The Middle East

For the first time in recent years the budget for education fell year-on-year in 2016, leaving ministers and officials with some stark choices about how best to spend their allocation. On December 28, 2015, the day the government’s spending plans were announced, crude oil was trading at $37 a barrel, having fallen from the most recent peak of...

With population growth of 2.4% in 2015, there is a rising need for housing in Saudi Arabia, and the government has introduced measures to create half a million affordable units for its citizens, only 30% of whom currently own their own homes. The latest initiative is a 2.5% tax on undeveloped land, which was introduced on June 15, 2016.

From 2003 to 2013 Saudi Arabia’s second oil boom brought a decade of prosperity for its construction and engineering sectors, but with the brakes applied to public spending, many businesses face a more challenging landscape in 2016. Work is continuing apace on some of the most prestigious projects, such as the Riyadh Metro and King Abdullah...

Saudi Arabia’s metals industry is currently going through significant upheaval. While aluminium production has been growing since the first bauxite was successfully mined from the Kingdom’s Al Ba’itha mine in May 2014, steel production has dropped amid declining prices. Nonetheless, with so many large-scale infrastructure projects ongoing in...

Following a decline in global oil prices for more than a year and a half, in December 2015 the Saudi government announced domestic energy prices would rise overnight. On December 29, 2015 the price of petrol rose from SR0.60 ($0.16) per litre to SR0.90 ($0.24) for Octane 95, while 91-grade rose by more than 65%, from SR0.45 ($0.12) to SR0.75...