The Middle East and North Africa will be one of the fastest-growing regions in the world over the next two years with average real GDP growth of 5%, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. The region's rapid growth will be maintained over a longer period, based on new projections of world growth up to 2030, with Middle East GDP expected to increase fivefold over the next 25 years.
The region's fast growth is one of the key subjects addressed at the Economist Intelligence Unit's briefing, 'Economic and Business Outlook for the Middle East' in Dubai today. Chief analysts will discuss major trends in the oil, gas, petrochems, transport, and education sectors that will drive growth in the region. With Oil prices set to average $55 Billion, the briefing will focus on conditions for growth in the Gulf.
"The fundamental driver of the region's growth will be the central importance of the Middle East to the global energy market," says David Butter, Middle East Senior Economist and Chief Energy Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "The Gulf states have also made significant strides in diversifying their economies so that a larger portion of oil and gas surplus revenue is invested within the region."
At the briefing the following issues have been addressed:
The Economist Intelligence Unit's long-term world and regional economic forecast
Prospects for the global oil and gas market
Deeper industrialisation and transport development
The emergence of new financial centres in the Gulf
Economic and social risks--inflation, labour markets and stockmarket exuberance
Regional political risk--Iran, Iraq, Syria and Palestine
-Ends-
About the Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit is the business information arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist. Through our global network of over 100 in-house editors and economists, and a global network of over 700 contributors, we continuously assess and forecast political, economic and business conditions in more than 200 countries. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, we help executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies.
More than 500,000 customers in corporations, banks, universities and government institutions rely on our intelligence. In order to meet the needs of executives like these, we provide a full range of print and electronic delivery channels and have developed a portfolio of leading electronic services. These include: eiu.com, a virtual library with access to all of our publications, and store.eiu.com, our transactional site; viewswire.com, which provides daily and operational intelligence on countries worldwide; Executive Services, which provides insight and analysis on global business and management trends; and Data Services, a portfolio of economic and market indicators and forecasts.
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Press Release 2006
