Reading list
The best business newsletters in the Middle East for 2026
The newsletters founders, operators and allocators in the Gulf actually open.
By Nisha Varman · Founding Editor, SilQRoute Times ·
Editor's note. This is a curated reading list from the SilQRoute Times desk in Doha, not a reader survey. Inclusions are opinion. Tell us what we missed and we will keep updating it.
The Gulf has gone from underreported to overreported in five years. Most of the new coverage is parachute journalism, written from New York or London by people who passed through Riyadh for a week. Below is a short list of the ones we actually open, all written by people who know the region.
Where the newsletter sits behind a paywall, we have flagged it. Where it is free, click through and subscribe.
No. 01
FT Middle East
Financial Times · Daily coverage, plus a weekend wrap
The deepest English language coverage of the region in any legacy outlet. The FT's Gulf bureau covers sovereign wealth, energy and politics with named sources and access at the top. Behind a paywall, and worth it.
Best for: Sovereign wealth and policy
No. 02
Semafor Gulf
Semafor · Twice weekly
Semafor's Gulf newsletter is the cleanest weekly read on the region's politics and business, with the Semafor 'separate fact from analysis' format that other outlets are still copying. Free.
Best for: A clear weekly digest
No. 03
Bloomberg Middle East
Bloomberg · Daily
Bloomberg's regional coverage is strongest on capital markets, IPOs and the day to day of the Gulf bourses. Pair with the Bloomberg terminal if you have one, or use the website edition for the headlines.
Best for: Markets and IPOs
No. 04
AGBI (Arabian Gulf Business Insight)
AGBI · Daily and weekly digests
A Gulf focused business publication out of London and Dubai with deep beat reporting on aviation, construction, energy and tourism. The free newsletters are a useful corrective to Western parachute coverage.
Best for: Sector beat reporting
No. 05
Wamda
Wamda · Weekly
The reference outlet for the MENA startup ecosystem. Funding rounds, founder interviews, ecosystem analysis. If you are in venture in the region, you already read it. If you are not, start.
Best for: MENA startups and venture
No. 06
Smashi Business
Smashi (Anthill Studios) · Daily short video, podcast and newsletter
Dubai based business media brand built around short form video, a podcast network and a daily newsletter. Strong on regional founder stories, consumer business and the wider GCC entrepreneurial scene. The format is closer to a streaming network than a traditional newsroom, which is part of the point.
Best for: Founder stories and consumer business
No. 07
Lucidity Insights
Lucidity Insights · Periodic deep reports
Less a newsletter, more a steady drip of long form research reports on emerging markets technology, with a strong MENA and Africa lens. Good for the longer view.
Best for: Long form research
And ours
SilQRoute Times is written from Doha for the corridor: the Gulf, South Asia and the Mediterranean cities that connect them. Weekday briefings, a Friday long read, named sources. The newsletter we wished existed when we sat in meetings between Doha, Singapore, London and Lagos.
Pair us with two of the above and you have a strong Gulf reading roster for 2026. Subscribe free, or see our list of the best geopolitics newsletters for 2026 for the global layer.
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