Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt: interest rates on hold, further tightening unlikely The Egyptian central bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold today appears to confirm that July’s rate hike was a one-off in response to higher inflation following the government’s recent... 1st September 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Dubai's GREs slowly tackling their debt problems Over the past month Dubai’s government-related entities (GREs), which were at the heart of the Emirate’s crisis in 2009, have made further efforts to tackle their huge mountains of debt. The recovery... 28th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf’s stock market rally loses steam Equity markets in the Gulf have been among the best performers in the world over the previous year, but they’ve flat-lined during the past month. The one exception is Saudi Arabia, where the stock... 19th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt's banks unlikely to support the economic recovery There are growing hopes that the recent return to political stability in Egypt will trigger a revival in bank lending to the private sector. But we think this optimism may be overdone. A heavy burden... 12th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Weaker Saudi credit growth could be here to stay The past few months have brought further evidence that credit growth is coming off the boil in parts of the Gulf. As we explain in this Watch, there are reasons to think that this could prove to be... 7th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Fall in Egypt’s PMI doesn’t signal end of recovery The fall in Egypt’s PMI in July was disappointing in light of the recent improvement in the hard activity data. However, the bigger picture is that the economy is stronger than it was a year ago... 5th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook North Africa getting back on its feet Three years on from the “Arab Spring” uprisings, the tide is turning in favour of the economies of North Africa. Admittedly, there are still many challenges, not least reining in large twin current... 31st July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Signs of recovery in North Africa Following a difficult few years, the latest data have provided further evidence that things are improving in North Africa. It looks like growth in both Tunisia and Egypt accelerated over the first... 29th July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Further signs that Egypt’s economy is strengthening Having struggled over the past few years, the Egyptian economy has rebounded at the start of 2014 and a number of indicators suggest that growth in Q2 may have been the fastest since early 2012... 23rd July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt hikes interest rates as inflation looks set to rise sharply The Egyptian central bank’s surprise decision to hike interest rates today appears to have been in anticipation of a sharp rise in inflation over the coming months. This follows the government’s... 17th July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt’s subsidy cuts a good first step but still more to be done The package of energy subsidy cuts unveiled by the Egyptian government over the weekend is a positive first step towards tackling the country’s gaping budget deficit. Further reforms will be needed to... 7th July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Egypt: growth picks up in Q1 as investment rebounds Q1 GDP data published earlier today showed that Egypt’s economy has continued its gradual recovery from last summer’s “second revolution”. And there were some encouraging signs that easing political... 30th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Focus Five priorities for Egypt’s new government With Egypt’s presidential election now out of the way, policymakers’ attention has turned to reviving the struggling economy. In this Focus, we outline five areas which we think need to be addressed... 26th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Dubai equities on the slide The Dubai equity market has fallen sharply over the past month amid concerns that the Emirate’s real estate sector is becoming another bubble. Elsewhere, spreads on Egypt’s dollar-denominated bonds... 24th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Iraq crisis raises contagion fears The unfolding crisis in Iraq has cast a shadow over the region, causing equity markets to tumble. As it happens, the largest MENA economies have only limited trade and financial ties with Iraq... 19th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Growth alone won’t fix Egypt’s dire public finances There are growing hopes that the gradual recovery in the Egyptian economy will help to bring the dire public finances on to a more sustainable path. But while we think this will have some impact, in... 16th June 2014 · 1 min read
