North Africa/Middle East

Egyptian inflation eased from a record high to its lowest level in four months ahead of December’s presidential elections, Bloomberg News reported. Price growth in urban parts of Egypt slowed to an annual 35.8% in October, from 38% the month before, according to figures released Saturday by the state-run statistics agency. It’s the lowest rate since June, according to Bloomberg calculations. On a monthly basis, inflation slowed to 1% from 2% in September.

A property boom in Dubai that pushed the number of residential transactions to a record high last year has continued into 2023, with sales surpassing those levels in the first 10 months of this year, Bloomberg News reported. The Middle East’s tourism and financial hub recorded 93,590 transactions through to the end of October, surpassing 92,178 in all of 2022, according to CBRE Group Inc. Still, the number of sales slowed in October, falling 23.6% from a year earlier as developers offered fewer new off-plan projects.

Vesttoo Ltd. creditors are seeking to take control of the bankrupt Israeli startup’s court proceedings, arguing the company should liquidate following revelations that its former executives helped create fraudulent documents that supported transactions on its platform, Bloomberg News reported. A committee of Vesttoo creditors said that the company is “viewed as the Madoff of insurance” and that its remaining cash should be preserved so it can pursue potential litigation against former corporate insiders and other parties involved in the alleged fraud, according to a court filing on Sunday.

The Bank of Israel kept short-term borrowing rates unchanged for a third straight decision as expected on Monday, citing the need to prevent an uptick in inflation as a result of a weaker shekel during Israel's war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Reuters reported. The central bank held its benchmark rate at 4.75% - its highest level since late 2006. It had raised rates 10 straight times in an aggressive tightening cycle that has taken the rate from 0.1% last April before pausing in July and again in August.

Egypt was downgraded for the second time this month, as the North African nation struggles with a severe shortage of hard currency, Bloomberg News reported. S&P Global Ratings, cut the country’s debt deeper into junk territory, to B- from B, albeit with a stable outlook. The decision puts the country on par with nations such as Bolivia, Angola and Iraq. The move follows that of Moody’s Investors Service, which lowered Egypt one level to Caa1 in early October, triggered a further sell-off of Egyptian bonds. S&P’s rating for Egypt is now one notch above that of Moody’s.

Egypt was downgraded further into junk territory by S&P Global Ratings, as the North African nation struggles with a severe shortage of hard currency, Bloomberg News reported. S&P cut the country’s debt to B- from B, with a stable outlook, the ratings company said in a statement. The decision puts the country on par with nations like Bolivia, Angola and Iraq. “The downgrade reflects the recurring delays to the implementation of monetary and structural reforms,” S&P said.

The Bank of Israel underscored the urgency of steadying the shekel following its slide to an eight-year low, reversing expectations among traders who bet on a big interest-rate cut as soon as next week, Bloomberg News reported. Israel’s wartime monetary policy is taking clearer shape 10 days into a crisis that started with the deadly Hamas assault on Israel. Concerns over the impact of a prolonged war on the $520 billion economy initially fueled wagers on easing.

Cryptocurrency issuer Tether has frozen 32 crypto wallet addresses containing a combined $873,118 it said were linked to "terrorism and warfare" in Israel and Ukraine, the company said on Monday, Reuters reported. Israeli police said last week they had frozen crypto accounts used to solicit donations for Hamas on social media. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,300 people. Tether's first Israel-related freeze was on March 16, 2023, while the first Ukrainian-related freeze was on June 16, 2021, a Tether spokesperson told Reuters via email. TRM Labs, a major U.S.

Palestinian militant group Hamas uses a global financing network to funnel support from charities and friendly nations, passing cash through Gaza tunnels or using cryptocurrencies to bypass international sanctions, according to experts and officials, Reuters reported. However, Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, will face even more obstacles accessing funds after the rampage by the group's gunmen that killed hundreds of Israelis, mainly civilians. Israel has responded with the heaviest bombardment of Gaza in 75 years of conflict.

Finance ministers from the world’s most advanced economies condemned Hamas for its attack against Israel, as war in the Middle East added to the threats facing the global economy, Bloomberg News reported. “We unequivocally condemn the recent terror attacks by Hamas on the State of Israel and express our solidarity with the Israeli people,” the Group of Seven countries said in a statement on Thursday in Marrakech, Morocco.