The ongoing effort by various factions in Libya to gain control of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) poses a clear and present danger for the entire country, threatening its safety and security as well as its economy.
As the Middle East becomes more autonomous and empowered domestically, the leaders in the region might consider more synergetic relations with each other and prepare national long-term plans that provide a balanced and integrated approach to social, technological, environmental, economic, and political development and progress.
Digital transformation will play a key role in shaping relations between Europe and the MENA region, but despite these high-level announcements, EU strategy and programming on the ground would need to expand to meet the region’s requirements and serve the EU’s strategic interests.
Afghanistan has long been an arena for proxy contestations by regional powers, which have adopted rather divergent Afghan policies over the past several decades of foreign occupation and are doing so again now when the country is in the vicelike grip of a resurgent Taliban.
On July 21, 2024, Iraq inaugurated a new power line connecting Turkey and Iraq to handle Turkish electricity imports. Iraq is operationalizing this new power line with the goal of ensuring a more stable energy future, reshaping its geopolitical relationships, and reducing its reliance on Iran.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), once heralded as a “game-changer,” has almost disappeared from the spotlight in recent years. The project has faced slow implementation, unpaid loans, corruption, and a dire security situation. How is China responding to Pakistan’s poor handling of CPEC, its perpetual financial troubles, and its periodic demands on China to bail it out?
How Economic Fragmentation Has Insulated the Region From the War in Gaza
Although Russia and China are in regular dialogue with the Houthis, the motivations that undergird the engagements of both countries differ markedly. The Houthis regard both Russia and China as partners against American unilateralism but have a warmer relationship with Moscow.
The current situation is not only intolerable – it is unsustainable. It is time to recognize that the Houthis, with strong and persistent support from Iran, are in a position to hold not only the US but virtually the entire global system hostage.
For Egyptian officials, June should have been a month to celebrate. And yet none of the seeming macroeconomic successes that the government recorded brought much reassurance to the average Egyptian, who has continued to experience currency shortages, an unreliable energy grid, and fears of a resurgent spike in inflation.
After two decades in power and following the Justice and Development Party’s historic defeat in the 2024 local elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now at his most vulnerable. What comes next is not only important for the future prospects of Turkish democracy but also holds important lessons for autocrats across the world. Scholars Evren Balta, Seda Demiralp, Edgar Şar, and M. Murat Kubilay seek to answer key questions about the country’s political, economic, and foreign policy trajectory in a new report from the Middle East Institute.
For years under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey pursued an unconventional monetary policy. The situation, long untenable, finally became unsustainable in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2023. In the immediate aftermath of the vote, President Erdoğan announced a dramatic shift, returning to orthodox monetary policy. While there have been tangible improvements on a number of fronts as a result, the country faces both declining household purchasing power in the short term and a range of broader economic challenges in the longer run.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, it prompted the Central Asian states, and others, to reconsider Iran’s potential role as a transit country. In a little more than two years, Central Asia’s view of Iran has changed from international pariah to key link in lucrative trade routes.
On June 29, at an aid and investment conference in Cairo, Egypt and the EU reached a €1 billion investment deal, and over 20 MoUs, collectively worth approximately €40 billion in private investment, were signed on the sidelines. Little mention has been made of migration in the new European agreement with Egypt, but there is little doubt that it is a pivotal factor.
Pakistan’s government is pursuing a two-track approach to stabilize the country’s long-troubled economy. It is engaged in lengthy negotiations with the IMF to secure at least $6 billion in loans to shore up its ability to service its external debt. At the same time, Islamabad is also trying to woo its Gulf allies, most notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in a bid to diversify its sources of external financing, address the lingering threat of insolvency, and put its economy on an upward trajectory of sustainable growth.