The non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia grew 4.4 percent in 2023 but real gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.8 percent, writes Ahmad Abdel-Rahman. Official data issued on March 10 by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed Saudi Arabia's real GDP shrunk by 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, with oil activity declining ...
New Zealand PM bows out
Here's an article from The Economist which, while talking about John Key's resignation, states that NZ is "one of the most successful countries in the world. While this is debatable, there is no doubt that Key has had successes- namely international recognition- along with failures, housing, immigration and the environment. We have yet to see whether the new Prime Minister, John English, will have the same success.
All parties, Israel, Iran and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, have raised a state of alert and emergency since the assassination of Hamas' chief negotiator, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Ahmad Abdel-Rahman writes about what is happening. There is anticipation of what Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis might do in the face of the Israeli bombing of Gaza, a...
Egypt continues to be Africa's top investment destination, accounting for 18.6 percent of the region's total investment, writes Ahmad Abdel-Rahman. Despite the series of crises besieging the Egyptian economy and the impact of the US dollar shortage and a lack of investment opportunities, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTA...
A securities and bond trading company, HC Securities & Investment, does not expect interest rates to be lowered before the end of this year or the beginning of next. It is likely, therefore, that the banking sector will benefit from high treasury returns. Ahmad Abdel-Rahman writes. According to a recent report by HC Securities & Investment,...
Wars in the Middle East and Houthi attacks affecting navigation in the Red Sea are likely to lead to an increase in oil prices. The World Bank also warns that the world economy will face a double shock in the energy sector if the war in the Middle East expands. Ahmad Abdel Rahman writes. The global economy has been greatly affected because of the o...
Fitch, the international credit rating agency , says that Egyptian banks' foreign currency liquidity levels improved with the net foreign asset deficit decreasing to USD 2.8 billion, explains Ahmad Abdel Rahman. A recent report suggested that Egypt would achieve a surplus in external financing of about USD26.5 billion over the next four years, comp...
The religious freedom law disturbs Likud and the Shas Party threatens to withdraw from the government as well as withdrawing its confidence in it. Meanwhile, the religious right movements seek to expand their influence at the expense of other parties . Ahmad Abdel Rahman writes about what is happening. The state of division from which Israeli ...
The Egyptian president points out that the price of electricity would be double what citizens pay if the government did not bear much of the burden of this cost, writes Ahmad Abdel-Rahman. With the rise in temperatures over the past few days, many are questioning the plans by the Egyptian government to reduce electricity loads. At the opening of se...
Critics of the US President, Joe Biden, accuse him of avoiding challenging Israel, supposedly the US's closest ally in the Middle East, to enhance his chances of winning the US election in November. This is even more important, given the Republicans' support for Israel. Indeed, Bi den's position would have been clearer had it not been for the upcom...
The use of child labour is common in Egypt, writes Ahmad Abdel-Rahman. A number of investigations have come to the same conclusion. Egyptians woke up on May 21 to the news that a minibus in which several farm girls were travelling had crashed while it was crossing a ferry, and most of the passengers (about 17 girls) had drowned. The fact...
What will the sudden death of the Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, mean for the Middle East and beyond ? Ahmad Abdel-Rahman investigates. There are many unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding the death of the Iranian President and his foreign minister: Why were the country's two most prominent politicians traveling on the same pl...
Critics of the US President, Joe Biden, accuse him of avoiding challenging Israel, supposedly the US's closest ally in the Middle East, to enhance his chances of winning the US election in November. Ahmad Abdel-Rahman writes. In every American presidential election, there are many central issues around which the election campaigns revolve. Typicall...
The UN World Food Programme works to support Egyptian efforts in the field of aid and nutrition and has supported 200,000 refugees in five years. It has also cooperated with other organisations to empower young people and women in Egypt . Our correspondent in Egypt, Ahmad Abdel-Rahman reports. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Egypt ...
How Israel engages in its war, and international pressures, will determine the future of the Middle East , reports Ahmed Abdel-Rahman. With the continuation of the current threats to Israel from the northern front, the ongoing war in Gaza and its extension to Rafah in the south, the continuation of the Iranian-Israeli confrontations, and the ...
Fitch Ratings has amended its outlook for Egypt which is expected to enhance the inflow of foreign direct investment and resolve the currency crisis, writes Ahmad Abdel Rahman. Finance and economics experts confirmed that the decision of Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency to amend its outlook for Egypt is a testimony of confidence...
Tehran's bombing of Tel Aviv is a direct threat to oil supply in the Middle East, writes Ahmad Abdul-Rahman. The Iranian attack on Israel on April 13, 2024, sparked international reactions that varied between condemnation and warnings against further escalation and destabilisation in the Middle East. There are expectations that this attack will aff...
Real GDP is expected to rise to 4.9 percent during the next fiscal year 2024-2025 from 3.5 percent this year, and Goldman Sachs expects Egypt to achieve a surplus of 3.5 percent in 2025 . Ahmad Abdel-Rahman explains. These figures were shown in a recent report by the US investment bank, Goldman Sachs. They were against the backdrop of the measures ...
Ahmad Abdul-Rahman from Egypt writes that the US's position regarding current regional developments raises many questions and it may have lost much of its limited credibility in the region. It is not an exaggeration to say that the developments of the coming weeks will have important effects on the people of Gaza and on the stability of the Middle ...
The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) warned of the negative consequences of the Israeli war on Gaza and stressed that solving the Palestinian issue is the key to regional stability, writes Ahmad Abdel-Rahman. Egypt adopts a neutral stance towards the successive crises in the Middle East. Its approach is based primarily on stopping escal...
Forecasts from Moody's Analytics suggest that the non-oil sector will grow in Saudi Arabia between 3 and 4 percent until 2030. Ahmad Abdel-Rahman explains. The global economy entered 2024 with significant uncertainty about future performance. The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) outlook in described it as "fragile", in its report issued las...