All Countries and All Sectors

Los poco esperanzadores resultados que arrojó la economía mexicana durante el primer trimestre del año, condujeron a que a finales del mes de mayo el gobierno redujera su pronóstico de crecimiento del PIB para el 2014, al ir del 3.9% al 2.7%. Si bien el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto ha anunciado seis pasos que el gobierno dará con el fin de acelerar el crecimiento, es probable que la implementación exitosa de la ambiciosa agenda de reformas de su administración determine si México estará en condiciones de solucionar algunos de los puntos más vulnerables de su economía.

Muted levels of construction activity since the 2011 revolution, combined with constraints on electricity supply, has stifled operating conditions for Egypt’s cement producers, though new projects scheduled to launch in the second half of 2014 could provide a helpful boost to the segment, recently buoyed by the successful IPO of Arabian Cement.

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.

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea have highlighted the ongoing tensions between China and countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, with the US also weighing in recently with its proposals for a bigger military presence in the region.

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.