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Will 2018 Be A Boon Year For Middle Eastern IPOs?
...aged a healthy comeback in 2017. The planned listing of Saudi state-energy giant Aramco has dominated discussions on the outlook for regional IPOs in 2018. But even if this is delayed into 2019, this year looks to have a healthy pipeline, with the UAE and Egypt to the fore. The value of Middle Ea...
Volume: 61Issue: 07Published at Fri, 16 Feb 2018 -
Egypt Raises $4bn Bond
...Egypt has raised $4bn from a Eurobond, the Finance Ministry announced on 14 February. The bond, three times oversubscribed, had been in the pipeline since October (MEES, 20 October 2017). The issue consists of three tranches: $1.25bn of five-year paper with a yield of 5.58%; $1.25bn of 10...
Volume: 61Issue: 07Published at Fri, 16 Feb 2018 -
Iraq Reconstruction Donors Pledge $30bn
...$5bn, could prove toxic with Mr Abadi’s Shia base given Ankara’s support for Kurdish and Sunni political groups. WAR SCARS REVEALED Mr Abadi claimed in early 2017 that Islamic State damage totaled $35bn (MEES, 10 March 2017), but the destructive operation to liberate Mosul and th...
Volume: 61Issue: 07Published at Fri, 16 Feb 2018 -
Will 2018 Be Year Of Recovery For Egypt Independents?
...vestment. Egypt oil output slumped to a 35-year low of 629,000 b/d in 2017, with output from the Gulf of Suez, where smaller firms predominate, falling even more rapidly (see charts and MEES, 1 December 2017). Signs that 2018 will see an uptick in spending come from capex plans of Canadian-listed Gulf of...
Volume: 61Issue: 06Published at Fri, 09 Feb 2018 -
Kuwait Budget Deficit Set To Shrink In 2018-19 As Oil Prices Recover
...ding. A new cabinet was appointed in December after the previous body resigned in the face of parliamentary opposition (MEES, 15 December 2017), but Minister for Social Affairs and Labor Hind al-Sabeeh already faced a no-confidence vote this week – albeit one she survived easily. National Bank of Ku...
Volume: 61Issue: 05Published at Fri, 02 Feb 2018 -
Algeria Notches Up $11bn 2017 Trade Deficit; Total Since 2015 Hits $45bn
...geria cut its trade deficit by a third to $11.2bn in 2017. But dwindling oil output and higher domestic consumption mean that last year’s 23% increase in oil prices only translated into a 16% increase in export revenue. Export revenue continues to almost exclusively mean oil and gas revenue. Hy...
Volume: 61Issue: 04Published at Fri, 26 Jan 2018 -
Iran’s Leadership Moves To Downsize IRGC’s Dominant Role In The Economy
...ash the number of Iranians receiving monthly cash subsidies of $11/person from 71 million to around 41 million (MEES, 15 December 2017). The commission also recommended setting a ceiling of 18% for pay increases; banning increases in tariffs, duties and costs of services provided by some branches of...
Volume: 61Issue: 04Published at Fri, 26 Jan 2018 -
Has Egypt’s Economy Turned The Corner? Time Will Tell
...18 has been a good one for Egypt, with news that revenue from two pillars of its economy, the Suez Canal and tourism, hit three and five-year highs respectively in 2017 (see charts). Tourism revenues collapsed in 2016 to $2.69bn after Moscow issued a travel ban to Egypt in the wake of the No...
Volume: 61Issue: 03Published at Fri, 19 Jan 2018 -
Jordan: Cash Handouts Amidst Reforms
...rough public works and subsidies (see p8). At the same time, the 2018 budget shows the government is attempting cut down its troubling deficit by 28.9% (MEES, 1 December 2017). To accomplish this Jordan is attempting to push through IMF-supported tax hikes intended to halt growing debt. Implementing st...
Volume: 61Issue: 03Published at Fri, 19 Jan 2018 -
Algeria Bans Imports In Latest Move To Curb Deficit
...geria has knocked $2bn off the expected deficit in its final 2018 budget. But the final figure of AD1.914bn ($16.9bn at the budget exchange rate of $1=AD113.5; $16.6bn at the latest actual rate of $1=AD115) still represents a rise of over 70% on an expected 2017 deficit of $9.6bn. Some scope for a su...
Volume: 61Issue: 02Published at Fri, 12 Jan 2018 -
Saudi: $13bn Handouts
...crease in the kingdom’s tax take (MEES, 22 December 2017). Tax revenue was slated to rise by $12bn, thanks to the introduction of VAT at 5% from 1 January as well as a hike to road fuel and electricity prices (MEES, 5 January). But, in the face of popular protest, Saudi Arabia is to counter the im...
Volume: 61Issue: 02Published at Fri, 12 Jan 2018 -
Algeria Forex Reserves Slump Below $100bn For First Time In 10 Years
...ude prices rising by around $10/B over the last three months of 2017. The country’s finance ministry projects that this rate of decline will ease over the coming years, with reserves stabilizing at around $76bn in 2020. The IMF is considerably more bearish – albeit in forecasts made in July, be...
Volume: 61Issue: 01Published at Fri, 05 Jan 2018 -
Saudi Foreign Reserves*
...ARE ON TRACK FOR A $45bn (8.4%) 2017 DRAWDOWN... ...BUT, HAVING FALLEN BELOW $500BN FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2011 IN MAY, THEY HAVE SINCE STABILIZED AT JUST SHY OF THIS LEVEL ($bn) *SAMA NET FOREIGN ASSETS ($BN, END PERIOD). ^FORECAST BASED ON DATA TO END-NOV. SOURCE: SA...
Volume: 61Issue: 01Published at Fri, 05 Jan 2018 -
Oman Plans Cut To 2018 Spending In Bid To Trim Deficit
...at there is a good chance that oil and gas revenues – forecast at 71.4% of the total for 2018, down from 73.5% for 2017 – will overshoot. The budget’s low-looking $50/B oil price assumption is less than the average Omani figure for 2017 of $52.30/B – around $2.20/B below Brent. If Omani crude av...
Volume: 61Issue: 01Published at Fri, 05 Jan 2018 -
Jordan’s Finances Get $800mn USAID Boost
...pport Fund for Jordan for 2017. The minister says this will be used to fund priority projects in the 2017 budget and thus help cut the fiscal deficit. The US is also providing Jordan with $337mn in financial assistance to support economic development and improve social services. This takes total US no...
Volume: 61Issue: 01Published at Fri, 05 Jan 2018 -
Saudi 2018 Budget Delays Austerity To Jump-Start Flat Economy
...onomic stimulus alongside planned economic reforms will facilitate non-oil sector growth – a key pillar of Vision 2030. The 2018 budget was launched on 19 December. In an accompanying statement the kingdom stated that the economy contracted 0.5% in 2017. An economy mired in the doldrums would ce...
Volume: 60Issue: 51/52Published at Fri, 22 Dec 2017 -
Iran Struggles To Attract Finance As Trump Ramps Up The Pressure
...ong more than 30 foreign companies that have qualified for oil and gas projects in Iran since sanctions were eased, the much touted re-opening of Iran’s oil and gas sector to IOCs is at risk of stalling. Iran was hoping to have signed three deals with IOCs under its new IPC terms by March 2017 (ME...
Volume: 60Issue: 51/52Published at Fri, 22 Dec 2017 -
Saudi Powers Ahead With Reform Plans
...halve its budget deficit to $42.5bn for 2017 – but this is due to higher oil prices rather than any new policies from Riyadh. Non-oil revenue, the ‘holy grail’ of Vision 2030, is expected to grow by only $1.2bn or 2.4% this year (MEES, 24 November). Riyadh’s ideas for broadening its economy ra...
Volume: 60Issue: 50Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017 -
Iran Cuts Budget Sharply For 2018-19
...Iran unveiled its draft 2018-19 budget this week. On the surface it’s relatively unchanged from the current year (2017-18), with modest revenue and spending gains penciled in. But, with the IMF pegging inflation at 10%, the budget is in effect sharply reduced in real terms. The new budget co...
Volume: 60Issue: 50Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017 -
Tunisia Oil Output Rebound From Protests, Fundamental Problems Remain
...nisia, for whom their operations in the country were a key or the only asset, have either quit the country or gone bankrupt. The number of active permits fell to 31 at end-2015 and a mere 21 as of end-October. Ireland’s Circle went bust at the start of 2017 (whilst Canada-listed SDX bought Circle’s Egypt an...
Volume: 60Issue: 49Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2017