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

Business and Economy Cover Image

Economy & Business

An attendee walks past signage displayed inside the venue for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) in Bangkok on October 14, 2026. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria to rejoin Arab group at IMF, leaving Russian-led constituency

Syria will rejoin the Arab constituency at the International Monetary Fund beginning Nov. 1 and has applied for membership in the EBRD.

Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova returns the ball to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina during their WTA Finals tennis tournament in Riyadh on November 5, 2025. (Photo by Fayez NURELDINE / AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

From Six Kings Slam to FIFAe finals, Saudi Arabia's events derailed by war

Some of Saudi Arabia’s flagship events — across sectors including culture, entertainment and sports — have been canceled or postponed following deadly Houthi attacks over the weekend.

Flames burn at a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of Riyadh

Explainer

Aramco HQ attack exposes Saudi defense gaps, infrastructure vulnerabilities

The Iran-linked Yemeni militants struck at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry this week amid an expanding campaign against key infrastructure.

Abdulrahman Alfozan in an undated photo

Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan, Saudi national charged in bugging OpenAI meetings?

The Saudi national who was arrested for allegedly planting a covert listening device at OpenAI’s offices has extensive experience working at leading technology companies in the US and serves as a venture partner at a Saudi venture capital firm.

Latest News

Explainer

IMF projects Gulf rebound in 2027. Can energy production keep pace?

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on March 14, 2026. Smoke could be seen rising from the direction of a major UAE energy installation on March 14, in what appeared to be the latest strike targeting the Gulf's petroleum facilities hours after the US struck Iran's Kharg Island. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images) /

Jeddah airport flights disrupted as Houthis escalate threats

Men walk at a terminal at Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on December 12, 2019. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How Manchester City fallout tests Gulf’s global investment model

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Manchester City's Emirati owner and UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Explainer

What Houthi airport attacks mean for Saudi Arabia’s aviation ambitions

A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft of Saudi airline Riyadh Air is pictured on the tarmac at King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 7, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

Tunisian cow

Tunisia's cows disappear into Algeria

Tunisia's livestock is being increasingly smuggled to Algeria as a severe shortage of milk is hitting Tunisian markets.

A woman walks out of a currency exchange shop displaying a giant US dollar banknote in the Zamalek district of Egypt's capital Cairo on August 24, 2022. - Depleted foreign currency reserves are casting a shadow on Egyptian streets, with the government moving to dim lights to free up energy for export. More natural gas exports means more hard currency, a dire need as experts say a new loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an adjacent currency liberalisation is inevitable. (Photo by Khaled DESOU

Egypt to stick to flexible foreign exchange rate regime amid economic turmoil

Marc Español

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

IMF tells Turkey to raise interest rates

Inflation is rampant in Turkey, but Turkey's Central Bank stubbornly continues to cut interest rates under pressure from President Erdogan.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Turkish inflation hits 85.5% as doubts linger over official data

Alternative surveys put Turkey’s inflation rate well above the official figure, nourishing suspicions that the statistics agency is tweaking market realities under government pressure.

Delegations attend the 46th ordinary session of the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities Governors, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 18, 2022.

Gulf banks raise interest rates in response to the Fed, Kuwait stays put

Saudi Arabia could be in store for a liquidity crunch, according to a leading credit rating agency. Kuwait has a history of not following the trend on interest rates.

Egypt trade

Egypt reports increased trade with Arab states

Saudi Arabia is Egypt's top trading partner in the region.

Tawazon founder Suna Zaobi from Palestine networks with others attending the 4th edition of the International Conference on Entrepreneurship in Palestine (ICEP), held in Dubai for the first time, on November 1, 2022.

‘Stars aligned’ for Palestinian startups, Gulf investors say

Entrepreneurs from the West Bank and Gaza recently visited Dubai to attend a conference on funding for new businesses.

A woman walks over cracked earth at al-Massira dam in Ouled Essi Masseoud village, some 140 kilometres (85 miles) south from Morocco's economic capital Casablanca, on August 8, 2022 amidst the country's worst drought in at least four decades. - Residents of Morocco's Ouled Essi Masseoud village are suffering from a series of successive droughts, prompting them to rely solely on sporadic supplies in public fountains and from private wells. The situation is critical, given the village's position in the agricu

Water stress to remain major driver of social instability, barrier to economic growth in Maghreb

Francisco Serrano

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

Saudi Miniser of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud addresses delegates during the 2021 climate summit, Glasgow, Ireland, Nov. 10, 2021.

Saudi Arabia offers green bonds in push toward net zero

While the move signals that the kingdom understands the global trends toward "green," its impact on climate action will require further steps.

The Egyptian pound and US dollar banknotes are seen in this photo taken on Aug. 25, 2022.

Can floating Egyptian pound kill foreign currency black market?

Egypt's latest flotation of its currency may rein in its thriving foreign currency black market, but economists cannot see an end to this market in the near future.

Participants attend the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, Emirates, Nov. 11, 2019.

US, UAE sign clean energy partnership

The agreement unlocks $100 billion in financing.

Aramco exhibition section at the Misk Global Forum on innovation and technology held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Nov. 13, 2019.

Saudi Aramco continues to reap big profits

The Saudi oil giant has been investing in futuristic technology as it benefits from high oil prices.