As fears of political instability fan the Gulf, high hydrocarbon prices are continuing to underpin the economies of oil exporters Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in its report card.
"Oil-rich economies in the Gulf are increasingly pulling ahead of the region's other economies, on the back of continuously high oil prices," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Tommy Trask, "and the high prices support ratings across a range of corporate and infrastructure sectors, including oil & gas up- and downstream as well as sectors relying indirectly on commodity led growth such as trade."
Outside the oil sector, tourism and trade volumes have risen in the UAE, according to government data, benefiting from the slackness in commercial and tourism hubs such as Bahrain and Egypt, where the Arab Spring protests have taken their political and economic toll.
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