Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly MENA Weekly: Israel-Iran fears, Red Sea investment, Saudi Q1 GDP Worries of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran and/or its proxies drove a jump in oil prices on Wednesday, but the fallout for the oil market and, in turn, the Gulf economies should be limited... 12th June 2025 · 8 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update MENA PMIs: a soft year ahead for Gulf non-oil sectors May’s batch of PMIs across the Gulf point to a softer Q2 for non-oil sectors and the backdrop of lower oil prices will likely result in less fiscal support and weaker confidence that add to the... 4th June 2025 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Rapid Response Egypt Consumer Prices (May 2025) Egypt’s headline inflation rate climbed from 13.9% y/y in April to 16.5% y/y in May, the fastest pace since January, and while we expect the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to continue its monetary... 4th June 2025 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Rapid Response Egypt Interest Rate Announcement (May) The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cut its overnight deposit rate by a smaller-than-expected 100bp today, to 24.00%. But as inflation continues to ease over the coming months, we still think there’s... 22nd May 2025 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Israel-Iran, Egypt’s MPR, Morocco secures UAE investment Rumours that Israel could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities suggest that conflict in the region could escalate. But there are reasons to think that the fallout for the oil market, and therefore the... 22nd May 2025 · 7 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly MENA Weekly: Trump’s trip tips the Gulf towards the US President Trump’s visit to the Gulf has led to a raft of deals, totalling nearly $1trn, with more likely in the offing. While Saudi Arabia’s ‘security for oil’ pact that underpinned strong relations... 15th May 2025 · 8 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack (May '25) Our Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack has been updated with the latest data and our analysis of recent developments. The decision by OPEC+ to follow up May’s faster rise in oil production with a... 15th May 2025 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Focus Trump arrives in a much-changed Middle East Donald Trump has arrived in the Middle East and changes in the power and influence of the region’s actors mean that he will find a very different region to the one during his last visit in 2017. Iran... 13th May 2025 · 14 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly MENA Weekly: Egypt’s new budget, Saudi fiscal tightening & real estate Egypt’s draft FY2025/26 Budget reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fiscal austerity which should put the public debt-to-GDP ratio on a downwards path. Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s government... 24th April 2025 · 7 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt’s interest rate cuts have a lot further to go The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decided to cut interest rates on Thursday and we think monetary conditions will be loosened a lot further than most expect over the course of this year. That said... 22nd April 2025 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly MENA Weekly: OPEC+, Saudi-US nuclear talks, Egypt-Qatar investment OPEC+’s new compensatory cuts appear to a sign of the larger Gulf states seeking to regain market share from the group’s overproducers. But a renewed fall in oil prices could derail these plans... 17th April 2025 · 6 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack (Apr. '25) Our Middle East & North Africa Economics Chart Pack has been updated with the latest data and our analysis of recent developments. The direct impact of Trump’s trade war on the region is likely to be... 16th April 2025 · 0 mins read
Climate Economics Update Major tests for IMF climate deals in Egypt and Pakistan The IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facilities with Egypt and Pakistan will incentivise policymakers to implement climate adaptation and mitigation policies. That said, both countries still need... 14th April 2025 · 3 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Rapid Response Egypt Consumer Prices (Mar. 2025) Egypt’s headline inflation rate increased to 13.6% y/y in March, but we still expect policymakers at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to deliver the first interest rate cut in nearly five years at the... 10th April 2025 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update MENA PMIs: a soft end to Q1 March’s batch of PMIs across much of the Middle East and North Africa came in softer as worries about a global trade war weighed on activity. Those concerns will have only mounted in the wake of... 7th April 2025 · 3 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly MENA Weekly: Egypt’s budget laid out, Saudi spending cuts Egypt’s FY2025/26 Budget outlined that the overall budget deficit will remain large, but that’s due to high interest payments. The government is committed to continuing to run a large primary surplus... 27th March 2025 · 6 mins read
