Aramex on the green offensive

Logistics provider Aramex says it is to buy 10 hybrid electric cars by 2009 and will earn two per cent of its revenue from 'green services'. Critics will point out, with 33,000 vehicles in its fleet, such investment is small fry – and can someone please define ‘green services’.

The critics should lay off. As a stock market listed company Aramex is courting danger if it commits to too many strident new targets. Granted, 10 hybrid electric cars seems not much more than a gesture, but real cars are lot more tangible than promises to cut fuel consumption by 20 per cent, carbon dioxide emissions by 50 per cent, and leaded gas consumption by 100 per cent. All of which Aramex says it will commit to. It aims to be the world’s first carbon neutral global logistics operator.

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Poor public spending is a worse crime than direct taxation

Drip by drip the subject of direct taxation on income is being raised by Gulf states. Kuwait is the latest to crack. Its ruler used a local Arabic newspaper last week to point out the high cost of public services will eventually be met by a tax on personal income. Bahrain started a 1 per cent levy in June, the funds going directly to tackle unemployment.

Income tax, said Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah, was not a new concept concept and that it was the state’s right in return for services “but is also a contribution from the citizen to state development”. Oil is running out, the welfare burden is too great and diversifying the economy costs money. Direct taxation is a must, say economists.

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King Canute and the Saudi weekend

Don’t expect a Saturday afternoon spent watching the football in Riyadh any time soon. As Kuwait becomes the latest Gulf state to switch to a more business-friendly Friday/Saturday weekend, Saudi officials again dismiss the idea of a change. As the rest of the world relaxes, Saudis will continue to take Saturday as a work day.

“The proposal for changing the weekend is unacceptable in a country that is ruled by the Qur’an and Sunnah and takes them as its constitution.” So says Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council deputy chairman Mahmoud Taiba. He also says the economic arguments for switching to a Fri/Sat weekend were baseless.

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