Regional focus: Middle East and Africa

The economy of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region continues to suffer from political instability and a lack of regime legitimacy, resulting in an uncertain investment climate. The latest set of sanctions imposed by the US on Iran in October 2018 caused an immediate decline in the OPEC basket oil price, which may have a negative impact on growth in the region.

As most broadcasters in the Middle East are either state-funded or backed by private companies relying on oil to drive their businesses, the decline in global oil prices during 2015 and 2016 had a direct impact on broadcast and media technology spending. The oil price decline also caused steep currency depreciations in major oil-exporting countries in Africa, where currencies are not pegged to the US dollar. This has led to a dramatic increase in the price of broadcast equipment and services imported from abroad.

Thanks to a partial recovery in energy prices as well as increased infrastructure investment such as the UAE Expo 2020, the World Bank expects growth in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries to rise to 2.7% in 2019. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to rise from 3.2% in 2018 to 3.5% in 2019. 

Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
In the Middle East, the transition to digital broadcasting has been completed by only a few countries…