Socioeconomic insights

Services Provided

1. Academic Consultancy

This website provides a gateway for academic consultancy services focusing on the oil-rich economies of the Middle East.

Key services include:

Design & delivery of credit-bearing university UG & PG courses;

Academic editing and proof reading services;

Guidance on the following software applications:

2. Research & Analysis

In terms of the economic research and analysis provided, we focus on applied research and in particular, the economic reform policies that are designed to develop further and diversify these economies. Projects typically undertaken include those concentrating on the region’s oil-dependency, diversification strategies and enquiry into labour market dynamics. Work has been undertaken for the following entities and organisations:

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This is the website of Dr Emilie J. Rutledge. An academic with over a decade’s worth of experience in designing, managing and delivering economics courses at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels (see: Courses). In addition to providing consultancy services Emilie is currently lecturing at The Open University. She has published over a dozen peer-reviewed papers (see: Publications) and is the author of “Monetary Union in the Gulf”. Her current research interests include the Arabian Gulf’s economic diversification and labour market reform agendas. Emilie also provides academic consultancy services — specialising in the developing of interactive university-level courses — alongside analytical and research expertise focusing on the economies of the oil-rich Arabian Gulf.
About ‧ Consultancy ‧ 📚 Papers

Dr Emilie J. Rutledge

erutledge.com

The Arabian Gulf

Since the late 1990s, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (often referred to as the Arabian Gulf), has undergone rapid demographic, economic and social changes. Since 1998, the region’s real GDP has expanded by an annual average of over 5 per cent. Over the same period, the population has risen from just over 28 million to an estimated 41 million in 2020.

Four of the six countries—Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE—have significant revenues from oil and gas and, have some of the world’s highest per capita incomes (especially so if delineated along national/non-national lines). With the exception of Saudi Arabia, all have very small national populations and, as a consequence rely heavily on a large number of expatriate “guest” workers. In Qatar and the UAE, nationals only make up a small fraction of their respective workforces.

The unprecedented economic boom for much of the first decade of this century (then brief bust, followed by ripples of the “Arab Spring” and now, a return to strong growth) has focused world attention on the region’s economies—no longer are the viewed solely as exporters of oil and gas, but increasingly as a destination for investment, with major infrastructural projects underway, a booming tourism sector and, a number of financial hubs.

Bahrain

Growth continues to moderate as aggregate demand remains weak and fiscal deficits accumulate. The current account stayed in deficit and international reserves continue to decline, putting further pressure on the exchange rate peg. Despite austerity measures, Bahrain remains the most vulnerable GCC country in the face of low oil and bauxite prices due to its limited savings and high debt levels, leaving it exposed to financing risks.

Bahrain’s economy continued to be negatively affected by the lower hydrocarbon prices. Bahrain maintained an expansionary fiscal stance since 2009 resulting in general government deficits. However, the situation worsened in 2016 with a decline in oil revenues by 10 percent and an overall fiscal deficit estimated at 13 percent of GDP (up from 12.8 percent in 2015). The deficit spending helped maintain economic growth at 3 percent, but brought reserves down to a concerning low level at 1.2 months of imports and increased public debt to 65 percent of GDP.