Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah unveiled additional financial support measures in mid March estimated to cost SR350 billion (US$93 billion). An estimated SR135 billion (US$36 billion) worth of measures were announced at the end of February.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services  it has lowered its long- and short-term local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on the Kingdom of Bahrain to 'BBB/A-3' from 'A-/A-2'.

A recent survey showed that companies in the Middle East remain reluctant to fully implement sufficient risk management policies despite the negative effects the global economic crisis had on corporate companies that did not have proper risk strategies in place.

Aggreko reported record profits for 2010 but stated that unrest in the Middle East region added significant uncertainty to its outlook for 2011.

Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government's clean energy company, has scrapped plans to manufacture solar panels in the UAE because of a lack of domestic demand.