Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi Arabia turns to international bond markets to plug shortfall Reports that Saudi Arabia will launch an international bond provides some clarity on how the budget deficit will be financed over the next year – as things stand, we think around 65% will come from... 10th November 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi consumer spending to weaken further as fiscal squeeze bites Despite recent media reports espousing the resilience of Saudi consumers in the face of lower oil prices, a number of indicators suggest that household spending in the Kingdom has softened in recent... 4th November 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi downgrade puts poor fiscal position in the spotlight The decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Saudi Arabia’s sovereign credit rating on Friday night is hardly surprising in light of the deterioration in the fiscal position this year and lack of a... 2nd November 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi slowdown underway Our GDP Tracker suggests that Saudi Arabia’s economy slowed in August and, with a fiscal squeeze looking increasingly likely, growth looks set to weaken further over the coming quarters. We continue... 20th October 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi Arabia’s FX reserve depletion has further to run The fact that Saudi Arabia is drawing down its foreign exchange reserves should come as little surprise given that the Kingdom is running a current account deficit and also facing sizeable capital... 28th September 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Slowdown on the horizon in Saudi Arabia Our GDP Tracker suggests that Saudi Arabia’s economy continued to grow by over 5% y/y at the start of Q3. However, this is likely to be as good as it gets for some time – we expect growth to slow over... 16th September 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How large is Saudi Arabia’s fiscal buffer? With oil prices still languishing at multi-year lows, Saudi Arabia’s budget position – which looks set to post a shortfall of close to 20% of GDP this year – has come under increasing scrutiny in... 7th September 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Buoyant oil sector supports strong growth in Saudi Arabia Our GDP Tracker suggests that Saudi Arabia’s economy continued to grow by over 5% y/y at the end of Q2, supported by strong growth in the oil sector. However, with Iranian oil set to return to the... 18th August 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Saudi Arabia Consumer Prices (Jul.) Saudi Arabian inflation remained unchanged at 2.2% y/y last month and, overall,price pressures appear to be subdued. We think this is likely to remain the case overthe next 18 months or so. 13th August 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf markets weather fall in oil prices Equity markets in the Gulf have performed better than might have been expected this month, given the fresh fall in global oil prices. Meanwhile, Egyptian stocks,bonds and the currency have all fared... 28th July 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Growth in Saudi Arabia accelerates further on back of oil sector Our GDP Tracker suggests that growth in Saudi Arabia accelerated further, to around 5.5% y/y in May, supported by strong growth in the oil sector. But with Iranian oil likely to return to the market... 21st July 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi debt issuance aimed at financial market development Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit is likely to reach an eye-watering 17.5% of GDP this year and the government has now turned to the bond market in order to help plug the gap. Some have argued that debt... 13th July 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Saudi Arabia GDP (Q1) The pick-up in Saudi GDP growth in the first quarter of this year, to 2.4% y/y, was supported by a rebound in the oil sector and robust activity in the non-oil sector. These data confirm our view that... 2nd July 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Muted reaction as Saudi stock market opens up The formal opening up of Saudi Arabia’s stock market earlier this month was adamp squib, as equities remained flat. Elsewhere, stocks in Egypt have been the worst-performers over the past month, while... 25th June 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Muted reaction as Saudi stock market opens up The formal opening up of Saudi Arabia’s stock market earlier this month was adamp squib, as equities remained flat. Elsewhere, stocks in Egypt have been the worst-performers over the past month, while... 25th June 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update A primer on how Saudi Arabia uses its FX reserves There seems to be a lot of confusion as to exactly how Saudi Arabia is using its foreign exchange reservesto finance twin budget and current account deficits. In this Update, we shed some light on the... 25th June 2015 · 1 min read
