At the wake of ongoing violence over the past few years, an approximate number of 20,000 Iraqi doctors have escaped the country, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Health Ministry warned. Since 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) crossed the Syrian bord

Sovereign long-term commercial borrowing in the Middle East and North African (MENA) could increase by 25 per cent to $136 billion in 2019 after falling 38 per cent in 2018 to $109 billion, S&P Global Ratings said on Sunday.

While in 2018, higher oil prices and fiscal consolidation measures in the GCC countries significantly reduced GCC sovereigns' funding needs, in 2019, lower oil prices will not support a further reduction in GCC fiscal deficits, the report said.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Mena economy, will be the largest borrower in 2019 with $29 billion, or 22 per cent of gross commercial long-term borrowing in the region as a whole. The next largest borrower will be Egypt ($28 billion; 20 per cent of the total).