Saudi Gazette - Qatar, Saudi Arabia lead growth in GCC this year

Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, is likely to be the second fastest growing GDP in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region this year, National Commercial Bank (NCB) said in a new study on the GCC economies.

'We expect the GCC region as a whole to grow by some six percent this year and by some five per cent next year,' the report said.

NCB, Saudi Arabia’s largest bank, has posted 10.9 percent increase in net income for the first half of 2011 at SR2,927 million compared to SR2,640 million for the same period of the previous year. NCB Chairman Abdullah Bahamdan said the bank’s total assets grew significantly to reach SR314 billion compared to SR263 billion at the end of the same period of the previous year, an increase of 19.2 percent. Total shareholders’ equity reached SR33.3 billion compared to SR30.7 billion of the same period last year, an increase of 8.5 percent.

* username: rupertbu