World Bank: Arab, African Countries Among 'Best' in Developing Renewable Energy

World Bank: Arab, African Countries Among 'Best' in Developing Renewable Energy
TT
20

World Bank: Arab, African Countries Among 'Best' in Developing Renewable Energy

World Bank: Arab, African Countries Among 'Best' in Developing Renewable Energy

The World Bank has recently released a report, titled Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) 2018, in which it warned that the world, as a whole, is only about half way towards the adoption of advanced policy frameworks for sustainable energy.

This puts at risk the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal on Energy (SDG7) by 2030 and hinders progress towards the goal of keeping the rise in global temperatures to well below two degrees.

It follows the previous methodology of classifying countries into a green zone of strong performers in the top third, a yellow zone of middling performers, and a red zone of weaker performers in the bottom third.

The latest edition of RISE found that in the last decade the number of countries with strong policy frameworks for sustainable energy has more than tripled since 2010, with a dramatic increase in the uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency targets.

It showed that from 2010 till 2017, the number of countries with strong policy frameworks for sustainable energy more than tripled from 17 to 59.

Strong performance in renewable energy policies has been distributed across all regions of the world and among different income groups.

The report said that the five countries that made the most progress in their policies in recent years and are from outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) including: the Ivory Coast, UAE, Rwanda, Jordan and Egypt. It also found that the world has seen a huge uptake in sustainable energy policies.

According to the report, it was noted that when the government is concerned with energy policies progress is achieved quickly.

Among the 133 countries in the index, countries where governments are concerned with sustainable energy sources made progress in RISE indicator by more than four percentage points, twice the average of the annual global growth rate.

Countries that have increased their electricity access rates the most since 2010 have also shown a concurrent improvement in electricity access policies. In countries with an electricity access deficit, policymakers are increasingly turning their attention to off-grid solutions to close the gap, the report explained.

This is illustrated by the soaring share of low-access countries adopting measures to support mini-grids and solar home systems from around 15 percent in 2010 to 70 percent in 2017.

In countries that have made progress on sustainable policies, the deteriorating fiscal position of national utilities is putting progress at risk.

Among countries with low access to energy, the number of utilities meeting basic creditworthiness criteria dropped from 63 percent in 2012 to 37 percent in 2016, the report said.



S&P Reaffirms Sultanate of Oman’s Sovereign Credit Rating at ‘BBB-’

S&P reaffirmed the Sultanate of Oman’s long-term sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-’ Asharq Al-Awsat
S&P reaffirmed the Sultanate of Oman’s long-term sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-’ Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20

S&P Reaffirms Sultanate of Oman’s Sovereign Credit Rating at ‘BBB-’

S&P reaffirmed the Sultanate of Oman’s long-term sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-’ Asharq Al-Awsat
S&P reaffirmed the Sultanate of Oman’s long-term sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-’ Asharq Al-Awsat

Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings (S&P) has reaffirmed the Sultanate of Oman’s long-term sovereign credit rating at ‘BBB-’ with a Stable Outlook, citing the government’s ongoing efforts to reduce public debt and the continued improvement in the State’s fiscal performance.

Last September, S&P had upgraded the country’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings from 'BB+' to 'BBB-'.

The agency confirmed that the Sultanate’s credit rating may witness further improvement over the next two years if the government continues to manage the country’s public finances as planned, including increasing non-oil revenues and improving the efficiency of public spending.

It noted that these measures are expected to continue to boost GDP growth, supported by continued growth in non-oil GDP, in addition to continuing measures aimed at promoting the establishment and growth of companies and projects that support economic diversification activities and operations, in addition to initiatives to develop the capital market sector.

The agency noted in its report that the Sultanate has made significant progress in recent years in addressing the structural challenges it faced, including the large deficit in the state’s general budget and balance of payments.

It expected Oman’s real GDP to grow by 2% in the next three years (2025-2028), while the net public debt is expected to decrease to an average of GDP by 1.5% between 2025-2028.

This is attributed, according to the agency, to the assumption that the average price of Brent crude will reach $70 per barrel over the next two years, compared to $81 per barrel in 2024, in addition to a decline in oil production due to the Sultanate of Oman’s commitment to voluntary cuts under the OPEC+ agreement.

The agency also expects the current account to record a financial surplus averaging 1.3% of GDP during the period 2025-2028, noting that Oman has been able to cover the large deficits.

Standard & Poor’s expected inflation rates to remain at moderate levels, averaging about 1.5% annually during the period 2025-2028, after reaching about 1% in 2024.

The agency said the success of the Sultanate’s efforts to reduce total public debt from 68% of GDP in 2020 to 36% in 2024.

It also expects highly liquid assets to remain close to 40% of GDP during the period 2025-2028.

Also, the agency commended the efforts made to develop the hydrogen production sector, in light of Oman’s intention to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, which will enable the country to become one of the leading hydrogen exporters by 2030.