Positive Impact of High Oil Prices on Gulf Economies

  • GCC Countries
  • 17 March 2022
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Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, explained that "each increase in oil prices by ten dollars is positively reflected on the budgets of the Gulf countries, equivalent to a 3.25 percent increase in revenues to improve public finances, and an increase in the trade balance by 4.2 percent."

Azour stressed the IMF's readiness to help countries whose budgets were affected by the Ukrainian war, expecting the Gulf countries' revenues to rise, especially oil, while the economic growth of the non-oil sector was active in the economies of the Gulf countries.

He explained that "high levels of risks have a negative repercussion on the Gulf countries, but they are much less than the positive repercussions of high oil prices," noting that "oil-importing countries suffer from the doubling of oil prices and raw materials, especially food, because there are countries in the region that import foodstuffs from Russia and Ukraine, which will have a negative impact on inflation, fiscal revenues and tourism in some countries."

Source (Al-Arabiya.net Website, Edited)