Engines of Growth: The Middle East's most important companies

The impact on the Gulf is primarily a result of the limited availability of finance from a banking sector that is still coming to terms with the scale of the credit crunch, and a decline in revenues from oil following falling prices and a global drop in demand.

The region’s real estate sector will be hit the hardest by the downturn because property prices had become overinflated, due to high levels of speculation, and because developers and contractors on some of the region’s major developments had taken on huge risks.

The correction in the Gulf real estate sector will generate many negative headlines in the coming months. But these must not be allowed to mask what ultimately remains a very positive story.

The Middle East in general, and the Gulf in particular, will be the strongest, maybe even the only, growing economy in 2009.

Despite the fall in oil prices, the governments of the region remain committed to their massive infrastructure programmes, and are prepared to run budget deficits to deliver them.

These spending plans are not merely words. Flush with three consecutive years of record budget surpluses generated by high oil prices, the region’s governments will make good on their commitments.

But while that commitment to build infrastructure, invest in education and deliver reforms will provide the bedrock for another strong year of growth in the region, the dynamism will not come from the governments alone.

The vital spark, as well as additional capital, will come from the thousands of ambitious, entrepreneurial and highly skilled companies that do business across the region.

In this special supplement, MEED celebrates the companies that will be the engines of growth in the Middle East in 2009.