Gulf Cooporation Council: A real winner of the global economic headwinds

After a slowdown in 2023 mainly due to lower energy production and prices, 2024 is expected to be a year of higher economic growth for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as, after several months of pessimism about global oil demand, prices have been on the rise since summer. But all countries are not equal…

After several months of pessimism about global oil demand, prices started to rise following the announcement by Russia and, above all, Saudi Arabia, of the extension of their production cuts until the end of the year. However, this slight increase in oil prices will not benefit all of these countries equally.

Although they still heavily depend on the oil sector, GCC countries implemented economic diversification plans following the drop in oil prices between 2014 and 2016. While the UAE have been at the forefront of economic diversification, Saudi Arabia has announced substantial investments in recent years.