Middle East & North Africa Economics Focus Qatar: A year on from the blockade One year after the diplomatic crisis surrounding Qatar first erupted, the economy appears to have weathered the storm. An escalation of the crisis remains the key threat to the economic outlook, but... 7th June 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook A sluggish recovery The recovery in the Middle East and North Africa should continue over the coming months but growth is likely to be weaker than most anticipate. The rebound is being led by the Gulf as the drag from... 19th April 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Qatar: banking strains ease, but credit to stay weak Qatar’s banking sector has weathered the worst of the impact of the blockade. But tight external financing conditions and a need to deleverage mean that credit growth will provide less of a prop to... 14th March 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Market turmoil fails to derail Egypt’s dollar bond sale Egypt defied the recent turmoil in global financial markets and issued $4bn of international bonds earlier this week. The sale was three times oversubscribed and the issuance was split into three... 15th February 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Qatar’s economy weathering diplomatic crisis The latest data from Qatar reinforce the picture that the economy has weathered the diplomatic crisis with regional powers. That said, hopes for a resolution to the crisis have been dashed by events... 24th January 2018 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Qatar: worst of the blockade impact appears to be over Recently-released GDP data confirmed that the blockade on Qatar dealt a blow to its economy in June, but more timely data suggest that the worst has now passed. That said, any recovery is likely to be... 24th October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Regional growth slows further The raft of GDP data released over the past month showed that growth across the Middle East & North Africa continued to slow in Q2. Our weighted-average measure of regional GDP expanded by 1.4% y/y in... 20th October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf likely to shrug off calls for deeper oil output cuts Oil policy in the Gulf has been thrust back into the spotlight after the Saudi government disclosed details of Aramco’s export allocations for November. But there is less to this than meets the eye... 12th October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook Turning the corner Growth across the Middle East and North Africa has slowed further this year, but it should recover in 2018 and 2019. In the Gulf, the drag on GDP growth from this year’s oil production cuts will fade... 5th October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi downturn deepens, blockade hits Qatar’s economy Official GDP data show that the contraction in Saudi Arabia’s economy worsened in Q2 and our GDP Tracker suggests that downturn deepened further at the start of Q3. We expect a recovery to get... 2nd October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Saudi Arabia returns to the international bond market Saudi Arabia returned to the international bond market this month in order to plug its twin budget and current account shortfalls. A total of $12.5bn of dollar debt was issued, split into three... 28th September 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Qatar: worst of the blockade hit may now have passed The latest evidence suggests that the hit to Qatar’s economy from the diplomatic crisis with regional powers is starting to fade. Even so, a quick diplomatic solution to the crisis appears... 21st September 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Qatar crisis reaches an impasse The diplomatic crisis between Qatar and regional powers seems to be in deadlock. Saudi Arabia and its allies revised their demands in July to something that appeared to be more palatable for Doha, but... 24th August 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update MENA equities continue to struggle Equity markets across most of the emerging world have risen over the past month but those in the Middle East and North Africa have fallen back, continuing their underperformance this year. Stocks in... 23rd August 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Qatar’s diplomatic crisis: the economic hit so far The early evidence suggests that the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and regional powers dealt a damaging, but apparently brief, blow to Qatar’s economy. 15th August 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Strains in Qatar’s markets ease There is growing evidence that the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and regional powers has (at least temporarily) hurt Qatar’s economy, but there are also signs that tensions in the country’s... 31st July 2017 · 1 min read
