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Reuters

Reuters

Foreign investors test Turkey’s waters after years in the cold

Scores of foreign investors are returning to Istanbul and Ankara after years in the cold for a flurry of meetings to understand whether Turkish elections could bring a tidal change for its economy and financial markets. According to several investors and bankers involved, large foreign lenders including BBVA and BNP Paribas organised trips and calls […]

Walmart to lay off hundreds of US workers in 5 distribution centres

Hundreds of workers at five US Walmart facilities that fulfill e-commerce orders are being asked to find jobs within 90 days at other company locations, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters. About 200 workers at Pedricktown, New Jersey, and hundreds of others at Fort Worth, Texas; Chino, California; Davenport, Florida; and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania were let go […]

IMF says Lebanon in ‘dangerous situation’ with reforms stalled

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday that Lebanon was in a very dangerous situation a year after it committed to reforms it has failed to implement and said the government must stop borrowing from the central bank. IMF mission chief Ernesto Rigo told a news conference in Beirut that the authorities should accelerate […]

Turkey’s deficit stood at $8.13bn in June, seven times the deficit a year earlier

Turkey holds policy rate at 8.5% to support growth after quakes

Turkey’s central bank held its policy rate at 8.5 percent as expected on Thursday, saying it had become even more important to keep financial conditions supportive to preserve growth momentum after last month’s devastating earthquakes. In February the bank had cut its policy rate by 50 basis points to provide a stimulus in the wake […]

El Al Airbus

Israel’s El Al to resume India flights using Saudi corridor

El Al Israel Airlines is to resume flights to India in October after a three-year absence, citing shorter flight times due to the ability to fly over Saudi Arabia and Oman. Israel’s flag carrier will operate four weekly flights to Mumbai from Tel Aviv using Boeing 737 aircraft, with the route expected to take 5.5 […]

Fitness chains get financially fit as more Americans hit the gym

Tighter budgets may not be a constraint for Americans looking to get back into shape, keeping gym operators financially fit, even as inflation pinches other consumer-focused sectors. Some of the major players in the fitness sector have pushed the envelope on membership rates after the pandemic scare, helping them beef up earnings, when most other […]

US Federal Reserve chair says SVB management ‘failed badly’

The management of Silicon Valley Bank “failed badly,” Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, but its collapse also underscores the need for better controls despite what had been escalating oversight by the Fed’s own examiners. “These are not weaknesses that are running broadly through the banking system,” Powell told a press conference after the Fed’s […]

Person, Human, Text

Taliban names new central bank chief to access blocked funds

The Taliban administration’s former acting finance minister, Mullah Hidayatullah Badri, has been appointed as governor of Afghanistan’s central bank, a finance ministry spokesman said. Badri, who acted as the Taliban’s finance minister and oversaw budgets after they regained power in 2021, had already taken up his new role, finance ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal told […]

Saudi and UAE investors plan to invest in Elon Musk’s SpaceX

A unit of Saudi Arabia’s investment fund and an Abu Dhabi-based company are planning to invest in a multi-billion dollar funding round for Elon Musk-led SpaceX. The funding round is expected to value the rocket maker at about $140 billion, a US-based tech industry-focused business publication reported. SpaceX raised $2 billion in 2022 and $2.6 billion […]

World Bank approves $7bn loan to accelerate Egypt reforms

The World Bank has approved a new $7 billion partnership agreement with Egypt for 2023-2027 with a focus on boosting private sector jobs, provision of better health and education services and adaptation to climate change. The country partnership agreement (CPF) will entail $1 billion per year from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) […]

Kuwait’s Agility awarded $1.65bn in dispute with Iraqi telecom firm

Kuwaiti logistic firm Agility said one of its subsidiaries and an affiliate have been awarded $1.65 billion in damages in an arbitration case against Iraq’s Korek Telecom and prominent Iraqi Kurdish businessman Sirwan Barzani. Agility said that the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce had awarded subsidiary Agility Public Warehousing Company […]

Israel’s trading platform eToro valued at $3.5bn in funding round

Israeli online trading platform eToro said on Tuesday it had recently raised $250 million in a funding round that valued the online brokerage at $3.5 billion, months after its proposed merger with a blank-check company fell through. The funding round was backed by Ion Group, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Velvet Sea Ventures and others, eToro […]

Climate ministers support ‘greening’ of World Bank

The World Bank should play a greater role in combating climate change on top of its traditional role as a poverty fighter, according to ministers and delegates gathered in Copenhagen this week to kick-start discussions ahead of Cop28, which takes place at the end of the year. US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has nominated […]

A man counts Lebanese pound banknotes at an exchange shop in Beirut

Lebanon to sell unlimited US dollars to prop up pound

Lebanon’s central bank will begin selling unlimited amounts of US dollars in a bid to halt the spiralling devaluation of the Lebanese pound, governor Riad Salameh said. Salameh set a new rate for Sayrafa, the central bank’s exchange platform, at 90,000 Lebanese pounds per dollar on Tuesday. He set the rate at 70,000 on March […]

Turkey's central bank

Saudi Arabia’s deposit lifts Turkey’s forex reserves to $25bn

The Turkish central bank’s net international reserves rose by $6 billion last week to $25 billion, three bankers’ calculations showed, after a $5 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia entered its accounts. The central bank’s gross reserves rose $6.5 billion to $126.5 billion in the same period, they showed. A deposit of $5 billion from the […]

Wizz Air plans UAE expansion and increase routes to Saudi

European budget carrier Wizz Air is planning to grow its fleet to above 200 aircraft next year and 500 aircraft by 2030. Wizz Air president Robert Carey told a news briefing that the core growth in the coming years would still come from central and eastern Europe, adding that in the west “we are happy […]

The discussions seek to combine the 30,000 telecommunication tower assets owned by Ooredoo, Zain and TASC into a jointly owned independent tower firm

Egypt suspends sale of state-owned Telecom Egypt stake

Egypt has decided to suspend the sale of a stake in state-controlled Telecom Egypt because of market conditions, three sources close to the matter said. Telecom Egypt said on March 7 that the government had started to consider a sale of an additional stake in the company. Sources had previously told Reuters the government was […]

Over 1$7bn of Credit Suisse AT1 debt written down to zero

Just over $17 billion worth of Credit Suisse bonds, known as Additional Tier 1 or AT1, debt will be written down to zero on the orders of the Swiss regulator as part of a rescue merger with UBS. Under the deal, holders of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds will get nothing, while shareholders, who usually rank below […]

Asian art fair bullish on market prospects after Covid years

The organisers of Art Basel Hong Kong, one of Asia’s leading contemporary art fairs, said on Tuesday they are bullish on art market prospects in the region, with China and Hong Kong now having lifted all Covid lockdown restrictions. The annual fair, which also has iterations in Basel, Paris, and Miami Beach, runs from March […]

EU-led donors to provide $7.5bn to help rebuild quake-hit Turkey

Donors at a European Union (EU)-led conference on Monday pledged €7 billion ($7.5 bln) to help to rebuild Turkey after last month’s devastating earthquakes, while Ankara estimated the costs at more than ten times that. The February 6 earthquakes were the worst natural disaster to strike modern-day Turkey with more than 56,000 people killed in […]

EU lending arm to override Turkey ban with $540m earthquake aid

The European Union’s (EU) lending arm, the European Investment Bank, is to temporarily override its near four-year long ban on financing in Turkey to provide €500 million ($540 million) for the country’s post-earthquake rebuilding efforts. The EIB stopped virtually all lending in Turkey after a row over oil and gas drilling off Cyprus in 2019, […]

World Bank estimates Syria needs $7.9bn for reconstruction

The World Bank on Monday said the February earthquakes are expected to have caused Syria’s real GDP output to contract by 5.5 percent in 2023, with recovery and reconstruction needs estimated at $7.9 billion over three years. The World Bank said its rapid damage and needs assessment report estimates the earthquakes that hit northern and […]