Kamal Tabikha

Jubilant football fans have vowed that “everything is possible” as Egypt and Morocco set their sights on World Cup glory. The Arab world is united in support of the triumphant teams as they each prepare to face two of the tournament favourites to keep their footballing dreams alive. Egypt earned a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Australia to make the last-16, before Morocco swept aside Canada 3-0 to clinch a place in a second consecutive World Cup quarter-final.

When the Egyptian pound rebounded last week to trade above 50 per US dollar for the first time since March, market officials and analysts celebrated it as a sign the country’s prolonged economic stabilisation efforts were gaining traction. The numbers seemed to support the optimism. By the end of the week, the currency had surged more than 7 per cent against the dollar since early May, making it the world's best-performing currency over that period, Bloomberg data showed.