The Middle East has made significant progress in advancing gender diversity in the workplace through measures such as generous parental leave policies and flexible working arrangements. While the progress is commendable, experts believe that there are still hurdles to overcome to ensure greater representation of women in executive and board...

The situation has been made worse by a crisis facing the agricultural sector, which makes up 14 percent of gross domestic product. The worst drought in four decades has been compounded in recent weeks by a snap of unusually cold weather. The government has boosted subsidies on some basic products...

The World Bank warned that the continuing aftershocks are likely to increase the total amount of damage caused by the disaster. "This disaster serves as a reminder of Turkey’s high risk to earthquakes and of the need to enhance resilience in public and private infrastructure," said Humberto Lopez, the World...

The region's biggest economy, Saudi Arabia, was projected to accelerate to 8.3 percent in 2022 before moderating to 3.7 percent and 2.3 percent in 2023 and 2024.

NASIRIYAH, IRAQ - Iraq's Tigris and Euphrates rivers have witnessed a sharp decrease in their levels in the south of the country, officials said Sunday, pledging to take urgent measures to ease water shortages. In Nasiriyah, capital of the southern province of Dhi Qar, an AFP photographer saw the river bed...

Although the remittances grew by an estimated 5 percent in 2022, they were lower than the 10.2 percent increase in 2021.

The 7.8-magnitude quake struck as people slept early Monday, with Turkish officials saying that over 70,000 people have been injured across 10 southeastern provinces hit hardest by the disaster. "We are providing immediate assistance and preparing a rapid assessment of the urgent and massive needs on the ground," said World...

Lebanese protesters blocked roads and burnt tires near the central bank in Beirut as the local currency plummeted to a new low against the dollar. Since 2019, Lebanon has been in an economic crisis dubbed by the World Bank as one of the worst in recent global history, pushing much...

Investigators from France, Germany and Luxembourg began hearing witnesses Monday as part of the case of suspected financial misconduct including possible money laundering and embezzlement.

The world's second-largest economy faced historic headwinds as 2022 drew to a close, with exports plunging last month due to a drop in global demand and rigid health restrictions that hammered economic activity.

European investigators began questioning high-profile witnesses in Lebanon as part of a probe into central bank governor Riad Salameh's wealth, a judicial official said. The long-serving central bank chief is among top officials widely blamed for Lebanon's unprecedented economic crisis, dubbed one of the worst globally in recent modern history...

ABU DHABI, UAE -  The UAE participated in the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) meeting in the Finance Track of the G20 for 2023 which was held under India’s G20 Presidency. The meeting was held to discuss the GPFI work plan for 2023 and agree on the financial inclusion...

The world, according to the latest World Bank report, may be edging toward a global recession this year. Here is the GDP growth forecast for the GCC countries.

Washington, United States--Two World Bank entities provided a record $75 billion in financing last year, said a letter by its president, as developing countries faced crises like climate change and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The aid comes as countries emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic were hit by fallout from war in...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-- Egypt’s economic growth is expected to decline to 4.5 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23 from 6.6 percent in 2021-22, affected by the Russia-Ukraine war overlapped with persisting COVID19-related disruptions, according to the World Bank’s Egypt Economic Monitor report. But the growth is forecast to inch up...

Mikati said the economy had grown by nearly two percent in 2022 after two straight years of severe recession that saw Gross Domestic Product fall by 25.9 percent in 2020 and by 10.5 percent in 2021.

In a statement, the World Bank slashed its forecast to 2.7 percent from 4.3 percent predicted in June. It also revised its forecast for next year from 8.1 percent down to 4.3 percent.

ABU DHABI, UAE - Members of the Consultative Council of UAE's Financial Restructuring Committee (FRC) has met with experts from the World Bank Group (WBG). The meeting was held virtually and sought to discuss the latest updates on amendments to the bankruptcy law, which is being implemented as a joint...

The report highlights rising debt-related risks for all developing economies - low as well as middle-income economies.

The external debt of developing economies has more than doubled from a decade ago to US$9 trillion in 2021, the World Bank said. The pandemic has forced many countries to take on more borrowing and World Bank President David Malpass earlier warned that the world is facing a fifth wave...

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories---Wearing sky blue overalls near Gaza's port, technician Mohammed Jerboa celebrates the chance to finally repair fishing boats after a 15-year Israeli ban on vital materials. It's a "great achievement", he said after sanding down the faded paint as part of a team of workers patching up...

Appealing to the international community to help the country as it faces 'one of its hardest moments', UNHCR chief said that Lebanon hosts 'one of the largest refugee populations per capita in the world' and that it needs support. He spoke at the end of a three-day visit to Beirut.

Lawmakers in crisis-hit Lebanon failed to elect a new president for an eighth time, despite the deepening impact of the political deadlock on the country's economic woes. Lebanon has been without a head of state for a month after president Michel Aoun left office at the end of October with...

The World Bank estimates that cash transfers to low income countries eased this year as high prices ate up migrants' incomes. The bank said in a report that remittances to lower-income countries went up around five percent to $626 billion, lower than the 10.2 percent jump in 2021.

The United States will provide Jordan with over US$845 million in annual financial support, officials in Amman said as the country remains heavily dependent on foreign aid. Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh was present at the signing ceremony for the allocation of annual financial support of $845.1 million, a Jordanian government...

Lawmaker Michel Moawad, who is seen as close to the United States, won the support of 42 of parliament's 128 MPs, but his tally fell well short of the required majority and was exceeded by the number of spoilt ballots cast by pro-Hezbollah lawmakers.

Nour al-Janabi, 29, designs, makes and mends in her south Baghdad workshop go from rustic style to Louis XV. She recently launched her business, Nour Carpentry.

The regional economies -- set to expand by 6.9 percent in 2022 -- may moderate to 3.7 percent and 2.4 percent in 2023 and 2024 respectively, says a World Bank report.

Diplomats from developing nations criticised the persistent imbalance in climate financing which, within the UN framework, should be evenly split between reducing emissions (mitigation) and boosting resilience to future impacts (adaptation).

Abu Dhabi, UAE - AD Ports Group and International Development Bank (IDB) have signed a deal to review opportunities for ports and logistics projects that could enhance trade flows between the UAE and Iraq. IDB aims to provide its services to corporate clients and support a range of key infrastructure...

Already governed by a caretaker cabinet, crisis-hit Lebanon is hurtling towards an imminent power vacuum, with just days before the current president's term finishes at the end of the month. Aoun was elected in 2016 after a more than two-year vacancy at the presidential palace, as lawmakers made 45 failed...

The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 to the dollar since 1997, a rate that has not reflected its true market value for years as the currency has been in free fall, with multiple parallel exchange rates coexisting. The crisis has pushed most Lebanese into poverty.

Washington, US-- International Monetary Fund and Egyptian authorities have agreed to finalize their work to reach a Staff-Level Agreement very soon, the IMF has said. Director of Communications at the IMF Gerry Rice said in a statement that "IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held very productive in-person discussions...

The fund trimmed its world growth forecast to 2.7 percent in 2023, and its chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas cautioned that the next year would feel like a recession for many people. Throughout its meetings of financial chiefs this week, the crisis lender stressed that the priority was for central banks...

Most of the respondents in the poll feel that GCC will weather the gathering economic storm and come out unscathed, a view corroborated by the IMF and the World Bank.

The agency's report, published ahead of meetings of International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and also of G20 finance ministers in Washington, highlighted the need for swift action. But UNDP chief Achim Steiner told reporters in Geneva that despite repeated warnings, "little has happened so far, and the risks have...

The package will help meet Ukraine's "urgent balance of payment needs... while playing a catalytic role for future financial support from Ukraine's creditors and donors," the IMF said in a statement adding the scale and intensity of Russia's war against Ukraine that started more than seven months ago have caused...

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva urged global policymakers to take concerted action as the risks of a worldwide recession are driven ever higher by repeated economic shocks. In a speech ahead of the fund's annual meetings next week, the IMF's managing director said it was critical to address challenges including inflation.

UAE's Ministry of Finance (MoF) participated in the third Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2022.

"The toll of destruction, damage, and dislocation in Ukraine is staggering and continues to grow," Anna Bjerde, the bank's regional vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in the statement.

Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a new president after a first round of voting amid deep divisions over a replacement for Michel Aoun whose term expires next month. Majority of lawmakers cast blank ballots, suggesting the election process may drag on, an outcome Lebanon can ill afford as it wrestles...

The exchange rate has been officially pegged at 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar since 1997, but will drop to 15,000 to the greenback at the end of October. The pound, however, traded at more than double that value on the black market on Wednesday, selling for more than 38,400...

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Russia's war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, food price and energy shocks plus the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic were creating the conditions for a world recession.

The term of Michel Aoun expires at the end of October. The session will mark the first attempt by lawmakers to elect a new head of state at a time when the country is in the grips of a financial crisis described by the World Bank as one of the...

Prodded by the IMF to implement reforms, Lebanon's parliament has approved the 2022 budget setting expenditures at $1.2 billion. The crisis-stricken country and the IMF had reached a conditional agreement on a $3 billion loan in April to help the country tackle its economic crisis.

The figure was equivalent to five times Ukraine's annual GDP before the invasion in February, Oleg Ustenko, economic advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said at an event hosted by the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.

Water scarcity hitting farming and food security are already among the "main drivers of rural-to-urban migration" in Iraq, the UN and several non-government groups said in June.

With four out of five Lebanese now considered poor according to the United Nations, the country has been desperately seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

A major factor in bringing the world to this pass is the simultaneously hike in interest rates by central banks across the world in response to inflation, the World Bank added.

India, the incoming President of the Group of Twenty (G-20) announced that it will invite the UAE as one of the "guest countries" to the G-20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 next year.