Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the West Bank’s economy could collapse if Israel doesn’t preserve its banking relationship with Palestinian financial institutions in the territory it occupies, highlighting another potential source of instability as Israel also fights foes in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yellen and several of her global counterparts urged the Israeli leader’s government to approve a waiver that would continue to allow Palestinian and Israeli banks to correspond.
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FlyEgypt (FT) has suspended all flight operations after a failed attempt to file for bankruptcy due to substantial debt accumulation, AirwaysMag.com reported. Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) denied FT's request to close and liquidate the company, stating that the airline must first resolve all outstanding domestic and international obligations under national and international regulations. As a result, the ECAA denied the company's request to surrender its operating license and remove its aircraft from the national register.
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Israel’s central bank left interest rates unchanged even as it lowered economic-growth forecasts, with the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon causing inflationary pressures and preventing the country from joining a global easing cycle, Bloomberg News reported. The bank kept its benchmark rate at 4.5% on Wednesday, in line with the estimates of all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. It was the monetary committee’s sixth straight hold.
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Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to become a minority partner in UK department-store chain Selfridges after buying out the position of the now-insolvent Signa Group, Bloomberg News reported. The PIF will take a 40% stake in both the property and operating businesses of Selfridges, according to an emailed statement from current co-owner Central Group. The Thai retail conglomerate will own a 60% stake, with the deal including new investment from both shareholders to shore up Selfridges’ financial position.
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Shelly Lotan’s food-tech start-up in northern Israel was just a year old when Hezbollah started firing missiles across the border last October and the government advised everyone in the area to evacuate, The Washington Post reported. Two of her five employees were called up to serve in the military. Those that remained moved the company’s office to one of her employee’s parents’ basement. Investments slowed to a trickle.

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