A recent SABB report expressed concern about declining business confidence in KSA in Q2'09 but maintained a positive outlook for Q3 and Q4. The report, surveying around 950 business respondents, describes that businesses are expecting growth in revenue and overall business in H2.

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The World Economic Forum on the Middle East was held in Jordan on May 15th/16th. The event was marked with various key discussion forums for the regional business community. The response to the economic crisis was to put more emphasis on reform rather than intervention by governments.

There is little doubt as to the role expanding credit has played in bringing about the current recession. An increasing number of economists believe this recession is the start of a long-term deleveraging of the global economy. They are not without reason: US credit market debt as a percentage of GDP currently stands at 350%. The only other significant rise historically was during the Great Depression.

The Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Al-Assaf, addressed the Euromoney Conference in Riyadh last week (May 19, 2009) and suggested that the government had awarded contracts worth over US$11 billion up from US$5.3 billion in the same period last year.