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Economy & Business

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's influential sovereign wealth fund, addresses the opening ceremony of the Future Investment Initiative, in Riyadh, on Oct. 28, 2025.

Gulf accounted for 43% of global sovereign wealth fund investment in 2025

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was the world's highest spending sovereign wealth fund in 2025, investing some $36.2 billion.

A picture taken at the port of Dilovasi, outside Istanbul, on June 20, 2019, shows the drilling ship Yavuz scheduled to search for oil and gas off Cyprus.

Turkey eyes offshore energy pact with Syria in 2026 amid East Med isolation

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has offered up details on a deal with Syria that could unsettle regional rivals in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Australian LNG deal marks latest step in Turkey's energy diversification push

Although Turkey does not have abundant oil and gas resources, Ankara wants to position itself as a regional gas hub linking Europe and Asia.

A picture taken from a station of Dubai's Palm Monorail shows traffic on a road in Palm Jumeirah on Aug. 28, 2025.

Feature

Cheap oil, tighter finances, wars constrained Mid East economies in 2025

Low oil prices, tighter financial conditions and elevated geopolitical risk hampered growth across much of the Middle East and North Africa this year.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Latest News

Analysis

Egypt’s $35B Israel gas deal buys time, tests fragile energy partnership

View of Damietta Segas LNG Terminal, in Damietta, Egypt, which is an export terminal belong to Spanish Egyptian Gas Company.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Turkey hits renewable milestone as solar surpasses gas in power capacity

Employees install new solar panels at the Kalyon Energy's Karapinar Solar Power Plant on December 02, 2021 in Karapinar, Turkey.

Analysis

Gulf finance hubs race to expand as hedge funds flock to Dubai, Abu Dhabi

Traffic moves on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai on March 24, 2025.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

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

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

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

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Jennifer Gnana

Gulf Correspondent

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Intel HQ

Intel acquires Israeli tech firm

The Silicon Valley tech giant has a large presence in Israel, and has acquired several Israeli companies in recent years.

Al-Monitor Staff

By Al-Monitor Staff

A man counts Egyptian pounds at a currency exchange shop, Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 3, 2016.

Standard Chartered eyes churning out profits from Egypt

Egyptian authorities are betting on Standard Charter's expertise to boost online banking and stoke competitiveness.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

How diamonds became Syrians' best friends

Syrians have been buying diamonds instead as the global prices of gold continue to increase.

Air Arabia airlplane.

Emirati budget airline Air Arabia reports record profits after loss in 2020

The Sharjah-based carrier said profits went up due to relaxed coronavirus-related restrictions.

Al-Monitor Staff

By Al-Monitor Staff

A picture taken on Sept. 3, 2019, shows freshly painted blue roads in Doha, an experiment to cool the tarmac surface and reduce the temperature of surrounding areas.

Qatar National Bank launches environmentally friendly finance project

The Doha-based bank will loan cash to the British bank HSBC to be used for green transportation investments.

Al-Monitor Staff

By Al-Monitor Staff

People queue outside Megasis, the first Iranian supermarket in Venezuela, in Caracas on July 31, 2020.

Direct Iran-Venezuela flights to begin next month

A Venezuelan official said the South American country wants to attract Iranian tourists.

Al-Monitor Staff

By Al-Monitor Staff

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women work on computers in the central city of Holon on April 17, 2016.

Record number of ultra-Orthodox women join Israeli workforce

More and more Israeli ultra-Orthodox women turn to computer programming, accounting, entrepreneurship and other jobs instead of traditional positions in the education system.

Leviathan gas field

Negotiations likely to start over in Israel-Cyprus gas field dispute

Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharar is reexamining the Israel-Cyprus dispute over the gas field on their maritime border.

An Egyptian woman casts her vote at a polling station, Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 9, 2005.

Egypt empowers disabled with entrepreneurship incubator

Egypt will establish a new incubator to help entrepreneurs with disabilities turn their projects into viable businesses, as the Arab country aspires to turn this segment of society into a driving force of economic growth.

Bitcoin

Jordanians turn to cryptocurrency despite ban

Despite the risk in the cryptocurrency trading market, it remains largely unregulated in Jordan, where thousands have invested amid lack of job opportunities.

Yemen currency

Divergent currency values make life even harder in Yemen

Yemenis continue to bear the brunt of the war, including a devastated economy and banknotes that may have no value depending on which part of the country they visit.

A general view taken on Dec. 20, 2019 shows the skyline of the Qatari capital Doha.

Doha Bank releases 2021 profits

The Qatari bank reported a slight increase in profits compared to 2020, though it experienced a loss in its amount of total assets.

Al-Monitor Staff

By Al-Monitor Staff