Economy

BMI View: While inflation will remain Qatar's main economic challenge over the coming years, we still see a diminishing possibility of a currency revaluation in order to tackle double-digit... 2008-06-05

We are currently forecasting an average price of US$96.50/bbl for the OPEC Basket in 2008, although with the basket trading at US$123.10/bbl at the time of writing, the risks are... 2008-05-30

Oil export revenues are forecast to jump by 16.6% to US$12.59bn in 2008 thanks to high oil prices - our 2008 average price forecast for the OPEC Basket currently stands at US$96.50/bbl,... 2008-05-30

We now see the OPEC Basket averaging US$96.50/bbl this year, with upside risks even to this figure (with the commodity having averaged US$99.04/bbl year-to-date at the time of writing).... 2008-05-30

Real GDP growth will continue to slow slightly over 2008 and 2009, coming in around 5.0% and 4.6% respectively, on the back of a fall in oil export revenues

We expect real GDP growth to pick up in 2008 and 2009 to hit 3.8% and 4.1% respectively, on the back of strong growth non-oil growth and healthy government consumption.

Bahrain's banking sector remains in healthy shape, despite the exposure of some large institutions to the US subprime crisis. Future growth will be driven by the Gulf projects market... 2008-05-29

Despite government efforts, ongoing supply shortages suggest no easing in housing inflation in 2008. Combined with global conditions, this will translate into another year of double-digit... 2008-05-29

We have revised up our end-year inflation forecasts for Saudi Arabia to 8.0% y-o-y and 5.0% y-o-y for 2008 and 2009 respectively, on the back of reports that growth in the consumer... 2008-05-27

BMI View: We have revised our real GDP growth forecasts up for 2008-2012, on the back of another quarter of stellar oil prices. We see government spending driving overall expansion... 2008-05-23