The Middle East

Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national airline, is pushing forward with an expansion policy that should prepare it to compete in the increasingly competitive regional aviation environment.

Work to build on the emirate’s reputation as a tourist destination by easing visa regulations and encouraging cruise tourism is under way but there are concerns that the European debt crisis and uncertainty regarding the global economic climate have the potential to weaken demand.

The information and communications technology (ICT) sector has benefitted from rising smartphone sales and expanding broadband reach, but further growth is contingent on infrastructure, particularly the expansion of the nation’s broadband capability and its integration with international networks.

With the economy continuing to expand, retailers in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) are hoping for a period of sustained growth, benefitting from rising local incomes and an increasing number of tourists, but they are also mindful of the competition from neighbouring emirates.

The Kingdom’s real estate sector continues to experience difficulties, with the residential, office and commercial segments all seeing little activity in the first half 2012. However, as private developers reconsider several projects currently on hold and government infrastructure projects get underway, there is a general sense that the sector may be close to a turning point.

Conscious that its economy is currently highly dependent on oil and closely tied to markets that continue to face economic uncertainty, Kuwait’s government is looking further afield to new investment destinations as well as to moves to stabilise oil prices.