A timely Kingdom of Saudi Arabia brief (PDF 2.4mb)

Setting aside that Saad little issue, there’s an increasingly widespread belief that the GCC region is on the mend.

With president Obama visiting Saudi Arabia, local investment bank NCB Capital have produced a 260-page briefing on the kingdom, with some appropriately up-lifting stats:

The Saudi authorities have taken impressive steps to create an attractive business climate and the progress to date has been recognized by external observers and foreign investors alike. The World Bank has identified Saudi Arabia as a leading reformer globally and the Kingdom has risen from 67th to 16th position in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index in less than three years. It is now the highest-ranked Middle Eastern country. The improved business environment has triggered an unprecedented FDI boom in recent years. At home, the development of the financial sector has facilitated ambitious investments by Saudi corporations and significantly boosted the role of non-oil sectors as well as private entrepreneurship in the economy. These efforts have in turn fueled rapid growth with the country’s real GDP expanding at a CAGR of 5.0% in 2002-2007. GDP growth in 2008 accelerated to 4.2% from the previous year’s 3.5%, despite a sharp slowdown in the second half of the year.