This paper utilizes the Kalman filter approach to examine the impact of the Iraq war on the country betas of 11 equity markets in the MENA region. The Kalman filter model allows the country beta to vary over time conditional on the interaction with Iraq war dummy in the transition equation. The...

The short term economic outlook for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains "cautiously pessimistic". A combination of civil wars and refugee inflows, terrorist attacks, cheap oil, and subdued global economic recovery is expected to keep average growth in the MENA region around 3...

Plagued by war, violence and low oil prices, economic activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained subdued between 2013 and 2015, but the situation is expected to improve and growth to surge above 3 percent over the forecast period. Though still below potential, the...