GULF WEEKLY: New oil cuts and austerity as coronavirus trends diverge

GULF COUNTRIES - Report 15 May 2020 by Rory Fyfe and Justin Alexander

The weekly is a skimmable summary of key developments by country, overlaid with our analysis, the outlook and links to further information. Headlines include:

* Oil gained slightly as Saudi announced an extra 1m b/d cut in June and others followed.
* Coronavirus growth slowed in Saudi and UAE but accelerated elsewhere, especially Kuwait.
* Saudi is tripling the VAT to 15% and implementing additional spending cuts.
* Aramco will pay a Q1 dividend exceeding its income and may renegotiate the SABIC deal.
* The UAE won’t follow on a VAT increase, and Dubai is considering further stimulus.
* S&P affirmed Qatar at AA- (Stable) but see significantly higher debt levels.
* Mubadala issued $4bn and Equate $1.6bn, in the first SWF and corporate issuances since the crisis.
* Oman announced an additional 5% spending cut, and spending was down -5.7% YTD in February.
* S&P published an analysis of how Oman could meet $50bn in financing needs in 2020-23.
* Iran’s military suffered another embarrassing friendly fire incident during a missile test.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This report is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This report is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this report or its contents.