Economy

Jordan's fiscal position is looking increasingly precarious. Although large inflows of foreign aid caused the budget deficit to narrow moderately in 2011, we see two major long-term... 2012-01-27

Producer price inflation remained elevated in December at 13.3% y-o-y, down only slightly on November's print of 13.7%. We expect the continued knock-on effects of currency weakness... 2012-01-27

Political turmoil in the Levant has led us to revise down our forecast for real GDP growth in Jordan in 2012. While we remain relatively sanguine about the prospects for private and... 2012-01-27

Recently released data from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has once again highlighted the ongoing deterioration to the economy's external position, with the total stock of foreign... 2012-01-25

Although Jordan's balance of payments position has improved since the first half of 2011, we remain concerned about the sustainability of the country's external dynamics. Current account... 2012-01-23

Lebanon's trade deficit continued to expand at an alarming rate through September 2011, having increased to US$16.4bn compared to US$10.2bn in the same time period in 2010. Growth in... 2011-12-28

The risks of a full-blown balance of payments crisis in Egypt are steadily building. Indeed, the economy's external position is becoming increasingly precarious amidst the ongoing trend... 2011-12-22

Turkey's macroeconomic imbalances haTurkey's macroeconomic imbalances have spiralled towards highly precarious levels and we are now convinced by our long-held suspicions that monetary... 2011-12-13

Egypt's stock of foreign reserves continue to decline, with latest data showing the central bank's financial arsenal dwindling to only US$22.1mn by end-November, down 43.3% y-o-y. This... 2011-12-09

The Bank of Israel (BoI)'s November 28 decision to cut its headline interest rate by 25bps to 2.75% shows that the central bank has made a rapid shift towards a dovish stance in recent... 2011-11-29