The Middle East Industry

Falling demand and rising competition for feedstock, alongside a national push to bring the price of raw materials closer to market rates, are combining to put pressure on Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals industry.

Of all the industrial and commercial sectors that Saudi Arabia is targeting for development as part of its shift towards a knowledge-based economy, defence is one in which it is particularly well placed to become a global leader. Already the world’s third-biggest defence spender, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies,...

Project insurance is nothing new in Saudi Arabia: the insurance market in its modern form emerged in the 1970s, when foreign insurers, brokers and agents opened branches in the country to provide coverage for the spike in construction projects caused by the oil boom of that era. Over successive decades these firms expanded their business to...

While the rapid development of the global Islamic banking sector has generated plenty of media headlines in recent years, the growth of the takaful industry has attracted comparatively less attention. There are several reasons that can go some way to explain the relatively unheralded expansion of the world’s sharia-compliant insurers. For...

Following the costly price competition of 2013, which eroded profitability across the sector, the market has responded to regulatory intervention and returned to a trajectory of sustainable growth over the course of 2014. With expansion potential emerging from both big-ticket projects and the high-volume, low-value business at the retail end...

Consumer sentiment in Turkey is weakening as the pace of economic growth slows and consumers tighten their purse strings, potentially slowing the retail sector’s stellar performance in recent years. Turkish retail has been one of the most appealing sectors for investors and consumers thanks to a rapidly expanding economy and a surge in per capita disposable income.