Gulf Arab leaders signed a declaration on Tuesday to ease a rift with Qatar, following Saudi Arabia’s decision to end a 3 1/2-year embargo of the tiny energy-rich country that deeply divided regional U.S. security allies and frayed social ties across the Arabian Peninsula, the Associated Press reported. Saudi Arabia also said that it was restoring full diplomatic relations with Qatar, although it was not clear how soon the step would be followed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which had joined the kingdom in isolating the country over its regional policies.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal on Tuesday designed to end a protracted feud that has split the Middle East and hampered U.S. efforts to isolate Iran, senior Trump administration officials said on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the deal, the U.S. officials said, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt are expected to officially end a blockade of Qatar they began in June 2017 when the countries accused Qatar’s leaders of supporting terrorism and aligning itself with Iran.

Egypt’s central bank has extended two debt relief initiatives for another 6 months which were launched earlier to help companies and tourism firms struggling as a result of the coronavirus’ impact on the economy, Bloomberg News reported. In a statement released on Jan. 3, the regulator said that the move affects companies with bank debt of less than 10 million Egyptian pounds and tourism firms with debts of more than 10 million pounds. The initiative entails removing the names of these firms from blacklists, removes asset restrictions and halts legal action.

With its economy hammered by the pandemic and plunging oil and gas prices, which account for 90 percent of government revenue, Iraq was unable to pay government workers for months at a time last year, the New York Times reported. Last month, Iraq devalued its currency, the dinar, for the first time in decades, immediately raising prices on almost everything in a country that relies heavily on imports. And last week, Iran cut Iraq’s supply of electricity and natural gas, citing nonpayment, leaving large parts of the country in the dark for hours a day.

The implementation of a 5% value-added tax in Oman this year is seen bringing in 300 million rials ($779 million), the Oman News Agency reported Saturday, citing the Gulf nation’s finance minister, Bloomberg News reported. Oman’s 2021 budget, announced Friday, forecasts a 14% drop in spending and a 19% decline in revenue after finances were ravaged by lower crude prices and the coronavirus pandemic. The country last year announced it would impose a 5% VAT in an effort to bolster the economy and curb its widening budget deficit.

Cleopatra Hospital Group, the biggest Egyptian private hospital operator by number of beds, agreed to buy Alameda Healthcare Group’s assets in the country in one of the largest African health-care transactions this year, Bloomberg News reported. The board of Cleopatra has approved the planned purchase, according to a statement yesterday. Cleopatra plans to partially fund the deal by issuing convertible loan notes to Alameda controlling shareholder Fahad Khater. The deal could value Alameda at about $450 million to $500 million including debt.

Lebanon’s parliament passed a law on Monday to lift banking secrecy for one year in a move that could clear the way for a forensic audit of the central bank, a key condition for foreign aid that has hit a roadblock, Reuters reported. Such an audit is on a list of reforms that donors have demanded before helping Lebanon climb out of a financial crisis without precedent. These include steps to tackle corruption, a root cause of the meltdown that has crashed the currency and triggered a sovereign default.

Sentiments on the UAE stock markets have turned completely negative – as a mix of global events and local concerns fuel investor fears, Gulf News reported. Within the first two hours of Monday. The index shed more than 100 points, with 28 stocks in the red. (Al Salam Group Holding is the only one as of 11.30am to break the down trend.) By 12pm, the drop was brought down below 4 points. But it still looks like being a long day for UAE investors. The real estate stocks, which had been showing signs of strong recovery through the first two months, are particularly hit.

Payments company Finablr is selling its entire business and operations to an Israeli-United Arab Emirates consortium for a nominal $1 after running into financial difficulties, the company said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Global Fintech Investments Holding (GFIH), an affiliate of Prism Group AG, has partnered with Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners to buy the business, Finablr said in a statement. GFIH will provide working capital to support Finablr so it can continue to operate and support various stakeholders, including its employees and creditors, the statement said.