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Economy & Business

Haitham AL-SHUKAIRI / AFP via Getty Images

Oman enters Gulf AI race with new special economic zone in Muscat

Oman will create an AI-focused special economic zone in Muscat governorate.

A pumpjack stands idle in the Huntington Beach oil field, with port cranes visible in the distance, on April 23, 2026, in Huntington Beach, California.

Oil surges past $120 to war-time high as Trump rejects Iran overture

Benchmark Brent crude surpassed $120 per barrel on Wednesday, reaching the highest levels yet seen during the US-Israel-Iran war.

An Iraqi money dealer counts Iranian rial banknotes bearing a portrait of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at an exchange office in Baghdad on Feb. 3, 2012.

Iranian rial hits new record low as blockade, war take toll: What to know

The rial had another collapse in late 2025, triggering massive protests and riots in the country that were ended by a forceful government crackdown.

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

UAE’s OPEC exit rattles cartel as Gulf alliances shift

OPEC's fourth-largest producer will leave the cartel on May 1, marking the most significant departure in the group’s history as the war changes Abu Dhabi's relationship priorities.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Why UAE's decision to leave OPEC is major shift for cartel

MUMEN KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

United Arab Emirates

First LNG tanker transits Strait of Hormuz since Iran war began

Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE’s cash request tests US ties as Iran war strains Gulf financial muscle

A view of Dubai Marina in Dubai on March 3, 2026.

United Arab Emirates

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

Abraj Energy Services.

Oman's Abraj signs energy deal with Saudi's Chevron, Kuwait's Gulf Oil

Oman’s Abraj Energy Services will also sell a major stake on the Muscat Stock Exchange soon.

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attend the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) of the UNFCCC COP27 climate conference on November 07, 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain sign 12 industrial agreements worth $2 billion

The third Higher Committee Meeting of the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development wrapped up in Amman with 12 new agreements on industrial projects.

This photograph taken on February 9, 2023 shows the nuclear power plant of Golfech in the southwestern of France. (Photo by MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia moves forward with bids for nuclear plant

The kingdom has received bids to build its first nuclear power plant and South Korea is reportedly expressing interest.

New banknotes of Israel background.

Analysis

Israel raises interest rates in eighth consecutive hike in 10 months

Fighting rising inflation, Bank of Israel Gov. Amir Yaron took the unpopular decision of increasing the interest rates to 4.25%.

Danny Zaken

In Ma'ale HaHamisha, reporting on Israel

LEBANON-VOTE A Lebanese army soldier mans the turret of a humvee (HMMWV) while on patrol in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, on May 15, 2022 during the national parliamentary elections. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon’s army suffers with currency collapse as desertions mount

The drastic devaluation of wages threatens soldiers’ performance in the tumultuous period Lebanon is going through.

TOPSHOT - A picture shows a view of the Dubai skyline, including Burj Khalifa the worlds tallest building, in the United Arab Emirates, on June 20, 2022. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Emerging Gulf tax order to challenge family businesses

Increasing taxation across the GCC will be felt most acutely by family-owned businesses that have turned non-universal taxation to their benefit for decades.

Sebastian Castelier

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

The Dubai metro track is seen along Dubai's Shiekh Zayed road on September 09, 2009, as the UAE opens its new metro network in a bid to cut dependency on cars and ease congestion. Dubai is the first city in the oil-rich Gulf to introduce rail as a commuting option. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

New rail network on track to bring billions into UAE economy

The railway will serve the UAE’s sustainability goals by reducing carbon emissions in the road transportation sector.

Russia's Rosoboronexport displayed more than 200 combat-tested weapons at an isolated pavilion.

UAE's IDEX weapons fair brings in Russia, China, and billion-dollar deals

The United Arab Emirates’ defense expenditure amounted to $22.5 billion last year and is expected to reach $28.6 billion by 2027.

People walk past a pedlar selling tangerines along a street in the Azhar district of Egypt's capital Cairo on January 16, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt’s inflation to remain above central bank target in 2023

Inflation in Egypt will most likely continue to rise in the coming months to peak above 30% by mid-year, well above the government’s target.

Marc Español

Men look at currency exchange rates at an exchange shop in Tehran on Feb. 21, 2023. Iran's currency plunged to new lows on Jan. 20 amid fresh European Union sanctions, crossing the psychologically important rate of 500,000 rials to a dollar in foreign exchange markets.

Iran's currency dips to all-time low, basic prices skyrocket

Recently launched government plans to restore stability to the troubled foreign exchange market proved no remedy, as ordinary Iranians continue to see their pockets shrink.

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

In shift away from US dollar, Iraq to allow trade with China in yuan

Some countries in the region are increasingly looking away from the dollar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen set at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine Russian troops occupy - Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in central Moscow on September 30, 2022. (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Al-Monitor/Premise poll: Russia's role seen as negative in Turkey, Yemen, Iraq

The Russian invasion of Ukraine hurt the region economically, as supply chain disruptions and food shortages topped respondents concerns in Turkey, Egypt, Yemen and Iraq