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Economy & Business

Beijing

Quick Take

China’s Baosteel ups investment in Saudi steel plate venture to $1B

A subsidiary of the world’s largest steelmaker, China Baeowu Steel Group, will have a 50% stake in a major new Saudi-based venture.

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.

Foreign exchange rates are displayed against the Turkish lira on Istiklal Avenue, Istanbul, Turkey, March 21, 2024.

Quick Take

Turkey’s Central Bank keeps interest rates at 50% as inflation cools

The decision, part of a pause in monetary tightening since April, comes as the country’s annual inflation slowed down in June for the first time in eight months, but still remains above 70%.

A flydubai Boeing 737 Max taxis at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, on Nov. 22, 2023.

Quick Take

UAE's Flydubai says Boeing delays hurt airline’s expansion plans

The Virginia-based plane-maker has been beset by plane delivery delays since its best-selling narrow-body aircraft, the 737 MAX, was flagged for safety concerns and experienced technical problems and additional quality control processes.

United Arab Emirates

Latest News

Regional View

Why G7's economic policy toward Russia might alienate Saudi Arabia

ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Trump adds to Gulf portfolio with Dubai tower deal

Trump Tower interior

United Arab Emirates

Quick Take

Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping wipe $2B off Suez Canal annual revenue

A welcoming sign is placed on the shore of the Suez Canal in the northeastern Egyptian city of Ismailiya, May 27, 2021.

Quick Take

Saudia inks deal for electric flying taxis from Germany amid airline order spree

Media image of a Lilium eVTOL jet, download July 18, 2024.

Quick Take

Saudi-China energy cooperation strengthened by Uzbek wind project sale

ACWA Power and China Southern Power Grid representatives.

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

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

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Kate Dourian

In Dubai, reporting on energy

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.

In this picture taken on May 10, 2023, people attend the UAE Climate Tech Forum in Abu Dhabi. Faced with mounting pressure over planet-heating pollution, the Arab Gulf's energy giants are turning to humble tech start-ups as they search for ways to remove emissions while keeping oil flowing. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Tech investment slump reaching critical stage for cash strapped Middle East startups

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Quick Take

Iraq-China ties progress with Nasiriyah airport project

Relations between Iraq and China are strengthening, in part due to Chinese interest in Iraqi oil and infrastructure projects.

Quick Take

Google reportedly offers $23B for Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz

Israel's Wiz is one of the world’s fastest-growing startups, having reached $350 million annual recurring revenue last year, and provides services to more than 40% of Fortune 100 businesses.

Newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a visit to the shrine of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on July 6, 2024, in Tehran, Iran.

Analysis

Will Iran join global financial watchdog FATF under Pezeshkian?

Pezeshkian has promised better days for Iran, but will he revive the once-thwarted negotiations required to make change happen?

Ali Dadpay

By Ali Dadpay

TOPSHOT - A deliveryman balances a tray of freshly baked bread while riding his bicycle along the al-Darb al-Ahmar district in the old quarters of Cairo on March 6, 2024. (Photo by Amir MAKAR / AFP) (Photo by AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Can Egypt's new cabinet overcome public skepticism, economic discontent?

The new cabinet in Egypt is expected to address the country’s economic woes, although some analysts doubt its ability to do so.

Shahira Amin

By Shahira Amin

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.

An Airbus A330 of Saudi airline company, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, lands in Toulouse, on July 22, 2017.

Quick Take

As Boeing struggles, Airbus inks 4-aircraft deal with Saudi Arabia

The kingdom ordered four more of Airbus’ A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force as Boeing's challenges mount in Gulf over safety issues.

Women queue to fill containers with water from a private irrigation well provided by a farmer in Sbikha town, which has been having drinking water problems for years, near Tunisia's central city of Kairouan on June 25, 2024. Like its neighbour Algeria and large areas of the Mediterranean region, Tunisia suffers from "alert drought conditions", according to the European Drought Observatory. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP) (Photo by FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Algeria’s desalination ambitions to come with heavy financial burden

Francisco Serrano

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

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

Regional View

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

In a post on the social media platform X on Monday, Turkey’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz confirmed that BYD is expected to begin production of vehicles in the new factory at the end of 2026 and that the facility will provide around 5,000 direct jobs.

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.

Quick Take

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

Although startup funding levels have plateaued globally, MENA reported an increase in early-stage rounds and investor participation.

United Arab Emirates