Economy & Business - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Economy & Business

Kaja Kallas

EU restores economic pact to pursue fuller trade ties with Syria

The move marks a major economic step for Syria's recovery after its 13-year civil war and the fall of the Assad regime.

CN-STR / AFP via Getty Images

China’s overland trade routes offer Iran wartime economic lifeline: What to know

Cargo rail traffic between China and Iran has reportedly surged since the US blockade began in April as Tehran seeks overland trade alternatives to help buy time.

In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on May 4, 2026, the Iran-flagged tugboat Basim sails near a ship anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

What to know about Iran's 'Persian Gulf Strait Authority' to control Hormuz traffic

The establishment of an entity seeking to control maritime transportation in the Strait of Hormuz is the latest sign that Iran wants to formalize authority in the strategic waterway.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly speaks in Beirut on Dec. 19, 2025.

Egypt ramps up energy investments amid war-driven price pressures

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Wednesday that Egypt has secured commitments exceeding $19 billion from international oil companies over the next three years.

Latest News

Few ships pass Hormuz despite US efforts to break Iran's hold

Tankers are seen at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal in the Sharjah Emirate, along the Strait of Hormuz on June 23, 2025. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran strikes UAE’s Fujairah oil hub as US pushes Hormuz reopening

Meysam MIRZADEH / TASNIM NEWS / AFP via Getty Images

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

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

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

Visitors and Aramco staff climb a dune at Shaybah, the base for Saudi Aramco's Natural Gas Liquids plant and oil production in the surrounding Shaybah field in Saudi Arabia's remote Empty quarter desert close to the United Arab Emirates, on May 10, 2016. Despite collapsed global oil prices, production is expanding at Shaybah, as it is in other units of the company at the centre of the kingdom's Vision 2030 drive for diversification away from oil. The Saudi government plans to sell less than five percent of

Saudi Arabia projects $21 billion deficit as economy diversifies from oil

The kingdom was among the world’s fastest-growing economies last year with almost 9% GDP growth after a petrodollar boom amid a global rise in energy prices due to inflation and the Ukraine war.

Saudi fighter Abdullah al-Qahtani (R) and US fighter David Zelner (L) compete during the Professional Fighters League 2023 playoffs featherweight fight at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Aug. 23, 2023.

Saudi sovereign fund takes on fighting world with investment in MMA

The Professional Fighter League's founder and chairman, Donn Davis, told Al-Monitor that the Middle East offers an opportunity to grow mixed martial arts.

People walk past a currency exchange shop on June 23, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Turkish Lira weakened to a record low of 25.74 against the dollar, a day after the central bank hiked interest rates from 8.5 percent to 15 percent in the first rate decision since the appointment of new central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan and the re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Turkey's lira makes a comeback amid economic U-turn: Goldman Sachs

Foreign investors are beginning to return to the Turkish economy after Erdogan's new government reversed the previous unorthodox policies in June.

Kuwaiti traders follow the market's movement at the Stock Exchange, Kuwait City, March 8, 2018.

Analysis

China's venture capital firms making inroads in Saudi Arabia, UAE

Chinese venture capital investors have been pricing deals at more competitive rates and taking advantage of a widening vacuum left by Western rivals in the region.

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

A visitor views a Hunter 2-S unmanned aerial systems "swarming drone" by EDGE, an advanced technology company for defense, at the UMEX Exhibition, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, February 22, 2022.

UAE-Brazil ties strengthen with EDGE's acquisition of Brazilian weapons firm

Relations between the UAE and Brazil are improving militarily and economically following the UAE being offered membership in BRICS.

Muslim devotees take part in a rally to celebrate Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, which marks the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad, in Karachi on September 29, 2023. (Photo by Asif HASSAN / AFP) (Photo by ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Pakistan, Gulf Cooperation Council sign 'preliminary' free trade agreement

When the final trade deal comes into effect, it will likely be the GCC's first since 2009.

Visitors stop by the Aramco exhibition at the Misk Global Forum on innovation and technology, Riyadh, November 13, 2019.

Saudi Aramco makes first global LNG investment with US MidOcean stake

MidOcean Energy is in the midst of buying interests in four LNG projects in Australia as part of its growth strategy.

This photograph taken on Sept. 21, 2023, shows a view of a hybrid solar power plant, with solar panels on ground and floating, in southwestern France.

UAE’s Masdar to triple Southeast Asia’s largest floating solar plant

The new agreement between Masdar and Indonesian power utility PLN Nusantara Power will launch Phase II of the Cirata floating solar plant in the Indonesian province of West Java.

United Arab Emirates

Man Utd 1

Jim Ratcliffe revises Manchester United bid as Qatar's offer is considered

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, a Qatari banker and the son of a former Qatari prime minister, is the only other party to have publicly stated that they are trying to buy the British soccer club.

AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images

QatarEnergy, BP, others snap up Egyptian oil and gas concessions

Four blocks have been awarded one day into international bidding for the exploration of Egypt's 23 open oil and gas blocks.

Saudi women stand next to the Saudi pavilion (vision 2030) at the Gitex 2018 exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Center in Dubai on October 16, 2018. - Gitex ("Gulf Information Technology Exhibition") is a consumer computer and electronics trade show. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi domestic capital to shoulder lion’s share of funding for Vision 2030

Halfway through Vision 2030, the kingdom has started to tap into domestic capital and debt financing to get some of its most futuristic projects off the ground.

Sebastian Castelier

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Sultanate of Oman, Muscat, Qurum: the Oil and Gas Exhibition Center.

Oman's oil and gas sector drives 30% GDP growth in 2022

Oman’s hydrocarbon sector growth rate was 61.6% from 2021 to 2022, compared to non-hydrocarbon sector growth at 16.9% during the same period, according to the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) 2022 Annual Report.