Featured · Economy
The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook has the world economy accelerating to 3.1 percent growth in 2026, but it has cut its Middle East and Central Asia forecast into outright contraction. The gap between those two numbers is the real story.
Markets
Speaking in Singapore ahead of the IMF and World Bank's annual meetings, Kristalina Georgieva told governments plainly that growth alone will not fix their balance sheets anymore. Global public debt is closing in on 100 percent of GDP, bond yields are at multi-decade highs, and the IMF's message has shifted from warning to deadline.
Economic strategy
A regional war that sent oil above 100 dollars a barrel would once have been enough to knock the Saudi economy off course entirely. This time, reserves held near 490 billion dollars, non-oil activity kept expanding, and the IMF signed off on the result. The resilience did not happen by accident.
Real Estate
UBS ranks Dubai fourth out of 23 cities on its Global Real Estate Bubble Index this year, just below the high risk band occupied by Zurich and Tokyo. The same report also says a skilled worker needs only five years of income to buy an apartment near the centre, a third of what it takes in Hong Kong. Both numbers are describing the same market.
