Gulf economies' growth to average 2.5% - analyst

ECONOMIC GROWTH: On average, Gulf countries will see about 2.5 percent growth in 2009, it is predicted. (Getty Images)

An international analyst has predicted that Gulf economies on average will grow by about 2.5 per cent this year, nearly half the real growth achieved in 2008.

George Abed, senior advisor to the managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), said his figures showed the overall GDP growth is projected at about 1.2 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 2.3 per cent in the UAE, 1.2 per cent in Kuwait, nine per cent in Qatar, and nearly five per cent in Oman and Bahrain.

In an interview with Emirates Business, published on Sunday, Abed said the GCC's massive financial resources, high public spending and better investment climate would partly offset a steep decline in the hydrocarbon sector in 2009.

"Hydrocarbon real GDP for the region as a whole is expected to contract by about three per cent in 2009 as compared to a growth of 4.2 per cent in 2008," he told the paper.

He said the non-oil real GDP would slow down in 2009 but is projected to remain relatively solid at about four per cent, compared to six per cent in 2008.

He predicted non-hydrocarbon real growth at about 3.6 per cent in Kuwait, four per cent in Saudi Arabia, 4.2 per cent in the UAE, and about five per cent in Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

In 2008, nominal GDP in the Gulf jumped by nearly 30 per cent to smash through the $1-trillion mark for the first time mainly because of higher crude output, a sharp rise in oil prices and increased investments, Abed said.

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