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Can Gulf states adopt universal basic income?

Existing social welfare systems have insulated Gulf nationals from changing economic realities and the likelihood of a major global energy transition in the coming decades.
Saudi students pass their final exams at a workshop in the Higher Institute for Plastics Fabrication on June 13, 2016 in Riyadh. 
The students at the Higher Institute for Plastics Fabrication (HIPF) learn to manufacture plastic bags, pipes, bottles and other products, skills they immediately put to work in what the government says is a unique model. Reducing the kingdom's high unemployment rate is a foundation -- and major challenge -- of the government's wide-ranging Vision 2030 reform plan unveiled in Apr

The era of endless oil demand growth is over, oil major BP predicts, and so would eventually be whole segments of generous welfare systems that have long played a central role in the Arab Gulf region, creating a solid middle class and shaping every facet of modern life.

During the five years following the 2014 oil crash, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries accumulated over $500 billion in budget deficits. Therefore, in the coming years, an economic transformation could be vital to preventing a decline in social spendings.

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