Economics

The fact that Makhlouf chose to go public heightens the stakes at play at the top of the regime and within the Alawite clan, arguably more than ever.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the Canal to the international shipping trade, but it’s importance to Egypt economy is even greater still.

It is not yet clear who will emerge as the winners and the losers from this latest crisis in a country that has experienced so many.

Rather than seeing the spreading virus as a common enemy, the Taliban seem to be viewing the health crisis as opening new military opportunities.

In a country already beset by economic and financial crises, COVID-19-related lockdown measures, without accompanying government assistance, are increasingly pushing impoverished residents to the brink. Lockdown measures will gradually start to lift this week. But the lockdown only accelerated the inevitable economic freefall and lifting the measures will not solve the country’s economic woes. “There is a predicament coming that is much bigger than corona … the economy is the bigger crisis,” a political activist in Dahiyeh says.

Climbing unemployment is a major specter for Egypt.

President Vladimir Putin’s plans to change Russia’s Constitution and stay in power beyond 2024 have been hampered by COVID-19 and the oil price crash.

The amendments have been designed to provide relief on both the individual and corporate levels.

Lebanese citizens are growing increasingly frustrated with a lack of concrete results from Diab’s self-styled “government of independent experts.”

The April 12 OPEC+ deal to cut oil production that ended the disastrous five-week Saudi Arabia-Russia price war is a short-term fix for the global industry, but will not resolve the larger problem of over-production. The price war heightened animosity between Riyadh and Moscow and calls into question whether the OPEC+ partnership will ever be the same again. 

In an effort to boost its economic competitiveness, Qatar is hedging its bets on emerging technologies. The Gulf sheikhdom, eager to diversify its gas-dependent economy, is cultivating various technological areas, notably artificial intelligence (AI).

COVID-19 presents a major threat to the global economy and the health of millions of people around the world, but its impact on Iran, one of the early epicenters of the outbreak, has been particularly severe.

Egypt’s three top sources of foreign revenue — tourism, remittances, and the Suez Canal — are likely to be hard hit by the crisis.

Despite his support, al-Kadhimi’s path to obtain confirmation of his cabinet from the Council of Representatives is riddled with challenges.