Hundreds of thousands of homeowners are attempting to navigate Dubai’s red-hot housing market, which has outperformed most others around the world this year, Bloomberg News reported. Tenants, property analysts and developers are trying to predict whether the market is finally starting to turn as a slew of new properties are delivered and global economic uncertainty catches up with the emirate. So far, the boom has been underpinned by an influx of wealthy investors such as Russians seeking to shield their assets, crypto millionaires and rich Indians seeking second homes.

Egypt held interest rates after inflation kept slowing from a record while the government eyes an expanded International Monetary Fund loan and speculation swirls over the timing of a much-awaited currency devaluation, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank left the deposit rate at 19.25% and the lending rate at 20.25%, its Monetary Policy Committee said Thursday. Nine of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly predicted the decision, which maintains the benchmark at its highest level in data that stretches back to 2006.

Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron urged government leaders and lawmakers to maintain responsible fiscal policies during the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to boost defense spending, Reuters reported. Speaking on Sunday at an inauguration for his second five-year term as central bank chief, Yaron said that Israel needs to adapt its economic policy to the war since investors, ratings agencies, financial markets and the public "are currently keeping a close eye on policy in Israel".

The International Monetary Fund said it is in ongoing discussions with Egypt's government on additional financing as part of a current program, the Fund´s spokesperson Julie Kozack said in a press conference on Thursday, Reuters reported. "The exact size of financing is part of the ongoing discussions that IMF staff is having with the Egyptian authorities," Kozack added.

Israel's jobless rate surged to near 10% in October, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, after the outbreak of war with Palestinian Hamas militants led to tens of thousands of displaced citizens who had lived near the Gaza border, Reuters reported. The main unemployment rate held steady at 3.4% last month. But when taking into account what is expected to be a temporary loss of work, the rate reached 9.6% in October as 428,400 people were jobless versus 163,600 in September, prior to the Oct. 7 attack when Hamas gunmen rampaged though Israeli border towns.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters on Friday the Fund was "seriously considering" a possible augmentation of Egypt's $3 billion loan program due to economic difficulties posed by the Israel-Hamas war, Reuters reported.

The European Union is trying to speed up efforts to deepen its relationship with Egypt and help the country address the growing fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict on its border, Bloomberg News reported. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is planning to visit Cairo soon to advance efforts to support Egypt’s economic development and cushion the impact of the ongoing crisis, people familiar with the matter said.

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.