The Baltic economic miracle has turned out to be an illusion, reports Eva-Luise Schwarz. 

On November 3, Ilmars Rimsevics, governor of the Bank of Latvia, met with anxious investors in an emergency conference in London, and assured them that Latvia was not going the way of Iceland.

In March, Georgia’s Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told emeafinance that the issue of the separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be resolved “in the next few months”....

HSBC’s new head of international banking, Tony Mahoney, tells emeafinance’s editor Julian Evans the bank is ready for a “substantial move” into Central & Eastern Europe (CEE).

The real estate projects in Dubai get ever bigger and more extravagant. But an investigation into corruption and concerns over liquidity are threatening the market’s image. Will Rankin and Julian Evans report.

In August, the first war for a decade took place in Europe, as Russia invaded Georgian territory. Since then, Russia has faced its worst financial crisis since the 1998 debt default. emeafinance editor Julian Evans looks at the economic costs for Russia of its military adventure in Georgia.

Tomas Fiala grew up fighting the Komsomol during Czechozlovakia’s Velvet Revolution. Now he is the majority owner of Dragon Capital, Ukraine’s most successful investment bank, but he’s still fighting for investors’ rights, writes Benjamin Seeder in Kiev.

With a landmark Eurobond tucked under its belt, an accelerating stock market and first oil production just two years away, Ghana is well positioned to tap the new capital required for its banking sector, writes Kevin Godier.

Kazakhstan’s beleaguered banking sector is getting back on its feet, thanks to increased activity by state banks, and growing levels of FDI, report Shayla Walmsley and Julian Evans.

Egypt’s reformist government is grappling with the dilemma of fighting inflation while cutting a growing deficit. However, in the capital markets, Egyptian companies are expanding and becoming MENA regional champions. Julian Evans reports from Cairo.

As Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar compete to become centres of finance, London is steadily establishing itself as an alternative, writes
Julian Evans.

As new players enter the Kuwaiti banking market and the central bank tightens lending rules, existing domestic players are increasingly
looking abroad, writes Clare Dunkley.

Boosted by a wave of reforms and foreign investment, Turkish banks are confident that they can weather the current climate of slowing growth and rising interest rates and resume their rapid growth. Of course, there will be winners and losers. And privatisation is still to come, writes Bernard Kennedy in Ankara.