APRNEWS - Algeria needs to focus on avoiding economic instability during its political transition after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

Jihad Azour, IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia director, also told Reuters the OPEC member should carry out reforms to help cut deficit and reduce reliance on oil and gas.

APRNEWS - Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday urged citizens to bear the pain of new taxation and other economic reforms introduced by his finance minister, in order to revive the economy.

APRNEWS - Egypt’s local banks are at risk of government over-indebtedness, data from the Institute for international Finance showed. Last year, Egypt was the world’s second-largest borrower from local banks, after China. Public debt interests to be paid in 2018 and 2019 are an average of 8% of GDP. Meanwhile, budget deficit stood at 6% of GDP. 

APRNEWS - A group of Egyptian lawmakers on Sunday criticized recent fiscal reforms enacted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, especially subsidy cuts to fuel and electricity.

APRNEWS - The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bruno Tshibala has stressed that President Joseph Kabila is not planning to seek another term in the December election as his opponents have speculated.

 AFP - Seven years since the Tunisian revolution that ignited the Arab Spring uprisings, 38-year-old Walid has no job and says people are even more hungry than they were under dictatorship.