GCC states' foreign assets growth to slow in 2012

Gulf Cooperation Council countries will slow their accumulation of foreign assets this year, George Abed, the Institute of International Finance’s director for Africa and the Middle East said.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman will together hold $2.02tn in foreign assets at the end of 2012, up 12 percent from 2011, George Abed said in a presentation at a conference in Doha, Qatar, on Monday.

Total foreign assets grew 14 percent between 2010 and 2011, according to data he presented.