Mineral policy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: The case of Saudi Arabia

Content Type ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Oil Revenue ◽

Gulf States

Subject Prospects for the Gulf states to end-2017. Significance Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries agree on the need to check Iran’s regional aspirations, but differ radically on how to achieve this goal -- pushing Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to open confrontation with Qatar and leaving Kuwait and Oman caught uncomfortably in the middle. At the same time, they face the major challenge of adjusting their economies to long-term expectations of lower oil revenue.

Dynamic Spillovers between Gulf Cooperation Council’s Stocks, VIX, Oil and Gold Volatility Indices

Journal of Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.3390/jrfm13040069 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 69 ◽

Author(s):

Abdullah Alqahtani ◽

Julien Chevallier

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Stock Market ◽

Stock Returns ◽

Oil Shocks ◽

Market Returns ◽

Stock Market Returns ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Conditional Correlations ◽

Garch Modeling

This paper analyzes the conditional correlations between the stock market returns of countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The innovative aspects of the paper consist of focusing on three volatility indices: the oil (OVX), gold (GVZ), and S&P500 (VIX) markets (considered in log-difference). We use weekly data and resort to DCC-GARCH modeling. The novelty of the paper consists in revealing that: (i) GCC stock market returns are negatively correlated with each of the volatility measures, and the correlations are stronger during crisis periods; (ii) GCC stock returns are mostly correlated with oil shocks; and (iii) Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the most responsive to all shocks among the GCC countries, while Bahrain correlates weakly to shocks in oil, gold, and VIX. The most striking results feature extra sensitivity of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in terms of volatility indices, which should be the foremost concern of policymakers and banking analysts.

Management of Healthcare in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with special reference to Saudi Arabia

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences ◽

10.6007/ijarbss/v4-i12/1326 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 4 (12) ◽

Author(s):

Padmakumar Ram

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Special Reference ◽

Gcc Countries

The Gulf Cooperation Council countries and countering ISIS: threats, policies and challenges

Contemporary Arab Affairs ◽

10.1080/17550912.2016.1250361 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 577-595

Author(s):

Eman Ragab

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

National Security ◽

National Level ◽

Armed Groups ◽

Conflict Zones ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

The Creation ◽

Private Donations

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are being affected by the rise of terrorism and radicalism which in turn has been driven by the creation of ISIS' state in Iraq and Syria in mid-2014. The group's presence in Iraq and Syria is inciting many Gulf civilians to travel to Syria to take part in the conflict against al-Assad or to act as local fundraisers for the organization. Furthermore, after a while, the Gulf fighters are either moving back to their home countries or to other conflict zones such as Libya and Yemen, and vice versa. This paper examines how GCC countries are countering the threats posed by ISIS to their national security by focusing on the counter-ISIS policies developed on the national level. The paper identifies three patterns of threats that include the recruitment of their citizens to join the conflict in Syria, the local replica of ISIS that has recently targeted Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and private donations channelled to the armed groups in Syria. These threats are examined in detail in the first section of this paper as they represent different aspects of ISIS' influence and appeal in the Gulf societies. In order to avoid generalizations, the analysis and discussion in this paper are based on the examination of the profiles of a sample of 15 Gulf fighters recruited by ISIS during 2014–2015 originating from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. The paper also examines the policies adopted at the national level in the GCC countries to curb ISIS' influence and appeal, and identifies the main challenges encountered by these countries in countering ISIS.

Oil Price and Energy Depletion Nexus in GCC Countries: Asymmetry Analyses

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13123058 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 3058 ◽

Author(s):

Tarek Tawfik Yousef Alkhateeb ◽

Haider Mahmood

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Oil Price ◽

Energy Depletion ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Panel Estimates ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

Oil price has played a prominent role in oil exporter economies and may also affect energy depletion in oil-dependent countries. Considering asymmetry, the relationship between oil price (OP) and energy depletion has been investigated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region from 1970 to 2017. We find asymmetrical positive effects of OP on the energy depletion in the panel of the GCC region. To avoid aggregation biasness in the panel estimates, we also conduct a time-series analysis on each GCC country. We find a positive impact of increasing OP on the energy depletion in six GCC countries, and this effect is found to be elastic in the case of all countries except for Kuwait. Positive effects of decreasing OP on the depletion are also found in all the GCC countries, and these effects are found to be elastic or unit elastic in the case of all countries except Saudi Arabia. Asymmetry in the relationship of oil price and energy depletion is established for Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia in terms of the different magnitude of effects.

Father Involvement and Education in the GCC

10.18502/aqf.0160 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Life History ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

North Africa ◽

Father Involvement ◽

Educational Achievement ◽

Mena Region ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Education Environment

This policy brief builds on a larger father involvement study that encompasses 10 countries in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region to identify some of the key challenges of father involvement in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Using mixed methods with a modified Fatherhood Scale survey and life history interviews, the study found notable differences in father involvement in education across geographic, gender, and generational factors. Overall, fathers in GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) tend to be perceived as more encouraging of their children’s education, especially for their daughters, but are less engaged in the types of quality involvement that are key to educational achievement. Based on the findings of this study, this policy brief highlights some of the key challenges of GCC fathers’ involvement. We conclude by offering recommendations to create and support an education environment in the GCC that values quality father involvement.

Re-Examining Government Revenues, Government Spending And Economic Growth In GCC Countries

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR) ◽

10.19030/jabr.v29i3.7777 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 737 ◽

Author(s):

Helmi Hamdi ◽

Rashid Sbia

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Government Spending ◽

Temporal Relationship ◽

Econometric Model ◽

Government Expenditures ◽

Font Size ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Toda And Yamamoto

The aim of this paper is to examine the inter-temporal relationship between government revenues and expenditures within a trivariate framework by modeling them together with gross domestic product. Our sample is based on a panel of 6 countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) i.e. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, for the period from 1990 to 2010. We perform an econometric model based on the Toda and Yamamoto procedure. Our empirical results show that government expenditures Granger cause government revenues for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates only, while government revenues Granger cause government expenditures for Saudi Arabia only. We also found a unidirectional causality running from government expenditures to GDP in Bahrain only. Regarding Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, GDP Granger cause government revenues while GDP Granger cause government expenditures for Oman and Qatar.

Forecasting the SARS COVID-19 pandemic and critical care resources threshold in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: population analysis of aggregate data

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044102 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. e044102

Author(s):

Amira K Al-Aamri ◽

Ayaman A Al-Harrasi ◽

Abdurahman K AAl-Abdulsalam ◽

Abdullah A Al-Maniri ◽

Sabu S Padmadas

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Critical Care ◽

Disease Management ◽

Human Resources ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Control Measures ◽

Cumulative Number ◽

Gcc Countries

ObjectiveTo generate cross-national forecasts of COVID-19 trajectories and quantify the associated impact on essential critical care resources for disease management in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.DesignPopulation-level aggregate analysis.SettingBahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.MethodsWe applied an extended time-dependent SEICRD compartmental model to predict the flow of people between six states, susceptible–exposed–infected–critical–recovery–death, accounting for community mitigation strategies and the latent period between exposure and infected and contagious states. Then, we used the WHO Adaptt Surge Planning Tool to predict intensive care unit (ICU) and human resources capacity based on predicted daily active and cumulative infections from the SEICRD model.Main outcome measuresPredicted COVID-19 infections, deaths, and ICU and human resources capacity for disease management.ResultsCOVID-19 infections vary daily from 498 per million in Bahrain to over 300 per million in UAE and Qatar, to 9 per million in Saudi Arabia. The cumulative number of deaths varies from 302 per million in Oman to 89 in Qatar. UAE attained its first peak as early as 21 April 2020, whereas Oman had its peak on 29 August 2020. In absolute terms, Saudi Arabia is predicted to have the highest COVID-19 mortality burden, followed by UAE and Oman. The predicted maximum number of COVID-19-infected patients in need of oxygen therapy during the peak of emergency admissions varies between 690 in Bahrain, 1440 in Oman and over 10 000 in Saudi Arabia.ConclusionAlthough most GCC countries have managed to flatten the epidemiological curve by August 2020, trends since November 2020 show potential increase in new infections. The pandemic is predicted to recede by August 2021, provided the existing infection control measures continue effectively and consistently across all countries. Current health infrastructure including the provision of ICUs and nursing staff seem adequate, but health systems should keep ICUs ready to manage critically ill patients.

The Impact of the 2020 Oil Production Fluctuations on Methane Emissions over the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries: A Satellite Approach

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos13010011 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 11

Author(s):

Ashraf Farahat

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Oil Prices ◽

Oil Production ◽

Methane Emissions ◽

Data Set ◽

Oil Refineries ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

The Impact

The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected global industrial and transportation markets. Airlines, rails, and cars’ industries and their supporting energy sectors have been substantially disrupted by the pandemic. This has resulted in undermined energy demand around the world during 2019 and 2020. The organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by Saudi Arabia failed to persuade Russia to cutback oil supplies to deal with the loss of demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 March 2020, Saudi Arabia announced a raise in its oil production and offered a large discount on its crude oil sales. By April 2020, Saudi Arabia increased its oil production to about 12 million-oil barrels/day. This rise in oil production has not only resulted in the biggest fall in oil prices since the 1991 Gulf War but also increased methane emissions over the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions. Here, we report 2019 and 2020 data set of average seasonal methane-mixing ratio retrieved from TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board of S5P spacecraft over 19 refineries and oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain. Low methane emissions were recorded over western and central Saudi Arabia compared to the eastern side of the country. In general, high methane emissions were observed in 2020 compared to 2019 around oil refineries and fields in western, central, and eastern regions of Saudi Arabia as well as over other GCC countries. This could be attributed to the oil high production associated with the oil prices fluctuation during 2020.

Labor Camp Surveys in GCC Countries: Group Quarter Subsampling

Field Methods ◽

10.1177/1525822x18815416 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 76-91

Author(s):

Kien T. Le ◽

Stacy Pancratz ◽

Abdoulaye Diop

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

Regional Cooperation ◽

Middle Eastern ◽

Labor Contracts ◽

Labor Camp ◽

Gcc Countries ◽

Labor Camps ◽

Dynamic Population

The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional cooperation of six Middle Eastern countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. A common feature of these countries is the existence of many group quarters, usually called labor camps, a term used to refer to housing accommodations for unskilled migrants where nonrelated people live together. The camp size ranges from a few people to a few thousand people from many different countries who speak dozens of languages. Also, the camp size and the composition of residents inside the camps change relatively quickly as people move in and out of the camps as their labor contracts expire or project needs change. This article presents one way to subsample this dynamic population inside such labor camps. The technique was used in one survey conducted in Qatar, where more than half of the country’s population resides in labor camps.