Special Report: Sector outlook 2009

02 January 2009

MEED looks at what the year holds in store for the key sectors - banking, construction, energy, industry, petrochemicals, power and water and transport - as well as taking an overview of oil, projects and the Mena economy.

The latest economic data published by the World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects 2009 report, shows that the growth the Middle East has been enjoying over the past decade will slow to 3.9 per cent in 2009, compared with 5.8 per cent in 2008.

While being far from the zero growth predicted for the US in 2009, these figures will be a shock to many Middle East observers, who were in denial in 2008 that the economic downturn would indeed affect the region.

Diminishing oil prices, symptomatic of the global downturn, are not good news for the region Рbut neither is it a disaster. The principal oil-producing nations are awash with cash, their current account balances having been in the black since the beginning of the post-millennium oil-price boom.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the energy-rich Gulf countries’ foreign reserves have been growing consistently throughout the decade Рthey stood at approximately $365bn in 2007, and were predicted to end 2008 at $455bn.

In the first half of 2008, Saudi Arabia was in the enviable Position: of generating $1bn a day of oil revenues.

Unlike major European countries, for example, the Gulf’s governments will not be burdening future generations with public debt, by pledging to spend public funds in 2009 to stimulate the economy.

Index of all stories in this special report

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