Projects awarded in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the first half of 2025 tumbled by nearly 39 pct mainly due to a sharp fall in Saudi Arabia, a Kuwaiti-based investment consultancy firm has reported.
The value of these contracts dipped to around USD 86 bln in the first half from nearly USD 140.5 bln in the first half of last year, Kamco Invest said.
“The decline was largely due to the substantial reduction in project activity in Saudi Arabia during the period,” the firm said in a report on awarded contracts in GCC states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE.
In the second quarter of this year, the value of such contracts fell by nearly 58 pct to around USD 28 bln from USD 68 bln in the second quarter of 2024.
Sector-wise, the GCC construction industry recorded a 60.0 pct YoY drop, with awards falling to USD 8.2 bln in the second quarter of this year from around USD 20.5 bln in the same period of last year.
This was followed by the oil sector, which saw a 98.4 pct YoY decline to around USD 70 mln from USD 4.5 bln in the same period, the report said.
On a quarterly basis, Saudi Arabia’s total contract awards plummeted by 72.5 pct YoY to USD 9.8 bln from USD 35.5 bln.
In contrast, Kuwait recorded a relatively modest 9.8 pct YoY decline in aggregate project awards, reaching USD 1.8 bln against USD two bln.
The UAE, the second largest Arab economy after Saudi Arabia, posted a 47 pct YoY drop in contract awards, totaling USD 14 bln in the second quarter of this year, down from USD 26.4 bln in the corresponding period of 2024.
