By Delany Higgins Market Spice: Week of March 2nd, 2020 The spread of COVID-19 caused further volatility in markets this week, with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warning that the outbreak could halve global economic growth for the year. The OECD cut their global forecast to as low as 1.5%, from 2.9% prior…
Category: Middle East & Africa
Valentine’s Day Special: Evaluating the Global Chocolate Shortage
By Jurin Katayama ‘Twas the day of Valentines, when all through St Andrews Chocolates were given, to show that they were true. Articles were flooded in all social media accounts, With click-bait titles blaring “Chocolate shortage!” to get the view counts. The culture of buying chocolates to illustrate love on an annual basis has caused…
Market Spice: This Week’s Roundup
On Monday, following the Lunar New Year holiday, the People’s Bank of China announced their plans to inject the equivalent of $21.7 in liquidity into the economy, as well as other measures amounting to $57 billion.
Donald Trump & Iran: A Dangerous Gamble
By Dhruv Shah On January 3rd, 2020, US drones targeted and killed Iran’s most important General, Qassem Soleimani. This audacious act has been the first time since WW2, the US has openly killed a foreign military leader. Five days later on January 8th, Iran retaliated with direct strikes of their own on Iraqi bases…
Investing in a Sustainable Society
By Hugh Gammon First created by the UK to fund a rehabilitation program for convicts in 2010, Social Impact Bonds (SIB) provide a meeting place for charity and capital, promising a return on investment from funding social initiatives and charitable efforts. The concept is now gaining increasing traction and publicity in the financial sphere as…
Lebanon: A New Hope or Renewed Despair?
Recent protests across Lebanon, sparked in October by a proposed ‘Whatsapp Tax’, have spiralled into a much broader movement calling for a political and economic overhaul to the country, having lost no momentum with the resignation of former PM Saad al-Hariri and the appointment of Hezbollah-backed, Hassan Diab. The new President has thus far failed…
The Hawala System and Sharia Banking
How Terror Abuses Financial Institutions Hawala, حوالة, in Arabic translates as transfer in English and trust in Hindi. The Hawala System is an Informal Value Transfer System (IVTS) which is essentially a system whereby money or value in the form of commodities, is transferred nationally or internationally by an organisation that does not offer financial services as…
Spilling the Beans on Fairtrade Coffee
Fairtrade’s long-term value to both consumers and producers is more likely in the information it conveys about method of production, not in the extra premium it ostensibly conveys to producers.
Spain’s Possessions in North Africa: Undiscussed Controversy?
MENA Section columnist discusses the little known controversy surrounding the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
Economic Peace-building in Syria
By Luca Delpippo With the Syrian civil war reaching its close, at least in terms of conventional warfare, a new battle to reconstruct Syria has begun. With costs estimated to be between $250bn and $400bn, it is likely that this new battle has little end in sight. Current western approaches have not only failed but…
He Wasn’t Always Like This: Erdoğan’s Populism Explained
Polen Türkmen explores Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s populist image and how it has evolved over time.
