Economy GCC economic data The latest economic indicators for the Gulf Co-operation Council countries: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain – plus links to in-depth pages on each country April 29, 2025
Economy Saudi Arabia economy The latest economic indicators and demographic trends for Saudi Arabia, including GDP, inflation, oil prices, trade, population, expats, unemployment and more November 20, 2024
Economy United Arab Emirates economy The latest economic indicators and demographic trends for the United Arab Emirates, including the UAE's GDP, inflation, oil prices, trade, population, expats, unemployment and more November 20, 2024
Economy Oman economy The latest economic and demographic indicators for Oman, including GDP, inflation, oil prices, trade, population, unemployment and more November 20, 2024
Economy Qatar economy The latest economic and demographic indicators for Qatar, including GDP, inflation, oil prices, trade, population, unemployment and more November 20, 2024
Oil & Gas Oil price drop fails to dent Gulf and Western capex Gulf national energy companies and their Western rivals are likely to maintain their capital expenditure guidance for the year but independent US producers may cut spending as oil prices decline, analysts have said. For now, Gulf oil and gas companies are sticking to their investment plans despite a drop of almost 15 percent in the […] May 19, 2025
Analysis Finance Qatar’s $526bn wealth fund bets big on technology Qatar Airways captured the headlines this week with its near $100 billion order for Boeing aircraft during US President Donald Trump’s Gulf visit. But behind the scenes the country’s $526 billion sovereign Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is making investments that could prove to be of greater strategic importance to the country, with an increasing focus […] May 19, 2025
Analysis Finance The multi-trillion dollar deals agreed on Trump’s trip During his trip to the Gulf region from May 13 to 16, US president Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE and announced a series of deals across a number of sectors, which, according to the White House, added up to nearly $2.5 trillion. Artificial intelligence Saudi Arabia’s newly-established AI developer Humain said […] May 19, 2025
Opinion Trade Trump’s Gulf visit was grand – but the real test starts now Pledges and deals may change when reality hits May 18, 2025
Markets Gulf sovereign wealth funds tap secondaries market The Middle East’s sovereign wealth funds are using the surging secondaries investment market to take strategic stakes in emerging technologies, experts have told AGBI. A secondaries investment is the acquisition of interests in already formed private market funds or a portfolio of direct investments from existing investors. Global secondaries transactions rose almost 50 percent last […] May 16, 2025
Opinion Economy Gulf investors may gain from UK pound recovery Shifts in currency position the pound to benefit from US dollar index falls May 15, 2025
Trade Qatar takes centre stage on Trump’s Middle East mission Major deal announcements kept rolling in on Wednesday as Donald Trump travelled from Riyadh to Doha on the second day of his visit to the Gulf. Qatar Airways agreed to purchase up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X jets for $96 billion in what the White House described as Boeing’s “largest ever wide-body order”. […] May 15, 2025
Analysis Aviation Flynas to test appetite for airline IPOs as Gulf rivals look on Low-cost carrier Flynas is preparing to go public on the Saudi Exchange this month in a deal that is being watched not only by investors but also by Gulf rivals considering their own listings, analysts have told AGBI. Among them is Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, whose long-anticipated initial public offering could be shaped by Flynas’ […] May 14, 2025
Opinion Tech The US should launch a Gulf biotechnology partnership Biotech leaders stand to benefit from deeper integration with Gulf capital, infrastructure and markets May 14, 2025
Opinion Trade Trump in his happy place: Purple carpets and big deals in Saudi Arabia The challenge now is to maintain the momentum and atmosphere of the trip May 14, 2025
Trade Why Oman is off Trump’s travel plans Oman may have negotiated a ceasefire between the US and Yemen’s Houthis, and is the go-between the US and Iran in negotiations around nuclear weapons capability. But it is not among the countries President Donald Trump is visiting in the Arabian Gulf this week. “These Gulf countries Trump is currently visiting are offering trillions of […] May 14, 2025
Analysis Finance VC funding in decline for female-led Mena startups Startups led by women in the Middle East and North Africa are at risk of being left far behind when it comes to raising venture capital funds, data shows. Since 2020 their share of the total has declined every year from 2.2 percent to less than 0.5 percent in 2023, before bouncing back up – […] May 12, 2025
Analysis Artificial Intelligence Dubai’s hottest new job title: chief AI officer Three years ago, finding a single person in the Middle East and the Gulf with the job title “chief AI officer” was rare, if not unheard of. Today, however, with the help of the world’s biggest technology companies and their complicated artificial intelligence tools, chief AI officers – or CAIOs as they are also known […] May 12, 2025
Analysis Trade Big money, big deals – but Gulf needs FDI clarity from Trump US President Donald Trump arrives in the Saudi capital Riyadh tomorrow on the first leg of his three-country Gulf visit that will also take in Qatar and the UAE. His overwhelming objective is money and big deals: to sell American goods and secure their investment to the US economy. With that in mind, the US […] May 12, 2025
Finance US moves to fast-track deals with Middle East nations The US is setting up a fast-track process to ease greater investment from the Middle East ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf next week. Trump is slated to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar from May 13-16. The fast-track process includes launching a portal to collect information from foreign investors before […] May 9, 2025
Editor's Insight Economy Taking on the almighty dollar There is much to discuss during President Trump’s visit to Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia next week. Oil and gas, investment into the US and tariffs, technology transfers and nuclear power, weapons sales and security guarantees, Yemen and Iran are all likely to feature. By way of welcome, Qatar has said that it will buy a fleet of […] May 8, 2025
Opinion Markets GCC investors need a multi-currency mindset to survive Investors are scrambling to reduce exposure to erratic US policies May 8, 2025
Trade US might ease chip export curbs on some Gulf nations President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will soon have an announcement on whether the US will ease microchip export restrictions to some Gulf countries. “We might be doing that, yeah,” Trump said. “And it will be announced soon.” Trump is preparing for his first major diplomatic trip next week that includes a three-country Middle […] May 8, 2025
Analysis Trade Gulf funds weigh risk and reward in Trump’s new trade world order Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Neom Investment Fund, see both risk and opportunity in the heightened global trade tensions linked to US tariffs. “We know what an economic recession looks like – here we’re dealing with something slightly different,” said Oscar Fahlgren, chief investment officer at Mubadala’s alternative asset […] May 7, 2025
Trade Malaysia continues GCC trade talks that began in 2011 Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that talks on closing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council are continuing, 14 years after they first began. The deal will deepen commercial partnerships and expand economic growth, Kuwait’s state-run Kuna news agency reported, quoting Ibrahim. The GCC and Malaysia agreed on a trade […] May 7, 2025
