Featured by OBG
Kuwait, with one of the region’s most dynamic political systems and the world’s six-largest crude oil reserves, has seen significant GDP growth in recent years. As part of its efforts to diversify away from a reliance on hydrocarbons, New Kuwait 2035, a long-term economic development framework, aims to transition the country from resource-based industries to knowledge-based ones.
Qatar has demonstrated considerable resilience in recent years, successfully developing new homegrown industries while at the same time strengthening its global ties. Although Covid-19 has introduced significant economic uncertainties in 2020, a rapid response from Qatar's authorities to curb the effects of the virus should stand the nation's economy in good stead over the medium and long term.
Morocco’s economy is poised to continue along its trajectory of economic growth, but GDP expansion rates will depend on the policy choices made by the government. Although estimates by the IMF project that annual growth rates will reach 4.5% in 2024, there is still the matter of ensuring that GDP growth translates into improving conditions across all segments of the population.
Trinidad and Tobago is the largest producer of oil and gas in the Caribbean; however, like many hydrocarbon-producing nations worldwide, the slump in global energy prices beginning in 2014 negatively affected broader growth. While there is a need to diversify the economy away from its dependence on hydrocarbons, a number of new oil and gas discoveries in late 2019 appear set to support a short-term recovery in the energy sector and lend financing to the wider economy.
The government of President Nana Akufo-Addo assumed power on a promise to take “Ghana Beyond Aid”, and is pushing ahead with initiatives to formalise the economy, diversify its manufacturing base and overhaul its taxation structure. Ghana’s ability to retain fiscal discipline will be tested, with election-related expenditure expected to increase in the run-up to the 2020 poll.
Bahrain pioneered oil production in the Middle East beginning in the 1930s, establishing the region’s initial framework for the petroleum industry. Some 90 years later oil and gas operations comprise 18% of GDP, with the economy well diversified to host established financial services and industrial sectors, as well as unique tourism offerings.
