Cheap oil will increase Middle East debt issuances

Significance

This, with his recently acquired Beltone Financial Holding SAE, will create Egypt's second largest investment bank. Yet the profitability of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the investment banking industry is unlikely to rise in the short term.

Impacts

• Demand for Middle East bonds in 2016 will decline compared to 2014 and the first half of 2015.
• Yields will increase and issue size will decline, particularly for the weaker Gulf economies, Bahrain and Oman.
• This will reduce investors' interest in corporate bonds, which will mean more companies may cancel issues.
• In North Africa, lacklustre capital markets will not see enough reform to generate a recovery there.