Gulf Cooperation Council: Diversification And Privatization lweb.es/f2475 12.24.2016
The collapse in world oil prices since mid-2014 has reinforced two imperatives for the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE: First, the need to raise revenue in order to balance state budgets; and second, the strengthened focus on the understanding that diversification away from dependence on oil is both essential and long overdue. Thus, many of the GCC governments have been discussing and attempting to promote economic reform, with a particular emphasis on the need for wide-ranging privatization.
OEF REVIEW:With a rainy day “reserve fund” of only 4.5 percent of GDP and scant access to international financial markets, Russia urgently needs a fiscal Plan B. In January, the authorities announced additional cuts amounting to about 1 percent of GDP. More important, the government will try to raise another 1.5 percent of GDP — 1 trillion rubles ($13 billion) — by privatizing state-owned firms, including “crown jewels” such as Rosneft (Russia’s largest oil company), the diamond monopoly Alrosa and the flagship airline Aeroflot.