Video | 30 Jan 2025
Scott Livermore
Chief Economist, Oxford Economics Middle East, and Managing Director
Saudi Arabia has pledged $600bn in investments in the US over four years, aiming to strengthen economic ties. While specifics remain unclear, the announcement follows positive trade developments, including a 7% annual growth in services trade. Imports climbed 14% in November, driven by machinery and transport equipment, with the US ranking among Saudi Arabia’s top suppliers. Although Saudi exports fell by 5% year on year in November, this was due to a 12% decline in oil exports.
Bahrain’s annual inflation rate edged up to 0.5% in December from 0.4% in November, reaching a four-month high. Key drivers include a sharp rise in alcoholic beverage prices and increases in electricity, gas, food and non-alcoholic beverages while prices fell in clothing and footwear. We expect inflation to pickup through this year, and for it to average 2.8% in 2025 as a whole
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Get in touch
Matthew Pritchard
Head of Business Development, Middle East
+971 50 867 3560
Matthew heads-up the subscriptions sales team in the Middle East and is responsible for strategic and commercial activities across the region. He joined the team in 2021 and is based in our Dubai office. Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Matthew was a Sales Director at Fitch Solutions covering business development across the Middle East having moved to Dubai from London to help set-up their UAE office in 2015. Matthew holds a Master’s degree in Management (with a speciality in International Business) and a Batchelor’s degree in Philosophy, both from the University of Sheffield.
Scott Livermore
Chief Economist, Oxford Economics Middle East, and Managing Director
+971 504 039 455
Scott Livermore is the Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and based in Oxford’s Dubai office. He is also Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia, as well as a member of Oxford Economics’ Senior Management Team. Scott leads many of the major projects in the GCC and Asia which have recently included capacity building, macroeconomic modelling, and policy impact assessment engagements for government institutions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, and IFRS 9 and Stress Testing engagements in Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
After completing a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, and an MSc in Economics at University College London, Scott joined Oxford Economic Forecasting in 1997. During his initial five years at OEF, he worked as a country analyst for a number of European countries and participated in numerous consultancy projects for a variety of international organisations, governments and multinational companies using both Oxford Economics’ Global Economic Model and bespoke economic models.
Scott rejoined Oxford Economics in 2005 as a senior economist after spending two years at the Ministry of Finance in the Slovak Republic assisting with the government’s medium-term macroeconomic framework and developing the analytical capacity of the ministry to prepare such forecasts. He has also held the positions of Managing Director of Macro and Industry Services, Managing Director of Macro Consulting, and COO of Oxford Economics USA.
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