The reach of the credit crisis is such that liquidity is even becoming hard to come by in the hugely wealthy Middle East, according to this report.
With so few petrochemical projects officially announced for the region post-2012 (although I am hearing rumours of numerous plans kept from public view, but feedstock is the issue for all of them in the GCC), could we see a big slowdown in the growth of the region’s industry?
The irony, of course, is that many of the Middle East and emerging market countries have huge government surpluses and high individual savings rates.
When I was trying to cheer up a downbeat member of staff today, I said that the financial rescue package being proposed by the deadly duo of Paulson and Bernanke might get overseas support from these solvent administrations.
“It’s in everyone’s interests to keep the US afloat because it is so crucial to the global economy. If this had been 10 or 15 years from now, the Chinese might have done the economic equvalent of flipping the states fhe finger because by then they will be the biggest economy. But the US has got off the hook because of the timing of this crisis.”
I sounded so optimistic I almost believed this flannel myself.
More evidence is also emerging of project delay, including the Aramco/Dow Ras Tanura mega-investment. The sheer scale of the thing seems to be the issue here.