There hasn’t been much good news coming out of Egyptian economy since the revolution. But ten pieces of good news in the past two weeks suggest that the economy may be turning a corner.

While nobody is suggesting that the economy is over all its problems - indeed, frustratingly, many Egyptians may not feel the benefits any time soon, there are signs that the economy is working its way through its myriad problems. Read More Here

Egypt’s economy has received a much-needed boost with the promise of aid and loans from the international community. Still the onus of recovery rests with the Egyptian authorities to ensure that the economy goes through this transitional period, without too much damage.

More importantly, the aid gives the authorities the room to build the foundation of a robust economy ready to take its rightful place as a robust emerging market. Read More Here

The potential inclusion of Morocco and Jordan in the GCC fold should be taken for what it is – a political move by the Gulf states to widen their sphere of influence in the region.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with it. The United States has done it with NAFTA, the EU has been handing out membership forms to many countries within their vicinity; there is of course the ASEAN, and even BRIC nations have recruited South Africa in their club – they are now called BRICS. Read The Full Article On Economonitor

Qatar, which has been beating its regional rival on economic performance, has also won the title of the most peaceful country in the Middle East North Africa region.

The Institute of Economics & Peace, bestowed the number one regional ranking to Qatar in its annual Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011. READ MORE HERE
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Close to $1.6-trillion worth of projects are cancelled or are on hold in the Middle East and East North African market, with $800-billion in the UAE alone, according to Citibank. The statistics are a reflection of the hangover of the leveraged days in the region when billion dollar projects were announced virtually every other day. Read More Here

Jordan and Morocco’s possible inclusion in the Gulf is a political move rather than an economic one, but there might be other - unlikely - candidates in the region far suitable for the purpose.

The potential inclusion of Morocco and Jordan in the GCC fold should be taken for what it is - a political move by the Gulf states to widen their sphere of influence in the region. Read More Here

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head, Islamic Finance & OIC Countries Thomson Reuters

It’s polling time once again in Islamic finance, but, today, we survey two major developments: Arab revolution and death of Osama Bin Laden (OBL), and examine the consequences, if any, on Islamic finance on the Maghreb and anti-Shariah countries.

Interestingly, the million-dollar mansion living OBL and his executive team camped in ‘cave gate-aways’ witnessed in real time the Al Qaeda ideology of hate, mayhem and murder discredited by a highly educated, but very poor Tunisian fruit-seller seeking dignity of work in providing for his family.
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Middle East’s oil-importing countries such as Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Syria could fall into recession this year, according to the International Institute of Finance (IIF), a group of 430 major international banks and financial institutions. Read More Here

The Arab World’s foreign assets will rise to a stunning $2.2-trillion this year, says the IIF. But the key to growth in the region will not be financial resources but structural reforms, otherwise tensions will remain. Read More Here

Ratings agencies have an uncanny knack of turning up at morgues and pronouncing the death of the deceased, so it should have been no surprise that Standard & Poor’s did the ‘unthinkable’ and downgraded the United States’ long-term outlook to negative from stable. Read More Here