Reforms

Oil Price may not be the trigger for reforms

This article was originally published in Al Qabas Analyzing the historical trend of reforms in Kuwait, one can notice that financial services sector is the most regulated and therefore have experienced more reforms while sectors like healthcare and legal saw the least number of reforms. For a balanced and sustained economic growth, an even distribution of reforms across all critical sectors is a must. A popular coffee table discussion in Kuwait is to ask “when will serious reforms come to...

Potential Impact of Capital Market Reforms in Saudi Arabia

The Tadawul All Share Index plans to increase the listings to 250 companies from about 170 now, over the next seven years. Its current market capitalization of $396 billion is expected to add close to $ 120-130 bn post the IPO of Aramco and possible inclusion into the MSCI emerging market index by Mid-2017. The aim of the government is to increase the size of Saudi Arabia’s stock market to match that of its GDP within seven years (2014 -$798...

Let us not miss the trees for the woods

Three questions predominate the narrative: Is the current fall in oil price cyclical or structural? When can we see a strong rebound? (2016 or 2017 or beyond) & Can GCC survive a long spell of low oil price? In fact, the second question is related to the first question. If the current fall in oil price is structural, then we cannot expect any strong rebound. So, may be implicitly we should pray that this is just a cyclical phenomenon. From...

Fuel Price Hike in the UAE

In July 2015, the UAE announced that, effective from August 1, 2015, it was moving from a system of fixed and subsidized fuel prices to a system of adjusting prices monthly, in line with global price trends . Though the exact details of the pricing formula were not released, it was made clear that the prices would be based on the average global prices, along with the addition of operating costs. In effect, the price of petrol would register an...

Fast Tracking Reforms in the UAE through Spending Cuts

A report released by the UAE central bank towards the end of July 2015 indicated that the government is likely to cut spending by 4.2% in the fiscal year of 2015. According to the report, consolidated government spending is expected to decline to Dh460.6bn ($125.5 bn), from Dh480.8bn ($131 bn) in 2014. It is notable that the projected spending cut is the first such instance in 13 years. Many analysts pin the reason for the spending cut on the recent...