The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution authorizing sanctions against illegal crude exports from Libya’s militant-controlled oil facilities. The resolution, which was unanimously passed on Wednesday, allows the Security Council’s member states to inspect the ships suspected of carrying illegal crude oil from Libya in the international waters. [Libya Herald, MKA/AB]

 

Investors are celebrating; stocks have rocketed to levels last seen before the 2011 revolution while the yield on Egypt’s $1 billion sovereign bond due in 2020 hit 5.33 percent this week. But Egypt’s state finances are still getting worse and will continue deteriorating into the second half of the decade, at the very least. In that time, the ratio of public debt to GDP may rise above 100 percent, a level viewed as potentially dangerous by many economists. [Reuters]

 

Morocco is showing improvement in the social and economic sectors, according to Communications Minister Mustapha El Khalfi. Within the last two years, Morocco has addressed the economic situation and improved several indicators even though the debt level remains high at 62.2 percent, he stated. But big challenges remain given the growing needs of citizens and the difficulties experienced on the ground. [Magharebia]

 

The United Nations called on the international community to provide support for 14.7 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. “In 2014, almost sixty percent of Yemen’s population requires humanitarian assistance to meet their most basic needs,” the UN humanitarian coordinator, Johannes Van Der Klaauw said in a press release. [Yemen Times]

 

 

 

 

Egypt investors believe Sisi presidency will bring stability | Reuters

Gulf aid to Egypt geared to revolution’s side effects rather than causes | Ahram

Egypt central bank governor says foreign reserves to continue to rise | Reuters

Egypt in talks with Algeria’s Sonatrach on natural gas imports | Reuters

Analysis: Planning a comeback for Jordan’s tourism industry | OBG

Libya to utilize Jordan’s expertise in development | JNA

EIB grants Morocco MAD 1.65 billion loan | MAP

USAID in Morocco to focus work on jobless grads | Maghreb Confidential [sub-required]

Tunisia’s first entrepreneurship fair ever highlights 2014’s top challenges | Al-Bawaba

Yemen’s minister of education talks about education reforms | Yemen Post

IMF conference debates how to manage food price volatility | IMF