Saudi Arabia’s project index value bucks regional trend and climbs to $1.35tn
Saudi Arabia’s project market value rose 0.18 percent to $1.35 trillion between July 1 and Aug. 5, while several Gulf countries witnessed a decline.
The value of the Gulf Projects Index declined by close to 8 percent during the time period, according to a MEED report.
The decline in the project index does not necessarily indicate a major market downturn, but a fall in the pipeline of work planned for the future.
According to the report, Iraq and the UAE underwent the most significant corrections — 17.7 percent and 35.8 percent respectively.
The value of projects in the UAE stands at $515 billion, while Iraq's project market value stands at $287 billion.
Oman’s projects index value registered the highest growth of 2.43 percent to hit $187.9 billion, driven by the addition of new projects and upward revisions in the budgets of others, including the planned green ammonia plant in Duqm by South Korea’s Posco Group.
Qatar’s projects pipeline gained 0.62 percent to reach $193 billion.
Bahrain and Kuwait’s projects markets declined by 2.16 percent and 0.90 percent respectively, while Iran gained a modest 0.38 percent.
In July, a report by Kuwait-based Kamco revealed that Saudi Arabia led the Gulf Cooperation Council region with $16.5 billion worth of projects awarded during the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 77 percent compared to the same period last year.
The Kamco report also added that Saudi Arabia accounted for 77.2 percent of GCC contract awards in the second quarter, primarily driven by the contracts awarded for the $500 billion NEOM project.
MEED previously reported that three out of the ten big projects in the Kingdom were for the NEOM project.
Source: Arab News
