Economy

Our budget deficit forecasts have improved slightly due to a better than expected performance in FY07/08 creating a lower base for this year's expected spending spree. However, we... 2008-11-28

We are standing by our real GDP growth forecast of 5.4% for FY2008/09 for Egypt, but we note that a fairly sharp decline in the first quarter, as well as the ongoing collapse of the... 2008-11-21

We have revised our forecast for Israel's 2009 fiscal deficit from 2.1% of GDP to 3.0% of GDP, on the back of an economic slowdown, and the associated higher costs of election spending... 2008-11-20

The Turkish banking sector is in a fair position to weather a protracted global credit crunch and domestic economic downturn, with risks to solvency likely to remain limited relative... 2008-11-19

The long-term outlook for the Jordanian banking sector is generally positive, although we expect asset and credit growth to slow in line with the slowing global economy. The conservative... 2008-11-19

Though it is currently trading at around US$52/bbl, front month Brent crude briefly touched US$50/bbl today (November 13), a level we first mentioned in August (see Commodities Over... 2008-11-13

Although Jordan runs large trade deficits - which we expect to come in at US$7.2bn in 2008 (39.0% of GDP), and US$7.1bn in 2009 (33.7% of GDP) - sizeable current transfers, primarily... 2008-10-24

Lower global oil and food prices, as well as a strengthening US dollar, will ease inflationary pressure going forward. We expect that having spiked to 19.9% y-o-y in September, inflation... 2008-10-21

BMI View: Egypt seems committed to taking steps to counter the challenges posed by the global economic slowdown, but the growth outlook has certainly worsened, and we do not see the... 2008-10-21

The Middle East and North Africa has by no means escaped the fall-out from the global financial crisis and economic slowdown, but, by and large, the region's debt burdens are either... 2008-10-16