Motorsports, and Formula One in particular, is a major growth area in the Middle East, attracting billions of dollars in investment from some of the biggest local investors. emeafinance editor Julian Evans talks to Simon Azzam, CEO of Union Properties, about the motorsports boom, and Union Properties’ own multi-billion-dollar investment into it.

With over 20 new MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa funds set up in the last 18 months, are African stocks getting over-valued? Julian Evans reports.

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.

Mohammad El-Erian is co-CEO of Pimco, the largest bond investor in the world. A former deputy director of the IMF, and world expert on emerging markets, El-Erian here writes exclusively for emeafinance on why a reformed IMF has a critical role to play in saving the global economy from its present crisis.

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.

Racing driver and entrepreneur David Richards has been working in motorsports for 30 years, winning world rallies as a driver, running rally and Formula One teams as a manager, and setting up and managing companies as an entrepreneur. He is a pioneer in bringing motorsports to the Middle East, having set up  the first ever rally series in the Middle East when he was just 25.

Ukraine needs to pull out all the stops in its preparations for the Euro 2012 football championship, 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.