Has the world economy reached peak growth?

Friday, 17 January 2020

At the start of a new decade, many commentators are understandably focused on the health of the global economy. This upcoming decade gross domestic product (GDP) growth will likely be lower than during the last decade, barring a notable improvement in productivity in the West and China, or a sustained acceleration in India and the largest African economies. The global GDP growth for the 2010-2019 decade will likely be around 3.5 percent per year – though until we have the final ...

Jim O’Neill

Appetizing retail jobs await Saudi’s young night owls

Sunday, 5 January 2020

A 2014 paper in the academic journal Sleep Medicine found that Saudi adolescents went to bed later than their peers in other countries, and that they were predisposed to reverse sleep cycles, whereby they stay up all night and sleep during the day. The decision to allow for 24/7 shopping may be an attempt to capitalize upon the nocturnal idiosyncrasies of Saudi youth in the battle to create jobs. From this year, Saudi businesses will be allowed to keep operating throughout the night, a right ...

Omar Al-Ubaydli

A changing Saudi Arabia needs workplace diversity: Here’s how to test for it

Thursday, 26 December 2019

Saudi Arabia’s tribal and family networks have traditionally identified and trained up certain male heirs to succeed from their fathers, which has served a useful purpose in preserving and enhancing skills and behaviors in the workplace. But today, as the Kingdom undergoes unprecedented social change, with more women seeking jobs and a demographic youth bulge entering the workforce, big employers have a powerful new incentive to attract previously ignored sections of the working-age ...

Omar Al-Ubaydli

The secret sauce in Saudi Aramco’s successful IPO

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

The most eagerly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) ever to come from the Middle East is upon us. Saudi Aramco, the world’s most profitable and largest company, comes to market in a few days. The listing has been perhaps the most scrutinized of any flotation and took a capital markets story from the business pages to the front pages of the world’s media. However, there is one area that has received little public commentary, but which will be instrumental in driving the future ...

Oliver Schutzmann

America may no longer rely on Middle Eastern oil, but it still needs stable markets

Thursday, 14 November 2019

Washington’s goal of achieving energy independence seems to be in reach. After decades of declining oil and gas production since the end of the Second World War, America’s shale revolution has triggered explosive growth, with latest figures indicating that production levels finally surpassed demand in the fourth quarter of this year. Washington has duly taken credit for this astonishing development, and President Donald Trump in particular has argued that this newfound autonomy ...

Cyril Widdershoven

Morocco – Keeping the course when the seas are rough

Tuesday, 16 July 2019

Throughout the past decade, Morocco has faced several external challenges, including weak growth in key trading partners, large swings in international oil prices, and regional geopolitical tensions. Despite rough waters, the government stayed the course and remained focused not only on immediate stability, but also on the long-term needs of the Moroccan economy. During this turbulent time, a set of key priorities guided the country’s path towards increased economic resilience. Energy ...

Nicolas Blancher

Should the government stop the Uber-Careem acquisition deal?

Thursday, 4 April 2019

In late March 2019, the global ride-hailing giant Uber announced its acquisition of its Middle-Eastern competitor, Careem, for $3.1 bln, subject to antitrust approval by the countries in which the companies operate. The elimination of Uber’s most important competitor in the region brings with it the threat of abuse of market power, and a resultant increase in prices. Should authorities block the move? Absolutely not. In fact, consumers are much more likely to be winners than losers in ...

Omar Al-Ubaydli

Few people are capable of evaluating Saudi social change. I am one of them.

Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Media coverage of the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia in particular, is experiencing a crisis of credibility. International media outlets’ coverage of the Kingdom generally takes a reductionist and surface-skimming approach that ignores cultural intricacies, historical facts, and the religious complexities of a diverse and complex nation. I am a Saudi entrepreneur and investor who has worked in the Kingdom’s industry sector for decades. I’ve experienced our society when at its ...

Waleed AlBanawi

How Saudi entrepreneurs can benefit from a 1950s Italian-US agreement model

Saturday, 9 February 2019

In order to boost entrepreneurship, Saudi Arabia should consider following a 1950s plan used to improve the Italian economy, which was done in partnership with the US, a recent paper by Michela Giorcelli of the University of California suggested. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 seeks to modernize the economy, and the US is contributing to many of the associated projects, building upon its rich tradition of assisting its allies’ economic development, most famously in the postwar Marshall ...

Omar Al-Ubaydli

Saudi, Bahrain to tender new bridge parallel to existing causeway

Wednesday, 24 October 2018

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are putting forward a tender next week for advisory services for a new bridge linking the two Gulf states, government officials said on Wednesday. The tender’s scope is to manage the transitional phase of the bridge that will be parallel to the existing causeway, Saudi Arabia’s transport minister Nabil bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi and Bahrain’s minister of transportation Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed said in a joint statement.