Abstract
The given work is dedicated to the economic changes of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries during the last ten years. The presented analysis is based on the economic efficiency of the countries–members of GCC with a use of quantitative data and statistic materials. The changes are shown and explained. The main reasons and factors of changes are mentioned. The member countries are compared due to their primary economic indexes, indicating the tendencies of their economic growth in the nearest future. Overall performance is also presented and explained. The aim of the work was to confirm or deny the fact of positive changes in the wealth of the presented countries.
The GDP growth of the GCC countries over the period of 2005-2009 years (Billion USD)
As we see on the given diagram, most of the GCC countries have positive changes in their GDP, though on a different scale. The lowest GDP over these five years is noticed in Kuwait in 2009 (4,19 billion USD), while the highest was in Saudi Arabia in 2009 (315,48 billion USD) (Trading Economic Statistics, 2015, economic indexes section, para.1).
The GDP growth of the GCC countries over the period of 2010-2014 years (Billion USD)
As we can notice on the diagram, GDP of most of the countries is steadily going up. The lowest index over these five years was in Kuwait in 2011 (-2,4 billion USD), and the highest was noticed in Saudi Arabia in 2014 (744,34 billion USD).
A characteristic of the overall performance of the countries-members
- Having common goals, The Gulf countries manage to increase their performance, cooperating with each other.
- Due to inequality of the countries-members, their contribution to the general result is different.
- Having high indexes, the GCC is considered to be a significant part of European trade system.
A common vision of growth is shared by the GCC members (Beidas-Strom, Rasmussen, Robinson, 2011). It is one of the factors that binds this group of countries together. Some of them possess a long history of national development plans and use it to foresee and create favorable conditions for the future succeeds.
Today the total DGP of the organization exceeds 1,500 billion USD. Though not all countries of the union are equally developed, this index is rather high. Especially regarding the financial crisis the GCC had in 2009 (total GDP about 1.000 billion USD). The tendency has been positive since the year 2000 when total GDP was 375 billion USD. Only in five years after the GCC countries almost made this amount double. The organization’s territories are considered as a significant market of export for Europe (Gulf region, 2015). This area consumes 4,2 % of Europe’s total trade. The GCC territory takes the fifth place on the scale of the largest markets for European products. The resources that countries-members offer for export are mainly mining products and fuel. It is estimated as almost three fourth of European import (Gulf region, 2015). It is known that Gulf countries’ revenues from export are strongly dependent on incomes from oil products.
As we can see, the GCC’s performance is mostly successful for such a small territory.
Factors and reasons for the changes in performance
The success that GCC countries have been having is mostly explained as a combination of favorable issues. The main factors of success are:
- Geographical benefits. The territory possesses significant reserves of oil products, which are now an inherent part of Gulf countries’ market,
- Effective internal infrastructure. Lately the processes of economic integration, creating common financial institutions have been enforced.
The reasons that elevated the GCC economy are as follows:
- Care about society. Here belong investments in health services and schooling, physical infrastructure development,
- High planning level. The Gulf countries recent strategic documents deal with mapping out future directions of social, governmental and economic progress over the period of the next twenty years, involving fundamental changes.
The important changes that occurred in the life of Gulf members are:
- Obtained wide sphere of action. Arab Gulf union gives much political priority to diversification of economy (Havidt, 2013),
- Changes in productive structure. Non-oil economic sectors have been boosters of GCC countries’ growth of wealth – 8% average over 2007-2012 period (Devaux, 2013).
Reference list
Beidas-Strom, S., Rasmussen, T., & Robinson, D. (2011). Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC): Enhancing Economic Outcomes in an Uncertain Global Economy. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund.
Devaux, P. (2013). Economic Diversification in the GCC: Dynamic Drive Needs to be Confirmed. Web.
Gulf Region. (2015). Web.
Havidt, M. (2013). Economic Diversification in GCC Countries: Past Record and Future Trends. Copenhagen: McKinsey & Co.
Trading Economic Statistics (2015). GDP Annual Growth Rate. Web.