Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Inflationary pressures easing in the Gulf Recent activity data provide further evidence that the Gulf economies are slowing. The good news is that inflationary pressures are easing at the same time. This will boost households’ real incomes... 25th October 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Kuwait rate cut unlikely to boost economic growth Today’s cut in Kuwait’s benchmark interest rate will do little to boost output growth. Instead, the economy is in desperate need of political stability and progress on the government’s development... 4th October 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Gulf growth starts to slow Political conditions in Egypt have continued to improve in recent months, but the real economy is still struggling. Industrial production has stagnated and strains in the balance of payments persist... 26th September 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Middle East Markets Monitor (Aug.) On the back of ample liquidity, scarce supply and low interest rates, highly-rated bond markets in the oil-rich Gulf should continue to outperform other Middle Eastern assets in the coming months... 30th August 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack IMF comes to the rescue Concerns over the balance of payments positions of some of the resource-poor Arab countries have faded as Morocco and Jordan have secured funding from the IMF. The recent surge in global agricultural... 29th August 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Price pressures have eased across the Middle East Inflation pressures are easing in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. The drop in global commodity prices has led to a fall in food price inflation across the region. Meanwhile... 19th July 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Political chaos to hold back growth in Kuwait Kuwait’s political crisis is showing no signs of abating as former Prime Minister Sheikh Jabir bin Mubarak Al-Sabah has been reappointed only four days after he resigned. For now, tensions between the... 5th July 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Oil prices in freefall Fears for the health of the global economy have sent Brent crude prices down by more than $30 per barrel in the past month, raising fresh concerns over the sustainability of the recent fiscal packages... 22nd June 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Middle East Markets Monitor (Jun.) The escalation in the euro-zone crisis and recent falls in the oil price have weighed heavily on the Arab region’s equity markets over the past month. Indeed, even if Dubai and Qatar are upgraded to... 14th June 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Banks in the Gulf are well placed to weather the storm One of the main channels through which the euro-zone debt crisis could affect the oil-rich Gulf economies is via a drop in foreign capital inflows due to heightened global risk aversion. In particular... 13th June 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook Euro crisis clouds the outlook The combination of a deep recession in the euro-zone and the Arab world’s own political turmoil will act as a drag on the region’s economies in the near term. The North African countries are likely to... 7th June 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How will troubles in the euro-zone affect the Arab region? The primary channels through which a recession in the euro-zone will impact the Arab region are a deterioration in world trade, lower remittances, a drop in capital flows and falls in commodity prices... 7th June 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt’s elections add to vulnerabilities Early results from the first round of Egypt’s presidential election appear to have polarised society, pitting Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against the old guard. The outcome... 28th May 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Middle East Markets Monitor (May) Fresh hopes that some equity markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) had turned a corner at the start of 2012 have quickly faded. Instead, attention has turned to Islamic bond markets... 9th May 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Growing risk of fiscal crises in the oil-poor Arab countries One of the most striking – and often overlooked – developments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) following the Arab Spring has been the stark divergence in the fiscal health of the region’s... 4th May 2012 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack G7 to the rescue? The recent announcement by the G7’s Deauville Partnership that it will soon deliver on its earlier promise of a $20 billion ‘Arab Spring’ package to Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Jordan, could... 24th April 2012 · 1 min read