By Dian L. Chu, EconMatters There were some interesting developments coming out of Libya that It seems behind the scenes a transitional government is already being put in place, and contracts are being signed for the resumption and export of Oil to Libya`s trading partners. Rebels Making Oil Deal The finance minister for the Libyan opposition, a University of Washington lecturer Ali Tarhouni who returned to Libya nearly a month ago to help the opposition, told reporters that Libyan rebels have signed a deal with Qatar to market their crude oil abroad in exchange for food, medicine and fuel. In late March, Tarhoni also said the rebels, who were at the time in control of all the country's eastern oil facilities, expected to begin exporting crude "in less than a week". ...

By Dian L. Chu, EconMatters Speaking through a telephone call to state television, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi delivered quite a defiant tirade on Sunday, March 20 vowing a 'long war to victory' and pledged retaliation against the international military action descended upon Libya.  Many military experts have suggested that the number of troops loyal to Gadhafi could be fewer than 10,000, and argued that Gadhafi will not last long at all. Moreover, US and European governments have imposed sanctions and frozen Libyan assets worth billions of dollars, including the central bank, sovereign wealth fund and state oil company cutting off funding for further  support activities....unless Gadhafi has a hidden pot of gold or two somewhere As it ...

By Bob van der Valk The other shoe will drop in world oil markets this week after coalition forces headed by England, France, Canada and the U.S. attacked Libya over the weekend in an attempt to topple the Quaddafi regime. Crude oil prices may increase $10 a barrel and fuel prices by 25 cents per gallon. This is based on the possibilities as Moammar Quaddafi vows 'a long war' and will avenge the bombings with retaliatory terrorist acts on other countries’ oil fields. The price of gasoline and diesel per the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report is:...

The Copts, Egypt's Christian minority with a population numbering in the millions, has taken on a fair amount of importance in recent years as the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the Middle East, in the Middle Eastern and Arab country with the largest population and the greatest amount of cultural and political heft. This potted history gets the details.The Copts, an indigenous Christian

By Bob van der Valk March 5, 2011 We are in the middle of world events that may result in the eventual break-up of the 'Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC), which is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries, made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela (See Chart). OPEC is considered a cartel with most of its members controlled by varying forms of essentially autocratic system of governments. The U.S. imports crude oil from many other countries, but three OPEC members are still among the top five of countries from which we directly receive shipment of that precious commodity. Here is how they rank per the latest report from the ...

By Dian L. Chu Thanks to Muammr Gaddafi’s airstrikes near a Libyan oil terminal, and protests in Iran adding to the continuing chaos in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), on Wednesday, March 2, Brent oil settled at its highest level since August 2008 at $116.35 a barrel, while WTI futures on NYMEX also advanced to $102.33 per barrel. Peace by Chavez? However, crude oil retreated on Thursday, March 3 after Al Jazeera reported that Gadhafi had accepted a plan proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for a multinational commission to mediate the conflict with rebel groups. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said between 850,000 and 1 million barrels a day (bpd) of ...

The large numbers of refugees crossing from Libya into Tunisia or Egypt has been prominently featured in international news media. Over at BAG News photographer Alan Chin has a couple of photoessays from the border-region up (1, 2), the below evocative picture being located at the second post.A very high proportion of these refugees aren't Libyan citizens, but rather, immigrants of greater or

By Dian L. Chu Crude oil market has been on a wild roller coaster ride ever since riots started escalating in Egypt and Libya. The latest Libyan supply disruptions sent WTI futures surging above $103 a barrel in New York on Thursday, Feb. 24, while Brent oil in Europe was also closing in on $120 a barrel. However, both oil markers retreated mostly due to traders scrambling to reposition when NYMEX and ICE boosted margin requirements on oil futures as crude traded above $100 a barrel. Furthermore, the news that Saudi officials are in talks to supply refineries with oil from spare capacity to bridge the gap caused by Libya also seemed to have calmed market ...

The outsourcing industry is ever volatile and can be subject to the political and economic whims that threaten a country. While sometimes unrest in a country may have little effect on a call center services outsourcing hub, as when unrest in the Philippines made headlines last year and its current state now, it can also still have a negative effect on outsourcing; with Egypt’s unrest and uncertainties, its plans to emerge as a sought after call center hub may have now been threatened.

Currently leading the global call center outsourcing market in terms of revenues, the Philippines is one of the preferred destinations for call center outsourcing services worldwide. Business has not waned for the country, as outsourcing companies have continued expansion plans this year. The employment figure for the industry is projected to increase to 35,000 by 2015 with more companies shifting

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MENA CDS activity of late is eerily reminiscent of the risk “contagion” caused by investors questioning Dubai’s debt-servicing capabilities in late 2009 when [irrational] fear spilled-over to Abu Dhabi as well even though the latter’s fiscal integrity was never seriously in question, a fact later confirmed when it underwrote a bailout.  But if such objective measures are largely ignored in the market of default probability perception, perhaps it should come as no surprise that more nuanced, subjective ones such as the differences between the historical, social and economic dynamics of say, Saudi Arabia versus Egypt, also fail to be carefully analyzed.  Even The Economist’s latest stability rankings, for instance (see chart)–the result of ascribing a weighting of 35% to the share of the population that is under 25; 15% to the number of years the government has been in power; 15% to both corruption and

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