Middle East & North Africa

22 March 2022; MEMO: The details of Egypt's recent currency devaluation and economic conditions went viral on social media yesterday, following an announcement by the Central Bank that it has raised interest rates alongside the devaluation of the Egyptian pound. After the announcement, the US dollar traded at 18.25 pounds, after standing at 15 pounds for the past few years.

22 March 2022; MEMO: A full-fledged Burn Treatment Centre opened on Tuesday at a mega hospital in the Turkish metropolis, Istanbul, with its Chief of Medicine calling it Europe's largest, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking at the Centre's opening ceremony at Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital, Dr. Nurettin Yiyit, said: "Today, we are opening this Centre to be the biggest in Europe."

"At the same time, we're also opening a Centre that is ideally prepared to treat burn patients from across the world," he added.

22 March 2022; MEMO: An Abu Dhabi wealth fund has agreed to invest about $2 billion in Egypt by buying state-held stakes in some companies, including the country's leading private-sector bank, Commercial International Bank (CIB).

ALGIERS, Mar 23 (NNN-APS) – Algerian and Chinese companies, yesterday, signed an agreement to establish a joint venture for an integrated phosphates project, with an investment budget of seven billion U.S. dollars, Algeria’s energy giant, Sonatrach said, in a statement.

23 March 2022; MEMO: Former Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, warned Gulf states of the West's exploitation of their wealth without taking into consideration the region's interests.

"The West forgets the Gulf states, does not treat them as equals, or on the basis of common interests, and does not remember them except when it has an urgent need," Sheikh Hamad said on Twitter.

CAIRO, Mar 23 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt’s cabinet, yesterday, approved a draft budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023, which begins on July 1, with an expected 6.1 percent deficit.

Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, told the cabinet meeting, the new budget was restructured in light of the global and domestic economic developments, said a statement issued by the cabinet.

AMMAN, Mar 23 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordan held governorate and municipal council elections yesterday, with strict measures in place, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The final turnout of the local elections was 29.6 percent, with more than 1.36 million votes collected, in 1,850 polling stations across the kingdom, according to a statement released by the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Precautions were taken to ensure social distancing, and unvaccinated voters were not allowed to cast their ballots, according to the IEC statement.

22 March 2022; MEMO:Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, has claimed that Israel is attempting to displace and drive Christians out of the Middle East, in a move to pose as the protector of the religious minority in the region.

22 March 2022; MEMO: Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday, called for halting Israel's looting of Palestinian water resources, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"How long will the world remain silent about the fate and life of our Palestinian people being held hostage by the [Israeli] occupier through its racist practices and its control over our resources and our legitimate rights?" Abbas said in a speech marking World Water Day.

22 March 2022; MEMO: Several organisations and parties supportive of the Tunisian President have expressed their rejection to the policies applied by the authorities of Carthage. They criticised the status of disregarding and not consulting them, considering that the online consultation project promoted by Kais Saied has "failed".