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Kuwait ranks fifth in GCC projects market despite a modest 0.4% decline in the projects index.
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Saudi Arabia ranked first with projects worth $1.852 trillion, followed by the UAE and Oman in second and third places with projects worth $854 billion and $245 billion, respectively.
MEED magazine reported that the Gulf projects index rose by 0.7% between June 7 and July 12, driven primarily by an increase in the value of the projects market in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in the UAE. Meanwhile, the Saudi projects market experienced a slight contraction, according to Al Anba newspaper.
As for the Kuwaiti projects index, it recorded a decline of 0.4%, dropping from $190 billion to $189 billion, losing $1 billion. Consequently, Kuwait ranked fifth in the GCC.
Saudi Arabia ranked first with projects worth $1.852 trillion, followed by the UAE and Oman in second and third places with projects worth $854 billion and $245 billion, respectively.
Qatar was in fourth place with $235 billion, Kuwait in fifth, and Bahrain in sixth and last place with projects worth $71 billion.
The GCC projects index was valued at $3.447 trillion, up 0.1% from the previous period, while the broader Gulf index rose 0.7% to $4.138 trillion. This marks the 16th consecutive month of upward momentum in the GCC regional projects market, which includes Iraq and Iran, since March 2023.
Renewed ambitions for rail projects in the region were a key factor in the index’s recovery. Iraq’s projects market gained $26.3 billion, or 7%, due to the revitalization of plans to build a national high-speed rail network across the country, from north to south as well as east to west.
The cost of Iraq’s rail projects, which have been under study in various forms for decades, is relatively uncertain but could run into the tens of billions of dollars, with the network currently in the design phase.
Other GCC and Gulf countries saw relatively little change, with Qatar’s projects market adding $3.9 billion, or 1.7%, Bahrain’s projects market adding $2 billion, or 2.9%, Iran’s projects market adding $1.4 billion, or 0.5%, and Oman’s projects market adding $1.4 billion, or 0.5% to the index value.
