Middle Eastern and African market data, analysis and forecasts from Business Monitor International, the trusted source for business information and intelligence on global emerging markets.
Middle East & Africa Monitor provides political risk analysis, economic forecasts and business information for trade & industry across the Middle Eastern and African economies of the East Med, The Gulf, North Africa, Southern Africa, East & Central Africa and West Africa. Middle East & Africa Monitor is available as six printed, regional, monthly newsletters. Subscribers also receive password access to a searchable 24-month archive of Middle East & Africa Monitor articles and data online plus the ability to download PDFs of current and back issues of Middle East & Africa Monitor.
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Economy / Congo, Dem. Rep.
In a major reshuffle announced on state radio in late February, President Joseph Kabila confirmed plans to change personnel 20 top posts and trim the size of the cabinet from 54 to 43. The most important change took place at the Finance Ministry where ruling party member Matata Ponyo replaces outgoing head Athanase Matenda. Among the posts eliminated in the reshuffle is of that...
2010-02-26Economy / Congo, Dem. Rep.
Inflation in the DRC has continued to fall in recent months, reaching 47.6% y-o-y in the second week of February 2010. Although such rapid price growth is still cause for concern,...
2010-02-26Economy / Uganda
Private consumption has long been the backbone of the Ugandan economy, and was one of the major factors preventing it from falling into a deeper downturn at a time of globally contracting...
2010-02-25Political Risk / Israel
Israeli domestic politics are currently in a tense state. The chances of renewed conflict with Hamas and Hizbullah remains high, while public debate over the merits of a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is growing. While the Israeli government supposedly supports the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, the construction of new settlements in occupied...
2010-03-18Economy / Israel
We believe that the monetary tightening cycle that the central bank embarked upon in September 2009 will continue through 2010 and 2011. Given the fragility of the domestic and global...
2010-03-17Economy / Israel
Concurrent with Israel's export-led recovery from the global recession, we see the current account balance remaining in positive territory throughout our forecast period, with average...
2010-03-16Economy / Morocco
Our global team's medium-term EUR/US$ view suggests that the upside seen last week for the Moroccan dirham and Tunisian dinar will be short-lived. Indeed, as the chart shows, the dirham has already started retracing back towards short-term support at around MAD8.20/US$. This is potentially bad news for the North African economies, because it will translate into upside against...
2010-03-18Economy / Libya
On January 31, Muammar Qadhafi was thwarted in his bid to stay on as chairman of the African Union (AU) for another year. Instead, the AU elected the president of Malawi. The Libyan...
2010-02-26Economy / Morocco
Recent months have seen renewed efforts by the international community to get talks over the future of Western Sahara back on track. The government and the pro-independence Polisario...
2010-02-26Economy / Angola
In spite of a rise in the food component of the price basket, overall inflation fell to 13.83% y-o-y in January (from 13.99% the previous month). Easing price pressures were also reflected in the sequential rate of inflation, which fell from 2.1 % m-o-m in December 2009 to just 0.8% in January. Our average inflation target for 2010 is 12.0%, which is slightly below the government...
2010-03-02Political Risk / Angola
We see Angola's latest constitutional rewrite as a confirmation of a national trend towards centralising executive power. As such, we expect the new constitution to help entrench...
2010-03-02Economy / Angola
US based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the release of political activist in Cabinda who were arrested for alleged crimes against state security. According to...
2010-03-02Political Risk / Bahrain
BMI View: Bahrain's political backdrop is complicated by a Shi'a majority/ Sunni government combination, labour and population imbalances, the need to stay on side with both Iran and Saudi Arabia, and economic vulnerability. For us, the most likely long-term scenario is for democratisation to be brought about by economic necessity, which would likely bring Bahrain closer to Iran....
2010-03-17Economy / Qatar
Qatar's booming energy industry will ensure current account surpluses in excess of 20% of GDP between now and 2013, falling to a still impressive 18.8% by the end of the forecast...
2010-03-16Economy / Qatar
Government external debt levels will decline as a percentage of GDP over the forecast period thanks to rapid economic growth. Questions remain over the level of government exposure...
2010-03-16Economy / Gabon
In a sign of rising social tensions in Gabon, local police clashed with university students demanding a federal scholarship allowance. According to the leaders of the demonstration, students have been waiting for their grants to be disbursed since the beginning of January 2009. The government had agreed to pay each beneficiary of the grant CFA66,000 (US$140) per month, but has...
2010-03-03Political Risk / Gabon
Although the move towards a unified opposition is still in its early stages, we believe the newly formed National Union party could become a counterweight to the dominance of the...
2010-03-03Economy / Gabon
We are expecting to see upturn in domestic price pressures in 2010, with year-end inflation projected at 3.7%. This follows a year of a rapid disinflation as a result of the downward...
2010-03-03
