Make sense of a disrupted world
Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox
Tens of thousands of demonstrators pour on to the streets
High yields and relative stability pique interest of foreign buyers
Doha responds to regional blockade with plan of self-reliance and higher spending
Middle East lags behind global counterparts on digital innovation in finance
Bankers are being kept busy in the region as slower growth leads to consolidation
Most business remains tied to the government, despite the kingdom’s push to diversify
Exposure to struggling property sector will test Emirates’ resilience
Aramco IPO lures bankers to Saudi Arabia. Plus: start-ups eye global expansion of Islamic finance; Qatar spends its way past regional embargo; foreign investors hungry for Egyptian debt; UAE banking resilience put to the test
Economy contracts by 9.5 per cent in 2019 although government insists worst is over
State energy company is planning to list shares in Riyadh before the end of the year
Tehran bourse is best performer over 12 months as savers seek refuge from inflation
Financial sector reform is essential for SMEs to develop in the region
Cairo bourse is world’s second-worst performer this week after anti-corruption demonstrations
Tales of corruption and excess strike chord with impoverished youth
Demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other cities have called for President Sisi to step down
Police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Cairo calling for Sisi to step down
From Tehran to Cairo, businesses are tapping into the region’s youthful, tech-savvy population. The inaugural FT Future 25 list has sought to identify companies that are disrupting their sectors and succeeding in a tumultuous region
Fintech targets region’s 25m low-income workers reliant on exchange houses to remit cash
Innovative start-ups are defying region’s economic and geopolitical challenges
Ride-hailing app sets sights on becoming one-stop shop with expansion into deliveries
Cairo-based start-up offers affordable healthcare for middle class families
Ignoring Silicon Valley ‘myths’ key to success in region undeserving of hefty risk premium
Constraints are compounded by competition from top-down neighbours
Diversification is slowed by politics and bureaucracy
Strains between state’s neighbours require ‘balancing act’
