Brexit and MENA: The direct impact of Britain leaving the European Union would be “limited,” EFG Hermes Head of MENA Strategy Simon Kitchen wrote in a strategy note released yesterday. More important for MENA markets will be the impact on oil prices, financial markets, and European and global growth as a Brexit would increase global volatility. “Retail and high net worth investors (owners of significant capital in the GCC) are likely to show greater risk aversion in the face of [developed market] political uncertainty … Such returning capital could help stabilise MENA asset markets in the event of a ‘yes’ vote, balancing the impact of lower oil prices and rising asset price volatility over time,” Kitchen adds. He notes that, with the vote results set to be announced on Friday, MENA markets will be amongst the last to react; “volumes and prices may fall towards the end of this week as investors take some money off the table ahead of the referendum results.”