Did Gulf States Miss the Chance to Cut Their Oil Addiction? - Bloomberg Business

Did Gulf States Miss the Chance to Cut Their Oil Addiction? - Bloomberg Business:



"Salim Al Aufi, Oman’s undersecretary for oil and gas, likens attempts to cut the reliance on oil during a price slump to acting “with a gun pointed at your head.”



If you have to make decisions under pressure, “you will probably make the wrong ones,” he said March 3 in Muscat during a panel discussion on the impact of the oil shock. Oman relied too much on revenue from crude exports when prices were high, he said.



Oman isn’t alone. Most Gulf Arab nations did little to create alternative sources of revenue during the decade-long spending spree that filled their cities with glittering towers and trophy projects such as man-made islands. They may have missed their best chance to break out of the dependency trap, as Malaysia and Mexico did."



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