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Concern over the sultanate’s current account and other balances are being reflected in an upturn in sovereign and corporate debt issuance. The most eye-catching deal of the Omani summer was a $3.6bn loan agreed by the government with a group of unnamed Chinese financial institutions. Finalised in July and unveiled in August, the five-year unsecured loan was only marketed to Chinese lenders; it is something of a departure for the sultanate, which has tended to rely on financial aid from rich regional allies such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, or loans from western lenders.

King Salman returned to the Kingdom in mid-August after several weeks in Morocco. Soon after his arrival he ordered a month’s extra pay for Saudi military and security personnel actively involved in operations in Yemen.

A report by the Saudi-owned daily Asharq Al-Awsat that the suspected mastermind of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing had been handed over to Saudi authorities threatens further complications in Riyadh’s relations with Iran and the United States, ahead of congressional votes on the nuclear deal and President Barack Obama’s scheduled 4 September meeting with King Salman Bin Abdelaziz at the White House. Ahmed Al-Mughassil, a senior leader of Iranian-backed Saudi group Hizbollah Al-Hijaz, had been living in Beirut under Lebanese Hizbollah’s protection.

Moves by JMP members to renegotiate an Aden port deal with Dubai giant DP World could herald further investigations into deals made by outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

On 5 March, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was re-appointed by his uncle, the emir, to the post of prime minister. He will be tasked with forming his seventh government in five years, despite heavy opposition from several MPs and youth activists

Ministerial grillings: The government survived its latest brush with the National Assembly, following a marathon grilling session by MPs on 30 April of prime minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, oil, electricity and water minister Bakheer Al-Rashidi and social affairs and labour minister Hind Al-Sabeeh. The questioning was followed by votes of no-confidence in Al-Rashidi and Al-Sabeeh on 10 May which they survived; Sheikh Jaber managed to avoid a vote as MPs had failed to reach the required ten votes to table it.

Abu Dhabi sent a formidable delegation to pay respects following the death of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, headed by United Arab Emirates Armed Forces deputy supreme commander and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ), and his brothers Sheikhs Hazza, Saif, Tahnoun and Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Mansour Bin Zayed is believed to have particular responsibilities for Oman. In parallel, ‘Mother of the UAE’ Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak visited newly installed Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq’s wife Sayyida Ahad Bint Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Busaidiyah.

It seems that British business has been having trouble getting visas to Saudi Arabia. Two UK trade missions in the autumn had to be delayed because of a change in visa regulations, which has added new layers to the application process.The Department of Trade and Industry (UKTI) told GSN its trade mission was postponed while still in the planning stage because of changes in rules regarding visas for trade missions. “A new trade delegation is due to visit the country in February 2014,” a spokesman said.

Saudi Arabia National Guard commander Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah gave a late February interview to Okaz/Saudi Gazette in which he described his father’s daily routine, which includes waking for the Fajr prayer, reading the Quran, sleeping again and then performing the Dhuhr prayer.

The UAE’s two leading airlines have tapped nearly $650m in bond and debt facilities backed by export credit agencies (ECAs), reflecting the attractiveness of long-term ECA support at a time when commercial debt remains scarce and highly priced.

Spanish sporting giant Real Madrid (RM)’s president Ramon Calderón has been in talks with Ajman Crown Prince Sheikh Ammar Bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi with the idea of training talented young Emirati footballers in Spain, as well as opening RM football schools in the UAE.

A plan by National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to sell up to 1m barrels (bbls) of oil on a domestic exchange flopped on 4 February, when no offers were made for the crude.

The Gulf Co-operation Council is moving forward with setting up a long-planned Gulf Academy for Strategic and Security Studies, to be funded equally by the six member states from 2022 onwards. The academy is due to start offering courses from the 2023/24 academic year, according to the final communiqué issued at the end of the 40th GCC Supreme Council in Riyadh on 10 December

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s latest Article IV consultation for Oman concluded with a polite restatement of the macroeconomic problems confronting the sultanate, and the recommendation that further fiscal reform is essential, amid continuing pressure on macroeconomic balances from the soft oil price and a tendency towards overspending by the government, to buy social peace. The overall fiscal deficit is projected at 14.8% of GDP in 2015 and seems set to rise further unless the government takes urgent remedial action.

Having finally opened in Abu Dhabi, the Louvre is taking French cultural diplomacy to another level with a major exhibition opening at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran. The Louvre in Tehran will include 50 works drawn from the Paris museum’s collection and from the Musée Eugène Delacroix; it is sponsored by car-maker Renault and Fondation Total. The exhibition, themed around the Louvre’s development since 1793, will include Greek, Roman and Persian artefacts.