues. Even deeper, it has a more sophisticated domestic economy that it hopes will diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons, a key long-term objective of Mubadala and the country's wider government.
In a 2020 profile, the firm's chief executive Khaldoon Al Mubarak spoke to the Wall Street Journal of being on the phone "all the time" in the early months of the year, asking the world's leading investors what they predicted the economic consequences of Covid-19 to be. The surprising consensus was not just that things would recover surprisingly quickly, but that even in the thick of the hardship lay great possibilities. By seizing on that informed hope, Mubadala's resilience can be a lesson for investors in even the most difficult of times.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The%20specs
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Two products to make at home
Toilet cleaner
1 cup baking soda
1 cup castile soap
10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice)
Method:
1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.
2. Add the essential oil to the mix.
Air Freshener
100ml water
5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this)
Method:
1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.
2. Shake well before use.
'Falling%20for%20Christmas'
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'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The five pillars of Islam
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
PLAY-OFF%20DRAW
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
Europe's top EV producers
- Norway (63% of cars registered in 2021)
- Iceland (33%)
- Netherlands (20%)
- Sweden (19%)
- Austria (14%)
- Germany (14%)
- Denmark (13%)
- Switzerland (13%)
- United Kingdom (12%)
- Luxembourg (10%)
Source: VCOe
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre V6
Power: 295hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 355Nm at 5,200rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
Price: Dh179,999-plus
On sale: now
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
