The opportunities in the Gulf markets

Saudi Arabia's successful 'Future Investment Initiative' ('Davos in the desert') last month and the much-anticipated listing of Aramco have reminded us of the potential of the Gulf region for investors.

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) encompasses most of the Gulf and comprises Saudi, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain, with Saudi having by far the largest economy and population. It pays to remember what incremental steps have been taken in recent years to improve these markets from an investor's perspective. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been reclassified as emerging markets (from frontier markets status) by index providers MSCI and, in Saudi's case, FTSE Russell. Emerging markets: Hard work is still to come Qatar and the UAE had already been recently promoted, as the...