Abdulelah Darandary

Research Lead

  • Primary Program Energy Macro & Microeconomics
  • Research Interests Macroeconomics, Economic Growth, International Trade and Investment, Financial Development, Energy Demand and Public Policy, Econometrics

Biography

Abdulelah is an economist and senior research associate at KAPSARC. He leads the application of behavioral economics to energy policymaking in Saudi Arabia. Abdulelah primarily works with econometric modeling. His research focuses on macroeconomics and energy, counterfactual analysis, international trade and investment flows, financial development, and public policy. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

During the Saudi G20 presidency, he was the Think20 (T20) Task Force Coordinator, and a member and co-author of the Trade, Investment, and Growth Taskforce. Before joining KAPSARC, Abdulelah was an economic consultant for a major consultancy firm, where he provided policy analyses, modeling, and forecasting for the impacts of public spending on social and economic indicators.

Abdulelah holds a master’s degree in applied economics and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of North Dakota.

Publications

See all Abdulelah’s publications
  • Discussion papers
  • Report
  • Instant Insights
  • Commentary
  • KAPSARC journal articles
  • Think20 (T20)
Modeling and Forecasting Industrial Electricity Demand for Saudi Arabia: Uncovering Regional Characteristics

Modeling and Forecasting Industrial Electricity Demand for Saudi Arabia: Uncovering Regional Characteristics

The objective of this study is to investigate Saudi Arabia’s industrial electricity consumption at the regional level. We apply structural time series modeling to annual data over the period of 1990 to 2019. In addition to estimating the size and significance of the price and income elasticities for regional industrial electricity demand, this study projects regional industrial electricity demand up to 2030. This is done using estimated equations and assuming different future values for price and income. The results show that the long-run income and price elasticities of industrial electricity demand vary across regions. The underlying energy demand trend analysis indicates some efficiency improvements in industrial electricity consumption patterns in all regions.

13th January 2022
Economic Diversification Under Saudi Vision 2030

Economic Diversification Under Saudi Vision 2030

The last decade has brought a row of substantial changes that have profound implications for the hydrocarbon resource-rich economies. The general answer to a changing environment is: Adapt! From the macroeconomic perspective, this means diversifying the economy to broaden the income base and reduce the dependence on oil revenues. This discussion paper examines the preferred diversification paths for the Saudi economy, with a focus on the foreseen adjustments in the sectoral composition along with broader macroeconomic shifts. The evaluation of the expected diversification impacts is based on the updated Vision 2030 Input-Output Table that maps the changing economic structure over the coming decade. The advances in economic diversification are measured by applying the Shannon-Weaver index to sectoral GDP and household income. We also conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine the effects of the foreseen diversification on the resilience of the Saudi economy to external shocks.

14th April 2021
Regional Heterogeneous Drivers of Electricity Demand in Saudi Arabia

Regional Heterogeneous Drivers of Electricity Demand in Saudi Arabia

Aggregate residential electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia has increased rapidly over the past several decades, largely due to population increases and fast economic growth (SAMA 2019). The growth in electricity consumption has been driven, among other factors, by government-administered prices fixed in nominal terms for years with minor adjustments.

13th September 2020
How the World Trading System Promotes and Impedes the Diversification of Developing Countries

How the World Trading System Promotes and Impedes the Diversification of Developing Countries

Diversification is important because it is associated with economic growth and reduced volatility. Export diversification is especially important for developing countries as a source of foreign exchange and imported know-how. We examine how export diversification is affected by trade policies, including multilateral rules, regional trade agreements, and national measures.

11th December 2020
A Remaining Piece of the COVID-19 Puzzle: Saudi Arabia’s Remittances Account

A Remaining Piece of the COVID-19 Puzzle: Saudi Arabia’s Remittances Account

It has been two years since the beginning of COVID-19, a one-of-a-kind crisis in recent history. The global economy was disrupted entirely in a few months and most economies faced shutdowns. While many disruptions can be explained, especially the economic disruptions, parts of the puzzle remain unanswered. In this instant insight, we examine the exceptional behavioral shift and trend break in remittance outflows from Saudi Arabia, which ranks in the top-five countries for remittance outflows globally.

30th May 2022
The Saudi Move into Hydrogen: A Paradigm Shift

The Saudi Move into Hydrogen: A Paradigm Shift

Saudi Arabia is moving ahead with its diversification plan, Saudi Vision 2030, by adopting hydrogen. The Kingdom is keen to enable the circular carbon economy (CCE) by producing and utilizing clean hydrogen. On September 27, Saudi Aramco announced its first shipment of hydrogen from Saudi Arabia to Japan. The 40 tonnes of high-grade blue ammonia shipment, which is meant for use in zero-carbon power generation, marks the first of its kind worldwide (Ratcliffe 2020).

6th January 2021
The Fiscal Response to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

The Fiscal Response to COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

The COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts to combat it have led to major global disruptions. Policymakers are faced with a dilemma that is not easily resolved. On the one hand, they are striving to protect public health by containing the spread of the virus. On the other, they must ensure the continuation of economic activities to mitigate the economic impact of the outbreak.

26th July 2020
Estimating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Saudi GDP

Estimating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Saudi GDP

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted economic and social activity globally at an unprecedented pace. The international movement of goods has been limited to the necessary minimum, often solely for deliveries of protective and healthcare equipment. Many governments have imposed strict international travel bans to limit the risk of importing the virus, or at least to sharply reduce the inflow of infected persons.

10th June 2020
The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport and Gasoline Demand

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transport and Gasoline Demand

In the last few months, the world has experienced the negative effects of COVID-19. The outbreak, which started as an epidemic concentrated in China, quickly spread to become a global pandemic. As of May 12, 2020, there have been over four million COVID-19 cases globally, and this number continues to increase.

21st May 2020

Related workshops

See all workshops
05 Oct

Energy Open Data Ecosystem, Energy Data…

Collaboration with: International Energy Forum (IEF) As a response to recommendations from the “Energy open data ecosystem, policy scenario models & tools” workshop series organised by KAPSARC since 2018, IEF and KAPSARC have jointly examined KAPSARC data and modeling resources to improve energy balance compilation with Saudi Arabia as a case study. The project successfully […]

19 Oct

Energy Economics Open Data Ecosystem, Data…

Machine readable energy, economics and climate data is feedstock for energy economic models and research to derive policy insights. As value of data is increasing significantly, data flow and model management tools need further advancement. In this workshop we will discuss how to advance best practices of data, energy economics models management and importance of […]

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