Bahrain's FM warns Strait of Hormuz closure pushing millions into poverty - jpost.com
More than 75% of new poverty across the Arab region is concentrated in the Levant, a subregion the UNDP defines to include Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, and Syria, where an estimated 2.85 to 3.29 million additional people face falling below the poverty line. Iraq, Al-Yaseri told *The Media Line*, is a consumer country, not an agricultural or industrial one. The Bank of Israel cut its 2026 GDP growth forecast to 3.8% from a previous 5.2% in its March 30 assessment, describing t