Is the oil revenue part of the GDP?

Is the oil revenue part of the GDP?

Revenue generated from oil export should not be considered when calculating Saudi’s GDP says former vice president of Saudi Aramco Othman Al-Khowaiter

January 23, 2011 11:25 by Eva Fernandes

In the coming years we can expect bigger budgets as the oil prices and revenues are likely to rise. We should spend our money prudently ensuring a bright future for our young generation. We should not allow the rich to grow at the expense of the poor. We should stop our extravagance as many of our citizens groan in hunger and poverty. Other nations who call us “the petro-states” want to share some of our “temporary” wealth when they see our ostentatious waste such as the recent flaunting of an SR40-million Christmas tree in a Gulf state that has an Islamic identity.

Not even a Christian capital with a total commitment to the Christian heritage would spend more than one percent of that huge amount for a Christmas tree. I wonder how many mosques or community centers could have been built in a poor African country with that money.
There are also other extravagant celebrations in our Gulf region such as the reprehensible spending associated with camel beauty contests. We have no second thoughts when we spend our money to buy the most expensive cars in the world just to flaunt before Europeans. Not a few of our Gulf people proudly buy as many expensive cars and telephones as possible spending sums beyond the imagination of the common man. Such practices prompt others to criticize us at times and come begging for help at other times. Most of them do not realize that our own resources are fast depleting. I fear, God forbid, there would come a day when we would go to them begging from their limited earnings. (Al-Eqtisadiah)

— Othman Al-Khowaiter is a former vice president of Saudi Aramco

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Tags: saudi arabia budget oil, Saudi Arabia oil price, Saudi oil price view, spending saudi arabia oil, world's top crude exporter