GCC Petrochemicals

GCC petrochemical companies are amongst the lowest cost manufacturers in the world owing to cheap feedstock and energy costs. Given their strategic location and development as a major transportation hub, GCC petrochemical producers enjoy a huge competitive advantage over others.

GCC Asset Management

GCC Asset Management & Investment Banking Survey 2012

GCC Asset Management Industry, with roughly 100 asset management companies, manages USD 26.5billion1 in assets in about 328 funds as on December 31, 2011. Geographically, Saudi Arabian funds account for 66% of the total (USD 17.5bn), followed by Kuwaiti funds with 16% share and GCC/MENA mandated funds with 14% share. In terms of products, money market funds lead the pack with a 53% share, followed by equities at 42%, while the remainder is in fixed income and specialized funds. Of the total, Islamic funds manage USD 17bn (64%) in assets.

GCC Seaports

The GCC countries have 35 ports in all; some of these ports are currently undergoing expansion to meet the increasing demand. Volumes have witnessed robust growth: increasing at an estimated 8% six-year CAGR to 25 million TEUs in 2010.1 The UAE ports have the highest share of volume in the GCC at 59%.

GCC Water

The Middle East is one of the most water-scarce regions in the world. The region’s challenge is twofold. On one hand, natural water resources are close to zero, and on the other, water consumption rates in the GCC region are one of the highest in the world.

GCC Roads & Railways

The GCC has historically focused its transportation investments in building roadways, thus ensuring high quality roads across most of the region. Almost 100% of the roads in the GCC are paved roads; compare this high percentage to the average in other emerging countries, which is below 75%.

GCC Power

For the past several years, the GCC countries have made concerted efforts toward enhancing their power generation capacity in an effort to satiate the rising demand due to the increase in the population and economy. The power consumption across the GCC has grown at an annual rate of about 9% from 2002; Saudi Arabia and the UAE account for a combined 75% of the total GCC consumption.

GCC ICT

“Governments, which once focused on the concrete issues of building infrastructure and providing access to citizens, are beginning to recognize that technology itself is not as important as the socioeconomic achievements it can engender—via e-health programs, e-government services, and smart grids for utilities. Businesses have recognized that ICT is not just an avenue to cost-cutting and more efficient operations, but a critical way to open a dialogue with consumers and other stakeholders via all kinds of digital communications. And consumers inhabit a new, always connected digital world.” World Economic Forum

GCC Aviation

High oil prices and sustained government support have turned a few Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) airlines like Emirates Airways, Qatar Airways, and Etihad into global airlines. The governments in the Middle East have successfully set up a global aviation hub model, which is the transit point of millions of passengers on their way to their final destinations. Passenger traffic in the GCC has grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10% between 2002 and 2010—significantly higher than the global traffic growth in the same period which was between 1% and 3%.