North Africa/Middle East

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has shut its Abu Dhabi office less than a year after securing a license in the region, a spokesperson said on Thursday, as the company seeks to sharpen its focus after FTX's bankruptcy shook the digital assets sector, Reuters reported. The U.S.-based company had said last year it would reduce its workforce by 30%, or about 1,100 employees, as rising rates and worries of an economic downturn soured the sentiment on crypto.

The Saudi Central Bank said on Wednesday it increased its key interest rates by 25 basis points, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's move as the Saudi riyal is pegged to the dollar, Reuters reported. The Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, lifted its repo and reverse repo rates by 25 bps each to 5.25% and 4.75%, respectively, it said in a statement. Read more.

The central bank of Kuwait raised its discount rate to 4% from 3.50% effective Jan. 26, it said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The decision is in line with "recent developments in the local and international economic conditions, local monitory and banking indicators and movements on KWD interest rate in the local market considering changes to the interest rates on the other major currencies," Governor Basel Al-Haroon said in the statement. Read more.

A voting member of the Bank of Israel’s monetary committee stepped down and warned that “democracy is in danger” in his country, marking one of the highest-profile departures since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his push to reform the judicial system, Bloomberg News reported. Moshe Hazan, an economics professor who spent more than five years on the rate-setting panel, sent Netanyahu a resignation letter late Sunday, saying he was leaving to become more involved in “public-political activity,” according to a statement from the central bank.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has dismissed the country’s central bank governor amid growing anger over the weakening of the local currency in recent weeks that has caused the price of food and imports to rise, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Sudani said on Monday that he decided to replace the governor, Mustafa Ghaleb Mukheef, who requested to be relieved of the post he has held since 2020. The prime minister named Muhsen al-Allaq as the new central bank governor, according to the state-backed Iraqi News Agency. Mr.

Lebanon’s caretaker government Wednesday approved opening credit lines totaling $116 million to help fix its crippled state electricity grid, the Associated Press reported. The cash-strapped country for over two years has struggled with rampant power cuts that have crippled much of public life, worsening a broader economic crisis that has pulled over three-quarters of the country’s population into poverty. Today, households only receive about an hour of state electricity per day, with millions now relying on expensive private generator suppliers to power their homes.

Egypt plans to cut spending after the International Monetary Fund extended hundreds of millions of dollars in an economic bailout package, as the country struggles to pay off debts accumulated from a decadeslong building boom, the Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities said earlier this week they would delay state projects that required significant U.S. dollars to fund and cut back on travel, training and conferences for officials, according to Egypt’s cabinet.

Pakistan’s prime minister said Thursday that the United Arab Emirates agreed to extend a $2 billion loan to his country and provide an additional $1 billion as his nation struggles to recover from devastating floods this summer and a dire economic crisis, the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s office made the announcement after he met with the leader of the UAE, Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The Egyptian pound fell to yet another record low, a sign that authorities are pressing ahead with a shift to more flexible currency trading, Bloomberg News reported. The currency slumped as much as 14% to 32.1 per dollar before paring losses to close at 29.8 on Wednesday, capping the largest single-day drop since late October. That’s narrowed the gap against prices quoted in the black market, the so-called parallel exchange rate of about 31, according to traders.

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it was considering providing up to $11 billion to Pakistan, a potential lifeline to a country facing default, the Wall Street Journal reported. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar in recent months have said they might also offer help to Pakistan, with potential loans and investments from Gulf nations now totaling at least $22 billion after the latest announcement from Riyadh. Gulf countries have said they could extend a similar level of support to Egypt, which is also struggling economically.