Middle East biz feeling the strain, says survey

The Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) carried out jointly by ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (the Institute of Management Accountants) for the third quarter of 2015 suggests that the renewed fall in oil prices is likely to have concerned businesses, given the region’s dependence on energy exports.

Capital expenditure plans have understandably been pared back. Businesses have also become much more downbeat about the ability of governments to continue propping up growth with fiscal stimulus. The government spending expectations index for the region has never been lower. That said, the withdrawal of government support is likely to be gradual. Governments in the Middle East generally have large amounts of fiscal reserves and relatively little debt. It was notable that more respondents still expected government spending to increase over the next five years than expected it to decline.