North Africa/Middle East

Lebanon’s Central Bank chief was again charged with corruption on Wednesday, this time after failing to show up for questioning before a European legal team visiting Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor, officials said, the Associated Press reported. According to the judicial officials, Gov. Riad Salameh, his brother Raja Salameh and an associate, Marianne Hoayek, were charged with corruption and ordered detained. Their assets were also frozen. The case is separate from other legal proceedings against Salameh underway in Lebanon.

Lebanon's embattled currency hit a new low Tuesday, trading at an unprecedented 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar on the black market as the crisis-hit country's banks went back on strike, the Associated Press reported. The pound has kept sinking since Lebanon's financial meltdown erupted in 2019, following decades of rampant corruption and mismanagement by the country's political and financial elite. Three-quarters of Lebanon's population of over 6 million now lives in poverty and inflation is soaring.

Traders are on a record-long streak of hedging against a decline in the Egyptian pound as some Wall Street banks warn growing pressures on the currency could soon force the central bank’s hand in allowing another devaluation, Bloomberg News reported. Time may be short for a country facing what Citigroup Inc. said is growing pent-up demand for dollars that won’t ease without more currency flexibility and stronger investment flows. Half measures haven’t been enough, stalling deals and resulting in an underperformance of Egypt’s bonds.

Liquidators for defunct crypto exchange FTX asked a judge to approve the sale of its interest in a fund of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital to an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm, in a deal valued at $45 million, Bloomberg News reported. FTX agreed to sell the interest in the Sequoia Capital Fund, which previously belonged to its sister trading outfit Alameda Research’s venture arm, to Al Nawwar Investments RSC Limited on Wednesday, its estate said in a filing to Delaware’s bankruptcy court late that same day.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its second year, has pushed up food and energy prices worldwide, adding another layer to Egypt’s economic crisis, the Associated Press reported. Soaring inflation, a severely weakened currency and other problems have followed decades of government mismanagement and broader disruptions, starting with the turmoil from the 2011 Arab Spring popular uprising, then years of militant attacks, followed by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Egypt looked to raise $1.5 billion through the sale of its first Islamic debt, as the North African nation wrestles with a foreign-currency crunch, Bloomberg News reported. The wheat importer’s $400 billion economy is exposed to the shockwaves of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has devalued its currency three times since March and sought aid from the International Monetary Fund. The final guidance price for the three-year dollar sukuk was at 11.125% area (+/- 1/8th) on Tuesday, according to a term sheet seen by Bloomberg.

Bank of Israel Deputy Governor Andrew Abir suggested on Monday that more interest rate increases were possible as inflation remains "sticky" above a 5% rate, Reuters reported. He was speaking to Reuters the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a half a percentage point to 4.25%, its highest level since late 2008.

Egypt’s monthly food prices soared at the fastest pace on record, sending inflation in urban parts of the country sharply higher in January and adding to the urgency for the central bank to resume interest-rate hikes, Bloomberg News reported. The surge in cost increases was a surprise to many economists even after last month’s steep currency devaluation heaped more pressures on consumers in the Middle East’s most populous nation.

Tunisia's government on Wednesday began discussions on a new foreign exchange bill it says will help to make international business dealings easier, following calls from Tunisian firms for reform, Reuters reported. "Tunisia looks to modernise the exchange system and to gradual liberalisation of financial relations toward a full liberalisation with the outside world," the government said on Wednesday in a statement following talks on the bill. Investors have to get central bank approval to access hard currency to fund operations abroad, or obtain credit letters to import goods.