The Middle East

The A’sharqia, or Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, continues to be at the forefront of economic and industrial advancement. The province is a microcosm of the government’s diversification efforts and is home to a number of rapidly growing industries. The construction of new industrial sites is being accompanied by support infrastructure, including mixed-use projects that combine residential,...

While Jeddah bears evidence of several decades of rapid, poorly-managed expansion, the city is now gearing itself to attract further private investment in a range of economic activities, with tourism and retail in particular well positioned for growth. The first phase of upgrades to Jeddah’s cornice, for example, was completed in December 2012 and includes new parks and outdoor leisure facilities...

As Islam’s holiest city, Makkah has an economy that enjoys extraordinarily high demand from the many millions of Muslim pilgrims who visit it each year. With pilgrim numbers expected to nearly double between 2008 and 2019, the real estate, infrastructure, hospitality and retail sectors are among those most likely to benefit. Hotel capacity is set to rise from 50,000 rooms to around 75,000 as...

Over the past decade Saudi Arabia’s insurance industry has become an important contributor to the economy. In 2011 the sector brought in gross written premiums of $4.93bn, up nearly 13% from $4.37bn the previous year. The majority of this expansion took place in the health and general insurance segments, which together account for more than 95% of the total market. Going forward, with the Kingdom...

For the past decade, Saudi Arabia has been at the forefront of development in the Islamic financial services (IFS) sector. The Kingdom, which is home to more than a quarter of the GCC’s Islamic financial assets and a handful of the world’s largest sharia-compliant financial institutions, is currently among the top IFS markets in the world. In 2011-12 the sector continued to expand, buoyed by...

It has been a good couple of years for the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), which posted considerable growth in 2011 and 2012. Market capitalisation was up more than 10% over 2011 due to a spate of initial public offerings (IPOs) in late 2011 and 2012. However, while the Tadawul is the largest and most liquid exchange in the region, it lacks large institutional investors; around 90% of trading...