Featured by OBG
Kuwait is advancing a broad reform agenda under the New Kuwait 2035 development plan, aiming to strengthen economic resilience and diversify beyond hydrocarbons. Recent governance and fiscal reforms, including the passage of a new public debt law, are expected to expand financing options and support capital market development. At the same time, investment in infrastructure, logistics, digital technology and industry is creating new opportunities for private sector participation. While the energy sector continues to anchor the economy, expanding activity in finance, ICT and trade is helping to broaden growth drivers. Parallel investment in education, health care and cultural infrastructure is also strengthening human capital and quality of life, positioning Kuwait for more diversified and sustainable long-term growth.
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.
