Who is the richest?

Who is the richest?

Qatar, which has one of the highest rates of per capita GDP growth in the world, topped the regional list for 2008.

December 27, 2009 1:33 by Aarti Nagraj

Saudi’s GDP growth in 2009 is also expected to be quite low, at around 0.15 percent, as compared to 4.3 percent growth in 2008. The kingdom has the world’s largest economy, and accounts for nearly 25 percent of the GDP of the Arab region, which stands at $1.898 trillion.

However, it has the least GDP per capita among the GCC states, which amounted to $18,903 in 2008. According to the report, its population stands at 24.8 million.

The third richest country in the region based on per capita GDP in 2008 was Kuwait, with $43,046. It was followed by Bahrain, with a per capita GDP of $21,675 in 2008, and Oman, which had a per capita GDP of $20,908 last year.

Elsewhere in the Arab World, Libya saw the largest per capita GDP growth of $10,519 in 2008, followed by Lebanon, which saw per capita growth of $7,479 last year.

According to the report, Mauritania was the poorest Arab country in terms of per capita GDP growth in 2008, and Yemen was the second poorest.

Another report published recently by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Secretariat of the Arab League found that the GDP of the Arab countries as a group rose from about $1.5 billion in 2007 to about $1.89 billion in 2008, a growth rate of around 6 percent.

The population of the region increased by around 2.4 percent-from 326.7 million at the end of 2007 to 334.5 million at the end of 2008.

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Tags: Arab, economies, gcc, GDP, growth, population