Saudi Arabia unveiled plans to free the kingdom from its dependence on oil revenues, in part by selling a stake in its state-owned oil company and creating the world’s largest sovereign-wealth fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move represents an ambitious attempt to lay out a new economic trajectory for the country in an era of cheap oil. It is the brainchild of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 30-year-old son of King Salman, who was entrusted by his father to oversee what are likely to be jarring changes in the kingdom.

Dubai-based property developer Limitless is set to complete a drawn-out debt restructuring after the final dissenting creditor sold its share of the company's 4.45 billion dirhams ($1.2 billion) debt, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. New York-based Stonehill Capital Management sold its debt in the state-controlled company, worth around $15 million at face value, to Dubai Islamic Bank, an existing creditor and one of the members of the creditor committee, the sources said.

Saudi Arabia is raising $10bn from a consortium of global banks as the kingdom embarks on its first international debt issuance in 25 years to counter dwindling oil revenues and reserves, CNBC reported on a Financial Times story. The landmark five-year loan, a signal of Riyadh's newfound dependence on foreign capital, opens the way for Saudi to launch its first international bond issue. It comes as the sustained slump in crude encourages other Gulf governments, such as Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Oman, to tap international bond markets.

The International Monetary Fund has successfully concluded negotiations for a $2.8bn bailout for Tunisia, the latest in a series of loans to countries in north Africa and the Middle East to help them cope with the stresses posed by a growing influx of refugees and a collapse in oil prices. Tunisia, which was home to the uprising that set off the 2011 Arab Spring, has been struggling to cope with the political and economic transition since the overthrow of Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali, the country’s former dictator.

An Abu Dhabi state fund said publicly for the first time on Monday that it hadn’t received billions of dollars in payments that a controversial Malaysian fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak claims it sent, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Al Jaber Group missed a March repayment on its $4.5 billion restructuring, three sources aware of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, adding pressure on the Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate to quickly secure a new debt deal to save it from collapse. The family-owned group, best known as a contractor but with interests in a host of other sectors, has struggled after borrowing extensively at the end of the last decade to expand only to be caught out by a local economic slowdown.

A top Saudi prince has announced new elements of a plan to reduce the kingdom’s heavy dependence on oil, amid a drop in world prices that has sent shock waves through the Saudi economy. The plans include publicly selling shares of the state oil giant, Saudi Aramco, and routing much of its worth into a public investment fund, said the prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in an interview with Bloomberg published Friday, the International New York Times reported. The fund could become the world’s largest, he said, with more than $2 trillion in assets.

Israeli container shipping line Zim last week delivered some of the best results in liner industry, reporting a net profit of $7m for 2015, recovering from a $198m net loss in 2014, The Loadstar reported. The overall improved profitability was almost entirely the result of reduced costs, following its debt restructuring in 2014, which saw lenders and charterers given equity in return for renegotiated terms, and is similar to Hyundai’s current proposals.

Banks in the United Arab Emirates will suspend legal action against small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling to repay debt for up to three months to prevent a surge in defaults that may jeopardise the economy, Reuters reported. The initiative, which involves businesses working with lenders to restructure their loans, is intended to give breathing space to SMEs, which contribute around 60 percent of UAE's gross domestic product.

Oil-rich Gulf governments will be forced to rely on debt markets as their fiscal deficits rise to $270bn amid an extended period of low oil prices over the next two years, Moody’s has said, the Financial Times reported. The ratings agency, which has already downgraded Bahrain and Oman, will decide at the end of May whether to adjust down the high ratings of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, which are on a par with countries such as France and South Korea.