GULF WEEKLY: EDO raises $2.5bn loan, Bahrain’s H1 fiscal, Kuwait plans spending cuts, Turkey-UAE meeting
A skimmable summary overlaid with our analysis and links. Headlines:
* The UAE granted refugee status to the Afghan president, and Qatar was a focal point for evacuations and Taliban talks.
* Inflation rose to multi-year highs in July in several states but in Saudi it dropped sharply, a year after the VAT hike.
* Aramco is moving towards part-privatizing its gas pipelines and, separately, investing in India’s Reliance.
* Mubadala’s GlobalFoundries filled for a US IPO, and EGA refinanced a $5.5bn loan amidst its own IPO plans.
* Erdogan met with a senior UAE royal in an apparent breakthrough in difficult bilateral relations.
* Kuwait’s minister of finance submitted his resignation, reportedly because he felt marginalized.
* Kuwait’s cabinet proposed a -10% spending cut, including means-testing for private-sector salary top-ups.
* Oman’s EDO raised a $2.5bn loan as it prepares to take oil sector costs off-budget.
* Oman’s non-oil expenditure fell by -5% y/y in H1, including a -8.1% cut in civil ministries.
* Omani employment dipped to 3.2% in July, but the ratio is hard to reconcile with the actual employment numbers.
* Bahrain’s deficit narrowed to -7.4% of GDP in H1 on higher oil revenue and a -4% y/y cut in expenditure.
* There were hints of a return of Saudi tourists to Bahrain in the July point of sales data.
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