Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Oil hits $60pb but Gulf markets continue to struggle Oil prices broke through $60pb this month, up by a third since the middle of the year, but this has failed to provide a fillip to financial markets in the Gulf. In contrast, markets in Egypt have... 31st October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update What does oil at $60pb mean for the Gulf? The rise in oil prices since the middle of the year could boost the Gulf’s oil export revenues by around $100bn, equal to 5% of regional GDP, on an annual basis. That would push current account... 30th October 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Neom: is Saudi Arabia about to repeat past mistakes? Plans announced today by the Saudi government to construct a huge new economic city, called Neom, have grabbed the headlines but the Kingdom has poor form when it comes to implementing mega-projects... 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 Economics Update What next for the Iran nuclear accord? The spotlight has turned back on to Iran’s nuclear deal in recent days with President Trump expected to refuse to certify that Iran is still compliant with the accord. There remains a lot of... 6th 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 Data Response Whole Economy PMIs (Sep.) September’s PMI data suggest that non-oil sectors in the Gulf slowed a touch in September, although the surveys remained above their mid-year lows. Meanwhile, Egypt’s PMI suggests that its recovery... 3rd 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 Gulf markets get no boost from higher oil prices Financial markets in the Gulf economies have performed poorly in the past few weeks despite the sharp rise in oil prices. Equity markets have actually fallen back and, in some countries, dollar bond... 27th September 2017 · 1 min read
Frontier Markets Wrap Oil price jump fails to lift markets in oil exporters The jump in oil prices, from $51pb at the start of September to around $59pb at the time of writing, should provide a fillip to the large frontier oil economies, such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and... 26th September 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack EM recovery continues at the start of Q3 The latest activity data from EMs suggest that the economic recovery continued at the start of Q3. Consumer spending has continued to pick up across most regions, while both industrial production and... 13th September 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt’s tourism recovery likely to be slow-going After a dreadful few years, Egypt’s tourism sector has shown tentative signs of a recovery. Government hopes that the sector can quickly return to its pre-2011 heyday are well wide of the mark, but a... 13th September 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Trade Monitor EM export slowdown to be very gradual Having slowed in Q2, emerging market (EM) export growth ticked up a little at the start of Q3. However, this is likely to be temporary and EM export growth is set to soften over the remainder of the... 12th September 2017 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Emerging Markets Capital Flows Monitor (Aug.) Net capital outflows from emerging markets slowed a bit in August, but the big picture is that they remained low by recent standards. Portfolio inflows weakened from the highs recorded earlier in Q3. 8th September 2017 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Data Response Whole Economy PMIs (Aug.) August’s whole economy PMIs for the MENA region suggest that recoveries in non-oil sectors in the Gulf have regained some momentum, while Egypt’s economy has picked up on the back of stronger external... 6th September 2017 · 1 min read
