Virtually no one in Lebanon has been spared from the two-pronged financial collapse of both the banking system and the local currency, the lira, which has lost 98 percent of its value since 2019. But most of the burden has fallen on depositors who overnight lost access to money they had spent a lifetime saving, the New York Times reported.
Read more
North Africa/Middle East
Israel’s parliament on Monday approved a law that will curb the oversight powers of the courts, a measure that has divided the nation, prompted mass protests and drawn rare US criticism. The shekel fell — recording the biggest daily loss among a basket of major currencies tracked by Bloomberg — while tens of thousands of protesters converged on the Knesset building. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the session, allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition to pass the bill with 64 votes to 0.
Israel’s Parliament was preparing on Monday to pass a law reducing the power of judges to overrule government decisions and appointments, a plan that has sent hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets and threatens to undermine the country’s economy and security, Bloomberg News reported. The bill is sponsored by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who was discharged from the hospital Monday and joined the debate after having a cardiac pacemaker inserted. Advocates for law argue that the courts have grown too powerful and are captured by the left.
Read more
Algeria has applied to join the BRICS group and submitted a request to become a shareholder member of BRICS Bank with an amount of $1.5 billion, Ennahar TV quoted Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as saying, Reuters reported. It added that Tebboune said at the end of his visit to China that Algeria had sought to join the BRICS to open new economic opportunities. The North Africa country is rich in oil and gas resources and seeking to diversify its economy and strengthen its partnership with countries such as China.
Read more
Nearly 70% of Israeli startups have taken action to relocate parts of their business outside Israel, a survey released on Sunday by an Israeli non-profit organisation on the government's planned judicial overhaul found, Reuters reported. The survey by Start-Up Nation Central sought to measure the economic impact plans by the hard-right coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would restrict the Supreme Court's powers to strike down legislation.
Read more
A millionaire 'magic circle' lawyer who sailed the seas on a £17 million superyacht is facing bankruptcy after failing to hand a £19 million investment fund back to a Saudi princess, the Daily Mail reported. Former lawyer Ronald Gibbs has been locked in a court fight with the Saudi Royal Family after he agreed to set up and manage the multi-million-pound investment fund for Princess Deema Bint Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2011.
Troubled governments that devalue their currencies tend to benefit from the decision, underscoring the tool’s usefulness in the face of crisis, according to the Institute of International Finance, Bloomberg reported. There’s been a pivot toward economic growth in countries just three years after authorities opt for major currency devaluations, economists Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun found in an analysis of the 51 largest and most-persistent episodes since 1990.
The Iranian government has decided to merge 18 retirement funds in response to a budget deficit of 3,000 trillion rials (approximately $6 billion) and its increasing debt to these funds, Iran Focus reported. Retirement funds in Iran are called “time bombs,” not because they are all considered bankrupt, but because they can lead to the destruction of both the economy and the Iranian society, along with bankruptcy.
Moroccan transport companies are being seriously threatened by the Schengen visa obstacles they keep on facing, Istiqlalian MP Jamal Diwany from the House of Representatives has said, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported. Addressing a question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, Nasser Bourita, on the measures it plans to take to facilitate the movement of truck drivers, Diwany said that several companies are being threatened with bankruptcy due to Schengen visa issues.
Dubai is reprimanding BitOasis, one of the largest crypto platforms focused on customers in the Middle East, for failing to meet mandated conditions set forth by the local regulator, Bloomberg News reported. The emirate, which pitches itself as a global crypto hub, has been tightening scrutiny of license seekers since last year’s bankruptcy of FTX. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued an alert on Monday, saying it initiated an enforcement action against BitOasis.
Read more