Economics and Policy Bank Audi has sounded the alarm over a substantial rise in Lebanon’s public debt and budget deficit at the beginning of the year, warning against policies that could further weaken the country's financial stability. More from The Daily Star Elsewhere in Lebanon, the state energy company has promised that increased power rationing will end "very soon." More from The Daily Star Syria’s pharmaceutical industry once catered to 90 percent of the population’s needs, but a shortage of foreign currency has brought production to a near halt, a pro-regime daily reported Monday. More from AFP Kuwait's bourse extended sharp year-to-date gains in heavy trading Monday, while profit-taking weighed on bourses in the UAE and other markets were mixed. More from Reuters Economic growth in the UAE accelerated to 4.4 per cent in inflation-adjusted terms in 2012 from a downwardly revised 3.9 per cent the
