All Countries and All Sectors

Despite new state investments in infrastructure and a steadily rising population, the insurance sector in Kuwait is expected to grow more slowly than elsewhere in the Gulf.

With the country in the middle of a population boom, planned reforms to Nigeria’s pension system are timely. The legislative overhaul is expected to boost coverage, inject new capital into productive investments and increase accountability. However, implementation may be tricky, both in terms of ensuring compliance with the scheme and finding trained personnel to staff asset management funds.

L'assurance islamique, takaful, devrait contribuer de façon décisive au développement du secteur des assurances marocain, en droite ligne avec la volonté du gouvernement de diversifier le marché et d’augmenter le nombre de primes. Le lancement de takaful, initialement prévu cette année, reste cependant tributaire de l’adoption d'une nouvelle loi relative aux services financiers islamiques.

As Abu Dhabi looks to develop its capital markets, it has again raised discussions of establishing a Gulf Derivatives Exchange, while an upgrade for the UAE to emerging market status is likely to boost the bourse’s international profile and attract more institutional investors.

Demand for housing and office space in the Philippines is expected to remain high on the back of impressive economic growth. Despite an increase in new space, property developers expect vacancies in premium residential and office space across business districts to remain scarce.

Authorities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are hoping a new emphasis on developing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will generate up to 2m jobs in the next decade or so and boost the number of locally owned businesses. However, critics say that the government will first need to improve infrastructure and access to credit.