Gulf economic growth to slow to 3.5pc: IMF

Economic growth in Arab states of the Gulf is likely to slow to 3.5 percent this year as oil revenues plummet due to a worsening global outlook, the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday.
"For the oil exporters, the decline in oil prices and OPEC production cuts are projected to reduce oil export receipts by almost 50 percent in 2009,"Masood Ahmed, director of IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, said in a statement after a presentation in Dubai.
"This implies a loss of government revenue to the tune of 300 billion dollars compared to 2008," he said.
However, increased government spending could help bolster the Gulf region's economies, which are estimated to have grown by 6.8 percent in 2008, Ahmad said.
He said the size of the slowdown would also depend on the extent of the crisis in the United States and Europe.