Arabian Gulf countries need to accelerate reforms that include the downsizing of the public sector’s role in the economy and creating more private sector jobs to further lower dependence on oil income, according to the author of an Arab Strategy Forum report.
“A new model that promotes more diversification, that promotes more private sector development has to be implemented,” said Martin Hvidt, the author of the report and the associate professor at the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies at the University of South Denmark. “In order to promote the private sector, the public sector must decrease.”
Governments need to speed up reforms to insulate their oil-based economies from market fluctuations in oil prices, which creates economic instability, the report said. The Forum, which takes place annually in Dubai, is a platform for forecasting the geopolitical and economic events regionally and globally.
Gulf countries are currently implementing some reforms to wean their economies off oil income. These measures include increasing energy and electricity prices and introducing taxes, such as a 5 per cent VAT implemented in Saudi Arabia and the UAE this year.
The UAE is leading reforms, with the non-oil sector contributing to 70 per cent of the gross domestic product, a percentage that is expected to rise to 80 per cent by 2021.
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VAT and other levies, such as the excise tax introduced in Saudi Arabia and the UAE on sugary drinks and tobacco, are “low hanging fruits,” according to Mr Hvidt.
More serious reforms are needed including the creation of private sector jobs for an estimated 500,000 young nationals, mostly in Saudi Arabia, that are expected to join the workforce in the next decade, he said.
“Demographics is not a gift if people are not employed,” he said.
To stimulate private sector development, productivity has to increase, development plans have to be implemented and the education sector has to be reformed.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
