IslamicFinance.de

The Gulf’s state-linked firms are being forced to wean themselves off direct government funding, and focus more on capital markets and private investment, to push ahead with their building and infrstructure projects in an era of cheap oil. Thus, the future are projects that connect to private investment. This could be a boon for bankers, who have long wanted to play a bigger role in arranging financing packages for Gulf governments. So far the shift is most evident in the smaller Gulf nations which lack huge cash reserves but have big projects in the pipeline: Oman and Bahrain. But the change is also occurring at some of the region’s largest enterprises.