Published in Al Arabiya
As part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has been offering many countries foreign aid in the guise of loans to build critical infrastructure. Initially, most recipient countries were enthusiastic, but with the passage of time, the burden of repaying the debt has led many to question whether accepting the aid in the first place was a good idea, and China’s rivals have come to view the entire project as a debt trap seeking to subjugate the recipients’ economies. Continue
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Published in Al Arabiya
On June 27 and 28, a large Gulf delegation traveled to Berlin to participate in the first Gulf-German forum on security and cooperation, organized by the German Federal Academy for Security Policy and the German-Arab Friendship Association. Discussions at the conference, attended by Prince Turki Al Faisal, Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, touched upon the need to restart negotiations over a GCC-EU free trade agreement (FTA), after previous negotiations collapsed in 2009. Coincidentally, the EU has just concluded an FTA with several South American states, so there is now space for the GCC to conclude a similar deal. Continue Published in Al Arabiya
Late June saw the leading scientific journal, Science, publish an article ranking a sample of 40 countries in civic honesty, where people voluntarily refrain from opportunistic behavior. Worryingly for Arab and Islamic countries, they dominated the lowest positions in the rankings, while the highest positions were reserved for the countries with the highest living standards. While it is difficult to demonstrate a definitive causal relationship between civic honesty and economic success, the data should make policymakers think hard about the need to make people trust each other more as part of their economic strategies. Continue Published in AlArabiya
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries currently have a single market with a common external tariff of five percent. The introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE under the GCC framework significantly expands the fiscal flexibility enjoyed by the governments. As a result, the Gulf countries should work toward eliminating customs taxes, switching exclusively to VAT. The primary benefit will be in opening markets for the Gulf countries’ new non-oil exports as they implement their economic visions. Continue Published in AlArabiya
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is predicated upon making the private sector more attractive to citizens, and decreasing the economy’s dependence upon expatriates, especially in high-skilled jobs. In the long-run these goals are compatible, but in the short-run they are slightly conflicting. The government should prioritize intelligent decreases in the role of skilled foreigners who are specially brought in to fill public sector managerial positions, by boosting public sector wages for citizens Continue |
Omar Al-Ubaydli
This is where you can find all my articles, as well as some of my interviews and media mentions Archives
June 2020
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