Turkey lifts veil on unemployment data, revealing bigger army of jobless A new, broader set of labor statistics has exposed a big gap between Turkey’s official unemployment rate and the actual joblessness in the crisis-hit country. Turkey
Rights group criticizes Jordan over debt imprisonment Human Rights Watch has highlighted the plight of poor Jordanians imprisoned for failing to pay back loans taken out to meet basic needs. Jordan
COVID accelerates evolution of Gulf economies The economic policy response to COVID-19 is an acceleration of specific trends already underway across the Gulf Cooperation Council members, variously affecting tax policy, labor market regulation and immigration policy. Saudi Arabia
Iran receives COVID-19 vaccine from Cuba Iran enjoys warm relations with the Latin American state and the two countries are also developing a coronavirus vaccine together. Iran
SMS-spamming by companies sparks vigilante texting in Israel Israeli companies have been spamming their consumers with text messages, recalling a tactic Hamas used during the Gaza war. Israel
Market pressure keeps Babacan in new Turkish Cabinet Turkey’s much-respected economy chief, Ali Babacan, retains his post in Turkey’s new Cabinet despite in-house tensions, in a sign that the ruling party cannot afford unnerving international investors. Turkey
Ethiopia excludes three dams from Khartoum talks with Egypt A series of important files related to three planned dams were excluded from the meeting, as well as some files related to the Renaissance Dam. Egypt
Good news from Davutoglu: a rational economy Is the new AKP government abandoning anti-Western and anti-liberal economic tendencies? Turkey
Looking to Europe, Turkey increases investment in Azeri gas Turkey paid the French company $1.45 billion to increase its share in gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz-2 gas field from 9% to 19%. Turkey
Iran counts $22 billion in forex abuses under Ahmadinejad An Iranian official has claimed that companies made millions taking advantage of Iran's subsidized exchange rate in the final years of the Ahmadinejad administration. Iran
New Iran-Contra book shows how US-Iran ties were scuttled Malcolm Byrne, deputy director of the National Security Archive, presents new details about how US officials convinced themselves they were aiding “moderates” who planned to overthrow the Iranian government but who could also engineer the release of US hostages in Lebanon. Congress
Questions remain on Egypt’s Suez Canal project The cost of Egypt’s ambitious project to build a parallel canal at the Suez Canal is expected to skyrocket, raising questions about the immediate financial return to the Egyptian economy. Egypt
Russian bonanza or ‘Russian roulette’ for Turkey? With Turkey’s agricultural output already hit by drought, a deal to increase agricultural exports to Russia threatens to fuel the country’s unruly inflation. Turkey
Sales of Israeli goods in West Bank down 50% due to boycott Palestinian businesses are seeing a spike in activity as locals are increasingly searching for Palestinian alternatives to Israeli products. Palestine
Lebanese banks concerned over Hezbollah sanctions bill Lebanese banks are worried that a US bill aiming to increase sanctions on Hezbollah will weaken confidence in the banking sector. Lebanon
Tensions rise between Sisi and business sector The relationship between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egypt's business community might be undergoing tensions after Sisi declared that businesspeople should donate funds to the state to support the country's economy. Egypt
