IMF Urges Gulf States To Adapt To Lower Oil Prices

The International Monetary Fund forecast Monday economic growth in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC will be 1.8 percent this year, down from 3.3 percent in 2015, and urged spending cutbacks. IMF regional chief Masood Ahmed also said the oil-exporting Gulf states should press  forwards with diversifying their revenue base faced with persistent low crude prices. Director, IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, Masood Ahmed 

"2016 is going to be a continuation of low oil price environment, so we are going to see a further, may be $100 billion or so in terms of lower revenues from oil exports. this is now beginning to affect not just the financing but also the economies in terms of their economic activities". "This year you're going to see a drop in growth rate in the GCC to below 2 percent as a group. last year it was over 3 percent".  

GCC which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Oil prices have shed some 70 percent from their mid-2014 peak value to $40 per barrel. The IMF said markets expect prices to recover modestly to $50 by the end of this decade.