1. Egypt Indicators Show Recovery Is Gathering Pace

    ...arter of 2016. It has since risen steadily with Q1-3 2017-18 revenue of $7.25bn up 155% year-on-year. The Suez Canal, another source of much needed income for Cairo, also saw revenue dip in 2016, to $5.005bn versus 2014’s record $5.465bn. But the growth in shipments of US oil and LNG to Asia has pr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 06 Jul 2018
  2. Egypt Continues Subsidy Reform, Hikes Fuel Prices

    ...nference Mr Molla says the recent fuel price rise will not be the last. "According to a five-year plan adopted by the government in 2014, we are still subsidizing 25% of fuel prices." Mediterranean prices for 95 Ron gasoline averaged around $87/B for May. This equates to $0.55/liter, around 20% more th...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 25
    Published at Fri, 22 Jun 2018
  3. Iran: Growing Capital Outflow Threatens Economy Ahead Of Sanctions

    ...timates Iran’s forex reserves fell $16.3bn between March 2016 and December 2017, compared to increases of $2.2bn in the year starting March 2015, $8.6bn in 2014 and $13.2bn in 2013. The decline in Iran’s reserves is primarily attributed to capital flight. This in turn has led to a steep depreciation in th...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 23
    Published at Fri, 08 Jun 2018
  4. Iran’s Banking Sector: Dark Days Loom

    ...sperately trying to repair their books after offering deposit rates as high as 22% back in 2014 before the oil price crashed later that year. (A substantial premium over inflation which was around 15%.) Oil revenue collapsed from $57.3bn in 2014 to $27.3bn in 2015. But the real damage was done after the ti...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 22
    Published at Fri, 01 Jun 2018
  5. Sama Net Foreign Assets ($Bn)

    ...SAUDI FOREIGN RESERVES ROSE ABOVE $500BN FOR FIRST TIME IN A YEAR AT END OF APRIL...   ...WITH THE RECENT REBOUND COMING AS PRiCES FOR ARAB LIGHT HIT $69/B, the HIGHEST SINCE 2014 SOURCE: SAMA, MEES....

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 22
    Published at Fri, 01 Jun 2018
  6. Mubadala’s SWF Acquisitions To Create Global Champions

    ...namic state organizations in the region. It was formed just over 15 years ago in 2002 and is chaired by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayid Al Nahyan whose influence has increased significantly since UAE President Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nahyan’s stroke in 2014 (MEES, 29 August 2014). The Crown Pr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 20
    Published at Fri, 18 May 2018
  7. Saudi Oil For Sudan

    ...man did not specify whether the oil in question was crude or refined products. Sudan’s crude production fell to just 75,000 b/d in early 2018, from 115,000 b/d in 2014 (MEES, 16 March). The country has been suffering a fuel crisis for several months, leading recently to increasing social unrest. If cr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 19
    Published at Fri, 11 May 2018
  8. Algeria Slashes Oil & Gas Investment

    ...8% to $8.1bn last year. Algeria faces mounting economic challenges: its foreign reserves halved between end-2013 ($195bn) and end-2017 ($97bn), whilst the country notched up an $11bn trade deficit for 2017 taking the total to a cumulative $45bn for the three years since oil prices tanked in late 2014...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 18
    Published at Fri, 04 May 2018
  9. Egypt Plans Further Cuts To Energy Subsidies

    ...bsidies in the first half of the current financial year, a much more plausible figure and one that implies an impressive full year figure of $5.7bn, some 8% below the budget figure. However the recent rise in oil prices – Brent has spent the last week above $70/B for the first time since 2014 – could yet ra...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 16
    Published at Fri, 20 Apr 2018
  10. Lebanon: Can Donor Conference Success Right The Ship?

    ...VERNMENT EXPENDITURE *FLUCTUATES DUE TO OIL PRICES: 17% OF TOTAL EXPENDITURE IN 2014. ^MEES ESTIMATION . SOURCE: MOF, IMF. IF IT WERE ONLY THAT EASY… There are considerable reasons to share the ruling elites’ optimism surrounding the Cedre result. Namely, the present state of Lebanese go...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 15
    Published at Fri, 13 Apr 2018
  11. Sonatrach Slashes 5-Year Spending Plan: Is It Finally Getting Real?

    ...ar’s $75bn for 2017-21 and little more than half the $100bn planned for 2014-18. But muddying the water is that actual spending in recent years has seriously lagged the planned figures. Each plan has presumed that ‘one more year’ of austerity will be followed by four years of higher oil prices and in...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 06 Apr 2018
  12. Gulf Bonds In 2018 Another Bumper Year?

    ...sued in primary market deals in 2017; until 2014, the biggest buyers of Middle Eastern bonds were the local banks buying mainly for their asset and liability management (ALM) books, with almost 80% of the bonds issued being held by local banks’ ALM books, small family offices and local private bank cl...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 30 Mar 2018
  13. Oman Looks To Foreign Firms and Downstream To Combat Economic Woes

    ...ucial if Muscat is to right the ship. The Omani economy is under pressure, and the lack of diversification ties its fate almost entirely to the price of oil. Struggling to balance its budget in the best of times, when the oil price crashed in 2014 the Sultanate’s debt ballooned. It racked up some $25...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 23 Mar 2018
  14. Saudi: Major 2017 Oil Revenue Gains, But Non-Oil Disappoints

    ...vernment coffers? The kingdom’s latest trade statistics shed light on the issue, showing that oil exports rose in value to a three-year high of $170bn last year. This was a 25% year-on-year gain, although it was still 40% below 2014’s $285bn (not to mention the record $110/B years of 2012 and 20...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 10
    Published at Fri, 09 Mar 2018
  15. Growing Saudi’s Non-Oil Economy: A Mirage In The Desert?

    ...onomy contracted 0.7% in 2017. Riyadh heeded this advice. Its 2018 budget projected a $52bn deficit, the largest since 2014, with plans to balance the budget pushed back to 2023. The idea now is that the resultant economic stimulus, alongside continued reforms, will facilitate non-oil sector gr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 09
    Published at Fri, 02 Mar 2018
  16. Will 2018 Be A Boon Year For Middle Eastern IPOs?

    ...The Middle East IPO market dried up after oil prices fell in H2 2014. But the urgent need to generate new revenue means the sustained oil price slump is now the key driver of energy sector privatization plans across the region.   After several torrid years, the Middle East IPO market st...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 07
    Published at Fri, 16 Feb 2018
  17. Kuwait Budget Deficit Set To Shrink In 2018-19 As Oil Prices Recover

    ...d already grown frosty and the nine months 2016 awards were well down on the same period in 2014 ($24bn) and 2015 ($30bn).  Of 2017 awards, around $2.2bn (25%) is related to the oil and gas sector, including $850mn to Italy’s Saipem for a 450km feeder crude pipeline to the planned Al Zour re...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 05
    Published at Fri, 02 Feb 2018
  18. Algeria Notches Up $11bn 2017 Trade Deficit; Total Since 2015 Hits $45bn

    ...end crude hit $64.74/B, the highest since November 2014. December’s monthly deficit, at $490mn, was below $500bn for only the second time this year. ‘Import cover’ (the value of exports as a percentage of imports) rose to 88%, well up on the 2017 average of 75%. Revenues will have continued to rise wi...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 04
    Published at Fri, 26 Jan 2018
  19. Has Egypt’s Economy Turned The Corner? Time Will Tell

    ...sition but with very few good news stories coming out of North Africa of late, the recent positivity is a welcome change for Cairo which has had to endure many difficulties since 2011’s Arab Spring.  SUEZ CANAL 2017 TRAFFIC (MN TONS): CARGO INCREASES BUT REVENUE STILL BELOW 2014 LEVELS *EX...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 03
    Published at Fri, 19 Jan 2018
  20. Algeria Bans Imports In Latest Move To Curb Deficit

    ...15 2014 2013 REVENUE (AD BN)  6,714 +19.1 +14.1 +41...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 02
    Published at Fri, 12 Jan 2018