Economy and trade

Turkey's Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek speaks during a breakout session on Creating Competitive Economies at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on May 15, 2024. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Regional View

Turkey returns $5B deposit to Saudi Arabia amid economic recovery

The Saudi Fund for Development decided to hold the funds in the Turkish Central Bank in March 2023 after ministerial meetings the previous year — the deposit helped Turkey firm up its weakened currency, the lira.

Shoppers walk past a coffee shop at a shopping mall in Ankara, Turkey on April 2, 2024.

Regional View

Turkey sees 157% wealth growth despite economic malaise

Bloated asset prices due to sky-high inflation put Ankara at the top of the survey, despite many Turks struggling to get by in real cash terms.

Quick Take

After 20 years, is Iraq making progress in bid to join WTO?

Iraq first applied to join the WTO in 2004, but it made no considerable progress in the accession until its recent efforts to unify tariff and customs regulations between the federal and Kurdistan Region governments.

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Turkey has lost export competitiveness, won't meet annual goal: Official

Turkish Exporters Assembly Chairman Mustafa Gultepe said that Turkish exports would likely be between $264-267 billion for 2024.

Latest News

Regional View

China's BYD, world's biggest EV maker, invests $1B in Turkish plant

A BYD Ocean-M electric car is displayed at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 25, 2024.

Quick Take

Middle East startups see funding fall by 34% in first half of 2024

Saudi and foreign journalists are pictured at the Future Investment Initiative forum at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Oct. 29, 2019.

United Arab Emirates

Quick Take

Egypt’s remittances reach $2.7 billion in boost to foreign reserves

People walk past a currency exchange shop displaying a giant US dollars banknote in downtown Cairo on November 3, 2016. Egypt floated the country's pound as part of a raft of reforms, after a dollar crunch and exorbitant black market trade threatened to grind some imports to a halt. / AFP / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

What’s behind Saudi Public Investment Fund’s $17.2B profit?

The Public Investment Fund, PIF, presence during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2024, in Indian Wells, California.

Quick Take

Trump Tower deal announced in Jeddah as Saudi business ties grow

Exterior view from Trump Tower in New York City, on May 31, 2024. Donald Trump became the first former US president ever convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty on all charges in his hush money case, months before an election that could see him yet return to the White House. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Dubai beats Singapore, London as top city for 'greenfield' FDI projects

FDI Markets data, compiled by the Financial Times, found the UAE's financial capital ranked top overall in global "greenfield" FDI projects attracted in 2023.

United Arab Emirates

Qatar's Finance Minister Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari (L) listens as his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan speaks during a session at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on May 14, 2024.

Regional View

Saudi Arabia ‘conservative’ on oil revenue as it pares back Vision 2030 plans

Mohammed Al-Jaadan warned that being a resource-rich country was a curse as well as a blessing because being dependent on one commodity such as oil can hold a country "hostage" to the volatility of global demand and prices.

The cargo ship Inter Sydney, flying under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sails through the Shahid Beheshti Port in the southeastern Iranian coastal city of Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman, during an inauguration ceremony of new equipment and infrastructure on Feb. 25, 2019.

Quick Take

How Iran could benefit from Chabahar Port deal with India

India has been reluctant to move ahead with its plans for Chabahar due to US sanctions, despite an exemption.

Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek (L) speak with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) before the press conference following the cabinet meeting held at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on August 21, 2023. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

What does Turkey's three-year austerity plan to curb inflation entail?

The plan is to increase the efficiency of the public sector through cost-cutting measures such as a ban on buying new vehicles for civil servants.

An Emirates Airlines plane lands at Dubai International Airport in Dubai on October 17, 2023. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

Emirates airline reports record $4.7B profit as Gulf competition heats up

The Dubai-based airline has posted strong performance figures in recent months.

United Arab Emirates

People are gathered to protest cooperation between Turkey and Israel.

Quick Take

Turkey, Israel tangle in fresh row over trade ban

The fresh tensions between the two regional powers seem to be stemming from a Turkish directive sent to companies that were doing business with Israel to introduce a three-month adjustment period for implementation of the trade ban.

Elbit Systems

Regional View

Israel's Elbit clinches $53M deal to sell mortar systems to Europe

Between 2019 and 2023, Israeli weapons constituted 2.4% of the global market, massively reshaped by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and increased imports by European countries.

A picture taken on January 23, 2022, shows the skyline of the Emirate of Dubai with Burj Al Arab (C) and Burj Khalifa (background-L). (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

Dubai crowned wealthiest city in Middle East, home to 72,500 millionaires

The number of individuals in Dubai with liquid investment wealth — assets that can be readily converted to cash — of $1 million or more increased by 78% between 2013 and 2023 to 72,500, according to a report.

United Arab Emirates

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah in Ankara on May 7. Photo courtesy: The Turkish Presidency

Quick Take

Turkey and Kuwait sign six deals as Erdogan hosts country's Emir

The Kuwaiti emir traveled to Turkey for his first foreign visit to a non-Arab country since he took the oath of office in December.

Supporters of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), a student wing of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party stage a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant calling for boycott of Israeli products on the outskirts of Islamabad on May 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Farooq NAEEM / AFP) (Photo by FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)

Quick Take

KFC, Pizza Hut profit in Middle East cut by half amid Gaza war boycotts

Americana Restaurants said the decline was due to the “ongoing geopolitical tensions” in the Middle East and the effect of the Ramadan period.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hand with Deputy Prime Minister of Oman Sayyid Asaad ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Regional View

As it seeks to rival China and Pakistan, India sets its sights on Oman trade deal

The agreement could serve as a "strategic lever" for New Delhi to expand its influence in the Middle East.

People salvage belongings after heavy flooding due to record rains in Dubai, April 19, 2024.

UAE’s non-oil revenues hit by April floods, but quick recovery expected

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 55.3 points in April, still indicating growth, but had been at 56.9 the previous month.

By Jack Dutton

In Bristol, reporting on Middle East business, climate change, AI, tech