The figures are in: Libya’s civil war cost the country a 60% contraction in GDP as forces loyal to maverick leader Moammer Gaddafi tried in vain to contain the rising tide of rebels eager to rid the country of the brutal dictator.

With NATO air cover and Arab arms and financing feeding the rebels, it was inevitable that the regime would fall. What was even more inevitable was Colonel’s Gaddafi’s death at the hands of a ragtag army of rebels in the most grisly fashion on the streets of Sirte. READ MORE HERE

Human Rights Watch reports, by their very nature, never present a rosy outlook as they are given to highlighting the atrocities of governments and the lack of dignity and freedom they present to millions of their hapless citizens across the world.

And so its 2012 World Report is no exception. Paying special emphasis to Arab Spring, the report grimly notes that while the revolutions that broke out across the region euphoric, there is nothing inevitable about transitions to democracy. READ MORE HERE

arsalank2 /Foter

The year 2012 may not appear to be any better than 2011 as many businesses had hoped. A new update of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook, says global economy will rise 3.3% in 2012, a downward revision from 4% in its previous forecast.

Excluding Libya, MENA growth projections for 2012 and 2013 are set to be lower by -1.6 and -1.2 percentage points, respectively, than in the September 2011 WEO. READ MORE HERE

In the context of the region, the UAE and especially Abu Dhabi, was the proverbial safe haven along with Qatar.

While it was not a great year by any stretch of the imagination, the UAE looked good simply because others such as Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Syria were imploding. READ MORE HERE

While the international community saw Libyans collectively rise up against the rule of Moammar Gaddafi and saw the emergence of the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the unifying force, the reality on the ground is quite different.

A new study by the International Crisis Group (ICG) brings into sharp focus the rivalries, the complexities and the number of militias, groups, and secular and religious parties that have come to the fore and are jostling for attention and representation in the new Libya. READ MORE HERE

January 2, 2012

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters 2011

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”Bill Vaughn.

Islamic finance is staying up for new year for …….

The survey format is straight forward, 16 questions with multiple answers.
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The year 2011 has been extraordinary not just for the tectonic shift in the region’s political structures, but also the extraordinary pressures and opportunities faced by many regional economies.

With four dictators ousted - including one dead - many others were shaken to the core - the after shocks have reverberated throughout the region in 2011 and will no doubt be felt in 2012.

We identify 50 amazing statistics that highlight the remarkable year: READ MORE HERE

Will 2012 be the year of “come together” consolidation for Islamic banks?

Size is often the justification for achieving economies of scale, used to access deals for league table prominence, used as a buffer in a challenging environment, used as defensive measure to ward off unwanted suitors, and so on.

Islamic banks are very much like Islamic (equity) funds. There are hundreds of Islamic banks and funds, but the paid-up capital and assets under management, respectively, is too small to be meaningful. Yet, both, more so Islamic banks, present a unique situation (of an industry risk) of “too small to fail”.

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In the first part of the 2012 regional economic prospects, a look at oil-rich countries’ efforts to manage their citizens’ expectations, economic slowdown and regional and domestic political upheavals in the New Year.

The year 2011 was probably the most unexpected for the Middle East in decades with not just the magnitude of changes unravelling in the region, but also the sheer number of those cataclysmic changes. READ MORE HERE

By Alon Ben-Meir

Due to a host of common denominators in the Arab world including the lack of traditional liberalism, the tribes’ power, the elites’ control of business, the hold on power by ethnic minorities, the military that cling to power, and the religious divide and Islamic extremism, the Arab Spring could sadly turn into a long and cruel winter. These factors are making the transformation into a more reformist governance, slow, filled with hurdles and punctuated with intense bloodshed. At the same time, each Arab country differs characteristically from one another on other dimensions including: history and culture, demographic composition, the role of the military, resources, and geostrategic situations. This combination of commonality and uniqueness has had, and will continue to have, significant impacts on how the uprising in each Arab country evolves and what kind of political order might eventually emerge.

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