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

Business and Economy Cover Image

Economy & Business

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is moored at a LNG berth in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, prefecture April 8, 2026.

IEA delivers grim gas supply forecast as oil notches 15% weekly rise

A wave of new LNG supplies will be delayed for at least two years due to war-related damage to Qatari energy infrastructure, according the International Energy Agency's latest market update.

A person walks past the closed Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on Jan. 7, 2021, in New York City.

Why did the Met Opera lose its Saudi funding deal?

The deal, announced as a nonbinding memorandum of understanding last September, would have seen the PIF inject up to $200 million into the opera institution over the next eight years.

Refueling trucks are seen at Southend Airport on April 17, 2026, in Southend, England.

Which airlines are cutting flights amid Hormuz fuel disruption?

European and Asian airlines have been most impacted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is throttling jet fuel supplies.

BAY ISMOYO / AFP via Getty Images

How are Iran-linked tankers still moving through Hormuz blockade?

At least 19 Iran-linked tankers have passed through the US blockade on the strait to exit the Gulf while at least 15 have entered, according to the cargo-tracking group Vortexa.

Latest News

Analysis

Gulf energy deals face Iran war stress test as global expansion meets oil shock

A picture shows the Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar's principal site for production of liquefied natural gas and gas-to-liquid, administrated by Qatar Petroleum, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital Doha, on Feb. 6, 2017.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Could UAE tap US currency swap line as Iran war strains Gulf economies?

Haruna Furuhashi /Getty Images

United Arab Emirates

EU to restore Syria cooperation pact ahead of May talks: What to know

Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images

Oil rises, Gulf stocks slide after Iran ship seizure throws truce into doubt

A man walks past a screen displaying stock indices at the Dubai Financial Market stock exchange in Dubai, March 4, 2026.

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

TOPSHOT - A deliveryman balances a tray of freshly baked bread while riding his bicycle along the al-Darb al-Ahmar district in the old quarters of Cairo on March 6, 2024. (Photo by Amir MAKAR / AFP) (Photo by AMIR MAKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Can Egypt's new cabinet overcome public skepticism, economic discontent?

The new cabinet in Egypt is expected to address the country’s economic woes, although some analysts doubt its ability to do so.

YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey has lost export competitiveness, won't meet annual goal: Official

Turkish Exporters Assembly Chairman Mustafa Gultepe said that Turkish exports would likely be between $264-267 billion for 2024.

An Airbus A330 of Saudi airline company, also known as Saudi Arabian Airlines, lands in Toulouse, on July 22, 2017.

As Boeing struggles, Airbus inks 4-aircraft deal with Saudi Arabia

The kingdom ordered four more of Airbus’ A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force as Boeing's challenges mount in Gulf over safety issues.

Women queue to fill containers with water from a private irrigation well provided by a farmer in Sbikha town, which has been having drinking water problems for years, near Tunisia's central city of Kairouan on June 25, 2024. Like its neighbour Algeria and large areas of the Mediterranean region, Tunisia suffers from "alert drought conditions", according to the European Drought Observatory. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP) (Photo by FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Algeria’s desalination ambitions to come with heavy financial burden

Francisco Serrano

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

A BYD Ocean-M electric car is displayed at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 25, 2024.

China's BYD, world's biggest EV maker, invests $1B in Turkish plant

In a post on the social media platform X on Monday, Turkey’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz confirmed that BYD is expected to begin production of vehicles in the new factory at the end of 2026 and that the facility will provide around 5,000 direct jobs.

Saudi and foreign journalists are pictured at the Future Investment Initiative forum at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Oct. 29, 2019.

Middle East startups see funding fall by 34% in first half of 2024

Although startup funding levels have plateaued globally, MENA reported an increase in early-stage rounds and investor participation.

United Arab Emirates

People walk past a currency exchange shop displaying a giant US dollars banknote in downtown Cairo on November 3, 2016. Egypt floated the country's pound as part of a raft of reforms, after a dollar crunch and exorbitant black market trade threatened to grind some imports to a halt. / AFP / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt’s remittances reach $2.7 billion in boost to foreign reserves

Egypt’s liquidity crisis has been alleviated by recent investment from the United Arab Emirates and help from the International Monetary Fund, though inflation and debt remain issues.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Astana for the 24th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, meets with President Xi Jinping of China, on July 4, 2024.

Erdogan meets Xi, praises Turkey’s ties with China-led SCO bloc

The Turkish president reaffirmed his country’s commitment to deepening cooperation with the China-led bloc.

ALTAN GOCHER/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s inflation slows for first time in eight months, down to 71%

The country’s year-on-year inflation cooled faster than expected in June, official data showed.

The Public Investment Fund, PIF, presence during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2024, in Indian Wells, California.

What’s behind Saudi Public Investment Fund’s $17.2B profit?

The sovereign wealth fund’s turnaround following the loss in 2022 is due in large part to the stock market rebounding.

This picture taken December 12, 2019 shows a man monitoring the board at the Stock Exchange Market (Tadawul) bourse in Riyadh. - Energy giant Saudi Aramco's market value soared above $2 trillion as its share price surged again on its second day of trading. The valuation milestone was sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he first floated the idea of selling up to five percent of Aramco, the world's largest oil firm, about four years ago. Aramco shares jumped another 9.7 percent to 38.60 riya

Is Saudi Arabia’s $100B foreign investment drive starting to yield results?

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Reporters gather near a Qatar Airways cargo airplane on the tarmac of Hamad International Airport, as the first commercial flight to Saudi Arabia in three and a half years following a Gulf diplomatic thaw prepares for take-off, Doha, Qatar, Jan. 11, 2021.

Qatar Airways sees annual profit climb by 39% to record $1.67B

The Doha-based airline carried more than 40 million passengers over the 2023/2024 financial year, 26% more than over the previous year.