Analysis: Sliding oil price rebalances Middle East economy | Reuters

Ziad Makhzoumi, chief financial officer of Arabtec ARTC.DU, the United Arab Emirates' biggest construction firm by stock market value, thinks the region's economy will probably ride out weak oil prices comfortably. But he sees a risk.

If oil drops below the price at which energy-exporting countries in the Gulf can balance their state budgets - a scenario which he thinks unlikely - infrastructure and other building projects will slow down or in some cases halt.

Fortunately, "governments are more prudent and forecast better now than they did many decades ago, and can juggle things to maximize the use of limited funds or make their cash go longer," Makhzoumi told Reuters.

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