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Independent consulting firm CSR Lebanon held the 3rd CSR Lebanon Forum on March 18 and 19 entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Uncertainty". The fórum was attended by more than 500 leaders from the business community, government, civil society and academia. Among them, there were 30 international, regional and local corporate sustainability experts, along with chief representatives from the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All speakers and international representatives provided business cases which Lebanon can build upon to promote responsible business practices and transparent sustainability reporting.

The main suspect wanted in connection with a brazen daylight robbery of more than US$10 million (Dh36.7m) from Syrian International Bank for Trade and Finance (IBTF) has been held for questioning in Egypt. In January, $3.4m in cash, €4.75m (Dh22.8m) and 33m Syrian pounds (Dh1.7m) was allegedly stolen from the vault of the IBTF in Damascus. The bank learnt that the suspect fled Damascus to Egypt immediately after allegedly committing the crime. The suspect was arrested last month, upon the discovery by Cairo authorities that his passport was fraudulent. The bank has hired a lawyer to expedite the extradition of the suspect from Egypt.

The Economic Committee at the Shura Council is set to accept the $50m development loan from the IDB to encourage the growth of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with $320,000 set aside for logistical aid and worker training programs. Repayment will begin three years after the grace period for withdrawal. Ghadi Wali, secretary general of Egypt’s Social Fund for Development (SFD), said that the SFD will employ a number of international experts in order to review the potential outcome and effects of the IDB loan. She said that the SFD’s goal would be to distinguish between real losses and those suffered as a result of Egypt’s depreciating currency.

Iraqi Islamic Bank for Investment and Development has teamed up with a Bahrain-based Baraka Islamic Bank to develop an investment vehicle that will target Iraq's lucrative and promising food sector. The fund has already acquired interest from Arabian Gulf and European investors, prompting the Iraqi lender to increase the size of the vehicle from US$50 million (Dh183.6m) to $75m. It will provide financial support to an affiliate company of Iraqi Islamic Bank that has a three-year track record of delivering contracts on sugar stockpile to Iraq's ministry of trade.

Since the IMF deal might fail, Plan B could be the issuance of US$-denominated sukuk certificates to local Banks in turn for EGPC rights in upcoming oil/gas fields. This will be akin to monetizing production sharing rights owned by EGPC. This alternative will still require aggressive reduction in energy subsidies to ensure repayment of sukuk liabilities as they come due. The two prerequisites of Plan B success are 1) stability in the movement of FC customer deposits and 2) execution of energy sector reforms . Both actors ultimately hinge on political reconciliation.

According to Ernst & Young’s report ‘The growing crisis of affordable housing in MENA,’ regional governments need to engage the private sector to help address the growing crisis of affordable housing. Housing affordability lies at the intersection of supply side (more homes) and demand side (more financing), and to tackle the growing crisis, MENA governments need to engage the private sector on both sides simultaneously. Cities will not create quality affordable housing if the task is left purely to the private market. It is vital that MENA governments take charge of land allocation and make sure that some urban land is reserved for that purpose.

Egypt-based investment bank EFG Hermes has said its merger deal with Qatari investment company QInvest is to lapse on May 3, unless it receives long-awaited approval from Egyptian regulators. If EFG does not receive a 'no objection' from the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority in the coming days, it will be difficult to implement the joint venture agreement. A spokesman for the authority said the deal was still being studied and that a decision would be announced at the right time, declining to give any details or time frame.

UAE's Minister of Finance called upon the Arab world to invest more than US$80 billion (Dh293.84bn) in agriculture to help to bridge a widening food gap. Without investment to increase output, the shortfall in food in the region would rise from a value of $41bn in 2010 to $89bn in 2020. Poor infrastructure, instability in parts of the region and lack of investment in scientific research were among the factors why agriculture projects in the Arab world were not achieving the targeted rises in production. In an effort to help tackle food security, officials agreed to double the capital of the Arab Authority for Agriculture Investment and Development, a multilateral lender aimed at promoting investment in agriculture.

President Mohamed Morsi has referred a controversial draft law on Islamic sukuk bonds to Al-Azhar for approval. The Shura Council approved the sukuk bond law last week, stating that it would not refer the bill to Al-Azhar for approval and sending it direct to president Morsi. The law allows the state and its related entities to issue Sharia-compliant debt both locally and internationally. The Ministry of Finance expects the first sukuk issue to take place within a couple of months and to yield $1 billion by June.

After the Arab Spring, an international but Arab-led investment plan is urgently needed to deal directly with the job shortage and promote economic stability across the region. The Arab Stabilization Plan is a private sector led policy response that envisages a multilateral economic plan. It focuses on creating jobs through fast tracked, project-based investment, achieving significant returns for investors and countries alike. However, the prospect of the private sector acting alone to restore economic growth is dim. In order to ensure a safer transition and prevent further instability and the potential for extremism, there is an urgent need for investment intervention over the medium term. Through a common regional investment platform, participating countries would be able to benefit through enhanced regional economic development, stability and security.

Tunisia's government is working alongside the Islamic Development Bank to pave the way for a 1bn dinar ($700m) sukuk sale scheduled for later this year. According to finance minister Elyes Fakhfakh, it would set a benchmark for companies seeking to tap the Islamic debt markets. He said the government would target 80 per cent external investors and 20 per cent domestic. However, the lost of the investment-grade rating, slow economic growth and bank liquidity concerns may put investors off the government’s sukuk. The country is also seeking a $1.7bn loan from the International Monetary Fund to help stabilise the economy and plans to issue US government-backed bonds.

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Chairman of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation-Global and Dr. Ibrahim El-Ziq, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative to the Gulf Area, signed a memorandum of understanding “MOU” on Sunday 24th March 2013, which works for children's rights, their survival, development and protection, to support a UNICEF project to provide quality basic education for girls in Yemen. Under the agreement, Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation – Global will donate US$250,000 to 15 schools. According to the one year agreement, the targeted schools will be become more child friendly, with new educational policies at local and national levels.

The Arab League yesterday approved a Qatari proposal to set up a $1 billion fund for Arab East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of an independent state under any peace deal with Israel. Qatar's Emir Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, said his country will contribute $250 million to the fund which will be managed by the Islamic Development Bank. The Fund is to finance projects and programmes that will maintain the Arab and Islamic character of the city and reinforce the steadfastness of its people.

The takeover of EFG-Hermes Holding SAE (HRHO), Egypt’s biggest investment bank, by Qatar’s QInvest LLC is mired in delays almost a year after the transaction was agreed. The deal is set to expire on May 4 unless it receives a so- called no objection from Egypt’s regulator on the transfer of its assets to Qatar. The terms of the deal include a four Egyptian pound per share dividend once it is complete. However, EFG-Hermes’s co-chief executives are defendents on charges of illicit gains. Therefore, it is expected that the deal will not go through before the lawsuit is finalized.

Iraqi Islamic Bank (IIB) has completed the required capital increase set by the Central Bank of Iraq to a fully paid IQD 152 billion ($130 million). In line with its expansion policy, the Iraqi Islamic Bank will be opening its new north branch in northern of Iraq Erbil in April, taking the branch network to a total of 17. IIB was the first private Islamic Bank in Iraq, opening its doors in 1992.

Panelists at the 2nd Annual PPP Investment Summit called the new sukuk law ‘quantum leap’ towards introducing Sharia-compliant products to the Egyptian market. It was confirmed at the Summit that seventeen upcoming Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects will be financed using sukuk. The Ministry of Finance is considering using sukuk to finance a number of PPP projects including silos projects, developing roads, and the Ain Shams -10th of Ramadan city train line in order to link the industrial sites along the way. However, panelists explained that infrastructure projects require more than one method of financing and that there are various Islamic financing methods available.

Sustainable economic development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will depend on job creation, education, poverty alleviation, and careful environmental management. Companies have a particularly important role to play through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that align with national development objectives. In order to improve CSR as a discipline, companies and governments should follow a four-step process: Define CSR for the MENA Región, Study Current CSR Activity, Identify CSR Best Practices, and Create an Environment for CSR.

In the Middle East and North Africa, many of the region’s middle-class residents have grown dependent on their governments for jobs and services. To alter this, governments must first understand the middle class. There is, however, little information on this demographic group in the MENA region. The results of a study among 1,450 middle-class people show that for the most part, they do not believe that their home countries offer them what they need to succeed. The required strategic agenda should balance development across economic, social, and cultural parameters—and meets the expectations of the middle class in order to earn their trust.

Morocco's central bank has started talks with a body of Islamic scholars on establishing a central sharia board to oversee the country's fledgling Islamic finance industry. The board, composed of scholars and financial experts, would rule on whether instruments and activities complied with sharia principles. Moreover, the government plans to submit to parliament a bill regulating Islamic banks, which will be called participative banks under the legislation. Parliament's vote is expected by the last week of April.

The Shura Council approved the sukuk draft law during its general session on Monday. The final draft law consists of the council’s economic and financial committee proposal, the government’s proposal and the Shura Council’s joint committee proposal. The Shura Council modified 13 articles in the draft law. The final report from the committee mentioned that there are some items that have been further developed and modified. Its adjudication will be enforceable and binding on administrative authorities after approval by the Egyptian Cabinet.