Author: Steven Sahiounie

 CAIRO: Egypt secured an additional $5 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday after the central bank raised interest rates and allowed the pound to plunge in value by nearly 40 percent.

CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank said on Wednesday that it had hiked interest rates by 600 basis points at an unscheduled meeting and that it would allow the exchange rate to be set by market forces as it shifted to an inflation targeting regime.

RIYADH: Qatar’s trade balance showed a surplus of $14.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, marking an annual 31.5 percent decrease, according to official data.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the UAE now represent over 90 percent of the green bond market across the Arab region, according to a leading finance official. 

The number of individuals with brokerage accounts topped 30.7 million last month, according to a press release

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Climate Envoy Adel Al-Jubeir met Hannah Neumann, chairman of the EU delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, in Brussels, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. During the meeting, they discussed regional and international issues of common interest. The meeting was attended by Khalid bin Musaed Al-Angari, director-general of the minister’s office, and Haifa Al-Jedea, ambassador and head of Saudi Arabia’s Mission to the EU and European Atomic Energy Community. source: Arab news

The Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire against the comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and for providing humanitarian, medical and relief aid, providing water and electricity, and opening of humanitarian corridors to deliver urgent aid to the Gaza Strip without obstacles and in an adequate manner. This came during the the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States of (OIC), which was held at the headquarters of the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah on March…

Türkiye on Wednesday slammed Israeli approval of 3,500 housing units in the occupied West Bank, denouncing the move as “further expansion of the occupation of the Palestinian territories.” “The plan approved today (March 6) by the Israeli authorities for the construction of 3,500 housing units in the West Bank is a further expansion of the occupation of the Palestinian territories,” Oncu Keceli, Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, said in a statement. “This action must be stopped immediately,” Keceli emphasized, pointing out the need for defining Israel’s “crimes in the most accurate terminology” in order to prevent it from further violating international law.…

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today called on the Israeli occupation authorities to open all crossings in order to accelerate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The Ministry, in a press statement, strongly condemned the occupation government’s prevention of the entry of aid, particurlly into the northern Gaza Strip. It said that Israel’s focus on giving approvals to open sea lanes and preventing the passage of aid overland through the crossings is aimed at implementing the occupation government’s plan to perpetuate the occupation, separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, and displace the Palestinian…

Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad, met representatives of the Syrian community in Egypt, including industrialists and businessmen on the sidelines of his participation in the meetings of the 161st regular session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the ministerial level. Talks during the meeting that was held at Syrian Chancery in Cairo dealt with possible means to address any difficulties facing their work and provide appropriate conditions to enable Syrian investors and businessmen to contribute to the reconstruction of Syria in a way that guarantees the national interest and the interests of investors, within the…