Before I start, I would like to say a few words: war should always be condemned, no matter where it happens. Violence destroys lives, economies, and stability. I believe this conflict should be resolved through diplomacy. Since the war began on February 28, financial markets have reacted in different ways. From an economic perspective, one…

The UAE is unusual. It combines a fixed exchange rate, low taxes, and large state investment without falling into chronic instability. That makes it different from most emerging markets, which often struggle to defend their currencies, and from Western welfare states, which usually rely more on high-tax redistribution. The dirham’s link to the US dollar…

A tariff is a tax placed on imported goods. When a product enters a country from abroad, the government can impose an extra charge on it. That charge is the tariff. For example: This extra cost usually flows through the economy: Importer → Retailer → Consumer So although tariffs are officially paid by importers, they…

What is a negative interest rate? A negative interest rate means saving money no longer earns you anything.Instead of growing, your money slowly shrinks just by sitting in the bank. For example, if the interest rate is –0.5%, €1,000 becomes €995 after one year, even if you never touch it. Banks experience the same thing.…

External Constraints: Reserves, Swaps, Risk Premium (Why Turkey’s external financial structure limits monetary policy effectiveness) 5.1 Net International Reserves (NIR) So in that sense Turkey’s usable reserve buffer is much smaller than Mexico’s, when simply comparing gross figures. As of late October 2025, Turkey’s gross reserves reached a record high of approximately $198.44 billion, driven largely by…

When we hear the word debt, we usually think of something negative, something to eliminate as soon as possible. But for countries, debt works differently. Governments use borrowing as a tool to manage the economy, invest in growth, and respond to crises. The key question is not “Does a country have debt?” (they all do),…

The conflict over TikTok began around 2019–2020, when the U.S. government under Donald Trump claimed the Chinese-owned app was a national security threat. Officials argued that since TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based in China, it could be forced under Chinese law to share U.S. user data with the Chinese government. To prevent this, Trump…

Every year, the Nobel Prize in Economics tells a story about how our world works. In 2025, that story was about innovation, the restless force that keeps economies alive. This year’s award went to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt, three economists who spent their careers trying to answer a timeless question: why do…

Can trade growth really be called a recovery when it’s driven by fear of tariffs? In early October 2025, the global economy witnessed three rapid-fire events that reshaped the outlook for world trade. On October 7–8, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that global trade growth in 2025 is stronger than expected, driven by AI-related demand and companies importing…