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Prospects for South-east Asia to end-2023

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PROSPECTS H2 2023

Regional players will meanwhile work hard to sustain robust economic growth and affirm ASEAN ‘centrality’.

Manama will struggle to vary its investor offering

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BAHRAIN

The Economic Development Board (EDB), the country’s investment promotion agency, announced in March that its ‘golden licence’ scheme of incentives for local and foreign investors…

Market concentration will remain high in Latin America

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LATIN AMERICA

Markets in the region are characterised by the dominance of a small number of large firms, and the Bank believes that governments can spur growth by strengthening competition…

Bahrain’s tourism strategy will face stiff challenges

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BAHRAIN

Tourism development forms a key plank of Bahrain’s long-term economic growth strategy. However, almost all its Gulf peers are pursuing the same goal, armed with often-superior…

Foreign firms' influx will accelerate Saudi change

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SAUDI ARABIA

Without this, companies will not be awarded any government contract worth more than SAR1mn (around USD220,000). To date, the government has issued 162 regional headquarters…

Brunei will step up efforts to diversify economy

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BRUNEI

The IMF recently recommended structural reforms to bolster the economy, which has struggled to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brunei has long been reliant on…

Riyadh will expand international defence cooperation

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SAUDI ARABIA

These efforts will now be advanced by the German foreign minister's January 7 lifting of a veto on the delivery of Eurofighter aircraft to Riyadh. Berlin had previously opposed…

Russia eyes further expansion of agriculture

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RUSSIA

The decree targeted a rise in the value of agricultural production of at least 25% above the output of RUB7.6tn (USD86bn at current exchange rates) recorded in 2021. Putin also…

Gulf states: Western investment drive will accelerate

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GULF STATES

This trend was sustained in 2023 with USD23bn worth of investments in US markets alone. However, Gulf investments are subject increasingly to greater Western scrutiny because of…

Weak opposition will buy Nigeria's Tinubu time

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NIGERIA

Nevertheless, it remains mired in many of the same basic governance and security challenges that derailed its predecessors. There is little evidence that it has a plan to address…