The Middle East

The crowded insurance sector in Saudi Arabia has come under pressure with low penetration rates and rising costs, highlighting the difficulties for smaller firms in the industry to maintain market share or grow their business.

The recent move by the European Central Bank (ECB) to loosen monetary policy, which included cutting the deposit interest rate to a landmark -0.1%, looks set to provide a welcome boost to both Turkey’s money markets and its broader economy.

Jordan’s high energy import bills and the frequent power cuts resulting from shortfalls in supplies from Egypt may soon become less of a problem as a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at the port of Aqaba is set to come on-line by the end of the year.

A measured approach to rolling out the infrastructure for Oman’s advanced broadband network is part of a wider policy of managed development towards becoming a knowledge-based economy.

Kuwait is becoming increasingly concerned over the threat posed by cyber attacks against its strategic oil and gas industry, along with other sectors of the economy, with greater training of staff and improved technology seen as vital front-line defences to ensure cyber security.

When the UAE officially transitioned from “frontier” to “emerging” on a key market index in June 2013, a new era of both greater opportunity and closer scrutiny for the financial markets in Dubai was ushered in. The results are already coming to the fore: stocks across the UAE are up 41% in 2014 and 89% over the last year as of June, while capital markets in Dubai are starting to draw more attention from foreign investors.