financial crisis | Al Majalla

A huge legal battle between Lebanon and its creditors looms

The state's refusal to engage with bondholders risks keeping Lebanon out of the funding markets, draining its remaining reserves as creditors seek redress

Salwa Baalbaki 21 April 2024

An Iranian 5,000 Rial note. Sky-high inflation is still causing lots of problems, despite growth figures being buoyed by oil.

Shutterstock

Tehran's press mourns Iran's economy... with worse to come

High inflation and low productivity are but two of the concerns being voiced by Iranian media outlets about the state of the country's economy, as it enters a new year.

Hanan Azizi 02 April 2024

People stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria on August 27, 2023. Anti-government protests have rocked south Syria for the past week.

Suwayda24 via AP

Bad governance is proving to be an economic liability as protests sweep Syria

The depth of anger at the government is back on show after a stop to fuel subsidies sparked fresh protests. This comes amid an ongoing economic crisis that has no end in sight.

Joseph Daher 02 September 2023

Circular 165 is, at first glance, a technical note on procedure from the embattled central bank. But its proposals to attract dollars will have immediate and far-reaching consequences.

Jamie Wignall

How an obscure bank circular will worsen Lebanon's financial crisis

Circular 165 is, at first glance, a technical note on procedure from the embattled central bank. But its proposals to attract dollars will have immediate and far-reaching consequences.

Toufic Chanbour 25 May 2023

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads the first session to elect a new president at the parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanese Parliament Fails to Elect New Head of State

The Lebanese parliament failed to elect a new head of state on Thursday to replace President Michel Aoun when his term ends on Oct. 31, signalling the likelihood of the post being left vacant as the…

29 September 2022

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell in Washington, D.C., June 2022. (Elizabeth Frantz / Reuters)

The End of Magic Money

Two years ago, I predicted in Foreign Affairs that the COVID-19 recession, coming on top of the financial crisis of 2008, would lead rich democracies to redefine the outer limits of their monetary…

Sebastian Mallaby 16 July 2022

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Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (C) reviews a military honour guard with Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on January 31, 2019.

GREG BAKER / AFP

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Pivot to China? Gulf states mull options after Doha strike

12 September 2025

Israel's attack in Qatar erodes Gulf states' trust in the US and serves as a stark reminder that they cannot depend on American security guarantees

Xiaotong Yang

A Hezbollah flag is placed in front of the shrine of Shamoun al-Safa, built within a castle in the village of Shamaa in southern Lebanon's Tyre governorate, on January 31, 2025, that was heavily damaged by Israeli bombing.

Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

Business & Economy

Trump Economic Zone plan raises eyebrows in Lebanon

11 September 2025

Many Lebanese see the project as a demographic one with economic dressings aimed at expelling the country's southern population from their lands

Souraya Chahine

Al Majalla

Politics

From Idlib to New York: Sharaa’s winding road to the UN

12 September 2025

From the plains of Idlib to the presidential palace in Damascus and now the UN headquarters in Manhattan, Al Majalla traces the Syrian president's journey to get to this historic moment

Ibrahim Hamidi

Opinion

'The Voice of Hind Rajab' shows cries for justice are only getting louder

07 September 2025

A 24-minute standing ovation at the film premiere was more than a symbolic gesture of justice for Israel's murder of little Hind, but a heartfelt cry of real anguish over the ongoing genocide in Gaza

Samer Abou Hawwach