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Even though most Middle-Eastern and North African (MENA) countries have embarked on economic reform and structural adjustment programs, the Asian crisis of 1997 shifted the focus of such programs to financial markets. However, the lack of institutional development is a powerful obstacle to an increased access to MENA capital markets. Additionally, the region witnessed, and still, wars, political turmoil and economic instability. Consequently, MENA countries have not yet emerged as economic powers, which might explain the lack of academic research on MENA capital markets. In fact, it is unclear whether emerging markets in the MENA region respond, similarly, to economic and political shocks like other emerging markets and/or developed markets. Hence the purpose of this e-book is to fill this void in the literature and make an in-depth analysis of MENA capital markets in order to assess how they can improve their capital markets, and hence, benefit the global investor.

The objectives of the study are to identify the main financial markets and to analyze their operations under different policy regimes. It describes the structure and products of the different segments of the financial markets and traces their evolution with particular focus on the movement from a repressed financial markets regime to a liberalized one. The regulatory and prudential framework and extent of integration among the market are examined. The activities in the informal financial markets are also discussed. Apart form empirically analyzing the performance of the three major segments of the market, the implications of the adoption of a single currency in the West African sub-region on the financial markets in Nigeria are considered. (GIGA-Sbd)

This report provides answers to some frequently asked questions concerning ongoing financial disruptions and the Troubled Asset Relief Program, enacted by Congress in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.