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Saudi Arabia Doubles Deficit Forecast For 2025
...reseeable future, but strong economic growth in recent years means that as a share of GDP, the deficits are expected to be considerably less than over the 2014-2020 period. By way of comparison, this year’s forecast $65.3bn deficit is comparable with 2017’s $63.6bn figure. But while the 2017 deficit was eq...
Volume: 68Issue: 40Published at Fri, 03 Oct 2025 -
Saudi Arabia Revises Down Mid-Term Revenue Expectations
...ands at $96.20/B, with speculation that this means the kingdom needs to target an oil price of around $100/B (MEES, 27 September). What this ignores is that Saudi Arabia has only achieved a surplus once since 2014 – during 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted oil markets (see chart 1) – and ye...
Volume: 67Issue: 40Published at Fri, 04 Oct 2024 -
Hopes For Libyan Unity Fade In Wake Of Flooding Disaster
...untry’s east since 2014 (MEES, 22 May 2020), the flooding disaster has offered an opportunity to leverage the new state of emergency to empower his sons and support their political ambitions, further strengthening the Haftar family’s grip on eastern Libya. The ailing 79-year-old patriarch, who an...
Volume: 66Issue: 41Published at Fri, 13 Oct 2023 -
LNG Drives Record Qatar Export Revenues
...nths. As a result of this lag, August’s LNG prices were set by oil prices from March and April. These were the first months since 2014 when Brent crude averaged in excess of $100/B, and with monthly prices peaking at $117.5 in June, Qatar could well secure further revenues gains in September and Oc...
Volume: 65Issue: 41Published at Fri, 14 Oct 2022 -
Algeria’s Economic Rebound: Can It Seize The Moment?
...I and diversify the economy? Algeria is set for its first trade surplus since 2014 as higher oil and gas prices coupled with a boost in export volumes drag its economy out of an abyss. If the latest estimates from Algerian officials prove correct, a surge in exports to $37.5bn is set to result in...
Volume: 64Issue: 41Published at Fri, 15 Oct 2021 -
Iraq’s Economy Teeters Despite Q3 Revenue Rebound
...ll below 3mn b/d for the first time since 2014 (see chart). If one sums up the extent of Iraq’s economic woes, it is that $43bn is far short of the $50bn earmarked this year for the bloated public sector’s ‘salaries and pensions’ alone (MEES, 8 May). Given Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s pr...
Volume: 63Issue: 41Published at Fri, 09 Oct 2020 -
Will Saudi Geopolitical Crisis Derail PIF Plans, 2030 Vision?
...sinesses do ultimately retrench from doing business with Saudi Arabia, who could fill the void? Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world’s two largest oil exporters, have been forming closer ties since the collapse of the oil price in 2014; they now coordinate production under the ‘Opec+’ format. The Russian Di...
Volume: 61Issue: 43Published at Fri, 26 Oct 2018 -
Can A New Government Salvage Iraq’s Economy?
...idar al-Abadi did in 2014 when Islamic State (IS) was running rampant (MEES, 26 September 2014). The next PM will, however, have to deal with the reconstruction following the devastating conflict with the group, and that is going to cost a lot of money. As much as $88bn. The next government wi...
Volume: 61Issue: 41Published at Fri, 12 Oct 2018 -
Saudi Steps Up Spending In Bid To Boost Economy
...e 2014 oil price collapse, the Saudi government has more recently turned to debt markets. This enabled foreign reserves to rise to an 18-month high of $510bn at end-August, though this is still well down on its August 2014 peak of $746bn (see chart MEES, 5 October). Having raised $21.5bn in 20...
Volume: 61Issue: 40Published at Fri, 05 Oct 2018 -
Algeria Reverses 2017 Austerity In Free-Spending 2018 Budget
...15 2014 2013 REVENUE (AD BN) 6,497 +15.3 +10.4 +36...
Volume: 60Issue: 41Published at Fri, 13 Oct 2017 -
Riyadh Stays Positive
...Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim al-‘Assaf painted a positive picture of the kingdom’s financial position during a seminar in Riyadh on 25 October. Despite oil prices remaining around $50/B, less than half 2014’s levels, the minister said “we have managed to maintain our public finances in a go...
Volume: 59Issue: 43Published at Fri, 28 Oct 2016 -
Algeria Gets Real With $50/B 2017 Budget Oil Price
...the same period a year earlier which in turn was 40% below 2014 levels. An indication of just how dependent Algeria is on hydrocarbons is that even with the revenue collapse oil and gas still provided 94% of export revenue: the figure was 97% in 2014. Algeria recorded a trade deficit of $14bn in...
Volume: 59Issue: 41Published at Fri, 14 Oct 2016 -
Gulf Equity Markets: Change Is Afoot
...itical mass. But UAE markets are now much more developed than in 2008. The investor base is more sophisticated, including an openness to international investors, especially after the country’s inclusion into the MSCI and FTSE emerging markets indexes. IN FROM THE FRONTIER In May 2014, global in...
Volume: 59Issue: 41Published at Fri, 14 Oct 2016 -
IMF Praises Iran’s Planned Reforms, But Implementation Is Questionable
...) 2013 January 42 July 54 2014 June 62 2016 Ju...
Volume: 59Issue: 40Published at Fri, 07 Oct 2016 -
UAE Cuts Federal Budget By 4% For 2016
...d $1.21trillion in total assets as of end-June, up by a healthy $136bn on October 2014, according to the US-based SWF Institute. This is almost 18% of global holdings, the largest single national share. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is by far the UAE’s largest such fund with $773bn in reserve as...
Volume: 58Issue: 44Published at Fri, 30 Oct 2015 -
Oil & Gas Subsidies Costing Saudi 11% Of GDP, Says IMF
...SAUDI ARABIA Oil & Gas Subsidies Costing Saudi 11% Of GDP, Says IMF The implicit cost of subsidized petroleum products and natural gas prices in Saudi Arabia was $83bn or 11.1% of GDP in 2014, the IMF says in a recent paper setting out its arguments for the need for energy price re...
Volume: 58Issue: 43Published at Fri, 23 Oct 2015 -
Iran Unveils Stimulus Package To Boost Growth
...a mere 0.8% for 2015 down from 4.3% for 2014, Mr Rohani’s first full year in office. The country will this year record a fiscal deficit equivalent to 2.9% of GDP, the IMF projects. To be fair to Mr Rohani, the more than halving of oil prices over the last 15 months is largely to blame. The IMF pr...
Volume: 58Issue: 43Published at Fri, 23 Oct 2015 -
Egypt: New Central Bank Chief Faces Foreign Currency Crisis
...e end of 2014-15 by $2bn to $48.1bn. The cost of servicing the external debt – medium and long-term – stood at $5.6bn, of which $4.9bn represents instalment payments and $700mn interest charges. The debt/GDP ratio at the end of 2014-15 fell to 15% from 16.4% the previous year. Domestic debt stood at...
Volume: 58Issue: 43Published at Fri, 23 Oct 2015 -
Egypt: Desperately Seeking Finance
...ere has been a turnaround in economic performance with policies to reign in the budget deficit and the inflow of Gulf cash since mid-2013. But though GDP growth rose to 4.2% for the 2014-15 fiscal year which ended on 30 June, with the IMF projecting 4.3% for the current year, there are serious ch...
Volume: 58Issue: 42Published at Fri, 16 Oct 2015 -
Iraqi Cash Shortage Deepens As Bond Issue Pulled
...port volumes of 3.05mn b/d for September, Iraq pocketed a mere $3.69bn for the month’s crude exports, less than half monthly takings for the first half of 2014 (see graph). Iraq received just $40.33/B for its September exports, the lowest figure since February 2009. Oil revenue accounts to around 83...
Volume: 58Issue: 42Published at Fri, 16 Oct 2015