The Middle East

In late December Turkish parliamentarians approved a budget that would expand public spending, even as their European neighbours begin fiscal austerity programmes. Major increases in public employment and education spending are meant to help soften an expected economic downturn while investing in future growth.

The introduction of a real estate regulatory agency in Oman is expected to instil greater confidence among foreign investors and promote better practices in this growing segment. Early this month the Council of Ministers took a first step towards getting the agency off the ground: it directed that a committee be formed to gauge the opinions of players involved in the sector to determine exactly what the agency could contribute

Abu Dhabi is putting the final touches on an oil pipeline that will allow the emirate to bypass the congested Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40% of all sea-borne crude is currently shipped. Completion of the project is viewed as increasingly timely, not only in reducing congestion in the Straits but also as geopolitical tensions with Iran have escalated in recent months.

Undertaking a large-scale expansion of its chemicals industry, Qatar is aiming to increase the value of hydrocarbons-related exports. Production of chemicals and petrochemicals will more than double by 2020, reaching 23m tonnes per year (tpy), up from 9.3m tonnes at present, the nation’s minister of energy and industry, Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sada, announced in mid-January.

With the emirate’s fiscal house in order, Ras Al Khaimah’s (RAK’s) government and the banking sector have provided a solid bedrock for recent expansion in the industrial and tourism sectors, two of the economic segments that saw growth in 2011.

Looking to a bit of belt-tightening in its public spending scheme, the Jordanian government is working to mitigate the effects of recent turmoil in the global financial markets, the Arab Spring uprisings and the eurozone sovereign debt crisis on the local economy.