Author: Steven Sahiounie

Country yet to get final signoff for $1.9 bln Fund programme LONDON: Tunisia reached a preliminary deal with the International Monetary Fund a year ago on a $1.9 billion loan programme, but 12 months later it has yet to receive any money and seems unwilling to implement the reforms needed to do so. While analysts say the North African nation can manage without IMF support in the short-term, they are much less confident about its outlook for the years ahead. Amid hostile rebukes and the rejection of some of the terms from Tunisian President Kais Saied, as well as domestic…

Imports of Russian naphtha topped UAE’s supplies in the first nine months of the current year Sellers of Russian naphtha shipped around 770,000 tons of the light-end oil product to India in the period January to September, compared to only 154,000 tons sold during all of 2022, Reuters reported earlier this week, citing ship-tracking data. According to the details from Vortexa, India imported 2.1 million metric tons of naphtha, which is primarily used to make plastics and petrochemicals, during the first nine months of this year, of which 37% were Russian-origin product. Meanwhile, naphtha supplies to India from the United…

Overall turnover, however, is still significantly lower compared to last year, statistics show The US has increased imports of goods from Russia despite imposing widespread economic sanctions on Moscow, data published by the US Census Bureau revealed on Thursday. In August, the volume of products imported from Russia jumped by $56.4 million and amounted to $298.1 million, according to the report. The figure, however, is much lower than that of February, when imports reached $642.8 million – a high for 2023. Meanwhile, US exports to Russia have continued to decline, falling from $35.6 million in July to $32.1 million in…

The newcomers are mainly from Türkiye, but there are also manufacturers from Australia, South Korea, and Estonia The number of foreign brands that have registered in Russia this year has soared, defying sanctions aimed at discouraging business engagement in the country, according to an RBK report on Thursday that cites data from the consulting firm NF Group. Between January and September, 16 new foreign retailers commenced operations in Russia, reaching a four-year peak. In contrast, in 2019, Russia saw the entry of 26 new foreign retail players, but this figure has steadily decreased each year since: 13 in 2020, 15…

The regulator will publish a final report based on feedback received and submit the draft technical standards to the European Commission by June 2024. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union’s markets regulator, released a second consultative paper on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) mandates on Oct. 5. In the 307-page document, the ESMA seeks stakeholders’ input on five areas of MiCA, including sustainability indicators for distributed ledgers, disclosures of inside information, technical requirements for white papers, trade transparency measures, and record-keeping for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs). Among the sustainability indicators, the authority counts quantitative metrics on the consumption of…

Bitcoin might have difficulty breaking through a key resistance zone of its own accord, end-of-week analysis predicts. Trader: Bitcoin behavior at resistance “not the best” Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price performance avoiding downside volatility over the weekend. The pair recovered from a snap retest of $27,000 on Oct. 6, thanks to surprise United States employment data which diverged from policy tweaks by the Federal Reserve. Now, the $28,000 resistance formed the main point of interest for market participants going into the new week. In low timeframe (LTF) analysis of exchange order books, popular trader Skew said that major bidding power was…

At least 676 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2023, the health ministry has said. The ministry added that at least 424 have been killed since Saturday. Source: Aljazeera

Prices for pre-owned Rolex watches kept falling on the secondary market last month while entry-level models and brands like Cartier and Omega fared comparatively better. An index of Rolex timepieces declined by 2.2 percent in September, according to market prices tracked by the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index. An index of 100 entry-level watches, typically priced below £7,500 ($9,120), fell by 0.8 percent over the same period. The results show collectors and enthusiasts are still wary of shelling-out for the most-hyped models from the top Swiss brands after a surge in prices in 2021 and into 2022. Prices for Rolex, Patek…

The continued bombardment of Gaza has left entire families homeless. The Ashour family is one of them. Overnight, Amer Ashour took his pregnant wife to hospital as she prepared to give birth. Little did he know he would return and find no trace of his home after his apartment building in al-Nasr, a neighbourhood in western Gaza City, was bombed. “What I feared most when the escalation began was that my wife was about to give birth. I was worried about how we would get to the hospital in light of the continuous bombing,” he told Al Jazeera. “But I…

German exports fell more than expected in August, official data showed Thursday, adding to signs that Europe’s biggest economy has fallen back into recession. Exports totaled 127.9 billion euros ($134.5 billion), a decline of 1.2 percent on the previous month, according to figures from federal statistics agency Destatis. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had predicted a smaller dip of one percent. Imports were down 0.4 percent compared with July, totaling 111.4 billion euros. The country’s trade surplus, the difference between exports and imports, rose slightly to 16.6 billion euros. “Like the rest of the German economy, exports remain stuck in the twilight zone…