GCC Urged to Focus on Domestic Growth

Resource-rich Persian Gulf countries should focus more domestically-driven growth rather than export-induced growth. There is also the need to dismantle sovereign monopolies for diversification to be successful, according to experts.

Focus should also be laid on developing human capital and to transform it into social capital. Diversification will help avoid volatility risks to the economies and create additional employment, experts taking part at a panel discussion at the first Qatar Economic Development Conference said.
Diversification could largely reduce the volatility (associated with oil prices) in the domestic economy, John Page, senior fellow of Brookings Institution, said.

The region should develop broader and deeper capital markets, particularly local currency bonds, for the proposed common currency to be used as a potential reserve base, Gerard Lyons, chief economist, Standard Chartered Bank, said.

Adel al-Wuagyan, general secretary, the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, Kuwait, said the mindset of the people should change as he stressed the need for doing away with subsidies and the urge to reap competitive advantage. For diversification to be successful, the is a need to dismantle the sovereign monopolies, he said. - Gulf Times