Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt sinks further into crisis, Gulf’s prospects brightening The outbreak of violence between security forces and protestors this month has sent Egypt spiralling deeper into crisis. It’s extremely tricky to predict how eventswill unfold from here on. In the... 20th August 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi inflation likely to remain subdued Saudi inflation has eased over the course of this year, in spite of fairly robust domestic demand. And looking ahead we think price pressures are unlikely to become a major cause for concern. 15th August 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi oil sector’s drag on growth starting to ease Saudi Arabia’s activity data for June provide further evidence that the slowdown in growth over the past year or so probably bottomed out in the second quarter. The non-oil sector continues to grow at... 8th August 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt in turmoil (again) Egypt’s “second revolution” has made the outlook for the Arab world’s most populous nation highly uncertain. The economy is already extremely fragile – growth is sluggish, unemployment is high and the... 24th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How sustainable is the Gulf’s fiscal splurge? We’ve argued for some time that the Gulf economies should outperform the rest of the MENA region over the next couple of years, in large part thanks to large increases in government spending. But... 11th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt: Weak growth even before the crisis June’s PMIs fell across the whole of the MENA region. But they do not take into account the political unrest that has flared up once again in Egypt and could weigh heavily on the economy over the... 2nd July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt back in the spotlight Investors have lost even more confidence in Egypt over the past month. The equity market has tumbled and, while this could in part be related to signals by the US Fed that it will begin to taper QE3... 24th June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi economy appears to have slowed in Q1 Our Saudi Arabia GDP tracker suggests that the economy slowed to around 3.5% y/y in Q1. Encouragingly though, there are tentative signs that the slowdown bottomed out at the start of the second... 19th June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update What would the tapering of QE mean for the MENA region? Fears that the US Fed may begin to taper its third round of quantitative easing (QE) have led to a sell-off in emerging market assets over the past few weeks. The MENA region has escaped relatively... 13th June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Fears of inflation and unrest to frustrate subsidy reform Subsidies are becoming increasingly unaffordable across the poorer parts of the MENA region. But the threat of higher inflation and social unrest is likely to frustrate efforts at subsidy reform. 11th June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Youth unemployment likely to have risen further Two and a half years on from the Arab Spring uprisings, youth unemployment in the Middle East, which was a key trigger for the unrest, remains high. In fact, we suspect it may have risen over the past... 6th June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Too early to say Egypt’s economy has turned the corner Although Egypt’s headline PMI rose sharply in May to reach its highest level in six months, we would caution against reading this as a sign that the economy has turned the corner. Meanwhile, PMIs for... 3rd June 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Tunisian dinar falls on back of IMF deal The Tunisian dinar has been one of the worst performing EM currencies over the past couple of months. Meanwhile, equity markets in the Gulf have continued to rally. 29th May 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Gulf growing at a healthy pace Growth in the Gulf economies has held up well over the first few months of this year. Admittedly, the weakness of the global economy is weighing on demand for the region’s hydrocarbon exports. But... 22nd May 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update PMIs suggest growth divisions widening April’s PMI data paint a familiar picture of continued economic weakness in Egypt and continued rapid growth in the Gulf. 7th May 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Weaker oil production to weigh on Gulf growth We expect oil production in the Gulf to remain lower this year than in 2012, which will be a drag on annual GDP growth. But even so, we don’t think it will lead to a collapse in overall economic... 2nd May 2013 · 1 min read
