The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made a number of recommendations to consolidate the Saudi economy, including doubling the rate of VAT rate to ten per cent. The Washington...

Economists and investment banks say Egypt’s economic reforms have been a huge success. Zeinab doesn’t think so. “Everything is expensive,” said the elderly woman, walking through a market in...

A report published recently by Egypt’s Ministry of Planning has revealed that the government has spent more than 1.3 trillion Egyptian pounds (around $3.7 billion) on social protection programmes...

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri on Tuesday signalled reservations about International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposals for Lebanon which he said included floating the Lebanese pound, which has been pegged at...

This month, MEMO turns 10 years old. Here we look at our biggest stories of the decade.

Just two weeks away from the long-awaited Bahrain Conference on Israel-Palestine, key Arab nations have yet to confirm their participation. The conference is set to take place in Manama,...

Egypt’s trade deficit rose by more than 10 per cent in March, hitting $4.15 billion compared to $3.77 billion during the same month the previous year, the Central Agency for...

Is Egypt's economy crashing?

Global financial institutions will attend a US-led conference on the Palestinian economy this month that the Trump administration has cast as an overture to its Middle East peace plan,...

Net foreign reserves of the Central Bank of Egypt rose 0.12 per cent on a monthly basis to $44.275 billion by the end of May. The net foreign reserves...

The International Monetary Fund said today its team had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt to disburse the final $2 billion tranche of a $12 billion loan, Reuters reported....

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday ratified a loan agreement between his government and Germany, under which Cairo would borrow €102.5 million ($114.6 million) from Berlin. “Under the presidential...

Saudi Arabia’s economic growth for 2019 is expected to be higher than original estimates as its non-oil sector expands faster than the wider economy, according to Reuters.   “We...

Iran’s economy is expected to shrink for the second consecutive year and inflation could reach 40 per cent, an International Monetary Fund senior official said, as the country copes...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in its 2019 report: World Economic Outlook. According to the...

Egypt’s net foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 24.4 per cent during the first six months of the financial year 2018-19, the country’s central bank announced yesterday. The Central...

Tunisian government yesterday decided to raise fuel prices by about 4 per cent, in an effort to curb its budget deficit and meet reforms requested by the international lenders,...

Some 41.5 per cent of Tunisia’s workforce is employed in the parallel economy, a study conducted by the World Bank has shown. The results of the study, announced yesterday...

Tunisian Central Bank Governor Marwan Abbasi said yesterday that the IMF has postponed its experts’ visit, as part of the fifth review, for an unspecified period following an agreement...

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed that, if implemented, economic integration among the countries of the Maghreb region would make it possible to achieve a...

Egypt yesterday denied reports that the government will lift bread subsidies in response to International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions for loans which Cairo has obtained. The Ministry of Supply and...

Egypt has received the fifth instalment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, worth $2 billion, official MENA reported yesterday, quoting an official source at the country’s Central...

The Tunisian government has extended the country’s state of emergency for another month, amid on-going political tensions as elections approach later this year. Tunisian President Caid Essebsi signed a...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conduct its final review of Egypt’s $12 billion loan programme in June, the country’s finance minister, Mohamed Maait, announced yesterday. In November 2016,...

Egypt’s petroleum minister yesterday announced that his country would reduce fuel subsidies by 15 per cent. Tarek El-Molla told Reuters that Egypt’s fuel subsidy bill amounted to 43.5 billion...

Egypt will “completely” lift subsidies on fuel during the upcoming financial year 2019-20, the country’s petroleum minister announced yesterday. Tarek Al-Molla told Egypt’s daily Al-Youm Al-Sabea that the decision...

Pakistan’s economic woe has forced its newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan to seek the aid of Gulf States for a second time in three months. This time the...

Egyptians on social media have been poking fun at comments from President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi calling out Egyptians for being overweight – the second time the former general has...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.97 billion Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) to help Morocco face unexpected economic setbacks. The IMF said in a statement that...

The Tunisian government is struggling to cut its fiscal deficit after two initiatives to raise taxes were rejected by the public and parliamentarians this week. Yesterday, Tunisia’s parliament rejected...

Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar al Razzaz said on Sunday the kingdom will pay a heavy price if parliament fails to approve new IMF-backed tax legislation, a main plank of...

Pakistan still plans to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite a Saudi Arabian offer of a $6 billion rescue package, Pakistan’s finance ministry said today....