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Iran Slashes Cash Handouts In Bid To Balance Books
...dent critic of the Ahmadinejad administration, said last year that only 3% of privatization transactions under the program to sell off state assets were “real deals” (MEES, 21 March 2014). ...
Volume: 58Issue: 32Published at Fri, 07 Aug 2015 -
Jordan Taps Bumper Aid; IMF Praises Energy Policy
...11 Egyptian revolution and discontinued in early 2014. As a result the National Electric Power Company (Nepco) had to shift to the more expensive liquid fuels, raising the company’s debt to JD4.6bn ($6.5bn) by end-2014 (MEES, 3 April). But with international oil prices having halved over the last ye...
Volume: 58Issue: 32Published at Fri, 07 Aug 2015 -
SAMA Plans More Debt
...evious four months of 2015, local investment bank Jadwa reported in its July update on the kingdom. Growth in credit to the private sector rose by 12.1% in 2013, 11.9% in 2014 and a projected 10.4% in 2015....
Volume: 58Issue: 32Published at Fri, 07 Aug 2015 -
UAE Takes The Lead In Scrapping Energy Subsidies
...nsumption of diesel and gasoline averaged 63,000 b/d and 73,000 b/d respectively in 2014. For 2014 as a whole the discount of pump prices for gasoline and diesel to international prices in effect cost the UAE authorities some $970mn. The Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc), the retailer owned by the Du...
Volume: 58Issue: 31Published at Fri, 31 Jul 2015 -
Algeria Ducks Decisive Action With Supplementary 2015 Budget
...beit modest, cut falls on the capital budget, which is reduced by 2.8% (see table). The effect of weaker oil prices on Algeria’s fiscal balance is palpable, with the latest trade figures showing a deficit of $7.78bn, compared with a surplus of $3.17bn for the first half of 2015 (see table). The 2014...
Volume: 58Issue: 31Published at Fri, 31 Jul 2015 -
Saudi Taps Domestic Market For $4bn Amid Soaring Deficit
...gh oil prices put the country in a position to maintain spending despite the decline in oil revenues, Mr Mubarak says. But these surpluses are gradually being eroded. Saudi net foreign assets fell to $680bn at end-May, down $66bn, or 9% from their August 2014 peak of $746bn (MEES, 3 July). Sa...
Volume: 58Issue: 29Published at Fri, 17 Jul 2015 -
SEC Seeks Expansion Cash
...e exploring all options available in the debt market.” SEC last year issued SR4.5bn ($1.2bn) of sukuk and $2.5bn of international bonds to help fund its expansion program. Two previous Sukuk raised $2bn in 2013 and $1.75bn in 2012 (MEES, 31 January 2014). Like all regional state-owned ge...
Volume: 58Issue: 29Published at Fri, 17 Jul 2015 -
Iraq To Slash 2016 Investment Budget
...an 90% of total Iraqi revenues (MEES, 20 March). 2015 REVENUES BELOW BUDGET, WAY DOWN ON 2014 This year’s federal budget forecast is based on 3.3mn b/d of oil exports at an average price of $56/B – implying revenue of $67.5bn, down 20% on 2014’s $84.1bn takings. Iraqi crude export revenues hi...
Volume: 58Issue: 29Published at Fri, 17 Jul 2015 -
Iran Fronts Syria $1Bn
...pport to Syria has been essential since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, which began in early 2011. It continues to offer a lifeline of economic support in the form of oil supplies and credit. In 2014 Iran’s oil deliveries to Syria ranged between 50,000 b/d and 70,000 b/d, probably free of charge (ME...
Volume: 58Issue: 29Published at Fri, 17 Jul 2015 -
Kuwait Posts First Deficit In 15 Years
...KUWAIT Kuwait Posts First Deficit In 15 Years For the first time since 1999-2000, Kuwait has posted an “actual” budget deficit. The KD2.31bn ($8.0bn) deficit for fiscal year 2014-15 after transfers to state reserves is almost entirely due to the $22/B fall to $81/B in the average pr...
Volume: 58Issue: 28Published at Fri, 10 Jul 2015 -
Egypt Squeezes Spending In Bid To Tame Deficit
...P for the 2014-15 financial year that ended on 30 June; for 2013-14 it was almost 13% (see graph). The revised budget now projects a deficit of E£251bn ($32.4bn), down from E£261bn in the earlier draft, with spending of E£864.5bn trimmed by E£20bn, with half of the cuts coming from the salaries bu...
Volume: 58Issue: 28Published at Fri, 10 Jul 2015 -
Oman Budget Deficit Soars For 2014, Could Quadruple This Year
...OMAN Oman Budget Deficit Soars For 2014, Could Quadruple This Year Oman has posted a budget deficit of $2.75bn, 3.4% of GDP, for 2014, up more than 11-fold on 2013. With oil prices so far this year averaging $18/B below the $75/B on which the 2015 budget is based, the deficit could ba...
Volume: 58Issue: 27Published at Fri, 03 Jul 2015 -
Jordan Taps Bond Market, But Syria Conflict Weighs
...arantee principal and interest on Jordanian sovereign bonds. The first was inked in 2013 for a bond of up to $1.25bn, the second in 2014 for up to $1bn, and the third in 2015 for up to $1.5bn (MEES, 5 June). When the third agreement was signed, the US said the guarantee is part of a broader US commitment to...
Volume: 58Issue: 27Published at Fri, 03 Jul 2015 -
Saudi Savings Fall
...ril and $66bn (9%) from their August 2014 peak of $746bn. With the kingdom’s (and Opec’s) policy of maximizing market share rather than cutting output to support prices, Saudi Arabia’s oil revenue is likely to remain at relatively-subdued levels for some time to come. And while the Saudi go...
Volume: 58Issue: 27Published at Fri, 03 Jul 2015 -
Qatar Stares Deficit In The Face
...mpares with previous forecasts in December 2014 of 7.7% and 7.5% respectively. The latest forecasts are broadly in line with the IMF’s latest forecasts of 7.1% for 2015 and 6.5% for 2016 contained in the latest update to the fund’s MENA Regional Economic Outlook, released last month. If spending is ke...
Volume: 58Issue: 26Published at Fri, 26 Jun 2015 -
Slow Start For Saudi Stock Market Opening To Foreigners
...abia was the only country among the G20 which barred foreign investors from its stock market. Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy in the Middle East with a GDP estimated at $750bn in 2014, has a stock market capitalization at more than $590bn. With modest trading in the first week of opening the ma...
Volume: 58Issue: 25Published at Fri, 19 Jun 2015 -
Iran’s Fragile Banking Sector Under Threat From Government Rate Directives
...monopolies,” he says, hinting at the large state entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and bonyads (charitable organizations involved in business activities) which play a dominant role in the economy. Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in January 2014 cr...
Volume: 58Issue: 24Published at Fri, 12 Jun 2015 -
Egypt Taps Bond Market For First Issue In Five Years
...del Fatah al-Sisi took office in 2014 and the launch of economic reforms which accompanied the inflow of aid and investments from the Gulf states. In March the international business community gave the country its nod of approval at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm al-Shaikh with pl...
Volume: 58Issue: 24Published at Fri, 12 Jun 2015 -
IMF $833Mn Iraq Loan
...nk chief ‘Ali ‘Allaq. “Mainly because of the violence” Iraq’s GDP contracted by 2.1% in 2014 and will only recover modestly by 0.5% in 2015, the IMF says. This is despite this year’s sharp uptick in crude output and exports – with both hitting all-time highs last month (see p2). As a result of...
Volume: 58Issue: 24Published at Fri, 12 Jun 2015 -
US Backs Jordan Loans
...r Jordan, which had previously issued US-guaranteed sovereign bonds worth $1bn in 2014 and $1.25bn in 2013 (MEES, 15 August 2014). With the guarantee now in place, the Jordanian government is gearing up to issue its $1.5bn bond in the second half of June, Jordanian finance ministry official ‘Izz al...
Volume: 58Issue: 23Published at Fri, 05 Jun 2015