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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

Turkish exchange

Foreign investors buy $179m in Turkey's stocks amid Erdogan's economic reset

Foreign investors bought $179 million in local equities last week, an eighth straight week of inflows, according to the latest data from the Turkish Central Bank.

Turkey inflation

Turkey’s annual inflation hits nearly 50% in July

The spike marks the end of an eight-month downtrend in annual consumer prices as Turkey grapples with one of its worst cost-of-living crises.

MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images

Eni ends 9-year force majeure status for Libyan gas exploration sites

Eni is Libya’s largest gas producer and domestic market supplier with an 80% share of national production.

A picture taken on Oct. 23, 2018, shows Lubna Olayan, CEO and Deputy Chairperson of Olayan Financing.

Saudi Arabia, UAE lead Forbes’ 2023 Arab family business ranking

Although Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominated the list, with 33 and 29 of the top 100 spots respectively, Egypt’s Mansour Group sat in first place, with the UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group in second and Saudi Arabia’s only female-led company, Olayan Financing Company, at third.

ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images

Gulf investment in UK property expected to reach $3.2 B in 2024

Middle Eastern investors are capitalising on lower property valuations and those investors are likely to refinance when interest rates start falling, the Islamic bank said.

A man counts Saudi riyal banknotes at his jewelry shop in Tiba market in the capital Riyadh on Oct. 3, 2016.

Saudi Arabia borrowing rate hits new high, posing risk to foreign investments

The Saudi Arabian Interbank Offered Rate climbed above an average of 6% in July, which was higher than the rate during the 2008 global financial crisis.

This picture taken on March 28, 2021 shows the Gibraltar-flagged container ship Indian Express (C-front) and the Panama-flagged container ship Elegant (C-behind) near the entrance of the Suez Canal, by Egypt's Red Sea port city of Suez. (Photo by Ahmed HASAN / AFP) (Photo by AHMED HASAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey, Egypt seek to boost mutual trade by 50% in 5 years

In the first visit of its kind in a decade, Egypt's trade and industry minister traveled to Turkey on Tuesday.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli solar firm enters rare venture with Saudi business

Such partnerships are seldom seen, as Israel and Saudi Arabia do not recognise each other formally and the two countries have never established diplomatic relations.

Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Aberdeenshire

Analysis

Expanded UK-Turkey trade deal seen as win-win, could include services

The current deal does not account for services, which form integral parts of the British and Turkish economies.

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

Lebanese anti-government protesters hold a mask of Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh during a protest in front of the central bank headquarters in Beirut to protest against the economic policies of the bank on November 27, 2019. - Since September, debt-saddled Lebanon has had a liquidity crisis, with banks rationing the supply of dollars. As a result, the dollar exchange rate on the parallel market has topped 2,000 Lebanese pounds -- a spike from the pegged rate of 1,507. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / A

Lebanon's scorned central bank chief Riad Salameh steps down

Salameh is under investigation in both Lebanon and Europe for financial crimes as Lebanon’s economic crisis continues.

This aerial photo taken on August 4, 2019 shows tugboats berthing an oil tanker at Qingdao port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province. - China's good shipments abroad beat expectations to rise in July while its purchases continued to shrink, official data showed on August 8. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran's oil shipments to China triple in 3 years despite sanctions

Iran’s strengthening ties to China have prompted some senators to call for more sanctions.

A bag of rice is unloaded from a truck at an Indian grains depot near New Delhi on August 27, 2013, one day after the Indian parliament passed a flagship 18-billion-dollar programme to provide subsidised food to the poor that is intended to "wipe out" endemic hunger and malnutrition in the aspiring superpower. Despite decades of fast economic growth, India still struggles to feed its 1.2-billion population adequately with more than 40 percent of children under five malnourished, according to a major survey

Analysis

UAE rice ban after major exporter India spikes global supply fears

The UAE was the world's 16th-largest importer of rice in 2021 and the majority of it came from India.

By Salim A. Essaid