Economics and Policy
Egypt’s planning minister has said the government expects to reach a final agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan within two weeks, the state news agency MENA reported.
Cypriot Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis has said his country was seeking to increase its cooperation with Lebanon in gas and oil exploration, adding that the demarcation of the Exclusive Economic Zone should be pursued rapidly.
Lebanon’s Finance Ministry and Central Bank mulled a new medium-term policy to manage public debt in a meeting Thursday, a statement said.
The current level of oil prices is not harmful to the global economy and on the contrary supports energy investments, the secretary general of oil exporting group OPEC said on Thursday.
Companies and Business
Rosneft and ExxonMobil agreed to bid jointly in a tender for offshore Lebanon oil and gas, Russia's state-owned company president, Igor Sechin, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
The Association of Banks in Lebanon has lashed out at the bank workers’ union, accusing employees of making unrealistic demands as they gear up for more protests.
Total has not been selected to develop Abu Dhabi's multibillion-dollar Bab sour gas project, the chief executive of the French oil major has acknowledged.
