Tunis, Tunisia (AFP): Tunisia’s finance minister has unveiled a budget aiming to use new tax revenues to draw the deficit back to nearly five percent of the GDP, as the country awaits an international bailout. The 2023 budget comes as the North African country grapples with massive public debt, shortages of goods from sugar to […]
Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP): Three foreign aid groups have announced that they are suspending their operations in Afghanistan after the country’s Taliban rulers ordered all NGOs to stop female staff from working. Their announcement prompted warnings from a top UN official in Afghanistan and from NGOs that humanitarian aid would be hard hit....
Baghdad, Iraq (AFP): Iraq’s prime minister has appealed to visiting Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni for closer economic ties with his oil-rich and war-ravaged country. Meloni, who leads the eurozone’s third-largest economy, was on a visit to Italian troops posted in Iraq in support of a mission to counter militant groups in the ...
LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) – Shell Petroleum has agreed to pay €15 million ($15.9 million) as settlement to Nigeria over oil pipeline leaks in the country’s Niger Delta in the 2000s. In a statement on Friday, Shell said it had negotiated the settlement for the benefit of the Oruma, Goi and Ikot Ada Udo communities in […]
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – The number of children facing dire drought conditions across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has more than doubled in five months, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In a statement, UNICEF said that around 20.2 million children are now under threat of severe hunger, thirst and disease compared to 10 milli...
MOSCOW (AA) – Moscow will prohibit oil supplies to countries that will join the price cap on Russian oil, a government official has said. “This decree (on retaliatory measures announced by President Vladimir Putin) implies a ban on the supply of oil and oil products to those countries and those legal entities that will require […]...
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) urged fully funded and sustained life-saving and livelihood support in Somalia on Tuesday to pull residents from the brink of famine. The UN agency said large-scale investments for resilience and rural livelihoods are “urgently” needed to break the hunge...
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – The World Bank on Tuesday approved $1.692 billion in financing for the rebuilding of the flood-hit areas of southern Pakistan. “World Bank’s Executive Board today approved $1.692 billion in financing for five projects to support people living in flood-affected areas of Sindh Province in Pakistan,” an ...
ANKARA (AA) – The International Monetary Fund has approved a $3 billion loan for Egypt under a 46-month program under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). In a statement, the IMF said the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) includes the immediate disbursement of $347 million. “The package includes a durable shift to a flexibl...
ISTANBUL (AA) – Egypt has discovered a large natural gas reserve in the Nargis block in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the local media. Evaluation is still ongoing to determine the gas field’s reserves, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla was quoted as saying by local media. It is the most significant finding after the discovery [...
