It is not long since soaring inflation was the scourge of the Middle East – the number one concern of policymakers. When living costs rose in 2007 and 2008, workers protested as soaring food prices and rents threatened to cloud the benefits of bumper oil revenues.

Yet in recent months the Gulf has found itself in a very different environment as inflation has dropped from double digits to low single figures, causing some economists to raise the spectre of deflation.