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Gulf's mid-year surpluses put allocation in question

Flushed with cash from a post-pandemic oil boom, Gulf states once again face a choice: lifting up their citizenries’ short-term contentment or fiscal restructuring and investing in long-term productive assets.
Employees of Aramco oil company work in Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil processing plant on Sept. 20, 2019.

Gulf states are floating on air from the good news of 2022. Money flows upward on the back of inflated energy prices, wire-transferring wealth from inflation-hit countries to oil-exporting nations. Middle Eastern energy exporters will reap up $1.3 trillion in additional revenues over the next four years, the IMF forecasted. 

Saudi Arabia is poised to become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2022. Its gross domestic product increased 12.2% in the second quarter as state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco unveiled a record profit of $48.4 billion. LNG heavyweight Qatar posted a 12-fold jump in surplus for the first half. The same goes for Gulf's weakest economies: Bahrain posted a $88 million mid-year surplus, and Oman expects its first yearly surplus in a decade.

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