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Capital Intelligence (CI) downgraded Oman’s long-term foreign and local currency ratings to A- from A and its short-term foreign and local currency ratings to A2 from A1, on 12 February. The ratings agency said the downgrade was due to a combination of a weaker-than-expected fiscal performance in the first ten months of 2015 and the likely negative consequences of a prolonged period of low oil prices. CI estimates that Oman ran a budget deficit of 17.7% of GDP in 2015; it expects the ratio to rise to 20% this year.

Dubai-based Emirates Group posted a profit of Dh2.5bn ($670m) for the 2016/17 fiscal year, a fall of 70% year-on-year. Group chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum described it as “one of our most challenging years to date”, with the company buffeted by the UK’s Brexit vote, currency devaluations and new policies banning portable electronics on flights to the United States.

In the run-up to the latest effort to establish Saudi Arabia’s credentials as a forward-looking hub for investment, clouds are gathering over the recession-hit economy and the government’s commitment to reforms set out by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelziz (MBS) in his Vision 2030 strategy. The Future Investment Initiative conference, which is being staged by the Public Investment Fund in Riyadh on 24-26 October, comes at a time when strains on the local economy are showing up ever more clearly.

The International Monetary Fund has predicted faster growth in most Gulf economies this year and next, in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), published on 17 April. However, the region is still set to trail behind global averages as much of the world economy rebounds from years of recession or constrained growth. Four of the five Gulf economies that contracted last year – Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia – are all expected to post positive GDP growth this year, of 3.1%, 1.3%, 2.1% and 1.7% respectively.

Qatar Airways announced a small net loss in the year to April 2012, on the back of high oil prices. The ambitious and fast-growing carrier is not listed on a stock market, and does not regularly disclose its results.

Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) head Abdelrahman Al-Attiyah told Al-Arabiya television on 24 November that will propose

The authorities remain confident that it’s all just a blip, but with some previously well-regarded companies defaulting on payments, the impact of the credit crunch is being felt in Saudi Arabia. The shock downgrading or removal of Al-Gosaibi and Maan Al-Sanea’s ratings has rattled bankers and investors across the region.

Riyadh has come under the spotlight for inadequate controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. In a report issued on 24 September, the kingdom was criticised by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to effectively investigate and prosecute individuals involved in large money laundering scams, failing to co-operate with other countries to go after the proceeds of crime and for ignoring terrorist fundraising by groups active outside the kingdom.

While the Dubai property market shows marked signs of cooling down (see below), investors in the UAE and other Gulf states show little sign of losing their enthusiasm for buying property in London, which along with New York and a very few other locations is an acknowledged global safe haven for parking assets out of potential harm’s way. (A variety of sources report that the UK’s heated ‘Brexit’ debate over possible departure from the European Union has elicited barely a murmur from Gulf investors, who see business continuing more or less as usual in London whatever happens.)

The Social Security Investment Company (Shasta), a subsidiary of the state-run Social Security Organization, sold $400m worth of shares in mid-April, in the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)’s history. The flotation represented 10% of the company’s equity; 6.7bn shares were sold to the public on 15 April and a further 1.3bn shares to investment funds three days later. Just over 2m investors subscribed to shares in the IPO, priced at IR8,600 a share. Shasta has investments in numerous industries, including petrochemicals, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and financial services.

Members of Kuwait’s prominent Al-Khorafi family have prevailed in the final stage of a landmark legal dispute in Dubai over mis-sold financial products, securing substantial compensation in the process. Judgement was handed down on 29 January by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of Appeal on a case that has its origins a decade ago. It is notable for being the region’s largest ever financial mis-selling case and for involving the first non-voluntary winding up of a DIFC company by its courts.

Further to reports of financial troubles at two property companies owned by the Dubai government, Meydan and Meraas Holdings, Damac Properties chairman Hussein Sajwani has called for an 18-month temporary halt to house-building in Dubai, so that demand can catch up with supply. In an interview with Bloomberg, Sajwani blamed Emaar Properties for flooding the market; he said he believed that whereas 30,000 properties were due to come on the market this year, there was only demand for 15,000.

Lawyers for businessman Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Suwaidi have said that his case against Gulf Finance House chairman Essam Janahi will be heard by Bahrain’s Court of Cassation. The case has already been rejected by Bahrain’s Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal.

Around 10m tonnes of goods transit Iran each year, providing some £3bn in revenues – a figure Tehran would like to quadruple by 2025. Sanctions have only intensified government efforts to make the country an indispensable part of the regional network.

As increasingly punitive sanctions are imposed on transactions involving Iran and western war drums beat louder over its nuclear programme, there are ever decreasing avenues for Tehran to finance trade flows; Iran is likely relying on cash deals, trade diversion and bartering arrangements