The Middle East Industry

The manufacturing sector is the second-largest contributor to non-oil GDP, behind financial services. Some of the kingdom’s key industrial players have expanded their production capacity in recent years, significantly bolstering heavy industry and downstream potential, most notably in the aluminium segment. Aluminium is Bahrain’s biggest non-oil export, and Aluminium Bahrain (...

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reigniting international debate about the pace of the global energy transition and the risks of relying on oil and gas imports from countries with opposing agendas, discussion in the Gulf is largely framed around how to extract maximum benefit from the remaining hydrocarbons wealth while also playing a...

The Industrial Sector Strategy 2022-26 was launched in late December 2021 as part of the national Economic Recovery Plan to help Bahrain recover from the economic slowdown brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The strategy focuses on increasing the sector’s contribution to GDP, expanding domestically produced exports and creating job...

Qatar’s retail sector fared well in 2020 and 2021 despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although shopping outlets were forced to close in the spring of 2020 when governments around the world imposed lockdown measures to stem the spread of the virus, reopening began as early as that summer. In the months since, retail stores and malls in Qatar have welcomed customers...