The Middle East and North Africa faces significant climate challenges, such as increasing temperatures, heightened flood risks, frequent droughts, and growing air pollution issues. These challenges are compounded by the large proportion of the population living below the poverty line in some...

This policy brief uses data from those efforts to document the role social norms play to support (or hinder) female labor force participation in a sample of MENA countries. Data was collected in Egypt, the Republic of Iraq, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia between...

This report contains the annual summary of the wildfire season of 2024 on the basis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). It is published early in 2025 to provide an advance comprehensive analysis of the wildfire season 2024. The analysis and data in the report...

Using panel data spanning 2004-2023 of 21 countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, we measure systemic risk and assess its influence on key banking sector performance indicators, including financial stability (proxied by commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults), providing...

Toxic leadership has profound implications for employees' psychological wellbeing, particularly in academia, as a supportive workplace is crucial for intellectual prosperity and growth. In various parts of the Middle East, toxic leadership has been a major element in suppressing academic...

Women's educational attainment has continuously increased across the Middle East, while fertility rates have declined substantially. Yet their labor force participation remains stubbornly low. To investigate this puzzle, I use a discrete choice experiment in Egypt that varies the gender...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of Middle East and North Africa. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross...

Growth is projected to rise in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025 and 2026, but at a slower pace than anticipated in the October 2024 REO. Across the region, rising trade tensions and policy uncertainty are adding to the impact of conflicts and extended oil production cuts to weaken growth...

The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) spans over 6 000 km of coastline and 19 states. The region is rich in natural resources: it holds significant reserves of gas (2.7% of total world reserves) and oil (4.5%), as well as other valuable minerals including diamonds, tin, bauxite, manganese and cobalt. While...

The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) spans over 6 000 km of coastline and 19 states. The region is rich in natural resources: it holds significant reserves of gas (2.7% of total world reserves) and oil (4.5%), as well as other valuable minerals including diamonds, tin, bauxite, manganese and cobalt. While...

Purpose: Social media has become a significant catalyst for entrepreneurship in the Middle East, particularly for women. Considering the limited research conducted to understand the factors influencing social media adoption in conservative societies such as Qatar, this study aims to examine the...

Selon les estimations, la région du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord (MENA) a connu une croissance modeste de 1,9 % en 2024 et devrait croître modérément à 2,6 % en 2025. Cela s'inscrit dans un contexte d'incertitude mondiale accrue, en particulier en matière de politique commerciale....

Saudi Arabia has mixed expectations ahead of Donald Trump’s imminent second presidency. On the one hand, the royal family maintains close business relations with the president-elect and his entourage, which could lead to privileged access to the White House. On the other hand, Trump’s Middle...

The Middle East (ME) is often perceived as region with rentier economies and uncompetitive markets. Evidence of market power in the region however is scant. In this paper, we ask the following three questions: Is the ME uniquely uncompetitive? Has the evolution of market power in the region...

This paper examines the current dependencies and exposures of the euro area's financial sector in a context of rising geopolitical tensions. Focusing on Russia, China, and the Middle East, we analyze direct exposures through lending and securities holdings of banks and large investors. Our...

This study investigates the impact of financial technology (Fintech) on bank stability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Utilizing panel data from 94 banks in 10 countries over a 13-year period from 2011 to 2023, this research employs panel GMM regression to examine the relationship...

Low investments in human development (HD) are both a cause and a consequence of economic performance and income growth. Thriving populations in knowledge societies are skilled, mobile, healthy, and connected. However, in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, human...

The financial sector holds major responsibility in climate mitigation, as the proliferation of environmental damage within the real economy largely stems from the negative externalities of the financial economy. Islamic banking, as a subset of the global financial market, is often adjudged as a...

In the wake of the US-China trade war and the increasing use of financial sanctions, global powers are rethinking the architecture of cross-border payments. The dominance of the US dollar and reliance on US-controlled systems like SWIFT have exposed the vulnerabilities of many countries,...

Once viewed by Ankara primarily as a fragmented security frontier, Iraq now sits at the centre of its regional strategy. This recalibration is shaped by shifting regional dynamics in the aftermath of 7 October: the weakening of Iran’s influence across multiple fronts, the Gulf states’ rising...

This study analyzes the determinants and dynamics of military spending in the Middle East within the framework of critical political economy, based on data covering the period (1995-2023). The analysis combines approaches from political economy, the rentier-authoritarian state theory, and...

In many arid and semi-arid regions, rural women are at the heart of water-related dynamics - and therefore greatly affected by its scarcity. This scarcity affects their daily lives, farming activities, economic initiatives and solidarity networks, which are directly dependent on the availability...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of financial inclusion on corporate investment. More specifically, this paper investigates the possibility of a nonlinear relationship between financial inclusion and corporate investment, as well as the moderating effect of audit quality in...

Digitalization is very important for SMEs in the Middle East in order to remain competitive and sustainable in this region. Therefore, the study aims to examine the digitalization in SMEs of the Middle East region using bibliometric analysis by considering publication trends, top authors,...

The paper examines how liquidity risk affects the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) bank profitability. Banks need profitability to survive, but liquidity risk measures long-term company health. Through Refinitiv Eikon, quantitative data was collected over 11 years from 2012 to 2022 for 71...

This report contains the annual summary of the wildfire season of 2023 on the basis of data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). It is published early in 2024 to provide an advance comprehensive analysis of the wildfire season 2023. The analysis and data in the report...

This publication provides you with a range of inspiring examples of how educational institutions are using Erasmus+ in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East to prepare for the digital transition, and to harness the full potential of digital technology and techniques to boost education, what it...

This publication provides you with a range of inspiring examples of how educational institutions are using Erasmus+ in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East to prepare for the digital transition, and to harness the full potential of digital technology and techniques to boost education, what it...

This report contains the annual summary of the fire season of 2023 with official figures provided by 34 contributing countries for the number of fires, burnt areas and fire prevention efforts, and the analysis of fire danger and areas mapped in the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

This report contains the annual summary of the fire season of 2023 with official figures provided by 34 contributing countries for the number of fires, burnt areas and fire prevention efforts, and the analysis of fire danger and areas mapped in the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

The Middle East, with its diverse cultures and adherence to social norms, offers a relevant case study for exploring the current research question, Using established theories of social interaction and technology acceptance, this research examines how cultural background shapes student...