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Algeria Cash Collapse
...With the plunge in hydrocarbon prices Algeria’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $35bn to $143bn in 2015 from a peak of $194bn in 2013, the IMF said on 14 March. The cause is not hard to fathom: Algeria’s oil and gas export revenues fell by 41% to $35.7bn in 2015 from $60.3bn in 2014 (ME...
Volume: 59Issue: 11Published at Fri, 18 Mar 2016 -
Oman Downgrades Threaten Bond Issue
...4.07bn ($10.6bn) in the first 11 months of 2015, compared to a small surplus of OR233mn ($606mn) in the same period of 2014. This compares with an earlier forecast of the deficit for 2015 at OR4.50bn, as projected by the Oman Finance Ministry in early January (MEES, 8 January). Revenue in the first 11 mo...
Volume: 59Issue: 09Published at Fri, 04 Mar 2016 -
S&P Downgrades GCC Ratings On Back Of Tumbling Oil Prices
...AN: GDP CRUNCH S&P lowered its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Oman to BBB- from BBB+, indicating moderate risk. The agency projects that the Sultanate’s “GDP per capita will fall to $14,600 in 2016 from $20,500 in 2014, while the annual average increase in...
Volume: 59Issue: 07Published at Fri, 19 Feb 2016 -
Iran Sets Out FDI Strategy As Foreign Cash Starts To Trickle In
...urced from abroad, given the crash in oil prices. Revenue from Iran’s petrochemical exports is second only to oil export revenue. State-owned National Petrochemical Company (NPC) expects to steadily raise output of petrochemical products, from 44mn tons for 2014-15, to 47mn tons in the current Ir...
Volume: 59Issue: 07Published at Fri, 19 Feb 2016 -
Morocco: QP Boost
...major’s share to 45%. Moroccan state Onhym retains 25%. Chevron signed up to explore the three virgin blocks in early 2013 (MEES, 1 February 2013). It undertook 2D seismic in 2014 and 3D last year. Chevron’s entry – the first major in the Moroccan offshore – was followed by BP (MEES, 18 Oc...
Volume: 59Issue: 06Published at Fri, 12 Feb 2016 -
Egypt: Is Gulf Cash Enough To Counter Gas Collapse?
...ough since the first half of last year, standing at $1.1bn, with $900mn overdue at the end of 2015. The number has risen since the end of 2014, when it stood at $920mn. Total receivables were $3bn at end-2015, according to official Egyptian figures, up from $2.7bn at the end of October. The firm ha...
Volume: 59Issue: 06Published at Fri, 12 Feb 2016 -
The $100bn-Plus Cost Of Syria’s Civil War
...bn. This is almost as large as Syria’s pre-war GDP, the Bank notes in its latest Mena Quarterly Economic Brief. In addition, damage caused by the war to the “capital stock” in Syria between 2011 and 2014 was estimated at $72bn, the World Bank said, quoting a report by the local Syria Center for Po...
Volume: 59Issue: 06Published at Fri, 12 Feb 2016 -
Saudi Deficit Financing ‘Straightforward,’ For Now
...x). Indeed, if SAMA’s reserves continue to be drawn down at the $120bn rate they were in 2014 they will be exhausted by the end of 2020. According to the 2016 budget decree, foreign borrowing options are also considered in order to avoid crowding out credit to the private sector. The in...
Volume: 59Issue: 06Published at Fri, 12 Feb 2016 -
Kuwait’s Budget Deficit Set To Soar As Spending Continues Despite Subsidy Cuts
...venue (KD740mn for 2016-17) which is allocated to Kuwait’s ‘Reserve Fund for Future Generations’. For the 2014-15 fiscal year Kuwait posted a deficit of KD2.31bn, the first deficit since 1999-2000. Mr Salih says that as Kuwait has large financial reserves it has yet to feel the full force of the co...
Volume: 59Issue: 05Published at Fri, 05 Feb 2016 -
GCC: More Debt Planned
...With oil prices 70% down on their 2014 peak, GCC member states Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are reported to be considering tapping global markets to make up for loss of oil revenue. Saudi Arabia, which currently enjoys adequate fiscal buffers, is not in a great hurry to hit the bond market. Th...
Volume: 59Issue: 05Published at Fri, 05 Feb 2016 -
Algeria’s Oil & Gas Revenues Plunge 41% In 2015
...Algeria’s oil and gas export revenues, which account for around 95% of the total, have fallen by a whopping 41% in 2015 to $35.72bn from $60.3bn in 2014, as a result of the crash in oil prices, according to statistics published by the Algerian Ministry of Finance. MEES number-crunching in...
Volume: 59Issue: 04Published at Fri, 29 Jan 2016 -
IMF: Saudi Fiscal Reforms A Positive Step, More Needed
...pressing economic growth in the private sector and curtailing non-oil economic activity, as many companies in this sector depend on public sector spending. The IMF therefore expects growth in 2016 to average 1.2% and rise to 2% in 2017, down from 2015’s 2.8% and 2014’s 3.5% (MEES, 22 January). Ad...
Volume: 59Issue: 04Published at Fri, 29 Jan 2016 -
IMF Downgrades MENA, Saudi Growth; Is It Enough?
...untries for which the IMF published growth forecasts in its six monthly WEO between 1999 and 2014, there were 220 instances where an economy grew in one year before contracting the next. How many of these 220 instances had the IMF flagged up by April of the preceding year? Precisely zero. ...
Volume: 59Issue: 03Published at Fri, 22 Jan 2016 -
Oman Raises $1bn Loan
...unge in oil prices which began in 2014 has hit Oman’s finances hard, with Oman slashing budgeted spending by 11% for 2016. Also it axed subsidies by a whopping 56% to OR400mn in 2016 and raised domestic petroleum product prices. Latest statistics from the Ministry of Oil and Gas show that wh...
Volume: 59Issue: 03Published at Fri, 22 Jan 2016 -
Egypt Aiming To Trim Energy Subsidies This Year
...pidly, hitting E£10.4bn ($1.4bn) for July-October 2015, the most recent period for which data are available, up E£8.6bn on the figure for the same period a year earlier. For 2015-16 as a whole the spending on electricity subsidies is slated to hit E£31.1bn, up from E£23.6bn for 2014-15 and E£13...
Volume: 59Issue: 03Published at Fri, 22 Jan 2016 -
IMF Approves Iraq Monitoring Program
...frastructure and assets, disruptions in trade, and deterioration of investor confidence.” Under the SMP, the authorities will cut spending in line with revenue. They will also aim to reduce the non-oil primary deficit by $20bn, or 12% of non-oil GDP between 2014 and 2016, according to the IMF. Ac...
Volume: 59Issue: 02Published at Fri, 15 Jan 2016 -
Iran Prepares To Slash Spending
...cember 2014). Oil revenue in the new budget is projected at $22bn according to Mansour Moazzami, an advisor to Mr Zanganeh, with tax revenue at $28bn. Again, there is discord, with Mr Tayyebnia saying Iran only expects to earn $20bn in oil revenue in the current year. With the imminent lifting of...
Volume: 59Issue: 02Published at Fri, 15 Jan 2016 -
Oman Slashes Subsidies In 2016 Budget, Announces Economic Reforms
...clude the impact of falling oil prices and the effect of regional and geopolitical conditions on the Oman economy, which would require suitable measures to sustain the financial situation and provide economic stability. OMAN'S 2014-2016 FINANCES (OR MN) *LATEST (JAN 16) FORECAST. SOURCE: OM...
Volume: 59Issue: 01Published at Fri, 08 Jan 2016 -
Saudis Slash Subsidies As Oil Revenue Collapses
...FICIT Actual 2015 revenue is estimated by the ministry at SR607bn ($162bn), down 15% in nominal terms from the original budget projection, with oil revenue at SR445bn accounting to 73% of total revenue, a drop from the 87% share in 2014. Non-oil revenue however increased in 2015 by 29% to hit SR...
Volume: 59Issue: 01Published at Fri, 08 Jan 2016 -
Crunch Time For GCC Fiscal Reforms
...e fiscal balance swung into deficit of 2.3% of GDP in 2014 and is expected to worsen to an estimated 22.9% of GDP in 2015, piling extra pressure on the monetary authorities to curb future increases. KUWAIT The pressure on Kuwait’s fiscal and external positions remains contained and ma...
Volume: 58Issue: 52Published at Wed, 23 Dec 2015