The Middle East

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.

As 2012 gets underway, Saudi Arabia can look back on 2011 as a year of solid growth, as well as anticipate a further 12 months of expansion and development, building on an already impressive economic platform as the state seeks to guarantee future growth through investments in infrastructure and human resources.

The announcement of a major downstream project has been the highlight of a busy period for Qatar’s hydrocarbons sector. An agreement, signed on December 4 between Saleh Al Sada, the minister of energy and industry, and Shell’s CEO, Peter Voser, lays out the commercial principles and scope of a proposed petrochemicals complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City in northeast Qatar.

For Dubai, 2011 was a year of consolidation, with solid growth for many key economic sectors, the debt load of some of the emirate’s leading corporations sharply reduced and confidence growing apace, though concerns linger over how renewed economic slowdown elsewhere will impact the emirate.

In a sign that the country has performed well in the face of debt crisis affecting its neighbours in the EU, the Turkish government announced in January that the economy expanded 8% in 2011, with the construction, manufacturing, and retail sectors leading the way. Fears of a hard landing still remain, given Turkey’s chronic current account deficit and its recent struggles with inflation, but a burgeoning domestic economy, combined with political stability and a healthy fiscal position, have enabled the country to post decent macroeconomic data.

In 2011 Abu Dhabi made significant progress towards its long-term goal of economic diversification, with major developments in the fields of industry, transport and tourism. While these are significant accomplishments, the government announced in late 2011 that it was reprioritising certain projects.