North Africa/Middle East

Israel’s interest rates are high enough to bolster the shekel and ensure inflation slows to 3% or less by early next year, according to the country’s central bank governor, Bloomberg News reported. “We believe the current rate is in restrictive territory,” Amir Yaron told Bloomberg Television from Jerusalem. He spoke a day after the Bank of Israel kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 4.75%, even with the shekel having recently depreciated to a three-year low. The currency weakened 0.2% to 3.79 per dollar as of 2:10 p.m. local time.

Libya’s central bank said it reunited with its breakaway rival after nine years of division, a rare step toward consolidating state institutions in the North African OPEC member battered by long-running conflict, Bloomberg News reported. The announcement followed a meeting between Tripoli-based Governor Sadiq Al-Kabir and officials from the rival regulator in the eastern city of Benghazi. Representatives are now working to address the impact of the split, according to a statement Sunday from the central bank in the capital.

KBBO Group and its hospitals unit have received creditor approval for a debt restructuring plan, two years after the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm’s founder filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors approved Emirates Hospitals Group’s plan earlier this week, according to people familiar with the matter and a presentation seen by Bloomberg News. The deal allows Emirates Hospitals to stave off liquidation and paves the way for a sale of the company by 2025. KBBO also received the go-ahead this month, the people said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public.

Israel-based fintech Vesttoo is seeking chapter 11 protection in a U.S. court which will enable it to pursue legal action against those responsible for a fake collateral scandal, it said in a statement yesterday, Reuters reported. Vesttoo - partly backed by Banco Santander's fintech venture capital arm Mouro Capital - has laid off staff, closed offices and appointed an interim chief executive following the discovery of fraudulent letters of credit used on its platform. Vesttoo provides insurers with access to so-called insurance-linked securities - an alternative form of reinsurance.

Egypt’s inflation accelerated to another record high, with a new surge in food costs heaping more pressure on a country struggling with a debilitating foreign-currency crunch, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices in urban parts of the country rose an annual 36.5% in July, up from 35.7% the previous month, according to figures released Thursday by the state-run CAPMAS statistics agency. On a monthly basis, inflation was 1.9%, compared with 2.1% in June. The headline inflation rate’s now further beyond the level reached in the aftermath of Egypt’s 2016 currency crisis.

The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada slapped sanctions Thursday on Lebanon's embattled former central bank governor and a handful of close relatives and associates over allegations of corruption, the U.S. Treasury Department said, the Associated Press reported. Riad Salameh, 73, ended his 30-year tenure on July 31 under a cloud of investigation and blame for his country's historic economic crisis. France, Germany, and Luxembourg are investigating Salameh and close associates over alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and the laundering of $330 million.

FTX Dubai, which was created just months before the global crypto exchange collapsed last November, is asking to be exempt from U.S. bankruptcy proceedings, TheStreet.com reported. “FTX Dubai is balance-sheet solvent. Therefore, the debtors believe that a solvent voluntary liquidation procedure in accordance with the laws of the United Arab Emirates would allow a timely distribution of the positive cash balance after payment of all outstanding liabilities and liquidation of all assets," court documents said.

Egypt unexpectedly resumed its cycle of monetary tightening, seeking to tame inflation that’s running at an all-time high, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee raised the deposit interest rate by 100 basis points to 19.25% and the lending rate to 20.25%, according to a statement Thursday. Rates are now the highest since at least 2006, and above the previous peak reached during the currency crisis of 2016-2017. Of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, only BNP Paribas SA correctly predicted the hike, with the rest seeing no change.

Banks from four Arab countries are interested in investing in Lebanon’s struggling banking sector, which was hard-hit by the small nation’s three-year economic meltdown, a top Arab banker said Thursday, the Associated Press reported. Lebanon is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in its short and troubled history that has skyrocketed poverty and inflation, and crippled its bloated public sector and infrastructure.

Net foreign assets held by Egypt’s commercial banks went into a record deficit in June, as a lack inflows drives a deterioration in the finances of a country already struggling with its worst hard-currency shortage in years, Bloomberg News reported. The gap among lenders reached $17.1 billion, compared with $14.5 billion in May, according to data released by the central bank. The shortfall opened up as a result of a $1.7 billion drop in banks’ assets and an around $950 million increase in their liabilities.