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REGION NOTES
Mobile license auction
Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority opened bidding last month for a third license to operate a mobile network. The island’s telecommunications regulator is looking for an experienced operator to join the two incumbent mobile companies, Bahrain Telecommunications Company and Zain. The deadline for bids is November 13.
Low cereal harvest
Tunisia’s cereal harvest fell from 2 million tons in the 2006-07 harvest to 1.2 million tons in 2007-08, the agriculture minister announced on September 20. He attributed the 40-percent drop in the harvest to unfavorable weather conditions. Over the past decade, harvests have averaged out at 1.7 million tons per year.
Tunisia bought 1.7 million tons of wheat in 2007, spending $616.7 million on these purchases. The North African country has already purchased 1.8 million tons of wheat in 2008, and the agriculture minister predicted that it would buy a total of 1.9 million tons for the year.
Saudi Arabia tops rankings
Saudi Arabia took the top spot in the “Doing Business 2009” report’s “Ease of Doing Business” category for the Middle East and North Africa region. The kingdom rose eight spots globally, moving from 24th to 16th place. The World Bank and International Finance Corporation release the “Doing Business” report annually, ranking countries’ economies according to the “ease of doing business” by looking at 10 different categories, including employment and access to credit.
Of the 181 countries in the study, Saudi Arabia was number one for “Registering Property,” while its worst performance was in the “Enforcing Contracts” category, where it fell to 137th place.
Goat plague vaccinations begin
Morocco announced last month that it would begin a vaccination program for its entire goat and sheep populations in response to an outbreak of “goat plague” that has troubled the country since the summer, with the first case suspected to have been in June. The virus affects mainly goats and sheep, although it can also infect other livestock such as cattle. Morocco has 5 million sheep and 17 million goats, and at least 2,100 of these have died, while a minimum of 4,400 additional animals have become sick.
The Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned in an August report that the increased sale of sheep during Ramadan and Eid Al Adha could exacerbate the problem. “Without proper control mechanisms, these movements could contribute to and accelerate the spread of the virus regionally,” the report said.
Forex reserves up
Algeria’s foreign exchange reserves reached $133 billion at the end of June. This figure is 21 percent higher than the $110 billion in foreign reserves that the North African country held at the end of 2007. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was quoted last month as saying that this money would be used for developing Algeria’s economy, rather than investing in a sovereign wealth fund as some other petroleum-producing states have done.
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