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  • October 12, 2021

    What’s behind Kuwait’s increasing fiscal breakeven oil price?

    For long, Kuwait’s fiscal breakeven oil price remained low and it had been a key strength for the economy. However, the situation is fast changing. Fiscal breakeven oil price can be defined simply as the oil price that balances an oil‐exporting country’s fiscal budget. Upon comparing a country’s fiscal breakeven oil price with the international oil price, one can gauge the fiscal health of the country. Lower fiscal breakeven oil price than the market price would lead to surplus and...

  • September 30, 2021

    India/UAE Trade: $115 billion Bet

    There are only few pockets of growth available post-Covid. India and UAE can count themselves among these pockets. Both countries have hitherto restricted their trade and investments to normal levels. However, in recent meetings the trade ministers of both countries have set up ambitious targets to take this engagement to next level. For example, the total trade (meaning exports +Imports) dropped by 30% in 2020 due to Covid and is now placed at $42 billion. The aim is to take...

  • September 22, 2021

    Economic Impact of Dubai Expo 2020

    Dubai Expo 2020 will have an impact on the economy through the infrastructure valued at more than USD 12 billion (versus USD 7.5 billion estimate in 2013) that is being spent to successfully build Expo 2020’s establishment. The event was postponed by a year to October 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dubai Expo 2020 will be the first world expo to be held in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region. Expo 2020 will leverage the...

  • September 9, 2021

    OPEC+ September 2021 meet: Maintaining Status Quo

    Since the last OPEC+ meeting, conducted on July 18th, the global oil market has witnessed some significant events. There has been a surge in covid cases due to the new delta variant, causing government restrictions in key demand centers of the world, subsequently putting pressure on the global oil demand and prices. In the week ending 20th August, oil brent price witnessed its worst weekly drop of 8% landing at $65.18 bbl, its lowest since April’21. On the supply end...

  • August 25, 2021

    Saudi Arabia eases regulation to support SMEs and Entrepreneurs

    Saudi Arabia will exempt small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from commerce fees register for three years as the country plans to boost the number of start-ups in the economy. Fees will start in the fourth and fifth year, but at a reduced rate of SAR 500 (USD 133) for entrepreneurs and SAR 200 for entrepreneurs with a capital of less than SAR 375,000 and whose employees do not exceed five in number. This initiative was taken to support and reduce...

  • August 17, 2021

    Following a year of distress, Saudi Arabia economy back on growth path

    Saudi Arabia economic growth as evidenced by its real GDP grew by 1.5% in Q2 2021 as compared with the same period last year, registering its first quarterly economic expansion since the start of COVID-19 pandemic early last year. Economic growth in Saudi Arabia was led by 10% increase in the non-oil sector (Q2, 2021 yoy basis), according to data from the General Authority for Statistics. While the government sector saw 0.7% growth, the oil sector recorded a decline of...

  • August 10, 2021

    COVID-19 accelerates Saudi Arabia’s push towards cashless society

    Event Youth between the ages 16 and 22 in Saudi Arabia are using less cash compared to other age groups, indicating that the country’s transition towards a cashless society is on track. Analysis Saudi Arabia set a goal of gradually transforming into a cashless society by increasing the number of non-cash transactions to 70% by 2025 as part of its Saudi Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has been taking huge strides in this regard during recent years, supported by the Government...

  • May 19, 2021

    Importance of SMEs in GCC: Challenges amid COVID and way forward

    Interview with Mr. M.R.Raghu, CEO, Marmore MENA Intelligence Are SMEs very important for the GCC region? How have SMEs contributed to the region? Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are vital to the economic development of the country as they foster innovation, entrepreneurship and create large-scale employment opportunities. The subject of SMEs touches upon many aspects of a nation’s economic network. By its very nature, SMEs can sprout up anywhere along the output value chain of a country, ranging from small shops to...

  • April 26, 2021

    الاستفسارات الشائعة’s: Break-even Oil price

    1. What is Break even oil price? What does an increasing or decreasing BEOP mean? Fiscal breakeven oil price (BEP) can be defined simply as the “oil price that balances an oil‐exporting country’s budget. Ever since the fall of Brent crude prices in mid – 2014, the GCC countries have envisioned various plans to reduce their dependence on oil revenues. The COVID-19 pandemic sent oil prices tumbling owing to a global lockdown and travel restrictions in place since March 2020....

  • July 7, 2020

    COVID-19: GCC has mostly resorted to monetary measures

    The COVID-19 led health and economic crisis has pushed many governments around the world to respond with a wide armor of fiscal and monetary actions that far exceed the measures taken in the past when the Global Financial Crisis happened in 2009. The measures were announced in a quick and concerted manner across the developed countries, emerging countries, and less developed countries. GCC countries also acted with alacrity in providing stimulus measures: to meet the COVID-19 Impact that hit them...