MEED magazine said that Kuwait awarded contracts worth $640 million last September, noting that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region witnessed the signing of contracts worth $25.1 billion in September, an increase of 54.7%, compared to contracts worth $16.2 billion awarded in August, this year.
The magazine explained that the MENA region recorded a volume of contracts awarded during the third quarter of this year worth $67.2 billion, recording a decline of 9%, compared to the volume of contracts awarded in the region during the same period in 2023, which amounted to $74 billion.
Furthermore, MEED indicated that despite the weak market performance during the third quarter of the year, the cumulative value of projects awarded during the first 9 months of this year, stabilized at $228 billion, remaining 13.7% higher than the value of projects awarded during the same period in 2023, which amounted to $201 billion.
Progressively, Saudi Arabia continued to lead the region in September, with $14.3 billion in contracts awarded, more than double the $6.6 billion awarded in August and well above other countries in the region.
Meanwhile, Qatar recorded around $4 billion in contracts awarded in September; UAE saw $3.6 billion in contracts awarded in September; Egypt recorded $1.1 billion in deals and; Bahrain recorded $407 million in deals during the month.
Iraq saw contracts worth $390 million awarded in September, down from $2.4 billion in August; Morocco saw contracts worth $350 million and; Oman saw contracts worth $199 million signed in September.
Kuwaiti projects
In a related context, MEED revealed that the value of the Kuwaiti projects market rose by 0.3% or $1 million between 11 September and 13 October 2024, to $193 billion, compared to $192 billion in the previous period, thus retaining Kuwait’s fifth place in the GCC in terms of the value of its projects market.
MEED indicated that the projects index in the six GCC countries increased by 1% during the same period, as new projects worth $10 billion were added to the market, bringing its total value to $3.47 trillion, compared to $3.43 trillion in the previous period.
Saudi Arabia came in first place with projects worth $1.91 trillion; followed by the UAE in second place with projects worth $824 billion; Qatar in third place with projects worth $240 billion; Oman in fourth place with $235 billion; Kuwait in fifth place and; Bahrain in sixth and last place, with projects worth $63 billion.
The Gulf projects market
The broader Gulf index, which includes the six GCC countries, in addition to Iraq and Iran, rose by 0.2% during the same period, as the market rose for the second consecutive month, continuing its positive performance after falling by 1.6%, last August.
The second consecutive month of growth indicates that the market continues its overall steady upward trend, which has grown by almost a quarter over the past two years.
The market size reached $4.1 trillion, while the Iraqi projects index value reached $369 billion, followed by the Iranian projects index at $267 billion.
MEED explained that the increase in the size of the Gulf projects market was due to the momentum generated by the strong growth in projects in the GCC markets, compared to a 5.9% decline in the value of projects in the Iraqi market, and a 0.9% slowdown in the Iranian market projects index.
Further to this, the MEED magazine indicated that the growth of the GCC projects market was driven by the increase in the size of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which recorded growth of 0.8% and 1.7% respectively, adding $15.6 billion and $13.8 billion respectively.
The Qatari and Omani projects markets also grew strongly, adding 2.2% and 2.7%, or $5.1 billion and $6.1 billion respectively, while the Bahraini market contracted by $5.5 billion, or 8%, due to project write-downs and more project completions and cancellations than new projects being announced.
