- Sort by:
- Score
- Published ▼
-
Kuwait Subsidies Row Hampers Efforts To Cut Record Deficit
...an its neighbor’s $17.8bn shortfall (see chart and MEES, 9 September). Under the budget law, passed in July, Kuwait is set to run a budget deficit of KD8.65bn ($28.7bn) for the financial year ending 31 March 2017. This rises to KD9.68bn ($31.9bn) after a further KD1.02bn ($3.4bn), 10% of re...
Volume: 59Issue: 38Published at Fri, 23 Sep 2016 -
Iran: Government Courts Anti-Laundering Body, Spurring Conservative Backlash
...Iranian government efforts to attract foreign investment are inviting the ire of conservatives ahead of presidential elections in May 2017. The latest battleground between the Iranian government and critical conservative political elements is being formed, and it’s money laundering. An in...
Volume: 59Issue: 37Published at Fri, 16 Sep 2016 -
Qatar’s Banks Look Abroad To Boost Liquidity
...ar and with fresh supplies set to hit the market, prices look to be depressed for the foreseeable future. Some of this additional volume is slated to come from Qatar. The 1.4bn cfd Barzan project is set to come online in November and reach full capacity in the first half of 2017 according to Re...
Volume: 59Issue: 36Published at Fri, 09 Sep 2016 -
Egypt Plans VAT At 13% From 1 October
...% from July 2017, the start of the next fiscal year. Parliament wanted to introduce this tax at a rate of 12% while the government insisted on its initial plan to set it at 14%, but at the end the above compromise was reached at the suggestion of Finance Minister ‘Amr al-Garhy. The government’s fi...
Volume: 59Issue: 35Published at Fri, 02 Sep 2016 -
Iraq Cuts 2017 Project Spending
...Iraq’s Planning Ministry has axed 296 projects worth $9bn and postponed a further 2,169 worth $31bn from the 2017 investment budget in a bid to slash public spending, ministry spokesman ‘Abd al-Zahra al-Hindawi says. At the same time Baghdad needs to secure funding for some 4,500 ongoing pr...
Volume: 59Issue: 34Published at Fri, 26 Aug 2016 -
IMF Loan To Egypt Will Need To Be Supplemented With Serious Reforms
...though the country had not received any grants since last year. Mr Garhy for his part, noted that the negotiations with the IMF should be seen in conjunction with the government’s growth and reform plan for the periods 2016-17 and 2017-18, as well as that for Egypt’s 2030 vision. He acknowledged the ma...
Volume: 59Issue: 33Published at Fri, 19 Aug 2016 -
Iran Struggles To Reduce Cash Subsidies Outlay
...at those whose annual income exceeds IR350mn ($10,000) are classified as being in high income brackets and should be removed from the list by the end of the current fiscal year ending on 20 March 2017. Mohammad Nobakht, head of the Management and Planning Organization, argued then that the $10,000 cu...
Volume: 59Issue: 33Published at Fri, 19 Aug 2016 -
Algeria’s Trade Balance Worsens As Government Ponders Austerity Policy
...onomy, including renewable energy sources, agro-industries, and hydrocarbon and mining downstream industries, the cabinet statement said. The Finance Ministry projects growth at 3.5% in 2016 and 4% in 2017, under the new model. Algeria has already taken some austerity measures by cutting energy su...
Volume: 59Issue: 32Published at Fri, 12 Aug 2016 -
Saudi Reserves Down Again But Deficit Narrows
...rtial privatization of the oil giant Saudi Aramco, of which up to 5% will be sold in an IPO expected in 2017. The revenue generated is earmarked to provide seed capital for the Public Investment Fund (PIF). These planned reforms have received cautious praise from the IMF, although the extent to wh...
Volume: 59Issue: 31Published at Fri, 05 Aug 2016 -
CBI Opens Forex Free Market To Commercial Banks
...oating exchange rate system. CBI Governor Valiollah Seif, who expects to see a unification of the two-tier system by March 2017, said that commercial banks can now buy foreign exchange from their clients and trade at the free market rate. Exporters can also sell their forex earnings to banks or deposit th...
Volume: 59Issue: 31Published at Fri, 05 Aug 2016 -
Parliament Likely To Water Down Iran’s Planned Banking Sector Overhaul
...oblems in the sector, the credit crunch and the banks’ capital adequacy positions by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2017, but this looks optimistic. DEPOSIT RATES SET AT 15% At the end of June the CBI’s Money and Credit Council (MCC) lowered lending rates following a decision by pr...
Volume: 59Issue: 29Published at Fri, 22 Jul 2016 -
Algeria’s Economy: Sinking Fast Despite ‘Titanic Efforts’
...ds. PRAYING FOR OIL PRICE REBOUND Any hope of Algeria squaring the circle depends on a rapid, large and sustained rebound in oil prices. The state “anticipates hydrocarbons revenues of $35bn in 2017, rising to $45bn in 2018,” Mr Sellal says. The 2017 figure is in line with 2015 revenues when pr...
Volume: 59Issue: 29Published at Fri, 22 Jul 2016 -
World Growth Forecasts Downgraded, Again
...dia. But in a 19 July update to April’s World Economic Outlook, the IMF cut its global growth projections for both 2016 and 2017 by 0.1 percentage points compared to the April report, which already contained a set of steep downward revisions (MEES, 15 April). For the US, the 2016 growth forecast ha...
Volume: 59Issue: 29Published at Fri, 22 Jul 2016 -
Iran: Payments Start Flowing But Fear Factor Remains
...rt of OFAC to be crystal clear about this because they want to keep a little bit of uncertainty and therefore leverage in the system. I think it is unlikely we’ll see normal trade with Iran restored in 2016 – I think it’s more likely to be 2017. It’s all driven by what the US does and says on fi...
Volume: 59Issue: 27Published at Fri, 08 Jul 2016 -
Kuwait Eyes Short Term $17bn Debt Market Boost; Longer-Term Reform Is Needed
...uculent parliament. And with elections due by July 2017, MPs will be especially wary of supporting measures that could hit citizens in the pocket when they return from summer recess in October. Kuwait plans to tap the debt market to the tune of KD5bn ($16.7bn at KD1=$3.33) from domestic and in...
Volume: 59Issue: 27Published at Fri, 08 Jul 2016 -
Oman’s PDO Bags $4bn Loan To Facilitate Bumper $20bn Upstream Plans
...bt service will rise from 30% of revenue last year, to 41% this year and 55% in 2017. MOODY'S GCC SOVEREIGN CREDIT RATINGS - 14 MAY DOWNGRADES Rating (outlook) was chg notes Saudi Arabia A1 (stable) Aa3 (st...
Volume: 59Issue: 26Published at Fri, 01 Jul 2016 -
Qatar Downgrades Growth Forecast, But LNG Revenue Projection Looks Bullish
...ril (MEES, 3 June). Qatar’s gas output is set to rise: QEO projections assume the 1.4bn cfd Barzan project comes onstream in the second half of the year and reaches full capacity in 2017. “Manufacturing will also grow, as the additional gas output will provide a step increase for the year,” the re...
Volume: 59Issue: 25Published at Fri, 24 Jun 2016 -
Egypt Gas: ‘Remarkable Turnaround,’But Not Quite Yet
...rst four months of this year. MEES also expects output to bottom out in 2017, but at just 37 bcm (3.6bn cfd), way below the IEA’s 48bcm figure (see chart, p16 and MEES, 3 June). The expected “rapid turnaround in the country’s production performance” is thanks to improved terms that have in...
Volume: 59Issue: 24Published at Fri, 17 Jun 2016 -
Bonds Away: GCC Countries Tap Markets For $3.5bn As Saudi Waits In Wings
...nd the same Baa1 rating as Oman, “supported by high levels of wealth, fiscal space offered by relatively low levels of general government debt and still sizable government financial assets, and comparatively low risk.” Moody’s expects government debt to rise to 33% of GDP by 2017 from less than 5% at...
Volume: 59Issue: 24Published at Fri, 17 Jun 2016 -
Saudi 2030 Plans: Turning The Vision Into Reality
...troChina’s valuation briefly topped $1 trillion in the wake of its November 2007 floatation: it is now worth $192bn. LATE 2017: 5% ARAMCO LISTING? “What we’ve been hearing from the local banks and brokers we’ve been speaking to, who are among the biggest in the region, is that the Aramco listing will ta...
Volume: 59Issue: 20Published at Fri, 20 May 2016