'GCC to witness 4% GDP growth in 2010' |
|
MANAMA: In its latest economic forecast HSBC put the inflation in Saudi Arabia at six percent in 2010, up from the current 3.5 percent. The overall GDP growth for the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council is to reach a modest four percent, the report added.
David Bloom, global head of foreign exchange strategy at HSBC and Simon Williams, its chief economist for gulf markets, said the region faced its biggest challenge in years but that investor appetite was returning after state intervention and recovering crude prices.
Bloom during an annual event of the HSBC said the region not only appears to have braved the downturn but it also was well on the road to recovery. The members of the business community in Bahrain attended the briefing on outlook on the regional growth in 2010. But, he said, the region's recovery was fraught with downside risks, particularly slowing down of credit growth. As 2010 progresses, he added, the risk that regional economies will once again run too hot and that inflation will return looms large.
This year, the economies of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait had contracted drastically and unemployment was on the rise.
The region's inflation was in the range of one percent to two percent at present.
Bloom said the continuation of the dollar peg would keep policy rates at close to zero for anther two years. With time, he added, this could trigger a rapid acceleration in credit demand and a sharp rise in consumer and asset priced inflation.
He said a sharp fall in dollar value over the year could also add to the region's inflationary difficulties given its reliance on imported goods.
He said although the region had weathered the global recession, the Gulf economies have decelerated more sharply than much of Asia and also have been slower to receiver.
Per capita GDP is likely to drop by an average 17 percent.
Sharply increased provisioning levels on bank balance sheets clearly show the depth of macro economic distress. Equity markets had fallen 75 percent at their mid-year low point, destroying in a few months the market valuation gains of the last five years.
Patrick Gallagher, CEO of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited Bahrain, said this yearly event aimed at giving customers insight and information regarding the trends and developments around the world.
© Arab News 2009
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Comment on this article 
Loading ...-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Stories
Companies
| Company Name | Country | Industry |
| Consolidated Contractors Company | Overseas | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Telecom | Saudi Arabia | Telecommunications Services |
| Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company - Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Binladin Group | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Ministry of Health - Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | Ministries and Municipalities |
| Dubai Electricity and Water Authority | UAE | Electric Utilities |
| Saudi Electricity Company | Saudi Arabia | Electric Utilities |
| Al Jaber Group - UAE | UAE | Construction and Design |
| Oman Insurance Company | UAE | Insurance |
Projects
| Project Name | Country | Sector |
| ADNOC/ConocoPhillips - Sour Gas Fields Development - Shah Field | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant | UAE | Power and Water |
| SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Abu Dhabi Ports Company - Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone (KPIZ) | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Aramco/Dow Chemical - Ras Tanura Integrated Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Qatar Foundation - Sidra Medical and Research Center | Qatar | Real Estate |
| IGD - Gasco - Habshan 5 Gas Processing Plant | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 | UAE | Industry |
| Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |