The Persian Gulf states are increasingly turning to Western banks such as...
The Persian Gulf states are increasingly turning to Western banks such as Citigroup, HSBC Holdings and others in order to finance more than ten billion dollars of projects and acquisitions this year as their traditional source of income, oil revenue, begins to wane.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman may need as much as two hundred billion dollars over the next decade, said David Moleshead, director for investment banking at HSBC's Middle East headquarters in Dubai. The region's population growth of about three percent per year means that the need for desalination and power plants is increasing.
?Oil, gas, power and water projects will continue to boost demand for credit,? said Ahmet Bekce, a director at Citigroup, the Gulf's biggest lender and the world's top financial services company. ?These countries need more power and water in order to raise living standards.?
Oil sales, which bankrolled the Gulf states' ruling families in the 1980s and 1990s, may fall by more than eleven percent this year to $91 billion as crude prices and output levels decline, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies. That increases the need for credit as monarchies are forced to bring a higher level of diversity to their economies.
Author:
Neftegaz.ru
