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Kuwait’s Economy: Major Surgery Needed
...ntral to Kuwait’s travails is a dependence on oil revenues that is high even by regional standards. Oil revenues account for nearly 90% of government revenues, and Kuwait has failed to increase non-oil revenues even since oil prices dropped in 2014. The amended 2020-21 budget (year ending 31 March 2021) en...
Volume: 63Issue: 52Published at Thu, 24 Dec 2020 -
Libya Devalues Currency
...18 in a bid to narrow the gap, effectively creating a third rate (MEES, 29 March 2019). Reflecting Libya’s political division, the CBL’s eastern and western branches have operated independently since October 2014. The board’s meeting comes on the back of a recent UN-led peace effort aimed at en...
Volume: 63Issue: 51Published at Fri, 18 Dec 2020 -
Saudi Arabia Moves Towards 50:50 Oil, Non-Oil Revenue Split
...so drawing down heavily on its reserves at the central bank (SAMA). Having peaked at $354bn in 2014, these dropped to just $125bn in 2019 and are projected to fall to just $92bn by the end of this year (see chart 3). That implies a substantial Q4 drawdown given that the latest SAMA statistics show go...
Volume: 63Issue: 51Published at Fri, 18 Dec 2020 -
Libya: Oil Still Flowing But Revenues In Limbo
...vision of Libya since 2014 between rival eastern and western administrations has devastated the country’s finances and fostered a severe liquidity crisis which can only be addressed through the unification of the parallel administrations. A UN-led political process aimed at ending Libya’s nine-year ‘tr...
Volume: 63Issue: 48Published at Fri, 27 Nov 2020 -
Oman To Introduce Income Tax: Will Rest Of GCC Follow?
...er $100/B prior to late 2014, Oman was still unable to balance the budget as Muscat looked to avoid contagion from the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ with 2012-14 spending blowouts. While the government is seemingly unable to reduce spending on salaries, the looming implementation of 5% VAT will have a si...
Volume: 63Issue: 46Published at Fri, 13 Nov 2020 -
Iraq’s Economy Teeters Despite Q3 Revenue Rebound
...ll below 3mn b/d for the first time since 2014 (see chart). If one sums up the extent of Iraq’s economic woes, it is that $43bn is far short of the $50bn earmarked this year for the bloated public sector’s ‘salaries and pensions’ alone (MEES, 8 May). Given Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s pr...
Volume: 63Issue: 41Published at Fri, 09 Oct 2020 -
Morocco Renewables Plans Get Wind In Their Sails
...nfirmed it would supply twenty-seven 3.2MW wind turbines for the €140mn project, with commissioning scheduled for 2022. The US firm already manages Moroccan firm Nareva’s 200MW Akhfenir wind farm which was completed in 2014. 20-YEAR PPA As with Enel and Nareva’s Midelt and Boujdour wind farms, Ed...
Volume: 63Issue: 38Published at Fri, 18 Sep 2020 -
Oman Taps Debt Market To Cover Low Oil Revenues
...vid-19 pandemic and oil price crash came as the country was already on the brink of economic crisis. Unlike its fellow GCC oil producers, the sultanate’s more modest oil production has failed to cover its increasingly bloated public sector – particularly after the 2014 price crash (MEES, 26 July 20...
Volume: 63Issue: 37Published at Fri, 11 Sep 2020 -
Egypt: IOC Receivables Edge Lower In 1H 2020
...id off, with Egypt’s Council of Ministers on 19 August approving a settlement of the dispute. No details were given. Egypt’s overall receivables figure peaked at over $6bn in 2014. Key offshore gas producers Eni, BP and Shell have not reported receivables figures since 2016 – though Eni’s 1H re...
Volume: 63Issue: 35Published at Fri, 28 Aug 2020 -
Saudi Electricity Borrows $2.4bn
...d capex funding. SEC’s biggest year for lending from the financial market was 2016, when it raised $5.13bn, although its largest deal was a $13.2bn Ministry of Finance ‘soft loan’ in 2014 (see table and MEES, 26 January 2018). SEC’s need for capex will likely be reduced by its decision to pursue in...
Volume: 63Issue: 35Published at Fri, 28 Aug 2020 -
Egypt’s Debts To IOCs Again On The Rise
...w Cairo wrack up arrears of over $6bn by mid-2014 (MEES, 8 August 2014). A $12bn IMF program agreed in late 2016 brought financial stability: receivables fell to $900mn by mid-2019 and just $200mn by January this year. The Covid-19 pandemic now risks a return to the bad days. Receivables owed le...
Volume: 63Issue: 32Published at Fri, 07 Aug 2020 -
Oman Feels The Pain As Export Revenues Plummet
...onomic outlook. A succession of six sizeable annual deficits since the 2014 price crash has gradually pushed-up Oman’s debt levels, and another substantial rise this year seems inescapable (see chart 2). Current spending jumped in 2011 as Oman sought to ride out ‘Arab Spring’ protests through higher pu...
Volume: 63Issue: 26Published at Fri, 26 Jun 2020 -
Qatar Slumps Into Recession
...git growth up until 2014, it too has seen its performance decline in recent years, dropping to just 1.3% growth last year. Like its neighboring petrodollar economies, Qatar has been struggling to diversify, despite having its own National Vision 2030. Although the share of oil and gas in the ec...
Volume: 63Issue: 19Published at Fri, 08 May 2020 -
Saudi Arabia Announces Borrowing, Reserves Draw-down Plan
...is was followed up by an $81bn drop in 2016 and a $39bn drop in 2017 as reserves fell from $732bn at the end of 2014 to $496bn at the end of 2017. Foreign reserves have since stabilized, but not significantly grown, exiting 2019 at $500bn, and declining slightly in early 2020. If Saudi Arabia fo...
Volume: 63Issue: 17Published at Fri, 24 Apr 2020 -
Saudi Economy: Modest Diversification Efforts Face Bleak Outlook
...ckage aimed primarily at protecting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), but implementing this alongside budget cuts will be a delicate balancing act. As of end-February Riyadh also had $497bn foreign reserves to turn to. This is almost $250bn below their August 2014 peak and reserves look set to so...
Volume: 63Issue: 14Published at Fri, 03 Apr 2020 -
Oil Price Crash Puts Vulnerable Mena Economies At Even Greater Risk
...st – whose economies have never truly recovered from the late 2014 price-downturn – the economic and political implications of a prolonged price depression could be catastrophic. To be sure, the key Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are robust enough to withstand a short-te...
Volume: 63Issue: 11Published at Fri, 13 Mar 2020 -
Algeria’s Sonatrach: New CEO, Same Old Challenges
...UINOR, MEES CALCULATIONS. 2: ALGERIA'S OIL & GAS REVENUES HAVE SLUMPED SINCE THE 2014 CRASH IN OIL PRICES BUT STILL MAKE UP NEAR-40% OF OVERALL BUDGET REVENUES SOURCE: IMF, ALGERIA FINANCE MINISTRY, MEES. 3: ALGERIA'S GAS EXPORTS (BCM) ARE LOWEST SINCE 1995, WHILE OUTPUT HAS SL...
Volume: 63Issue: 06Published at Fri, 07 Feb 2020 -
IMF Highlights Kuwait’s Economic Troubles
...gher. On the expenditure side, after two-consecutive years of cuts from 2015-16, the figure has once again risen sharply. The 2014-15 figure of $74.3bn remains the highest on record, but that record is budgeted to be equaled this year and next. The IMF is particularly concerned that spending rises in...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Qatar Trade: Surplus Dips In 2019 As LNG Pricing Pressure Augurs Worse To Come
...rms around two-thirds of the ‘Natural Gas, LPG & Condensates’ segment which in turn accounted for 62% of Qatar’s overall 2019 export revenue of $73.1bn (see chart 2). The uptick in hydrocarbon prices in 2018 benefited Qatar greatly, with exports breaking past $80bn for the first time since 2014 (ME...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Qatar Economy Outperforms Budget
...arter’s bumper $1.87bn, which was the highest quarterly figure since 4Q15’s $2.1bn. A budget surplus for 2019 would mark back-to-back surpluses for the first time since oil prices fell in the second-half of 2014. A third consecutive surplus is budgeted for 2020, albeit a mere $100mn (MEES, 20 December 20...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020