Gulf countries reserves surpass $2 trillion

The financial reserves of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which has six members comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, has surpassed $2 trillion despite low oil prices. Qatar's Minister of Finance Ali Sherif Al-Emadi, attending a finance conference held in Doha, said the reason the reserves of the Gulf Cooperation Council exceeded $2 trillion was because of the "humble" spending of the six countries during the times when the oil prices were high. Al-Emadi stated that the Gulf countries strengthened their financial reserves in recent years when oil and gas prices hit record highs and they also spent cautiously because of the possibility of fluctuations in the energy markets. He also added that with those reserves, the sustainable development in the region would continue and any budget deficit would be closed. In addition to reminding that there were negative comments on the Gulf economy after the oil prices decreased across the global markets, Al-Emadi emphasized that the countries in the region are trying to diversify their economies with the purpose of decreasing their dependency on oil incomes. Moreover, a project boom has happened "despite fears that rising construction costs would lead to a significant slowdown in the number of new projects being launched," Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) said in a statement. It added that only about a quarter of the projects were now being built. MEED noted that more than $1.2 trillion of these projects are in the construction sector, followed by the oil and gas sector at $430 billion.