Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Why we’re relatively downbeat on the Saudi economy In its latest Article IV for Saudi, the IMF painted an upbeat picture of the economy. However, as we outline in this Watch, there are good reasons to think that growth may slow over the coming years. 5th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Dubai equities fall following upgrade to EM status Dubai’s equity market tumbled earlier in the month following the upgrade by MSCI from “frontier” to “emerging” market status. Stocks in Abu Dhabi and Qatar (which were also upgraded) fell too, but to... 28th May 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Growth in the Gulf diverges It looks like economic growth accelerated further in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar over the first few months of the year. In Saudi Arabia, this was supported by a rebound in the oil sector, while... 21st May 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update What might an al-Sisi presidency hold in store for Egypt’s economy? Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the leader of last summer’s “second revolution”, looks set to sweep to victory in Egypt’s presidential election, scheduled for 26th - 27th May. In this Watch, we take a closer... 8th May 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Inflation in the Gulf may be reaching a bottom A drop in food inflation has caused inflationary pressures to ease across much of the Gulf over the past twelve months. But inflation may now be bottoming out. Food inflation is set to pick-up again... 1st May 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update UAE and Qatar equities rally ahead of MSCI upgrade Equity markets in the UAE and Qatar have rallied in the past month ahead of their upgrade to emerging market status by MSCI. By contrast, the Egyptian stock market has had a relatively disappointing... 29th April 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Inflation follows different paths in Saudi Arabia and the UAE Inflation has followed very different paths in the Gulf’s two largest economies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in recent months. In Saudi, consumer price inflation has continued to fall... 24th April 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook Outlook brightens in North Africa, but Gulf growth to slow After a torrid few years, the outlook for the North African economies is brightening. Political tensions are easing and the provision of external financial support has shored up balance of payments... 23rd April 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Regional growth picking up Growth in the MENA region’s major economies appears to have accelerated in recent months. Our GDP tracker points towards a pick-up in growth in the Saudi economy at the start of the year, and timely... 20th March 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Oman: fiscal policy set to provide less support to growth The rapid rise in Omani government spending in recent years has caused the budget surplus to narrow sharply and, if we’re right in expecting oil prices to fall over the coming years, the budget... 6th March 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Morocco and Tunisia yet to benefit from euro-zone recovery In spite of their strong trade and financial ties to the euro-zone, Morocco and Tunisia have, so far at least, seen little benefit from the recovery there. Admittedly, inflows of foreign direct... 19th February 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Could devaluations be on the cards in the non-oil economies? Some of the largest falls in emerging market currencies in recent weeks have come in countries where exchange rates are tightly managed and foreign exchange reserves are low. On this basis, the MENA... 13th February 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Is Tunisia really on the path to recovery? It’s still early days, but we think that political developments in Tunisia over the past few months provide reasons to be optimistic about the country’s economic outlook. 11th February 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update IMF deals and Gulf aid spare MENA’s non-oil producers In spite of their large current account deficits, the MENA region’s non-oil economies have stayed out of the spotlight during the recent turmoil in EM financial markets thanks, it seems, to IMF... 30th January 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egyptian financial markets rally on hopes for political stability The Egyptian stock market has rallied in recent days amid growing optimism about the prospects for political stability. The recently approved constitution paves the way for elections to take place... 29th January 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack MENA financial markets shrug off broader EM concerns The MENA region’s financial markets have come through the latest bout of turmoil in EM markets relatively unscathed. Most equity markets have dropped back, although their losses have been small when... 27th January 2014 · 1 min read
