Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed Qatar’s long-term rating at AA and short-term rating at A-1+ but revised its outlook to negative because of evidence of growing external indebtedness in a report issued on 3 March. “The negative outlook reflects…
Tag: MEED
Middle East to borrow $136bn in 2017
Middle East and Northern African (MENA) sovereign borrowing will total $136bn in 2017, S&P Global Ratings says in a new report. That will be 20 per cent down on the figure recorded in 2016. In 2017, $28bn of MENA sovereigns’ gross…
Trump’s energy agenda defined
President Trump has declared he will free the US oil and gas industry to increase output, reduce climate action laws and end American dependence on OPEC and “any nations hostile to our interests” in his first energy policy statement. “The…
Saudi Arabia gives green light to its nuclear energy plan
Saudi Arabia this week announced that it has given the go ahead for work to being on the kingdom’s nuclear energy plan, the second in the Arab world after Abu Dhabi where nuclear power is due to start this year.…
Higher oil to lift Qatar economy in 2017
Higher oil prices will boost Qatar’s economy by more than 10 per cent in 2017 though non-oil growth will continue to be sluggish, a report published by the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) shows. This will lift government income and…
The dawn of the Al-Falih era for world oil
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih is the new king of global oil In a confident performance at the Atlantic Council Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi today, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih targeted the legions of sceptics questioning the kingdom’s…
Russia Syria plan calls for divided state
Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years according to an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran reached earlier this month. Reuters reported today…
Arab leaders hope Trump will make their new year wishes come true
Reviled by Western liberals and dismissed by foreign policy specialists, Donald Trump is being viewed with favour by leaders of the Arab world’s most powerful nations. In an interview with the The Financial Times published today, Egypt’s President El-Sisi welcomed Trump’s…
GCC construction projects market down one-third in 2016
The GCC projects market is expected to record at best $120 billion worth of contract awards in 2016, down at least a third on 2015 levels and well below what was initially forecast, as low oil prices severely impact government…
NBK says Bahrain to recover in 2017
The Bahraini economy will recover in 2017 on higher oil prices and non-oil output, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) says in a report released today,. “Real GDP growth is poised to hold in 2016 on signs of resilience in the non-oil…